As a professional, you’ve probably spent a lot of time already trying to figure out the best way to win the trust of prospective clients. A lot of this comes down to the question of what homeowners are looking for in a property manager, and how they go about narrowing down their search. Digital property management has the potential to help you convince prospective clients that you are what they are looking for.
Good Referrals
Even in the age of Google, people still tend to trust the word of friends and colleagues. Cultivating good relationships with your current clients has the potential to lead to new clients down the road.
What are your clients likely to say about you to any friends or business partners who might be shopping for a property manager? Do you have a good track record of resolving issues with tenants and neighbors? Do you collect rent and enforce late fees efficiently?
Your time as property manager is valuable, so how are you managing it? A good digital property management app can help you to communicate far more efficiently with your clients, letting them know of anything that needs to be taken care of. This certainly has the potential to work in your favor when it comes to referrals.
Good Reviews
The age of Google is also the age of online review sites. How are your reviews? Inevitably you’ll get a few unfavorable ones (everyone does), but what does your average look like? While it’s true that you can’t please everyone, the more you can keep not only clients but tenants happy the better.
One thing a savvy homeowner is likely to look for is advertising. They’ll want to know how you advertise and how regularly. Do you advertise in many venues, or only on a few free sites, like Craigslist? Do you have a good track record of filling vacancies?
Good digital property management software makes inspections much faster than they are with clipboard and pen. This has the potential to expedite the whole process of filling a vacancy, something that will in turn help you to get good reviews and more clients.
Good Current Work
Your current work is a good indicator of what you are likely to achieve in the future. Are your clients happy? What about your tenants? If you fulfill your responsibilities as property manager efficiently and without undue trouble for anyone else, you’re more likely to have happy people and well-maintained properties that can vouch for you when potential clients come knocking. This is exactly what property inspection apps are designed to help you do.
Good Interview
Your prospective client is impressed by your vigorous advertising, your satisfied clients and tenants, and your well-maintained properties. She asks you for an interview. Inevitably, she’s going to ask you about how you carry out inspections on your properties.
At this point, one of two things are possible. You might tell her that you actually go through all of the properties you manage with a clipboard, pen, and digital camera, only to drive back to your office and type out a report. You could certainly stress your efficiency and your conscientious work ethic in doing so, much like a carriage-maker praising the lightness and speed of his latest buggy wagon.
Alternatively, you could tell her that you do everything on your phone or tablet, and your digital property management software will send her an automatically formatted report in one easy-to-manage link. You could then explain to her how this saves a great deal of time and effort over conventional, pen-and-paper property inspections, making you more efficient and more productive in getting back to her.
Which of the two will it be?
