How to Grow a Property Management Business in 2024

Is your property management business stagnant?  When was the last time you landed new property management deals? If you’re struggling to stay profitable, hemorrhaging clients, or even just treading water, something has to change.

A lifeless business isn’t just one that’s losing money; it has a huge impact on you as a business owner. The stress and pressure of trying to revive a struggling property management business not only trickles into every area of your life, but it could even push you to sell your business or quit the industry altogether.

When things aren’t looking good, it’s time to focus on growth again.

Are you ready for change but unsure of how to grow a property management business? Read on to identify what’s causing your business to struggle and build a gameplan for changing direction.

Why Property Management Businesses Lose Momentum

Businesses lose momentum for countless reasons.

Sometimes a downturn in your business has nothing to do with you. Maybe a big client decided to sell off their entire portfolio, leaving you struggling to fill the revenue gap. Perhaps market shifts are tightening your margins, making it more difficult to do business. Maybe you’ve lost several team members in rapid succession.

In other cases, you’ve made decisions that have sent your business into a tailspin, even unknowingly. Bad hires can cost you thousands in lost revenue, for example. So can overextending your team or not putting the right operator in place.

Both gaining and losing momentum has a snowball effect. So, a bunch of bad decisions can quickly lead you into a cycle of suck. The good news is that incremental changes in your business can also work the opposite way, bringing you to sustainable growth and helping you to reach your goals.

How to Grow a Property Management Business

Focus on Sales

You want more profits? It all starts with sales.

Entrepreneurs often cringe at the mere thought of sales. You might be one of them, faced with the daunting prospect of needing to make sales but not wanting to put in the footwork. If so, you’re likely throwing away thousands of dollars every month on things like pay-per-click ads and direct mail campaigns, hoping your phone call will ring and property management leads will come pouring in.

Unfortunately, that’s not a realistic scenario for most business owners.

You likely need to reframe the way you’re thinking about sales.

Instead of viewing it as a solely transactional exchange, consider sales as a bridge between problems and solutions. You provide a service that solves a real problem. You’re not a pushy sales person trying to get your foot in the door. You’re a business owner trying to help others.

Want to dig more into what sales should look like and get clear insight on how to land deals without a slimy sales pitch? Check out our Rapid Revamp program for more details on how to grow a property management company quickly.

Fix Your Image

In business, perception is everything. If your company has been floundering for some time, people may have taken notice. Disgruntled tenants, unhappy clients, angry vendors…you name it, if you’ve let people down, you probably don’t have the best reputation.

What’s that mean for you? Every time someone searches for property management in your area…well, they’re going to see that negative stuff. It’s not a good look and can really hurt your efforts to grow.

Fixing your image takes a lot of hard work, but it’s well worth the investment.

First, start connecting with people you know who love you. Consider using an online reputation management tool like GatherKudos to run a drip campaign, inviting people to leave you positive feedback. Each of those positive reviews can help to boost your overall rating on sites like Google, Yelp, and Facebook.

It’s not enough to just put measures in place to bury that bad feedback—you want to actually take comments from others into account and work on addressing those problems in your business. If you can turn a detractor into a true believer in your business, the impact will be phenomenal.

Maximize Your Team’s Efforts

Where is your time currently being spent? It’s such a simple question, but ironically, many business owners can’t provide an answer. We have preached the importance of time studies for a long time at DoorGrow—but there’s a reason for that. Namely, they work.

If you’re unfamiliar with a time study, this is a tool you can use to document where all of your working hours are being spent. For two weeks, you’ll use a simple sheet to note where you’re spending time throughout the day. And then, at the end of that two week period, you’ll be able to identify patterns in your workflow that may be detrimental to your overall health.

Time is one of the five currencies we all have to spend, alongside energy, focus, financial resources (cash), and effort. By identifying where your time and your team’s time is being spent, you’ll be better equipped to ensure you’re consistently working towards your goals and the workload is appropriately distributed in your business.

Make the Right Friends

How to Win Friends and Influence People was written nearly 100 years ago, yet it remains one of the most popular business books of all time. Sometimes having the right connections makes a world of difference

And yet, far too many entrepreneurs find themselves going the road solo, isolated in their own little bubble and fighting battles alone. Research has consistently shown that social support is a vitally important tool for business owners. Not only does it help you to combat stress and stay emotionally healthy, but a network of likeminded peers can also open countless doors to growth opportunities.

We believe so strongly in the importance of community that we assign all property managers in our DoorGrow Mastermind to tribes and regularly meet with them in person. The goal is simple: we want to foster relationship growth that translates to real results for property management entrepreneurs.

Many of the sales strategies we teach in our property management coaching sessions revolve around building connections with others around you. Whether you’re creating a referral network through the Neighbor Strategy, building partnerships with local Realtors, or just getting your name out there, the right network will make a dramatic impact on your bottom line.

Ready to Grow Your Property Management Business?

It’s time to stop struggling with how to grow a property management business and start making moves.

If you need an extra push to rewrite the trajectory you’re currently following, learn more about our Rapid Ravamp program today. We’ve catapulted hundreds of property managers to impressive growth and would love to help you achieve similar results. Learn more about the program or sign up today to get started.