Taking Owners from Fear to Trust: Controlling the Whole Customer Experience

Scott Brady, owner of Progressive Property Management, had 52 doors in 2013. Now, his company manages about 1,052 doors, and he plans to grow to 3,100 units by 2020. We think he’ll do it. Today, he’s joining us on The Property Management Show podcast to talk about executing the kind of growth that most property management companies only dream about. Growing with Good Systems Scott says that while some companies choose to grow, he has to grow. His business model has evolved to the point that he has 20 branch managers who are counting on him to deliver doors for management. That’s forced him outside of his comfort zone a little bit, but he’s committed to those branch managers, so innovating his marketing and distribution channels has become critical. Good systems, he’s discovered, are essential. You cannot manage 200 doors without good systems. You cannot manage 400 doors with systems that are designed for 40 doors. And, the bigger you get, the bigger of a target you become for the Real Estate Board and competitors. A dedicated staff is needed to help you make sure every process is documented. Many successful property management companies have a target market. For Scott and his company, the target is self-managing owners. That’s the biggest market available in southern California. We know that 70 percent of rental properties are self-managed. In Los Angeles, that translates to over a million self-managing property owners. By focusing on the emotional and financial pain points of that segment, Scott was able to come up with some compelling products. His question, while building his company, was pretty simple: Why aren’t these owners hiring property management companies? Reaching the 70 Percent: Providing Better Service The entire property management industry has tried to tackle the astounding 70 percent statistic. A shift has begun, but that large percentage of the market still does not trust a professional property manager. Several things feed that distrust. The reputation persists that property managers: Are untrustworthy Are overpriced Provide terrible customer service Nickel and dime owners at every turn It takes more than one person to correct that reputation. But, property managers can turn things around individually and collectively. The keys to changing the current reputation are: Transparency Value propositions Customer service Pricing is pricing, but if you can offset an owner’s pain point around pricing by demonstrating your amazing value, it’s easier to make some progress. This takes the owner from fear of being screwed to trust. Trust is earned, and it resonates with owners. Slowly bring people to your website and use your programs and your value propositions to earn their trust.    Transparency: Websites and Pricing Transparency is the first filter for many property owners. If they don’t feel like you’re being transparent, they aren’t going to be interested in hiring you. So, why are companies afraid of putting their pricing on their websites? It could be that they feel as though they’re at a competitive disadvantage. They worry that owners will seek out their lower-priced competitors. It’s a better to put your price up there, and also to put up your value around that price. If property managers position themselves as people who collect rent, owners will likely look at price first. But, if you do more for your owners, price becomes less important and your value propositions take center stage. With more and more companies being transparent with their pricing, you’re going to look more suspicious every day that you don’t pu...