ELITE PM Issue 08 Oct Nov 2016

5 EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES TO HELP YOU STAND OUT 8 WAYS TO BECOME A BDM TRAILBLAZER LEARN FROM THE BEST #08 OCT/ NOV 2016

NORTHERN EXPOSURE JOELY SULLIVAN + JO GRIFFITHS, NOW LEASING NT

REALESTATE.COM.AU SURVEYS LANDLORDS // TECHNOLOGY + CHANGE A UK PERSPECTIVE PM TRANSFORM HALF-WAY POINT CHECK IN // UBER-PROOFING IN THE AGE OF DISRUPTION

A focus on delivering the absolute best level of support Recently, we have invested heavily in upgrading our support and training systems. As well as expanding our team, we have invested in new call centre infrastructure and have released our online learning platform where customers can take a variety of self-paced online courses to learn how to get the most from their Console Software.

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Contents Regulars 004 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Chris Gray, CEO, YourEmpire 006 UPFRONT News from the Community 006 REALTY BYTES Alister Maple-Brown 008 SEEN AND HEARD: ARPM 2016 010 READER PROFILE Joanne Avenell, Eview Group

14

024 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT MENTOR Natalie Hastings 026 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MASTERY Tara Bradbury 040 THE LAST WORD Fiona Blayney

Everyone's Talking About 012 CONFESSIONS: EVERY AGENT HAS A STORY 014 PM TRANSFORM: THE HALFWAY POINT 018 LANDLORDS: WHAT THEY REALLY, REALLY WANT

First Person 020 F IVE EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES TO HELP YOU STAND OUT Jo-Anne Oliveri

28

022 WHEN PROPERTY AGE HAS IS AN ADVANTAGE Bradley Beer

Cover Story 028 NORTHERN EXPOSURE Joely Sullivan and Jo Griffiths, NOW Leasing

Features 032 YOUBER: UBER-PROOFING IN THE AGE OF DISRUPTION Sarah Bell 034 TECHNOLOGY & CHANGE: THE UK PERSPECTIVE Peter Knight 036 THE DAILY JUGGLE Heidi Walkinshaw 038 CAUTIONARY TALES IN TECHNOLOGY Brock Fisher

36 2 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

36

HEIDI WALKINSHAW REAL+ The daily juggle Where are you from originally and where do you call home?

I grew up in a little country town called Woodville in the Hunter Valley and now call Kurraba Point in Sydney home.

Who or what inspires you at the moment?

The work of Byron Katie and Arianna Huffington just to name a couple. Our lives have become so full that we need to stop sometimes and find balance.

What is the most important project you are working on right now?

All of them! Working daily with businesses to achieve optimal growth, profit and service. I’m also currently working on the PM Transform project which is an amazing opportunity to assist the Dynamic Dozen in transforming their businesses.

Trend to watch in the industry?

The VR and electronics space with property inspections and tours as well as tech around automation of other processes.

TARA BRADBURY BDM ACADEMY 8 tips to becoming a BDM trailblazer

26

Where are you from originally and where do you call home?

I grew up in Maryborough QLD; I'm now in Hervey Bay. What is the most important project you are working on right now?

Our prospecting system, which has been designed to reduce admin time and allow BDMs to focus on building a strong pipeline.

Trend to watch in the industry?

Online referral networking has taken off and is a great way to maintain contact with referral clients. I’m still a big fan of phone and face-toface communication but this allows another point of contact between meetings.

Favourite quote or words to live by?

“Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work” – Peter Drucker.

BROCK FISHER LITTLE REAL ESTATE Cautionary tales in technology

38

Where are you from originally and where do you call home?

I’m from a little village called Newbridge, near Bathurst NSW. Coffs Harbour is currently home.

What is the most important project you are working on right now?

I’m working on expanding our admin support business model for PMs in other states after having developed it in QLD. I’m also working on a base to build an omnichannel communication platform for tenants that will allow 24/7 realtime communication with our business.

Favourite quote or words to live by?

“Do what you say you are going to do” is undoubtedly my number one.

CONTRIBUTORS NATALIE HASTINGS HASTINGS + CO Cloud nine: Keeping your agency safely online

24

Where are you from originally and where do you call home?

I was born in Traralgon, Victoria but I grew up in Adelaide and moved to Melbourne 10 years ago this month. I call Melbourne home although I still get a bit nostalgic about Adelaide.

Who or what inspires you at the moment?

I am inspired by Carolyn Creswell, the founder of Carman’s Muesli. So many people believe that Carman’s has been an overnight success. The reality is they chipped away at it for over 20 years.

What is the most important project you are working on right now?

We're working on a large commercial project. We are in the process of rolling out a training and ongoing outsourced trust accounting project, assisting the client with the management, training and outsourced trust accounting for their commercial portfolio of 3,500 commercial properties.

Trend to watch in the industry?

Cloud-based real estate software. Programs such as Rockend’s PropertyTree are designed for the future and deliver leading technology and innovations to transform the way you work.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 3

ISSUE 08 OCT/NOV 2016

epm.eliteagent.com.au CHRIS GRAY – Guest Editor chris@yourempire.com.au SAMANTHA MCLEAN – Managing Editor samantha@eliteagent.com.au MARK EDWARDS – Publisher | Commercial Partnerships mark@eliteagent.com.au MOIRA DANIELS – Deputy Editor moira@eliteagent.com.au JILL BONIFACE – Sub-Editor jill@eliteagent.com.au TOM SULLIVAN Commercial Partnerships | Digital tom@eliteagent.com.au SHANTELLE ISAAKS – Marketing Assistant / Newsroom shantelle@eliteagent.com.au FEATURE WRITERS – Iolanthe Gabrie, Steve Mallach CHORUS DESIGN – Art Direction/Design Cover photograph: Resident Magazine, Northern Territory

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4 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

GUEST EDITOR’S NOTE CHRIS GRAY

J

JUST AS THERE’S not one single property market, there’s not one solution for property management businesses. It all depends on the particular investor you’re dealing with and the local property market in your area.

I’m a contrarian and tend to do the opposite to what most regular people do, and that goes for business and for investment. If you’re good at what you do, you can be successful without technology or even any office, staff or brochures. Of course, you probably still need a computer, phone and website!

Day to day I wear a few different hats, which have given me a multi-layered insight into property management. As an investor with 14 properties worth around $15 million, I deal with property managers as

a direct client. Then, as a shareholder of a property management company and a buyer’s agent who purchases 50 to 100 units a year on behalf of my clients, I also know what time-poor professionals looking for passive investments require from a property manager.

I’m all for finding simpler ways of doing things and technology can assist with this to a degree. As an investor, if I’m going through a remortgage to extract equity and buy further investments, the banks always want copies of my latest statements. If they’re all online and easy for me to access, not only can I get my application in quicker but I don’t need to contact my property manager when his time is best spent looking after my properties.

I built a business with virtually no administration as I knew my employees and customers hated it, and I encourage more people to think like this to minimise it where possible.

Whilst some clients are very particular and want to know every single detail of what happens to their property on a daily basis, I try and get my clients pre-framed to concentrate on the bigger picture from day one.

Although every extra dollar you make in rent and every

dollar saved on repairs and property management fees makes a difference, it’s best not to focus on the day-to-day dollars and cents too closely.

If a $500,000 property rises at $25,000 to $50,000 over the long term (five to 10 per cent), wouldn’t it be better to concentrate on buying an extra property rather than trying to squeeze a few cents out of your current one?

Some clients want to hear from their property managers every month or quarter, but I would prefer to pay my agents more not to hear from them.

At the start of a new lease, I tell my agents that if any property repairs required are valued at under $1,000, just go ahead and fix them. If repairs will cost over $1,000, I have the agent notify me by email before proceeding.

We’ve recently introduced an automatic system in our

I BUILT A BUSINESS WITH VIRTUALLY NO ADMINISTRATION AS I KNEW MY EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS HATED IT, AND I ENCOURAGE MORE PEOPLE TO THINK LIKE THIS TO MINIMISE IT WHERE POSSIBLE. property management company where the landlord, the tenant and the tradesman all get notified that an issue has arisen and it’s going to be fixed.

I’m sure lots of landlords love this, but for me, it’s just another email that I don’t really need.

Many businesses outsource their bookkeeping (which is then often re-outsourced

overseas) and then have an interim CFO come in, and I think we will see similar processes in property management. There needs to be a friendly face or voice to sign up the landlords and to meet the tenants, but most other back office elements can be transacted in volume elsewhere for a fraction of the current costs.

If you’re in property management and want to be the best in the business, it’s always good to be abreast of new technology. However, remember that you’re not going to meet the needs of every person with one single system; there is still a need to be able to sell to your landlord and form a relationship with them. There will always be another competitor with new technology, so you cannot let technology be the only feather in your cap.

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER COMPETITOR WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY, SO YOU CANNOT LET TECHNOLOGY BE THE ONLY FEATHER IN YOUR CAP.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 5

UPFRONT

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Keys going missing?

Keylog is your answer We’ve all heard it before: “who’s got the keys?”

