Everyone wants to know how to effectively win the business with prospective landlords – so what is the secret?
It takes lots of practice, great people skills, and understanding the sales process to become really good!
A lot of property managers struggle in getting the business and resort to aggressive discounting as the solution. What happens instead is property managers ‘win more workload’ without the financial reward of profit.
Here are ten power keys to help you become more effective in winning new business:
1. Attitude check
No one likes to do a deal with someone who is not enthusiastic and positive! Leave a bad day in the car, and ensure your attitude reflects a professional worthwhile doing business with!
2. Great presentation
When prospective clients are looking for someone to manage their substantial financial investment they expect a person to both act and appear professional. Be careful with contemporary hairstyles that might be more suited to a schoolyard or nightclub and dress professionally in clean, neat business attire and remove piercings that look out of place. Yes, people will judge you by first impressions so dress to impress!
3. Great listing materials
Ensure you have a professional-looking portfolio that displays examples of your company work. From a tenant application to copies and examples of inspections to tenancy agreements and information on landlord insurance, your kit should be able to visually show the client how the property management process works. People will remember you more by what they see than from what they hear, so spend quality time on getting your material professionally presentable!
4. Points of difference
If your prospective clients cannot perceive value or differentiate you from your competitor’s price now, the chances of a request for a discount are increased. What do you do differently from your competition that would make your prospective client want to choose you? If you cannot honestly answer this then spend time making some points of difference and work them into your business.
5. Overcome objections
Sit down and write down all the possible objections people say. Like, ‘the other agent down the road said they would do…’ to ‘your fees are too high!’How many objections are there? Most property managers wouldn’t even be able to come up with ten common objections, showing you how simple it is to learn if there are but a few main objections to learn. Once they are identified, now come up with some convincing arguments to overcome them to persuade clients away from their viewpoint to your way of thinking.
6. Ask for the business
Also called ‘closing’, a lot of property managers simply do not ask for the business and instead walk away leaving the client to ‘think about it’, then wonder why the next property manager got the business! Asking for the business is just that, confidently pop the question using words that you are comfortable with without using high-pressure tactics.
7. Follow up
Many property managers miss out on getting the business because they never called the prospective client back after their appointment or initial phone call. People stall making decisions for all sorts of reasons and a few days can make all the difference. Be sure to follow up as you can be assured most of your competitors won’t!
8. Fee packages
Give clients a choice of fee structure. When everyone offers just one set of fees, stand out (this is a point of difference!) with giving prospective clients a choice of fees! Two to three different fee packages usually with differing levels of management and ancillary fees. Usually, the lower the management fee, the more ancillary fees are stacked on.
9. Play fair!
Do not denigrate the competition even if you know they are the worst business in town! Giving bad comments only makes you look unprofessional! Only when your department starts doing everything 100% right perhaps start judging your competitors!
10. Induct the prospective client
When you have signed up for the business, make sure you spend some time inducting them with the right expectations (just like you would a new tenant at sign up). A Property Owner’s Handbook or user manual not only educates the new client on the right expectations but is also a great point of difference when displayed to prospective clients and promoted as ‘exclusive to signed-up clients only!’
Getting the business takes practice and dedication especially in the face of stiff competition and other agencies aggressively discounting. Remember, the easiest point of difference that your competitors can copy is discounting so be different and daring, find some great points of difference, and go for it!
