Your competitors can help you grow your property management company
It is clear when you go into business you will always face some level of competition.
In a small or large market property management has typically been an easy entry business (i.e. it does not need much capital).
Since there is always competition, you need to define the scope of your business and then compare yourself to companies that have a similar scope. For example, you manage homes so your competitor should be managing homes rather than commercial properties.
What do you need to know about your competitors?
You need to know what software they use, how many people are employed by them, how many properties they manage.
Most importantly you need to know how much they charge, the services they deliver, their geographic footprint and in general how much they are paying their staff (by position). It’s also always helpful to understand what makes them different in the marketplace and helps them attract business.
Why do you want to know all of this information and how does it affect you?
Many property management companies do exactly the same thing. They use the same software, train the same and in reality, are not any different than the next guy. Understanding your competition gives you the ability to differentiate yourself and maybe deliver a better management product than your competition does.
Your competitor may centralize all their tasks on one or two property managers and delegate maintenance to sub-contractors. To make this work they may mark up their service calls by 10% to offset their dispatching and quality control. Another company might focus on having all tenant maintenance calls go to a service desk, bypassing the property manager and focus on getting all the maintenance completed quickly with their own staff and not have a markup.
Clients can perceive when there is a benefit to working with one company or the other. As you develop your business and speak to potential clients you need to find a way that your company communicates your special skills better than the competition. How can you do that if you don’t know how other companies manage?
You and them
In every market there are companies that have cachet like Mercedes Benz or Nike for example and companies that lack the top-notch ability to serve their clients. You want to use the best property management company as one you want to emulate. You want to be better than they are. Why?
Candidly the best companies get the plum accounts and the large, better-quality projects that pay better. The more you make, the more money you can spend on improved benefits and wages for your employees resulting in less employee turnover (and long-term client commitment), and the more money you take home.
Be realistic
Your goal is to be the best competitor in your marketplace. You need to identify companies you want to be better than, to have a chance at competing for their clients. Understanding your market and where you fit in is important. Once you know what you are capable of, you can create steps that will help you improve your systems and your staffing to obtain better quality accounts.
Pundits say, “success breeds success”. They also say, “fake it till you make it”, in other words clients will not hire you unless they think you have the experience to manage their property. Showing that you can do it is critical.
Remember it all costs money. You need to generate the money you need to be competitive and then attract the talent you need to grow. For example, I hired a department manager to work for me. She was excellent, but left us after two years, because we could not see the future and 1) pay her more, 2) help her get the systems in place to attract more clients with bigger properties. I blew it.
It’s up to you and your team to draft a plan of growth and implement it. Make it a unique plan that works for your resources. Hold yourself and your team accountable. If you are not growing to plan, figure out why, what you need to change and candidly if your competitors are growing. Sometimes the economy plays a part. Sometimes, it’s your management style, or your pricing, branding or image.
To set yourself apart, offer services that your competitors can’t bring to the table. For example, larger buildings need an engineer to help run them, find an engineer that is experienced that will work for you and learn the best practices from them so you can become a magnet for larger buildings.
Summary
Competition helps you grow. Even though you as the CEO are running your own company, you are not operating in a vacuum. Your competition can show you best practices that you can then imitate and even exceed.
Property management clients have quite a few key things in mind when they hire a property manager.
1.Honesty and integrity
2. Excellent accounting systems
3. Working with experienced employees that can help them make the right decisions
4. Any easy way to communicate with the property manager
5. No surprises
6.Low employee turnover
7. Cost effective pricing. They have to make money on the property otherwise they
don’t need you.
8. An ability to talk to a key decision maker
9. Policies and procedures that are effective
10. An understanding of how buildings are constructed
It’s your job to excel in these categories and be better than your competitors as you grow your company.
Clifford A. Hockley is Principal Broker at SVN | Bluestone, as well as the managing member of Cliff Hockley Real Estate Consulting, LLC. As a Certified Property Manager & Designated Managing Broker, Cliff has 42 years of experience in the brokerage and management of Real Estate companies. Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services managed condominium associations, multi-family, and commercial properties in the greater Portland area. He was focused on running the company and involved with investment property brokerage. He worked with financial institutions, governmental agencies, private investors, and not for profit organizations. He also has vast knowledge in budgeting, organizational management, and building structures. His previous experience includes over five years in accounting, production supervision for a manufacturing company, and work for state agencies in California.
Cliff grew Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services into a 100 employee company that managed over 2 billion dollars of real estate assets before he sold the company in 2021. He also supervised a sales team of over 15 real estate brokers for over 35 years. His monthly newsletter, QuickFacts has over 2,300 subscribers. He has been involved in numerous real estate transactions that include industrial, retail, office, and multifamily properties. Cliff has also written a book called “Successful Real Estate Investing; Invest Wisely, Avoid Costly Mistakes and Make Money” published by Morgan James Publishing in 2019.
Cliff has successfully coached real estate investors and CEOs located throughout the United States since 2015. He has acted as a sounding board to help untangle knotty issues that need an experienced outside opinion. He guides leaders who find it is “lonely at the top” and need an experienced hand to help set a strategic direction, sort out operational problems and want to talk through challenging business decisions.
He has served as an adjunct professor at Portland State University from 2028 – 2021, teaching classes in: Intro to Real Estate, Basic Real Estate Finance, Property Management as well as Real Estate Investment Fundamentals. He has instructed hundreds of students and believes that substantial preparation and active student engagement are crucial for learning and appreciating the field of real estate. Students appreciate his candor and real-world experience.
Among his many civic activities, Cliff served on the Board of Directors for the Portland Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and the Rental Housing Alliance of Oregon. In 2014 he was recognized by IREM as board member of the year, and in 2015 he earned an achievement award in brokerage from SVN International. In the years 2000 & 2003, he was recognized by IREM as Certified Property Manager of the Year.