– and then people start racing around looking for the missing set. It’s an age-old problem in real estate as so many keys are managed, and keeping track of who is borrowing them can be difficult. The handwritten key book just can’t manage this process any more given the volume of rental and sale properties under management today. Now there is an easy solution: Keylog.

Keylog is a premium cloud-based solution for managing all types of property keys and more.

With a suite of modules within the system, Keylog is able to manage many processes in your business that you need to keep track of on a daily basis, essentially replacing manual books and tasks that take up time and productivity.

Australian made and Australia-wide Keylog was the first dedicated application to truly address the issue of managing property keys.

Keylog services the real estate industry as a

whole, including strata companies or holiday agencies, essentially any business that needs to manage and track keys, assets, staff and more.

They’ve identified the problem of manually trying to keep track of items that are borrowed within your business and created an easy-to-use, efficient and economical cloud-based system to alleviate those processes and procedures that are largely forgotten or ignored.

The platform was designed around the client’s needs and requests, ensuring that the latest features and technologies are applied consistently. Since inception in early 2014 Keylog has delivered ongoing exceptional service with a dedicated in-house development and support team. With over 1,300-plus users accessing Keylog every day, it is the go-to system for tracking keys.

If you need an efficient system in your office to manage client keys and more, Keylog is the best solution for you.

For more information or to chat live, visit keylog.com.au.

6 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

Realty Bytes

Alister Maple-Brown, CEO, Rockend

SMART HOMES: A WINDOW TO THE FUTURE THE HUMBLE WINDOW has always been iconic,

a go-to design differentiator for architects and an important feature for homeowners. With the increase in the number of ‘smart homes’ now popping up, their features may soon even include the ability for self-cleaning.

T

he term ‘smart home’ conjures up images of modern architectural masterpieces of the future, complete with robot butlers and a customisable home environment that automatically adapts based on conditions like air quality, temperature and occupier preferences.

It might seem a far-off vision of the future, but it’s not. The trend of home automation continues to unveil new and awe-inspiring technologies on a daily basis – and our windows are no exception.

We already have access to gadgets, apps and devices that can be integrated with windows to ensure home safety and alert us if a window is ajar. And there are motorised window coverings and electric openers that allow us to remotely control window treatments from across the room, country or even the globe.

But now window technology is going a step further. ‘Smart windows’ are here, with glass that adapts to changing conditions either automatically or with the flick of a switch.

Electrochromic windows change tint on demand, from completely

transparent to opaque with the touch of a button. Liquid crystal windows use electric currents to switch between clear and translucent. Thermochromic windows also adjust for tint and opacity, with changes driven by temperature. And photochromic windows alter their tint based on the level of brightness. Yes, these innovations make for a more comfortable environment for us – but the energy efficiency benefits are also obvious.

Taking a step further, there’s even the potential for windows to be used for communication.

Imagine being able to see directly into a friend’s living room as you video chat with them – the image projected directly onto your own living room window. With both screen and glass technologies advancing so rapidly, this is really not so far-fetched.

But does any of this solve the problem of how to say goodbye to the chore of window cleaning?

The good news is that this wish can be a reality – self-cleaning windows are already available!

ALISTER MAPLE-BROWN is the CEO of Rockend. For more information visit rockend.com.au.

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SEEN + HEARD

ARPM 2016

ARPM 2016 WAS A HUGE event this year, attracting around 700 delegates and sponsors keen to learn from the best in the property management industry. For more interviews with speakers and videos from the event, visit eliteagent.com.au/arpm16.

DON’T LEAVE A DOLLAR ON THE TABLE PAGE 30

OUTSOURCING PROSPECTING: BRIDGING THE LEADERSHIP CAN IT BE DONE? PAGE 64 SKILLS GAP PAGE 66

ORM ANSF TO TR TEAM TIME THE PMTECHNOLOGY HARNESSING LENGE CHALBIG DATA FOR

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PROSPECTING

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8 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

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WILL THE WORK NEW DRONE FOR YOU? RULES PAGE 18

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READER PROFILE

JUST DO IT! After starting as a receptionist for a real estate agency in 1985, Joanne Avenell soon crossed over into property management. After a while, she started her own boutique PM office on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, as part of the Eview Group Your Brand, Your Business model.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Eview.

After working in real estate for most of my career, two years ago when Eview Group launched the ‘Your Brand Your Business’ model I made the decision to start up my own boutique property management department, Eview Nepean Rentals.

The office is located in the beachside town of McCrae on the Mornington Peninsula.

Although it was my main

aim to focus on property management, I was approached by agents within the Eview Group with a proposal to come and work alongside me. We have now grown to an amazing team of five agents, two admin staff and two-and-a-half property managers.

What motivated you to get into real estate?

Like most property managers, I started on reception and

Keep the client informed before they call you and always respond to them, even if it is just a quick note to say we don’t have an answer but will get back to you shortly.

then went into sales and office management for a while. I then progressed to property management and knew straightaway that this was my passion.

How is the market in your local area right now?

The market is strong at present, with very low vacancy rates.

We are seeing the Peninsula change from a holiday location to more permanent housing, with families coming down to enjoy the relaxed lifestyle.

Who or what inspires you?

Manos and Maria Findikakis have been a huge inspiration in helping me on my journey to owning my own business.

I’m also inspired when training new property managers and seeing them with the same passion about making a career in property management.

In your briefcase right now is...?

My iPad, phone, makeup case, nail file, keys (probably rentals that should be in the office), glasses, business cards and loads of pens.

What apps do you use most at the moment on your iPhone or iPad? Evernote, as it syncs with the

10 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

phone, iPad and laptop, and I can write all my reminder notes or those little lightbulb moments you have. We use Console Live Agent for all our routines, condition reports and photos, YouTube, and Flashlight to find keys in the dark.

What is one top tip for good client communication?

Keep the client informed before they call you and always respond to them, even if it is just a quick note to say we don’t have an answer but will get back to you shortly.

Never leave them chasing you for a response.

Is there something you couldn’t live without?

My family is my life and my ‘why’ in business.

What advice would you give someone starting out in property management?

Find a company who cares about the property management department, always take time out to listen to the client and their concerns or instructions, and make time management skills a priority.

Do you have any words to live by or a favourite quote?

I like the Nike quote: Just do it!

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COMING SOON!

CONFESSIONS:

Every agent has a story....

MOST PROPERTY managers can recount several moments in

their careers where they learn, or they grow.

OUR NEW VIDEO SERIES features some well-known property managers, coaches and industry personalities as they tell stories that they have never told before... and what they would do differently if they had the chance to have their time over again. Look out for some of your favourite EPM contributors including Jess Kindt, Tara Bradbury, Iolanthe Gabrie plus some other very familiar faces.

Series commences late October 2016. Visit eliteagent.com.au/pmstories for more information or follow us on Facebook to be first to see our stories: facebook.com/eliteagentmag.

12 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

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EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT…

PM TRANSFORM:

THE HALFWAY POINT TIME TO CHECK IN with our PM Transform teams to

see what they have learned in their journey so far. Our four teams include a director, property manager and BDM from each office working together to transform their business and their careers.

TEAM R&W HURLSTONE PARK Adriana Dendrinos, Principal I feel really privileged to have been given the opportunity through the Transform Program to have access to such a diverse range of speakers and information about our industry. One of my favourite things so far has been the psychological profiles from Agent Dynamics. These were real eye-openers both for me personally and

for the team. I think understanding how staff best work, and what their particular strengths and weaknesses are, will be invaluable knowledge to propel our business forward.

Peter Knight gave a great session at ARPM on PM businesses in the UK. The concept of providing a menu of conciergetype services struck me as a great business model to aim for, moving the focus of our business from the transactional to the advisory and therefore becoming ‘trusted advisors’, less likely to be replaced by technology down the track.

14 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

Top tips from Adriana • Listen to your staff – they have great, frontline, practical ideas to help you drive change through your business; • Be the master of technology – control it and use it to make the mundane tasks almost automatic, but don't let it control or distract you from your objectives.

Mary Karam, Property Manager I think one of my favourite lessons so far has been how to minimise conflict with Sarah Bell understanding how it unfolds, recognising different personalities and tailoring our communication, plus learning the different outcomes from an emotional versus a rational reaction.

Top tips from Mary • Set goals for yourself, but think carefully; the aim should be to increase your time, results and profit, and reduce your stress!

• Try to get all tenants on monthly payments. This way you reduce your follow-up calls and the cost incurred to the business for every transaction.

Angela Caukill, Leasing and New Business I really enjoyed Samantha’s session on identifying different personality types, and loved the Agent Dynamics debrief to see how we can work better together as a team.

Top tips from Angela • Make sure you stand out from the crowd, and make sure everyone’s experience is a positive and rewarding one.

• Be your local and market expert: remember, knowledge is power.

TEAM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT HQ , CENTRAL COAST Kelley Seaton, Director John Knight’s session drilled down on the elements of business and internal workings on performance growth, drivers of value, removing waste and giving us his tips and insights. My takehome of his session was to benchmark profit, and how to add more value, and how to remove waste.

Top tips from Kelley • Consider getting rid of properties that are perhaps lower commissions, or those out-of-zone properties. It’s about quality, not quantity.

