You spend all this time and money setting up carefully constructed marketing initiatives: You build a website, work on social media, and put blogs out there.
What you worked so hard to achieve all comes on the line with a phone call from an owner lead, which can either spoil, or vindicate your efforts.
At Fourandhalf, we run pay-per-click campaigns and manage different marketing strategies for property management companies. One of the services we offer includes phone tracking, during which phone calls are recorded for the purposes of tracking and consulting. We went to those phone calls and listened in on the questions owner leads were asking, to find out what were the most common questions asked of property managers during that first contact.
Don’t let your marketing dollars go to waste with a lead that catches you off-guard, or regret all the things you could’ve said. If you want to close the deal when owners call to talk about your property management services, you need to be prepared for that conversation. For the purpose of educating you, we now reveal the top five questions landlords and real estate investors ask you, the property manager, when they get on the phone with you for the first time, so you can be ready when they come up.
1. What Are Your Fees?
Question Rate: 78%
This is hardly a surprise for anyone, as this question is far and away the most common question asked. If you want to gain ground on this phone call, turn this question around. If you are competing on price, go ahead and say that your fee is $79 or $59 a month, or however much your rates are cheaper than the competition. But, if you are competing on competence, we suggest you act like you’re in a tennis match, and send the question right back into their court, and get them to give out information first. Go into the discovery process to make this an effective phone call.
When you get this question, your answer should go something like this:
“It depends. We have different plans to suit different needs. Tell me a little bit more about your property so we can see if we can help you.”
Then, stay quiet and let your prospect talk to you about their property. That’s really what they want to talk about, and you’ll learn a lot.
2. How Much Will My Property Rent for?
Question Rate: 37%
A professional must be able to address this question. If you have trouble, we recommend you consider services like RentRange or Rentometer to be able to pull up a comparative market analysis on the spot. If you can do this, you’ll be able to review the comparisons with the client on the phone. You can also email what you discussed, and they will also love the instant value that you are able to provide.
3. How Is Maintenance Handled?
Question Rate: 31%
This is where people ask about maintenance and related items such as handling repairs, keeping up with things like pool and gutter maintenance, and lawn care. At this point, you want to turn this question and launch into discovery. Again – do more listening and less talking because you want to hear their problems and issues. No one else they call will care, so you will win the deal if you explore. Your response could be:
“Tell me more about your experience with maintenance on this property.”
Let them tell you their pain points and issues so you can format your presentation to what they need the most.
4. How Do You Market My Property and How Soon Will It Be Rented?
Question Rate: 27%
They want to know about your advertising strategies. Your answer should depend on what the client needs. Build the emotional bridge. To do that, you can respond:
“Have you had experience with finding a tenant and marketing your property?”
Let them explain what their challenges have been with marketing and advertising this property or any other property they have rented. Then, you’ll know how to address those challenges.
5. How Does Property Management Work?
Question Rate: 20%
Although this question is asked one-fifth of the time, it was the first question asked by the vast majority of people. This is where you put your teacher hat on in here. Be the one who cares and is competent. Ask about their experiences with property management. Find out if they have ever used a property management company and what kind of expectations they have. Help them to tell you more about their problems. That’s how you close the deal. Make sure that whoever is handling your sales calls can answer this question as simply and clearly as possible.
Of the other questions that get asked, for another example, eviction gets brought up 11% of the time. But with the five that we detail in this blog and with a little bit of preparation, you should be able to crush each sales call that comes in for your property management business.
If you are not receiving enough new owner calls for your business or you need some help with crafting your answers for owners and landlords, please contact us at Fourandhalf – Internet Marketing Exclusively for Property Managers.
