How to Get Better Property Management Leads

Observe below the image from Google Maps of property management companies in Los Angeles.  As you can see, there are multiple property management companies per square mile.  With such a significant amount of competition, there’s a lot that needs to happen to get leads and to expand your business.  It’s always possible to get your leads from online, but they are not the largest or the strongest leads you can obtain.

Your strongest (easy to convert) and largest leads (# of units) come from referrals.  Why does this happen?  This is mostly because the client’s decision making process becomes more rigorous the larger the investment is.  If it’s a small investment, an owner may quickly search for a property management company online and make a decision after a few conversations.  Large property owners are going to want more detailed materials and referrals.  The best way to get into contact with one of these larger clients is when one of their associates told them about you rather than finding you through online search.

So The Question Is, How Do You Get More Referrals?

Step 1: Provide Quality Service

If you’ve ever heard or used the sentence, “You have to ask for business,” you’d be on the right track, but you might be missing the bigger picture.  No referral comes from dissatisfied or indifferent clients.

Instead you need to focus on your service.  If you find something wrong with it, fixing it is your top priority!  Whether it is increasing your efficiencies in filling vacancies, increasing the promptness in responding to work orders, or other nuances, these are more important things to worry about than building referrals!  You know you’re on the right track when you are continually finding things within your company that needs tweaking.

If you aren’t sure what could use some tweaking, all you need to do is ask!  Your tenants will be more than happy to tell you.  Done with proper tact, the same kinds of questions can be posed to your clients.  If you’ve done a lot to solve these problems and more, you may not even need to do the final step.

Your Strongest (Easy To Convert) And Largest Leads (# Of Units) Come From Referrals.

Step 2: Wait, Take your Time

Taking your time is here as a step because so many don’t do it!  Every company wants to grow quickly.  As a result, the company might call upon its current clients earlier than it should for referrals.  If new clients are on a sales cycle, your current clients are on a referral cycle.  Some clients will be quickly converted into making you a referral.  Meanwhile others will take years before they feel confident enough or even be capable of referring a client.  You will need to feel out your clients on a personal level.  Are they excited about you or are they indifferent?  If it’s the latter, it’s too soon to ask for a referral.  You can actually turn your client off of you at this stage.  You’ve actually brought yourself closer to losing a client than gaining one!

Step 3: Prompt Satisfied Clients to Spread the Word

A client that is very happy with you still might not consider making a referral, but would do so if prompted.  These are the golden untapped sources of leads.  These are the clients that have openly expressed how happy they are to have your management company working on their property.  If a client takes the time to tell you that they are satisfied with your business, it’s OK to reach out to them later and ask them if they know anybody that can benefit from your services.  If they don’t know anybody offhand, that’s OK.  They will now be thinking about it and you can call them back one week later.  It’s rare that somebody you’ve been a very great benefit to doesn’t come through with a lead that they know.

Conclusion

If a larger investor isn’t self-managing, they are going to seek their property management companies through their own contacts to ensure that they are getting the best for their investment.  They may never go to the web to make that decision.  If they do, they’re likely looking at your company’s website after finding out about your company in another way.  For this reason, it is imperative that you reach these potential clients through referrals and it is therefore even more important that you provide the best possible service in your area.