• Work out your waste and eliminate it; for example, travelling to out-of-zone properties costs time and money, and may not be worth it.

Kim Clewett, Property Manager My favourite thing about Transform so far has been Heidi Walkinshaw from Real+ coaching me to manage my time more effectively. Second is seeing our profiles from Agent Dynamics.

It is amazing when all the profiles are combined and you see how you look as a team!

Top tips from Kim • Achieve better time management skills by allowing 10 to 15 minutes every afternoon to make a to-do list for the following day.

• To survive this crazy world that is property management, always be

yourself. If you have a passion for what you do you will always succeed.

Haley Hawkins, BDM I have taken away many things from this experience so far, but the ones coming to mind are about the social styles of people from Sam, ++learning what these are, and knowing that our approach cannot be ‘one size fits all’!

Top tips from Haley • When pitching at a listing presentation be confident, genuine, authentic and create trust. Find out what the client needs or wants and use this to your advantage.

• Make sure you do all the little things right, know your stuff and be confident!

TEAM ZELLE, ALBURY Philip Bell, Principal I now know we need to make property management our number one. More particular focus is needed in my office for the development of the PM department. To this end, we are building better systems, focusing more on KPIs and revamping our marketing.

A tip from Phil • As a result of everything we’ve learned, we have decided to go to a cloud-based PM software system and have trialled the two we shortlisted.

We will be ready to go to migration next month, all things going to plan!

Robert Bell, BDM Where do I start? The sessions we have had have all been incredible.

Just to talk with and work alongside likeminded people in the industry has been a great eye-opener on how to do things better. Lauren Kirk from Real+ has been my personal coach for business development and has been fantastic to work with. My favourite session to date has been the Lead Generation with Real+. This was a fantastic way to really open up my mind, from using my existing clients to how to build new business and where to find it. A great refresher for anyone!

Top tips from Rob • Continue to educate the landlord about property management, even once you have secured the management.

• Be confident about your fees when presenting them at an appraisal; take ownership of them.

Kira Bauerle, Property Manager All the sessions have been fantastic. My favourite things would be the use of a time log, time planning for better time management, be your own brand and how technology has really evolved in our industry!

A tip from Kira • In our industry our words are our tools.

We need to have the ability to give clients a clear understanding of our jargon to resolve issues and manage conflict successfully.

eliteagent.com.au 15

EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT… TEAM HARCOURTS ADELAIDE HILLS Trent Shorland, Director The most important thing I have learned so far was in my private mentoring session with Fiona Blayney, when we discussed and worked out what my hourly rate was. We then dug deeper into questioning what jobs I should be doing based on my hourly rate. I now find myself analysing every job I do and challenging myself to change my thought processes!

Top tips from Trent • The profiling of our staff, plus myself, that was completed by Julie and Neil of Agent Dynamics has many benefits, both individually and as a group!

• I also think we need to constantly look at the technology we are using; property management is an area that moves quickly and so it is important to make sure the technology can support it.

Kerry Holding, BDM As a BDM it’s so hard to know what to do first sometimes, and I’ve really enjoyed learning how to prioritise lead generation (tools, tips and tricks) from Lauren at Real+. She has helped make everything very clear and simple.

Top tips from Kerry • At ARPM Samantha McLean said we shouldn’t be afraid of change; you have

MEET THE CURRENT ROUND OF ‘TRANSFORMERS’

to stay curious in an ever-changing world.

• If you are a BDM, structure a call plan and track which activities generate the most leads.

Rachel Torney, Property Manager The PM Transform process has been by far the best thing to date for my career. One of the many beneficial things that have happened has been getting my agent profile done by Agent Dynamics; it has changed the way in which I approach every task, knowing my strengths and challenges. Getting the chance to have one-on-one coaching plus group coaching sessions has been very informative and helpful.

Top tips from Rachel • I would thoroughly encourage any PM, or anyone in real estate, to get an agent profile done by Agent Dynamics.

• Just be authentic and caring.

Transform would not be possible without our fantastic coaches and industry suppliers who have provided some amazing coaching and tools for our PM Transform teams.

Here is a snapshot of some thoughts from our coaches.

Fiona Blayney, Real+, Head Coach and Program Mentor I knew that Transform was going to be an amazing journey; I had so much to give and was excited to get started. In truth, I had not prepared myself for what I would gain from this process. Each week I look forward to our sessions. I have learnt so much from each one of the participants; their energy, humility, gratitude and dedication continue to inspire me.

In saying that, it’s been pretty gruelling at times. We’ve cut deep and peeled back the layers of years, some personal, some business; we’ve worked hard to identify our truth and our desires for the future.

We’ve been breaking lots of stuff, but in true Transform style everyone has been painstakingly putting things back together.

It’s not about where you are right now; it’s about where you want to be, and these guys are working hard to make it happen.

I am truly honoured to be working with such an inspiring group of people.

Heidi Walkinshaw, Real+ Whilst Rome wasn’t built in a day, it’s inspiring to see what can be achieved when you put your mind to it.

Transform has reaffirmed the notion that you really can do anything; the challenge is working out what that anything is! It has given me

16 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

such joy helping our participants unpack their world and prepare for the adventure ahead. We’ve been working through each process in the office, deconstructing it and using the content from each week’s session, as well as the Real+ methods, quickly constructing a new city.

Lauren Kirk, Real+ It’s one thing to know what to do, it’s another to put it into practice, and incredible to be doing it in rapid time.

Working with the newbusiness managers has been a rollercoaster as they each work to establish their personal growth plan and start putting it into practice. So much opportunity has been discovered; whilst a good problem to have, it’s been hard work emotionally and physically to gain momentum. The light is coming, but there is no time to rest. For any of us!

Charles Tarbey, CEO, Century 21 Australasia In my Transform coaching session, I spoke about creating short-term objectives in a quality environment – the environment being both physically and emotionally appealing.

We spend most of our waking day getting ready for, getting to, being at and winding down from work. If we are not comfortable and not achieving daily wins, the pleasure of work disappears and the pain sets in.

I believe communication is the key for property management success. Most property management structures have an individual dealing with a number of landlords and tenants, meaning that when a landlord or tenant needs information, the phone tagging begins if that person is not available.

I urge all property managers to place emphasis on maintaining a speedy and professional line of communication between tenants, landlords and your property management team.

Sarah Bell, LinkLearn It was no surprise to me that the Transform program had attracted such an engaging and positive group!

Understanding the model of how conflict works and how people behave by default as parties in conflict is a crucial skill for property managers, who need to resolve issues and restore relationships so that the best interests of the client are represented within the broader considerations of the tenancy. Speaking with some of the group afterwards, it was rewarding to see how their minds had turned to using this new knowledge and how they are applying it to the situations they are dealing with right now, whether with clients or in the workplace.

Neil Williams, Agent Dynamics Julie and I have had a great time working with the Transform participants. Their enthusiasm for our Performance Management Profiling has been fantastic and we really enjoyed interacting with the individual teams when we de-briefed them on their results. We really got a sense of their commitment to improvement and a ready acceptance of the benefits of team profiling. The standout for us was the strength of culture that was rock-solid in all the teams. Culture really is the glue that binds successful businesses together and is the common thread to success. Well done to them all, and we look forward to following their journeys.

John Knight, Business Depot Whether you are striving for profit, striving for growth in value or striving for both, you need to be able to track

the performance of your property management business distinct from any other division of your business. Once you have clarity on your business and how it is performing, you can focus on the one-percenters that will increase your profit and/or grow your rent roll.

I look forward to seeing the Dynamic Dozen taking their businesses to the next level!

Fiona Mott, Rockend It’s been a terrific experience to be part of PM Transform. We hear about business intelligence and the collation of data into meaningful reports and are often overwhelmed with the number of reports we need to sift through to gain this insight. Now we are able to view our property management office KPI statistics on a highly visual dashboard: realbenchmark.

Furthermore, we can benchmark those metrics to truly measure our KPIs to other comparable businesses – a real gamechanger! The PM Dynamic Dozen have amazing energy and now, with great insight into their businesses, I’m looking forward to seeing some amazing results.

Hannah Gill, Independent Property Management It was really great to work with the Dynamic Dozen – their hunger to learn and challenge themselves is exciting.

I enjoyed the opportunity to share with them my experiences as a BDM – it’s all about doing the little things well and adding value to stand out from the crowd.

I have total confidence in their ability to do this and I’m sure they’ll continue to achieve and excel. Watch this space – we’re going to see great things from them. As I put it to them, “be so good they can’t ignore you”. ■

OUR PM TRANSFORM MAJOR SPONSORS

eliteagent.com.au 17

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT…

WHAT THEY REALLY, REALLY WANT:

REALESTATE.COM.AU SURVEYS LANDLORDS IF YOU’RE A PROPERTY MANAGER, you probably think

you’ve got landlords’ behaviours, motivations, likes and dislikes pinned down. However, vital new research conducted by realestate.com.au on landlords’ needs and wants challenges those stereotypes. Iolanthe Gabrie sat down with REA’s Group Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee and Product Manager for Rental Services Richard Bray, who unpacked for us some of the key findings of their Landlord Research Report.

