Property management companies need to be able to provide support to landlords when it comes to tasks like rent collection, property maintenance, and advertising vacancies. However, it’s also crucial to be an expert in generating leads so you can grow your property management business.
That’s where we come in. Our expert team at Backed Homes has put together this comprehensive guide to rental owner lead generation so that you can grow your business quickly and sustainably. Let’s get into it!
Why Is Prospecting for Property Management Clients Important?
Lead generation is critical to business growth, and having a solid strategy will ensure you spend money attracting the right audience instead of wasting time casting too wide a net.
While distilling down your pool of potential clients may seem counterintuitive, it’s actually the most efficient way to scale your business. That’s because advertising to qualified clients will improve your conversion rate, thereby making your lead-generation efforts more efficient and effective.
While many property management companies rely on word-of-mouth referrals to grow their client pool, this isn’t always the most consistent or sustainable strategy. As technology has evolved, so too have methods for obtaining client leads. However, it’s crucial to be discerning when employing technology to help scale your property management business.
How to Determine When to Scale Your Business
Growing your property management company is key to your long-term success, but sometimes acquiring new clients can negatively impact your bottom line. Basically, if gaining a new client costs more than the value they’ll add to your company over the course of employing your services, scaling will actually lose you money.
To determine whether scaling your business will be profitable, you can use the following formula:
Monthly property management fee x profit margin x how many months you expect they will hire you for = lifetime customer value (LCV).
When determining the above values, make sure you base them on your company’s average. That way, you’ll have the most accurate results. For example, if your average monthly fee, profit margin, and client tenure are $100, 60%, and 36 months respectively, your result will look like this:
100 x 60% x 36 = $2,160
If it takes you $450 to acquire a client and the client’s LCV is $2,160, you will make $1,710 on average for every new client you acquire, which means generating leads will be profitable for your business.
Conversely, if your LCV – cost to acquire a client is negative, waiting to scale your business is likely in your best interest.
How to Get Property Management Clients: Top Strategies for Beginners
The below strategies are perfect for you if you’re just starting out, or if you manage fewer than 100 doors.
Referrals
Referrals are a tried and true method to generate property management leads, especially because they can come from multiple sources. You can find details on the three kinds of referrals property management companies can take advantage of below.
Client Referrals
Client referrals are the most valuable and effective kind of referral a company can use. That’s because your clients are well-versed in your services and know their full value. However, getting your clients to speak up about how you’ve helped them can sometimes be challenging.
We suggest offerings your clients an incentive to provide a review, such as a free month of services or a free trial for a new service.
Referrals from Friends and Family
Friends and family members will likely want to help you grow your business. If you want to increase awareness of your company, try asking the people closest to you to let people know about your services.
While these referrals may not be the most consistent, they are almost as effective as client referrals because they come from people who are invested in helping you gain more leads.
Realtor Referral Program
Partnering with realtors and real estate agents will ensure that prospective clients are confident in your services. When referrals come from other industry experts, landlords and property owners will be more likely to trust them.
However, partnering with others in the industry can come with conditions that are important to consider before choosing this strategy. Specifically, you may have to pay a fee for each successful referral or sign a non-compete agreement.
Social Media Marketing
Businesses across all industries are turning to social media to market their company. That’s because social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach prospective clients and can take just a few minutes every day. While you can use paid ads on social media, there are also ways to drive organic results for no cost.
To determine which social media platform works best for you, try each of them out. Below is a list of the most common platforms where property management companies post marketing content:
- TikTok
Each of these platforms comes with its own pros and cons. But, once you find out which platforms result in the most leads for your company, focus on those. Remember, you don’t need to be on every single social media platform to generate substantial leads.
While all social media platforms can generate property management leads, there are a couple of tried and true avenues we highly recommend using. You can read more about those below!
Facebook Groups
Many people turn to Facebook for property management tips and to find local companies that will help their rentals succeed. That’s why there are so many real estate investing and rental management groups on this platform.
If you’re new to Facebook and want to create a business account, start by making sure your profile clearly shows that you’re a property management company and highlights your unique brand. You can do this by using your logo as a profile picture.
Conversely, if you’re using your personal profile to generate leads on Facebook, be sure that your banner image and profile details show that you run a property management company so that other group members will be aware when they click on your profile.
