An agency has maintained consistent rent roll growth by creating a strong referral network with its clients.
Shannon Davis, director of Image Property Management, took his rent roll from 250 to 1,750 in five years by focusing primarily on existing customers rather than new business.
“It takes 17 hours to sign up a new management, so why spend 17 hours with that new management when we can just keep the ones we've got and maybe grow that way?” he said.
“When I put 30 managements on in one month, I realised we'd dropped as many as well and some from mismanagement, so better use of my time is to fix the problems first.”
Mr Davis said one important practice for growth is making 10 calls before 10am, speaking with clients about what’s working well and what can be improved.
“I talk to them like their real estate expert about their portfolio and inevitably that discussion leads to further expansion, or their relatives that are buying or thinking of selling,” he said.
“These people already know you, and like and trust you – that's the first part of sales, so let's go to the people that already know us and let's get our customers to buy more.”
Mr Davis said being viewed as a trusted adviser means often sharing expertise for free through investor events in order to build credibility.
“The knowledge you have about property investing is huge, probably way more than most sales agents, and you know what property are just going to rent because you've 1,000 open homes a year,” he said.
“Guest nights and thank you nights are a really good way to reach out to your database, nurture them and potentially get more leads, just by putting on some grog and food and talking about property investment on a macro level.”
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