Iolanthe Gabrie

Richard Bray

18 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

Nerida Conisbee

Elite Agent: Do you think that technology will erode the place of the property manager? If not, why not?

Richard Bray: I don’t think it will erode the place of a property manager. It will make real estate agencies more efficient, so they won’t need as many staff. It will allow property managers to have more streamlined, less stressed roles. Property managers use many programs which do not speak to one another; technology will systemise, integrate and streamline processes for them and their tenants, making the whole industry less stressed.

Nerida Conisbee: I don’t think it will replace the place of the property manager. There’s always a need to have personal interaction when people are dealing with large-scale investments, whether that’s buying, leasing or managing an investment. Technology will always lead to change, making it easier for people to report issues with their properties. But there’s always a need for someone to actually deal with the issue at hand in property management.

EA: Based on your research findings, what is the most critical aspect of promotion that a property management department or individual property manager can do to bring new clients on board?

RB: Research shows that local area expertise is critical. A property manager or agency can demonstrate value by showing how much they know about the area – whether that’s the amount of time they’ve traded, or how involved in the community they are. If they can demonstrate their understanding, that’s what landlords want.

NC: The things that people like most about good property managers is that they are communicative and professional.

“Landlords are expecting property managers to be like an employee they’re investing in.”

They’re responsive, they return calls, they fix things quickly. Having local knowledge is also very important.

Fees are also an issue. We found that most people were pretty happy with the amount they were paying, but you don’t want fees to make using a property manager unaffordable.

EA: What do landlords view as the biggest disappointment in their property manager / tenant relationships?

RB: Communication. Landlords are expecting property managers to be like an employee they’re investing in. When they don’t get a fast response back, or they feel like they’re left out of the loop, they’re annoyed.

Everyone’s different when it comes to communication. It’s important to try and understand the kind of landlord they are – whether it’s their first investment property and they’re really concerned about everything, or whether it’s their tenth and they’re happy for their property manager to go ahead and get maintenance items fixed without calling them.

NC: I would say it’s communication – or a lack of it. That’s something a lot of property managers can rectify. If you don’t respond quickly to issues, that can become a problem for investors. Things don’t need to be resolved straightaway either. There’s a misconception that to be a good property manager you need to fix

a problem quickly. Often things can’t be fixed quickly, but what you can do quickly is communicate: talk to the landlord, talk to the tenant.

EA: What did landlords appreciate most?

RB: Follow-up. If you say you’re going to do something, come back and tick it off. If something needs to be fixed, loop back with the landlord to confirm that maintenance has been completed.

NC: Specialist knowledge of the market and of their property is critical to landlords.

EA: What is the principal motivation behind investors selecting property ownership?

RB: Bricks and mortar is something that landlords seem to understand. Landlords will often live in the area they buy in; they consider it a good area, so they’re using logic to invest. The sharemarket is a much riskier proposition. Landlords feel somewhat educated in property, rather than going on to learn the machinations of a whole new marketplace which is comparatively volatile.

NC: There’s lots of reasons – one of them is that we’ve seen really good returns for property. Although yields have been low for some cities, we have seen pretty good capital growth overall. Looking at it from a total returns perspective, residential property has done pretty well. There’s tax incentives like negative gearing to take advantage of, too.

People like property because they can touch it and feel it – they feel as though they have some control over it. If you’re investing in BHP as a small investor, you’d have very little ability to impact the performance or direction of the company.

If you’ve got your own property you can renovate, change tenants, change property manager – you can improve performance in a number of ways.

EA: Do you think landlords are generally socially responsible in their relationship with tenants?

RB: It really comes back to property managers educating their landlords.

If landlords are attempting to do maintenance themselves, this can come at a cost. If their Uncle Kevin is coming to fix the heater but can’t attend for two weeks, their tenants are going to think about moving. The landlord needs to treat the property with care, and

the tenants in turn will also care for the property. The property manager bears the responsibility for having that tough conversation and putting their landlord back in place.

NC: I think most landlords are pretty good. Many want to treat people respectfully. The average investor wants to make sure that they have a good tenant who looks after the property rather than someone who pays more rent.

EA: What’s the most interesting piece of information from this research?

RB: What surprised me was the amount of multiple investment properties that landlords own. One in three owns multiple properties. Of these, 47 per cent use different property managers. This is a huge opportunity for property managers to win new business by having a simple conversation. For national franchises, there’s also an opportunity to keep managements within their network.

The other interesting factor was about technology. We asked landlords if they had two agents to pick from – one who used technology extensively and the other who didn’t – which they would choose. We found that 92 per cent would pick the agent with technology.

NC: People are pretty happy with

“Fees are also an issue. We found that most people were pretty happy with the amount they were paying, but you don’t want fees to make using a property manager unaffordable.” the property managers they use; 72 per cent of respondents felt property management services were good value for money. Quite a few people don’t use property managers – well over 10 per cent of landlords – but whether that’s because they don’t like using them, because they have a great relationship with their tenants or because they have the time to manage the property themselves is unknown. ■

eliteagent.com.au 19

Jo-Anne Oliveri

FIRST PERSON

5 emerging technologies to help you stand out ALTHOUGH THEY MAY REMIND you of the pipedream fantasies

showcased in the old TV show ‘Beyond 2000’, coach Jo-Anne Oliveri has identified five trending technologies that may help you get ahead of the game.

If you want to be the agency of choice and stand out from your competitors, it’s up to you to be an early adopter. Here are five new technologies you should explore that are trending now.

1

HOLOGRAPHIC MEETINGS If you think holograms are an unlikely technology for property managers to use in their day-to-day operations, think again! Holographic video conferencing via the

conferencing is replaced by holographic meetings, with large corporates already using the technology. From an industry perspective, imagine the benefits of being able to interact with interstate or overseas clients as if they were right there in your agency’s for-lease properties.

With the potential to further break down communication barriers, property management businesses that adopt this technology will be light years ahead of their competitors.

CONTRACTORS CAN NOW RECEIVE A ‘VIRTUAL KEY’ – A CODE WITH A DATE AND TIME WHEN THEY CAN ACCESS A PROPERTY. THIS EFFECTIVELY REMOVES THE NEED TO PASS ON TRADITIONAL KEYS TO THIRD PARTIES, SAVING YOUR BUSINESS TIME AND MONEY. TeleHuman allows people to be projected as 3D images from pods located anywhere in the world. You can then interact with these holographic people as if they were there in the same room.

Whilst this might sound far too futuristic, it won’t be long before traditional video

2

BODY CAMERAS The advancement in Body Worn Videos (BWVs) is a game-changer for the property management industry. Whilst BWVs were originally designed for law enforcement agencies, the technology’s recent developments make them a

20 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

useful tool for our industry.

Small, lightweight, wearable, and able to record and archive video and audio, the possibilities for body cameras to be used in our industry are endless.

BWVs are the perfect tool for assisting with mitigation, litigation and safety matters in your property management business. Property managers

can use these cameras to record video and audiobased evidence for disputes, tribunal matters, property inspections, and even help protect themselves when working out of office. It is the new safeguard you should adopt if you want to raise the bar in your business.

3

SMART LOCKS Soon to be the norm in our industry, smart locks are electromechanical locks designed to lock and unlock property access points when they receive instructions from authorised devices. Safer than their traditional counterparts, smart locks provide peace of mind by recording who has accessed properties and at what times.

This new technology allows property managers to grant and deny access to properties by way of their smartphones.

For example, contractors can now receive a ‘virtual key’ – a code with a date and

time when they can access a property. This effectively removes the need to pass on traditional keys to third parties, saving your business time and money. If you want to be an industry leader, you should be the first to adopt this innovative technology.

4

DRUG DETECTION Methamphetamine production in rental properties is a growing issue for our industry. The toxicity from clandestine methamphetamine laboratories (CMLs) can cause serious health issues if tenants unknowingly reside in, or property managers unknowingly inspect, these contaminated properties, even if the CMLs have long been taken down.

With tenants becoming more aware of drug labs, they inevitably want evidence confirming their rentals have not previously been used as CMLs. Likewise, property managers have the right to

know when they are entering toxic properties. As a result, affordable drug detection technology is now available to measure properties’ toxicity levels.

These meth tests should become part of your day-today property management operations. Not only will this raise your standards and help you be the agency of choice for tenants and employees, it may also deter would-be drug manufacturers.

5

DIGITAL SOLAR Digital Solar is a scheme which divides the savings between the landlord and the tenant from solar energy produced through solar panels on the roof. Digital solar boxes, or smartbox meters, can monitor solar energy production and measure energy consumption.

The benefits of installing these meters are threefold: investors receive an additional income stream, tenants receive cheaper, greener energy, and property management businesses earn extra management fees for facilitating the process.

This new technology effectively allows property managers to add value to their investors’ and agency’s bottom lines. As a result, implementing digital solar into your property management business’ operations is another way to remain relevant with your clients and keep ahead of the game. ■ JO-ANNE OLIVERI, CIPS, TRC, is the Founder and Managing Director of PM business solutions company ireviloution intelligence.

She is an international real estate identity who has trained over 500 agencies and thousands of agency owners and PMs worldwide.