Once your profile is set up, you can start joining groups and interacting with other Facebook users. Below you can find a few tips to help you generate leads using this strategy.
- Be active in the group and try to post or interact with it daily.
- Answer questions and join discussions.
- Don’t promote your services, but clearly state how you help your clients.
Most of the most popular and high-quality Facebook groups don’t allow businesses to directly promote their services. However, you can strategically word your posts to showcase your expertise.
So, instead of saying, “You can hire me to…” start a sentence with “Based on my experience in the industry, I’ve found the best way to solve this problem is…”
LinkedIn offers its users almost infinite opportunities to connect with other professionals. As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn is full of real estate investors and property managers looking to build a community and grow their businesses.
Once you have a LinkedIn profile set up, you can publish content to the site and start reaching out to investors who may be interested in your services. We recommend searching “Real Estate Investor” on LinkedIn’s search function and reaching out to potential clients one-on-one and telling them about your services.
Direct Mail
While direct mail may seem like a thing of the past, it’s still an effective way to generate property management leads. You may be wondering how you’ll know who to send marketing materials to. We have the answer! To develop a list of potential clients, contact your county assessor’s database.
Once you have access to this tool, find a list of property owners whose mailing addresses are different from their property addresses. Then, you can mail out marketing materials, or even a personalized letter, detailing your services.
Cold Calls
While even a mention of cold calls often has people cringing, they can be a really effective way to generate leads for your property management company. In particular, when professionals cold call other professionals, it often leads to lucrative business relationships and company growth.
One of the best places to find cold-call leads is Craigslist. Check out the “For Rent By Owner” (FRBO) posts on the website and give the property owners a call. Even if the first couple of calls don’t go well, keep trying. Once you get the hang of it, cold calling can lead to substantial business growth.
Get Involved with Your Community
Sometimes, the best way to get your name out there is to go out into your community.
- Check out events from platforms like Meetup.com.
- Schedule meetups and invite industry professionals and real estate investors.
- Join groups run by and for property investors, property managers, and other industry experts.
Doing the above will allow you to network with others in the industry and gain direct access to your target market, thereby generating more leads for your property management company.
Guest Blogging
Writing articles for other companies in the property management and investing industry can be a great way to increase your company’s exposure. When you are featured on popular and highly trusted websites, you can showcase your industry knowledge which will enhance your reputation as an industry authority.
Be Interviewed
Whether it’s on a property management podcast, the radio, or even television, a good interview can do wonders for generating property management leads. Podcast interviews, in particular, are a great way to generate leads because their listeners are made up of your target audience.
Check the Papers
While most landlords advertise rentals online, there are still a number of investors who use local classifieds to fill vacancies. Keep an eye out for landlords like these, chances are, they could benefit from your services.
How to Find Property Management Clients: Top Strategies for Established Property Management Companies
If you manage 100 doors or more, consider the following strategies to generate property management leads.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process through which websites are optimized to rank higher on Google’s search results. This is achieved by adjusting the website’s written content to include high-ranking keywords and phrases.
The first step in SEO is determining the keywords people are most likely to search for when they want to access your services and then adding them to your website.
Another way to improve your Google search rankings is updating your Google My Business listing to include your business hours, phone number, email, and website. This will help ensure you show up on the Google map pack when people search for property management companies in your area.
While SEO requires a lot of work, it is the best long-term strategy to generate leads for your company and is well worth the time and effort required.
Content Marketing
Property management companies can perform content marketing in many ways. Three of the most popular are:
- Starting a blog (which will also improve your SEO).
- Creating a podcast.
- Starting a Youtube channel.
We will discuss these content marketing strategies below.
Blogging
Premium content such as blog posts not only attracts new leads but can help to cement your reputation as a local property management expert. When you include helpful blog content on your website, potential clients will be more likely to explore your website and read about your services.
Podcasting
Starting a podcast for landlords and property investors is a great way to promote your company and build a larger client base.
If you’re not sure what kind of content to include in a podcast, consider the following:
- Interviews with real estate investors and other industry experts
- Discussions on recent industry developments
- Offer insights into the local real estate market instead of generalized overviews
- Listener episodes where you answer questions from local property investors and landlords
Youtube
As the second largest search engine in the world, Youtube offers property management companies a great platform for lead generation. When you start posting content for real estate investors and landlords, be sure to include your company’s information at the end of every video and in the description box so prospective clients can easily access it.
