Essential Ways to Adapt Your Property Management Business to Growth

Growth has been the topic of our last few podcasts, and today we have a guest who can help provide some mutual mentorship and coaching with Alex, our host. Growing is easy, but putting a framework around growth to have a successful, profitable business with happy people is challenging. It requires real leadership.  Steve Rozenberg hardly needs an introduction. He has been on this show previously, and there’s a good chance you already know who he is. Steve is the co-founder of Empire Industries, he’s a commercial airline pilot, and he’s an international speaker. We’re talking about how companies can sometimes choke on growth, especially if there’s not a structure in place to support it. Steve will share the four specific things that he and his company are doing to make growth manageable. These 4 things are: Develop a leadership team. Put together a scorecard. Provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 positions. Develop quarterly themes. Leading versus Managing: Growth Depends on Vision and Structure Growth is sexy, and everyone wants it. But, someone needs to steer the ship. If everyone in the company is rowing and no one is steering, you could be going in the wrong direction. Your company needs to have a structure in place to manage the growth. As a leader, it’s up to you to show your team members what the vision is for the company. It’s easy to lose the vision and start managing. But, if you’re managing, you’re not leading. If you have found that you’re spending most of your time managing people and systems, then suddenly you’re doing a job – you’re not leading a company. You cannot grow that way. You should have a compelling story of what your company is doing. When you’re hiring new team members, make sure you’re able to talk about what your company stands for. As a property management company, you’re providing solutions. You’re solving problems for your clients, and you’re trying to be the best customer service company in your area. Create a Leadership Team Every company should create a leadership team comprised of leaders from different departments who have a say in the company. These are individuals who can see the company’s vision. At Empire Industries, Steve has a five-member leadership team, and they meet for an hour and a half every Tuesday morning. The first thing they talk about is the company’s scorecard. Everyone has to contribute to the discussion of the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). This is a 30,000-foot view. They’re not digging through the weeds; they’re simply checking to see if they’re on track or not on track. Put Together a Scorecard You don’t want to track any more than seven to 10 metrics. These are the things that can kill your company. Focus on business metrics, not property management metrics. Look at the number of doors that have been gained or lost; the number of leads that are coming in; what your conversion rate is; how many doors you lost; how much money is in the bank. Track these things weekly, and you’ll know if you’re on track to grow in a way that aligns with your vision. Developing a Tier System  To get the most out of your team, you need to separate tactical roles from strategic roles. Your property managers won’t be productive if they’re handling the 100 phone calls per day that come in from owners, tenants, and vendors. Steve and his company have divided tasks and responsibilities into three tiers. Tier 3 is upper level management. Tier 2 is strategic property management. Tier 1 is the tactical response team; the people answering the phones and deciding what can be handled at that level and what needs to be escalated. Steve’s Tier 1 people are in Mexico, where he has a team of 16 people working directly for Empire Industries. This system protects the time and productivity of your best team memb...