For more information visit ireviloution.com.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 21

FIRST PERSON

Bradley Beer

When property age is an advantage

FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS who have older property listings on

their books, a reminder about tax deductions can help secure investor buyers for older properties. Bradley Beer explains.

While it’s sometimes true that older properties will later result in additional expenses due to the need to complete more regular repairs, many expenses involved in holding an old or new income-producing property are tax deductible.

Reminding potential investors about the expenses they can claim at tax time can help to win over buyers who are deciding whether a property is right for them.

Of all the expenses investors can claim, the one most often missed is property depreciation. As buildings get older and experience wear and tear they depreciate.

The ATO allows investors to claim this depreciation as a tax deduction.

Depreciation deduction falls under two categories: • Capital works deductions for wear and tear of the structure and fixed items • Plant and equipment depreciation for the mechanical and easily removable items contained within the property, such as carpets and air conditioners Those who purchase older properties are more likely to miss out on claiming the maximum depreciation deductions available. The main reason this occurs is

because often these investors assume that their property is too old to receive deductions.

This could stem from misunderstanding current tax legislation, which states that capital works deductions are restricted to those properties in which construction

commenced after 15 September 1987. However, this rule does not mean that owners of older properties are unable to claim depreciation.

On the contrary, these owners are still entitled to substantial deductions for the plant and equipment assets

AN OLD THREE-BEDROOM HOUSE PURCHASED FOR $500,000 SCENARIO WITHOUT DEPRECIATION CLAIM

SCENARIO WITH A DEPRECIATION CLAIM OF $6,000

Annual expenses

$36,738

Annual expenses

$36,738

Annual income

$25,480

Annual income

$25,480

Pre-tax cash flow (expenses income)

-$11,258

Pre-tax cash flow (expenses income)

-$11,258

Total taxation loss

-$11,258

Total taxation loss (pre-tax cash flow + depreciation)

-$17,258

Tax refund (tax loss x tax rate of 37%)

$4,165

Tax refund (tax loss x tax rate of 37%)

$6,385

Annual costs of the investment property (pretax cash flow + refund)

$7,093

Annual costs of the investment property (pretax cash flow + refund)

$4,873

Weekly cost of the investment property

$136

Weekly cost of the investment property

$94

DIFFERENCE OF $42 PER WEEK The depreciation deductions in this case study have been calculated using the diminishing value method of depreciation. A 37 per cent income tax bracket has also been assumed.

22 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

contained within the property.

If any renovations have been completed more recently they could also be entitled to capital works deductions.

This is the case even if the renovations were done by the previous owner, as long as they were completed within the ATO's legislated dates.

Research conducted by BMT Tax Depreciation suggests that during the 2014-15 financial year, 21.5 per cent of depreciation schedules were for properties built prior to 1987. BMT also found that, on average, owners of these properties could claim $4,445 in depreciation in the first financial year alone and $31,166 over the first 10 years.

It’s important that the investor looks at both the before-tax and after-tax scenarios to get a true picture of what the costs of owning the property would be.

The example (left) shows the difference that claiming depreciation would make for an investor who is considering purchasing an older threebedroom house for $500,000.

The real estate professional helped the investor by providing a rental appraisal.

They were also able to help estimate the expenses involved in holding the property, which totalled $36,738. The agent contacted BMT Tax Depreciation, who estimated the investor could claim $6,000 in depreciation in the first financial year.

The scenario shows that depreciation would improve the investor’s tax return by $2,220 in the first year alone.

A specialist Quantity Surveyor can provide estimates for any listing, which can easily be included in a sales information pack. ■

BRADLEY BEER (B. Con. Mgt, AAIQS, MRICS, AVAA) is the CEO of BMT Tax Depreciation.

Visit bmtqs.com.au.

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Property Management Mentor

Natalie Hastings

CLOUD NINE: KEEPING YOUR AGENCY SAFELY ONLINE From database and administration apps to major accounting and file-sharing platforms, Natalie Hastings looks at the cloud technology that is moving the industry forward.

R

emember the advent of the internet and mobile phones, and the technophobe principals who thought the internet and real estate portals were just a fad? The ones who believed newspaper adverts and letterbox-dropping would continue as the best way to advertise property and market their brand? It’s likely that those initially-resistant principals went one of two ways: they either adapted their thinking, or they melted into retirement or obscurity.

Real estate businesses are essentially marketing businesses with a local focus.

Just like hastings + co (as a business we rely heavily on the cloud), they would not be able to exist without the assistance of technology. We rely on technology every day to help train our clients from afar, providing a personal service despite the tyranny of distance. We regularly access our clients’ office computers remotely to transfer funds on their behalf to their clients, including landlords and tradespeople. As estate agencies across Australia and New Zealand use a variety of real estate accounting packages, our team employs technology to stay up-skilled in over 17 banking software platforms – no mean feat!

Naturally, we love technology in our office as it allows us

to be nimble and virtually paperless, too.

I think it’s safe to say that many estate agencies’ efficiencies could be improved by the use of cloudbased applications across the business. By deleting clunky, easily-destroyed paper-based systems, you’re enabling your agency to go truly mobile, which is what the market demands. hastings + co’s operation is wholly managed by cloud-based applications; here are our favourites:

understanding of their cashflow is just the beginning – you can even reconcile using a Xero app while on the road!

GoToMeeting: A screensharing application that allows you to work together with team members when you’re not in the same location.

Great for problem-solving in property management where software can be complex.

REST Mobile: Your entire REST database can fit in the palm of your hand on any device. REST Mobile means

BY DELETING CLUNKY, EASILYDESTROYED PAPER-BASED SYSTEMS, YOU’RE ENABLING YOUR AGENCY TO GO TRULY MOBILE. Dropbox: A secure filesharing platform which allows teams to access information they all require via permissions. Great for collaboration with photographers, floor planners and copywriters too – they can upload media directly into your private agency Dropbox.

Xero: An incredibly powerful Australian-built cloud-based accounting platform! Allowing principals to gain a better

24 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

you can retrieve owner, tenant and property details on the go, saving you from embarrassment next time a landlord whose details you can’t quite recall catches you on the fly. You can also call, text or email contacts live from the app, in addition to seeing creditor details – and even property key numbers, alarm codes and maintenance details! A real lifesaver. realbenchmark: New

Rockend technology, this is a KPI and benchmarking tool which makes connecting to your business pulse a doddle.

Accessible from any device, realbenchmark offers an intuitive platform which allows PMs to compare and analyse their KPI performance data results in one place. The data is already prepared and can be filtered to produce reports based on your own needs.

Inspect Real Estate: RegisterOnline is a property manager’s right hand.

This clever tool schedules, registers, books and reports on open for inspections.

Offering a booking system which allows tenants to make appointments to view property, it cuts down on admin and confirmation.

Upon registration, tenants receive confirmation regarding their open for inspection appointment plus an application form. They also receive an inspection reminder.

Other hastings + co cloudbased favourites include WORKetc, Gmail, LogMeIn, join.me and TeamViewer.

This technology decreases running costs, and we don’t require a costly server or any third-party IT support. ■

NATALIE HASTINGS is the Managing Director of hastings + co. For more information, visit hastingsandco.com.au.

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Business Development Mastery

Tara Bradbury

8 WAYS TO BECOME A BDM TRAILBLAZER Achieving market-leading BDM status takes effort - and there are plenty of opportunities for the ‘trailblazers’ out there who are keen to push the boundaries, says Tara Bradbury.

L

eaders in BD don’t wait for opportunities.

They create opportunities. A leader in BD is about one thing: helping their clients see and achieve things they didn’t think were possible.

A good property management BDM needs to be multi-faceted, as there are so many different aspects to the job. If you like a routine existence in which one work day is much the same as any other, then odds are the job of BDM is not for you.

Having said that, the primary aspect of the role of BDM is sales: you will be looking for ways to generate and then convert leads to boost the business and profitability of the agency. You can do this by promoting your brand, networking, building new relationships, offering additional products and services to existing clients and being creative about reaching and attracting new clients.

If your landlord doesn’t see you as a market leader you run the risk of missing out on being the first port of call when they need you the most.

Remember, it’s not what you sell, it’s how you help the landlord make decisions that is the difference.

WHAT YOU NEED While you will use your excellent organisational skills

to plan your work schedule, there will undoubtedly be unexpected issues to deal with during the course of a day. These could be anything from an opportunity to be followed up with a client to a problem within the team.

The skills required for a BDM include (but are not limited to): • Presentation • Negotiation • Sales • Networking/relationship building • Delegation • Management of others • Problem-solving • Decision-making • Communication • Time management • Personal organisation You’ll also need to have a complete understanding of the products and services offered by your agency, and of the real estate industry in general.

Keep up to date with news and changes in legislation, and be aware of key players and major competitors.

An efficient and expanding property management department is key to an agency’s long-term success, because the rent roll can pay the bills when sales are tight and prove a great asset to liquidate when a principal is ready to retire or move on.

Arguably the most important thing needed to be a successful BDM is the right attitude. Every day, focus on

26 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SELL, IT’S HOW YOU HELP THE LANDLORD THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE. what you can do to ensure you are creating new opportunities for the agency.

Here is my list of eight simple things every BDM needs to be doing if they want to be seen as a market leader.

