Are you failing when it comes to new leads?
You do all this property management marketing and your phone rings with an owner on the other line inquiring about your services.
Do you know what to do?
Do you know what NOT to do?
To avoid that feeling of despair when a good lead goes to a competitor, we provide a reliable method that you can use to double your closing ratio as a property management business.
We’re going to go over the whole process from how property managers handle sales calls over to how it can be improved so that an owner will be convinced that you’re the best manager for the job. With that said, grab a notepad and a pen and let’s get ready to close more business.
What a Typical Sales Call Sounds Like for Property Managers
- The phone rings with a property management lead on the other line
- The property manager says hello, introduces the company and immediately asks for information such as the property address, and whether the property is occupied.
- The owner lead provides this information.
- The property manager launches into an explanation of fees and services. The conversation focuses on why that property management company is so good and how their services are the best.
- At the end of the call, the owner prospect will probably end up responding, “I’ll think about it.”
- After the call, the property manager sends a copy of the contract and follows up in a week.
Typically, that’s the conversation that is happening by property management companies the majority of the time. It’s important to keep this in mind when you are looking to improve your process.
How to Be Different and Close More Property Management Leads
If you want to double your closing rate, you have to be different.
And to be different, you have to use a simple strategy:
Flip the 80/20 to 20/80.
Speak 20 percent of the time and listen 80 percent of the time.
Care about what the owner prospect is telling you. Start off with engaging the owner with questions that give them an opportunity to share valuable information. Instead of asking for the address, ask things like:
- Tell me a little bit about your property.
- Tell me why we’re talking today.
- What challenges do you have with your existing tenants?
- How do you feel about pets in your rental property?
- Why did you decide to invest in this area?
- Are you thinking about growing your portfolio, or is this your only investment property?
Ask them more questions like this, and as they are talking to you, dig in.
Peel back the layers of what that owner faces, and figure out what this person really cares about. This simple conversation means more to the owner than to you. After all, their home is likely their largest asset.
As the property manager, if you do not connect and build that relationship, your service becomes a commodity and the owner’s only goal is to find the lowest fee.
Be the Property Manager that Cares
If you are the person who builds the bridge between the owner’s problem and your solution, you will earn the business. You need to care and sympathize with your prospect’s specific circumstance. Only by being genuinely interested in THEM you’ll gain a true understanding in their specific pain points.
While on the call, resist the urge to talk and persist with discovery. Sure, you’ve heard most of it before, likely hundreds of times, but you can’t allow impatience to interrupt your process.
Once you are able to do that, then, you can talk about your solution. Once you know everything about the situation, you’ll be able to respond and close the deal. That’s how you win and double the number of deals you close without spending a dime more on marketing.
At Fourandhalf, we wrote a book about the whole sales process. It’s called “The Art of Winning the Sale: A Sales Process for Property Managers,” and it covers everything you need. It’s only 19 pages, and you can get through it in a couple of hours.
We look forward to your feedback after you try this strategy. Please contact us at Fourandhalf and let us know if these tips help with your closing success.