Facebook Advertising
Because Facebook is such a popular platform with a wealth of information on its users, it’s a great way to generate property management leads. To reach your local market, you can start running Facebook Ads that are specifically targeted toward property owners and investors.
Google Ads
Google Advertising, which is also known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising, is a highly popular lead-generation strategy for a reason. While it requires you to pay for advertising space, you only have to pay when someone clicks on the ad.
PPC ads require you to select keywords that will trigger your advertisement. For instance, many property management companies have success with keywords such as “property management + [your location]”.
While you’ll start seeing results almost immediately with this kind of advertising, make sure you’re well-versed in this strategy before using it otherwise, you may not invest your funds effectively.
Paid Advertising
In addition to Google Ads, there are many platforms that offer paid advertising opportunities. Some of the most popular include:
- Youtube advertisements
- Social media marketing (SMM) on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn
- Yelp Advertising
TV Commercials
Even in the age of the internet, television commercials remain one of the most effective ways to advertise your business. Though they can be costly, running commercials on local stations can do wonders for your brand awareness.
Billboard Ads
Billboard ads have stuck around for a reason. Most people commute to work and other locations throughout their day, so they’re bound to see billboards. Renting ad space on a local billboard can be a great way to boost your property management leads.
Advertise in Local Magazines
Most cities have local magazines that offer ad space to local companies. If possible, try to take out ad space in a magazine that specializes in real estate investing because its readers will primarily be your target market.
Car Wraps
If you develop an eye-catching design, a car wrap can be a really effective way to increase brand awareness and generate leads. Just be sure to include your contact information and make it clear what your company does before you add a wrap to your car.
Email Advertising
If you offer a newsletter or opt-in email list, advertising via email can help you grow your company. We suggest including an email sign-up button on your website and bringing a sign-up list to events you attend or host in the community.
Purchase an Existing Company
If you have the capital to do so, buying an existing company is a surefire way to scale your property management company. We suggest reaching out to business brokers to determine whether there are any local property management firms for sale.
Host Webinars
Webinars are becoming increasingly popular among real estate investors and landlords, which means they offer a great opportunity for you to generate new leads.
Make sure your webinar is accessible to landlords and property investors in your area and provides information that is useful to your audience. When the content you offer is helpful, people are more likely to employ your services because they know your strategies work.
Tips for Improving Your Client Conversion Rate
Just generating leads isn’t enough to grow your property management company. You also need to be able to convert your leads into actual clients.
A 100% conversion rate is impossible to attain, but there are many ways you can increase the likelihood of acquiring new clients from existing leads. The number one strategy when turning potential clients into actual customers is making sure they trust you and feel like they know you.
You can achieve this by using the below strategies.
Improve Your Reputation Online
Landlords and real estate investors rely on Google reviews when looking to access property management services from local companies. As such, making sure your Google reviews are high-quality and accurately describe your services, and their positive impact on landlords is a great way to convert leads into clients.
Create or Revamp Your Website
Before hiring a professional, customers look up a company’s website. If you don’t have a website, or if your website hasn’t been updated in a while, try creating a user-friendly and intuitive website where potential clients can learn about your services.
Final Steps
Once you’ve secured leads and started receiving correspondence from potential clients, it’s time to close the sale.
To do so, be sure to respond to inquiries as quickly as you can after receiving them. Generally, you’ll want to respond to potential clients within five minutes of hearing from them for the first time.
If they miss your call or don’t respond right away, don’t worry! You can reach out again to follow up on your leads. Most successful companies will follow up six times before moving on and focusing on other leads.
Bottom Line
Knowing how to generate leads and convert them into clients is the first step in growing your property management company. While choosing a strategy to start with can be daunting, don’t overthink it too much! Picking a lead-generating method and focusing on it will grow your business far faster than waiting to pick the ‘right’ strategy.
If you’re not sure where to start or want help generating property management leads and converting them into clients, reach out to the experts at Backed Homes. We are committed to helping property managers achieve their professional goals and meaningfully grow their companies.
Contact us today to learn more about our proven portfolio growth strategies and how they can take your property management company to the next level!