1. Be early; arriving on time is late!

2. Each time you meet with a prospect, make sure your first question is about something they shared with you on your last call.

3. Know what issues the prospect is dealing with in relation to the property and past experiences.

4. Actively share with your prospect key insights on the industry and things that matter to them, even when you’re not with them.

5. Be proactive with the prospect in providing them key information that is upcoming and relevant.

6. Never pass blame or fail to take responsibility. You’re the

face of your company to the prospect and that means you own the relationship.

7. Demonstrate integrity to yourself in everything you say and do.

8. Treat everyone you meet, regardless of the title they have or who they work for, with dignity and respect. Your goal is to be a person of impact and influence.

Be the BDM that puts yourself in your customer’s shoes and focus on what is going on in their lives. What are their fears and concerns about investment property ownership? What’s holding them back from making the decision to go with your agency?

Maintain a strong relationship with each individual you connect with, and always find an opportunity to reduce risk and be recognised as the investment property specialist. ■

TARA BRADBURY is the Director of the BDM Academy, sharing her business development ideas and strategies with property management BDMs and Principals. For more information visit bdmacademy.com.au.

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COVER STORY

RESIDENT MAGAZINE, NORTHERN TERRITORY

[END] [PULL QUOTE] “MY DAD ALWAYS USED TO SAY TO ME, ‘YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE ALL THE TIME, BUT YOU CAN TRY’. AND HE’S RIGHT.” [END] [PULL QUOTE] [END]

28 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

NORTHERN EXPOSURE WORKING AT A DRIVE SHAFT and hydraulic spare

"I

just loved Darwin,” Joely remembers. “I loved the lifestyle. I loved the weather.

From the moment I arrived for what was supposed to be a three-month stint, I just knew this was where I wanted to be. And I quickly made the decision to make the move permanent.”

Taking up an admin position in an accounting office soon after she arrived, it wasn’t long before the opportunity to work in property management came knocking at her door. “A friend who was working in the real estate industry mentioned that there was a traineeship position coming up in another agency and she really encouraged me to apply. I did – and the rest is history. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

“I have to admit, a career in property management was not a conscious decision for me back then. That first job quite literally fell into my lap. In a lot of ways, property management chose me. But I’ve never looked back. From the first day of my traineeship, I knew property management was the career for me.

New challenges to tackle every day. New people to meet every day. And new things to learn every day.

“It’s what I loved about property

parts company in Hobart back in 1997, one half of the NOW Leasing NT team – Joely Sullivan – never imagined that a three-month job placement in the Top End would set the course for her future career in property management. Now with business partner Jo Griffiths they have taken the leap from employees to business owners, using all of the benefits of modern technology to their advantage.

Story by Sarah Dawson and Iolanthe Gabrie. management when I started out and it’s still what I love about property management almost 20 years later.”

FROM THE GROUND UP Joely has spent her career successfully building and growing property management portfolios for a number of leading agencies in Darwin. Then in November 2015 she decided to take the plunge and open her own agency with business partner Jo Griffiths.

“I’ve always wanted to work in a business where I could do things my way,” Joely says. “I finally realised that the only way I could do that was to start my own agency – one that specialises in property management and where I could build all the systems and procedures from the ground up.”

“WE REALLY DO BALANCE EACH OTHER; THE DYNAMIC OF OUR RELATIONSHIP MEANS WE’RE ABLE TO WORK TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE THE BEST OUTCOME IN EVERY SITUATION.”

And she’s found the perfect collaborator in Jo. “We really complement each other,” Joely explains. “We had worked together before at a number of different agencies, and we knew we’d work well together in our own business. We both know what we want to achieve and we both do what we need to do to work together to achieve it. We complement each other in so many different ways. We support each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

“My Dad always used to say to me ‘You can’t please everyone all the time, but you can try’. And he’s right. In property management there will be the odd landlord or tenant or tradie that, for whatever reason, you just don’t gel with. In these sorts of situations a level of accommodation is needed – a change of tack may be in order, or it could be best to allow someone else to handle the situation. For Jo and I, if that’s the case for either of us, the other just steps in.

We really do balance each other and the dynamic of our relationship means we’re able to work together to achieve the best outcome in every situation.”

For Joely, taking the leap from employee

epm.eliteagent.com.au 29

COVER STORY

to business owner has been a bit nervewracking, to say the least. “But it’s all been completely worth it,” Joely says, smiling.

“We’ve just been overwhelmed with the number of clients who have made contact with us and the number of referrals we’ve received. Both Jo and I have worked in the Darwin market for many years, and we’ve worked really hard to build our reputations and network of contacts – and it’s all beginning to pay off!”

100 PER CENT FOCUS A boutique agency specialising in property management, NOW Leasing NT was born out of Joely and Jo’s desire to provide the highest level of service. “I’ve always wanted to be at the top of the property management profession,” Joely says. “I’m completely committed to always providing an outstanding level of service and making sure everything we do is personalised.

We’re 100 per cent focused on property management – and I believe that gives us a huge advantage. We’re not distracted by sales or strata or other things. It makes us

better at what we do.”

While Joely’s goal over the next 12 months is to grow the business, she won’t ever compromise on service. “We don’t have any aspirations to build the biggest rent roll in Darwin, because that would mean we couldn’t keep doing what we do so well – communicate effectively with our clients, provide them with the best solutions and maintain the highest level of service,” Joely says. “Steady growth is what we’re after, which means we’ll likely look to bring on another property manager in the near future. This will free up some time, so I can work on the business rather than spending all my time working in the business.”

EASE AND CONVENIENCE Joely was single-minded from the start in her aim to set up the business’s systems and procedures in the best and most efficient way possible. “Having the right technology in place is the cornerstone of our business. We need to always be at the top of our game, so we can deliver the

30 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

“CLOUD-BASED SOFTWARE ENABLES US TO BE OUT AND ABOUT. WE COULD EVEN DO OUR OWNER PAYMENTS FROM A POOL BAR IN BALI IF WE NEEDED TO!” standard of service our clients expect and we expect of ourselves,” she explains.

Enter PropertyTree. “I’ve used REST Professional for my entire property management career and, I have to admit, I was reluctant to learn a completely new system,” Joely says. “But when we looked into PropertyTree, it just made sense. The set-up costs for us were lower with no servers required – a major cost saving and we don’t need to do backups. If a disaster were to occur our business data is safe.

And it’s just so easy to use.”

For Joely, having a cloud-based solution in place was essential. “Both Jo and I have young children, and we’re often doing things on the fly or at home – so being able to access everything we need whenever and wherever is priceless.”

Using technology across their business also differentiates NOW Leasing NT’s service, as Jo identifies. “We’re one of only a few agencies in Darwin using cloudbased software, which allows us to reduce our overheads. It enables us with mobile accessibility, so if we’re meeting a client in another suburb we can show them property data in real time.”

effectively. Once upon a time, doing three or four routine inspections would take up half a day. Cloud-based software enables us to be out and about – we can do everything from mobiles these days. We can work from home if we need to – we could even do our owner payments from a pool bar in Bali if we needed to!”

TECHNOLOGY FOCUSED Jo and Joely both agree that technology is having an impact on the real estate industry. “Everything we do is surrounded by technology: we do our inspections on apps on a mobile device, all our filing is electronic and the software we use is cloud-based. We don’t go to the post office anymore – everything is emailed out,” notes Joely.

“It has enabled us to do more than we could previously,” adds Jo. “We are able to manage more and spend time more

SOCIAL PROSPECTING AND GENERATIONAL CHANGE The Top End is no stranger to digital strategy, thanks in part to forwardthinking agencies like NOW Leasing NT. “Facebook is our platform of choice at the moment,” says Joely. “We’ve been advertising on Facebook since we opened, and we also boost our posts. We’re getting a lot of good feedback, numerous enquiries and new managements from our Facebook advertising.”

It’s interesting that digital platforms can actually humanise a brand, as Jo explains.

“Darwin isn’t a big place compared to other capital cities, and clients do love a personal touch. When they see you on their Facebook feeds regularly, they feel like they know you. Facebook gives us the ability to get inside people’s homes without

having to physically be there.”

Generational change in the industry is a challenge to many businesses who fail to embrace the benefits that technology and social media can bring to an agency.

“Some property managers feel that if they go forward with improvements to trust accounting software or the way they operate their role will become redundant.

They cling on to old ways because of fear,” says Jo. “Most real estate businesses are run by an older generation. The younger ones are those who know the technology that’s driving our industry – which is changing whether we like it or not. The big platforms like Console and REST and REA are changing their product for a newer generation – so if we don’t keep up as an industry, we’ll fall behind.”

Joely adds that “with change to a business comes a cost of time – you’ve got to have the time to implement those new systems. It’s a catch 22; you’ve got to find the time to improve if you want to save time in the long run.”

From the sound of things, Joely and Jo will have all the technology and systems they need to keep growing their business into the future. ■

You’ve got the experience.

Now get the recognition.

Property Managers can use their skills & experience to upgrade to a Full Real Estate Licence with no classrooms & no exams.

Discover how at LinkLearn.com.au/EPM

epm.eliteagent.com.au 31

TECHNOLOGY

YOUBER : Uber-proofing in the age of disruption

THE THREAT OF DISRUPTION has received a lot of

air-time, and perhaps too much speculation exists about how our industry will suffer. It can be easy to fall into the trap of either ignoring the threat or becoming overwhelmed by it. Sarah Bell takes a lesson from the past and applies it to the future.

T

HE ESSENCE OF the threat of disruption is that low-cost, high-tech applications will create a new normal where buyers, landlords, tenants and vendors negotiate directly.

This process is called disintermediation – and it will happen if agents lose their value in the middle of a transaction.

To have knowledge of a thing is to have power over it, so in a time when our existence is threatened it is worth looking at where our value comes from in order to preserve it.

THE HISTORY OF THE FUTURE The concept of private property ownership became available to the ‘new wealthy’ class that was created as a result of the

industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet as the agrarian lifestyle gave way to industry and property ownership became more common, the real estate industry was also born and this specialist skill became valuable. A real estate agent’s expertise in marketing, negotiation, property law, business and asset management provided real value to those early property pioneers.

‘Uber’ is the traditional way to sell real estate, privately, without the assistance of an agent. The concept of agency disrupted the original direct negotiation model, which is the Uber model, and for very good reasons.

When we are talking about the sale and management of residential property,

32 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

we are generally discussing the most significant asset in a pool of individual wealth. If your local transport driver goes the wrong way, you can recover easily.

Similarly, fortunes are not won or lost in the selling of an old fridge on Gumtree.

If real property was simply an asset like any other asset, decisions would be rational, logical and responsible.

It doesn’t work like that with real estate.

Homes and property represent family, hard work, sacrifice. There is a lot of value to property owners in the story of their homes, as opposed to its square metres, bricks and mortar.

The property purchase or lease is not emotion-free either. When a buyer or tenant connects to their future story and believes in the power of that speculation – wealth or happiness – they are prepared to pay more than the cost of the bricks and turf.

Being too close to the property makes it difficult to comprehend the market.

Inexperience, emotional attachment and high stakes are the issues of a private sale by owner. They are also the very ingredients of a sophisticated panic. Panic in negotiations bleeds money.

Time and distance are time-honoured

negotiation tactics that an intermediary agent can provide. There is a strong case for the survival of the real estate agent, but we will still need to fight for it.

SURVIVING THE FUTURE Once technology replaces part of our service as sales agents or property managers, that part of our value is also diminished. While we are fighting a battle for relevance with technology developers, we have some inherent and critical advantages that lowcost-high-tech is struggling to match. This is where we should focus our attack: Local, Mobile and Social.

Local: Real estate is one of the few industries where local knowledge and geo-factors play an important role. What streets, features, regions and presentation styles add value to the property in your area? Your local knowledge about the factors that add and subtract value to homes in your community is not easy to acquire and both creates and protects profits for your clients.

Mobile: Your office is no longer in your office and it is no longer nine-to-five; it is wherever you are and it wants to be connected to solutions at all times.

WHILE WE ARE FIGHTING A BATTLE FOR RELEVANCE WITH TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPERS, WE HAVE SOME INHERENT AND CRITICAL ADVANTAGES THAT LOW-COST-HIGH-TECH IS STRUGGLING TO MATCH. No one can be everywhere and no one can be available 24/7, but technology can be leveraged to provide an outstanding service where clients can self-serve information about their property or your services with transparency, at a time that suites them, from anywhere in the world and on any device.

Simple things like embracing SMS right through to custom landlord property portals and fully automated communication journeys help your business to be more

accessible and connected.

Social: No one is good at social media without being good at business. Good business – social businesses that are connected and engaged with their local community – are helpful and their clients and community respond.

It is like owning a TV station. If no one wants to watch the shows you are playing, then you have a station but no audience. Take time to create relevant and interesting, helpful content and you will be repaid in trust, engagement and business.

Social media starts a conversation; your business acumen and conversion capabilities get the deal done.

“Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master” – Christian Lange. ■

With a background in research and investigations, SARAH BELL married into the real estate industry in 2009 and has found a passion for both the business and its people. Sarah has recently joined the team at LinkLearn. For more information, visit linklearn.com.au.

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FEATURE INTERVIEW

Technology and change A UK perspective

PETER KNIGHT, CHAIRMAN of The Property Academy

in the United Kingdom, is one of the leading voices driving innovation in the real estate industry in both the UK and Europe. We caught up with him during his recent visit to Australia and asked him how real estate property managers and leasing agents in Britain are dealing with disruption – and what Australian agents can learn from the British example.

C

an you give us some insight into the differences between property management in the UK and Australia?

There are way more similarities than differences; we’re more similar to Australia than we are to the US. In the UK we offer a three-tier service, starting with 'let only', meaning we will let the property but not manage it. The next level of service is rental collection and processing of payments, and then there is what you traditionally call property management. So in some cases the agent will find a tenant but have nothing to do with managing the property. This means that the rental collection is separate from the property management – so if there’s anything wrong, like a broken shower, the tenant contacts the landlord directly to sort it out.

The Australian system has a lot going for it because you can just 'sell property management'. For us it’s all a bundle – let, then sell rental collection, then full property management. About 50 per cent of properties are managed like this in the UK. The other difference is in fees – we charge a lot more than the norm in Australia. For let only we charge 10 per cent; when there’s management we charge 15 per cent.

Purplebricks, a UK based disruptor, has just arrived in Australia. What has been the impact to date?

The jury is still out regarding the impact of non-traditional real estate models like Purplebricks. In some locations their impact has been marginal; in other areas more considerable. If they took a one per cent market share in every territory they will build a phenomenal business. In a handful of locations they have already achieved a 10 per cent market share, which is significant.

I think you have to be careful when a completely new business model comes along. I see the internet-only model taking around 10 per cent in the middle and lower tier. Top end – I’m not sure they are going to

IN THE ABSENCE OF CLEAR DIFFERENTIATION, PEOPLE WILL BUY ON PRICE. IF THE AGENTS GENUINELY OFFER EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE THEN THEY’LL BE ABLE TO CHARGE A PREMIUM AND STILL SUCCEED.

34 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

get the same traction. I think they’ll take it from the bigger, more corporate-style real estate firms; smaller, better independent firms have nothing to worry about – except those that claim to offer a premium personal service and don’t are probably in trouble.

In the absence of clear differentiation, people will buy on price. If the agents genuinely offer exceptional service then they’ll be able to charge a premium and still succeed. I’ve had personal experience of a very large agency in the UK taking 48 hours to provide information on pricing.

Those using new technology platforms can come back in 48 minutes, or even 4.8 seconds. Who’s going to win the battle for hearts and minds? Traditional companies need to deliver.

What is happening in the property sector at the moment as a result of ‘Brexit’?

‘Every market makes a market’ – it’s one of my favourite expressions. If you’re going to be a good agent, it’s about knowing the market you are in and when the next market is coming, and adapting to that. I think most thought the vote would be to remain in the European Union. As to what impact it’s going to have, that’s debatable.

In certain areas transaction numbers have fallen. There's a lack of confidence: people sitting on the fence and not

knowing which way to go. So for real estate businesses, property management has actually benefitted in the short term from the leave vote because of this uncertainty.

I think that market fundamentals remain the same. Central London prices were sky high – we’re going to have to see whether that’s affected by Brexit – but I think that using Brexit as an excuse for a market correction or the wrong business model is something that will happen in any case.

Property has performed well over a longer term period like ten, twenty, thirty years.

People feel comfortable about that. I remain optimistic.

Real estate is kind of driven by the four Ds: death, divorce, debt and departure. Those four things will continue, right? Again, the

and disclose the fact that you're making a commission on the fees, but you could earn on the back of the contractors. You can secure the contractors because you're providing them more work. This is a wheel that just goes round.

good agents will find ways to deal with whatever market they find themselves in.

IN MY MIND, PROPERTY MANAGEMENT NEEDS TO BE AT THE HEART OF EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS, BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE YOU CAN MAINTAIN YOUR LONGTERM RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CUSTOMER.

You spoke about some really great ideas from firms in the UK at ARPM; are there any in particular that stand out for you?

The concierge idea is a great one, for both sales and lettings. For years the only time an agent has contacted the client is when they’re motivated by self-interest. At other times the client just sits in a database.

What companies like Portico have done with owner-occupiers is to say ‘actually we can help people who are property owners because our property management operation has access to contractors’. That’s attractive to property owners.

I’ve got a broken window at home that I know I’m going to get nagged about until I do something. If I could call up my agent and say, ‘Can you fix it for me?’ that changes the relationship dynamic. It also gives the agents a genuine excuse to call the client up to say, ‘Hi, it’s Steve from the XYZ Company. Just wondered how you're doing with your property? If you need some help, if your fence falls down, or you've got a leaky shower, or a kookaburra on the roof – whatever it might be, we can help you out.’

If you can use that as a reason for contact, it maintains an ongoing relationship, and you can earn. You have to be transparent

At ARPM you also said property management should be number one in a business.

Yes, in my mind, property management needs to be at the heart of every single business, because that is where you can maintain your long-term relationship with the customer.

Property management is what’s best for the agent because the property management business is where the true asset value is.

A sales-only business in the UK has really limited value. A mixed business that's got property management and sales has value, and the key is the property management piece. That's where the real value lies because it's regular, it's consistent.

Typically in the UK, 10 per cent of landlords will sell their properties annually, but ninety per cent don't. If you provided a good service and your landlord is happy, the seller is happy, you've got a ninety per cent chance you're going to hold onto that.

Effectively that's a 10-year relationship.

That's significant. Your fees might be lower than, say, a sales agent's fees, but multiply that over 10 years and the fact that it's guaranteed and it becomes very attractive.

A lot of agents just see the big-dollar cheque from a seller and that's what gets them excited. The smart agents, the really smart ones, get that solid base of income coming in. When your cash flows are looked after, you're covering all your overheads, then you can go out and hunt the big ones.

Have all the little ones in place first. That's where the security comes from.

But you’ve also got all these different areas where the agent should be, or could be, at the centre. Some agents do refinancing, but

that might include remodelling, upgrading, expanding or maintenance. The message to all our clients is that some people are thinking about property from different financial perspectives. Start looking at your database, and when you're slicing and dicing try to look at it as a single database that you can market to and work with. Then find legitimate reasons to call people, as I've already mentioned.

I'm a tenant at the moment who is looking to buy a property. I've also got a property that I'd sell if the right person came along, and I'm a landlord, so basically I'm sitting across a whole lot of markets. I get treated differently at the agency office depending on how I turn up, which is ridiculous.

Do you think that the relationship between tenants and agents is changing?

I think that if agents want to move into being trusted advisors it has to, and it has to become more proactive. Again technology is playing a role. A tenant might be going on Facebook and saying, ‘These agents have treated me badly,’ for whatever reason. One of the key things I'm encouraging our clients to do is to think about how they can remove the more common obstacles, complaints and issues, and then reinvest that time in proactive

relationship building, rather than reactive.

In my opinion, for agents to succeed they need to move from being a transactional agent to becoming a trusted advisor. If I do that and use new technology to enable a time dividend I can then be adding value to our property management relationship.

The current scenario, where ninety per cent of our time spent together, agent and client, is spent in a reactive way on problems and issues, doesn't foster a highly beneficial, long-term relationship.

It’s a mindset change from transactional to trusted. That's what we're working on with our clients, it's paying dividends, and technology is a big part of that. ■ Story: Samantha McLean and Steve Mallach.

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PRODUCTIVITY

THE DAILY E L G JUG

BEYONCE, OPRAH and

Branson all have the same 24 hours in a day that you do, but as a property manager what has changed in recent times are the expectations of what you are able to get done in a day. Heidi Walkinshaw reveals how to rethink the constant multi-tasking and discover how to use your brain and some clever apps to get more done.

A

s a consultant, the number one complaint from property managers, and even my colleagues, is that there are never enough hours in the day. I hear the word ‘busy’ so much that it almost seems to be a state of mind.

I am always curious about new technology that is out there to assist in reducing stress and in some cases to improve service levels to the customer; however, before we consider that we need to look at some initial hurdles.

We often find that, when it comes to new technology, there is a hesitation to implement something new as ‘there isn’t the time’. However, the medium- to long-term benefits of implementing new efficiencies can assist in increasing productivity levels.

The demands of the consumer are constantly increasing, and by ignoring the inevitable you risk being left behind the rest of the pack.

When we talk about time management we often mean the tips and tricks to assist in increasing how much we can fit into a day. However, as I’m currently studying

36 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

for a psychology degree, I like to look at it a little differently these days.

Something that often gets overlooked when we are talking about why we get stuck in this time rut is the brain. We often forget about it because we switch over to autopilot.

We forget that we need to be the pilot, otherwise we will crash.

This got me thinking about how the brain factors into how well we manage our time.

Did you know that most people have an average of around 60,000 thoughts per day?

Many of these are automatic processes that we aren’t even aware of, and then on top of that is intent thought. Combining the automatic thought with the intent thought at over 40 thoughts a minute, it’s no wonder we forget things and feel stressed. Our brains are on information overload! And with the age of technology, we are always switched on.

‘MULTI-TASKING’ IS A MISNOMER While we are trying to get so much done, we often switch to multi-tasking, hoping that will help to solve our problems faster. Statistically speaking, only two per cent of the population can multi-task

effectively. The brain doesn’t actually handle simultaneous tasks well and neuroscientists have found that it should be referred to as ‘switch management’.

Every time we switch between tasks, the brain goes through a stop/start process.

Rather than saving time, it actually costs time, is less efficient and we make more mistakes. It can also sap our energy. When it comes to multi-tasking, it has been found to lower productivity by 40 per cent while also lowering IQ by 10 points.

I challenge you to eliminate multi-tasking and increase productivity in your day. Give it a try; you might be surprised!

little tool for that – but there is also an app to analyse your time processes. Rescuetime can assist in tracking your movements on your electronic devices and reporting back where you have been caught up in processes.

When you are undertaking a task like a personal time log, the only person that you

‘YOU’ MANAGEMENT When we talk about managing your time, what we really should be calling it is ‘You’ management. Given that we all have the same number of hours, it comes back to how well you manage your tasks, your schedule and the time that you have on this earth.

So given that this is all about you, it is important to understand where you spend your time and what is sapping your precious hours. We often suggest using a time log to track your weekly movements. You can try the old-school approach – we have a great

need to be answerable to is you. If you want to get serious about finding more time, you need to be brutally honest about where you are spending your hours.

Should you choose to go through this process, sit down with a friend or mentor – someone who can hold you accountable – and ask yourself: are these tasks helping me get to where I want to be, or is there anything that I need to change?

Once you have identified where your hours are being spent, it’s time to start planning your day. Work out the potential

to adjust your current schedule or implement a new one, and areas where efficiencies can be improved.

If you feel that you don’t have time and are feeling stressed, then something has to change. Trying to cope can become a juggling act and we need to train our brains

EVERY TIME WE SWITCH BETWEEN TASKS, THE BRAIN GOES THROUGH A STOP/START PROCESS. RATHER THAN SAVING TIME, IT ACTUALLY COSTS TIME, IS LESS EFFICIENT AND WE MAKE MORE MISTAKES. in managing ourselves. Once we have done that, we can begin to look at where we can become more efficient and maximise what precious hours we have. ■

HEIDI WALKINSHAW has been immersed in property management for over 14 years, dealing in all aspects.

Heidi brings enthusiasm and energy to Real+ and is passionate about system implementation. For more information visit realplus.com.au.

epm.eliteagent.com.au 37

TECHNOLOGY

CAUTIONARY TALES IN TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY IS ULTIMATELY about improving the

customer experience as opposed to causing angst. However, in some cases, when used improperly, it has been known to do just that.

Brock Fisher explains the pitfalls of three scenarios from his previous experiences that you may wish to consider in your own technology setup.

A

s Steve Jobs once said, “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards toward the technology – not the other way around”.

TECHNOLOGY IS AN ENABLER, NOT A SOLUTION. Online tenant booking software is probably my single favourite industry development of the past decade, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that systems like this are still built by people and for people to deal with people. How the tremendous power of these systems is used ultimately determines their impact, either positively or negatively, on a customer’s perception of your business.

Over the years I have lost count of the number of conversations I have had with people who have experienced the flippant use of one of these systems when looking for a rental property. One such example was a professional colleague of mine who wanted to look at four different properties through four different agencies. On each occasion, the appointment was changed between three and six times, sometimes with as little as 30 minutes’ notice. They gave up trying to look at two of the properties altogether because, in their words, it was “just too hard”. On each occasion they had restructured their work day in advance to be able to view the property, including making arrangements for picking up their kids, and each time these arrangements were made in vain.

This is a classic example of the initial advantages and positivity of being able to choose a time to inspect the property being exponentially outdone by the way the system was subsequently used by property managers, and creating a negative experience for the prospective tenants.

The impersonal effect of a set of details in a database, not a voice on the end of the phone or someone standing in reception, seems to lead us to deal with people in ways we normally wouldn’t – and ways which I

38 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

am sure we wouldn’t tolerate ourselves if the situation were reversed.

If you wouldn’t want to call a prospective client on six different occasions and explain to them why you have to shift their viewing appointment to another time, don’t be tempted to just click a few buttons and do it anyway. Don’t let the system take the bullets for you.

First, think of the customer experience, and then set up your system to deliver the service that your customer expects. This should include clear guidelines in your office around what is acceptable and what is not regarding cancellation and rescheduling of appointments, and how these need to be communicated to the prospective tenant.

BREAK IT TO MAKE IT It’s really important to know how to break things, so you can avoid doing it.

Entry, exit and routine inspections have been revolutionised by the use of apps on mobile devices to record details and photos of a property in an integrated fashion, sometimes even by dictating to Siri, so Siri can just fill the inspection form out for you.

I work with a really big team, and in many ways we’re the ultimate crash test dummies for this type of product. I have been fascinated by new and inventive ways that people have found to lose data, which not only upsets them but also creates agitation with a tenant if you need to redo an inspection, or agitation with an owner if you are left with nothing but a blank report to give them.

There are a surprising number of variables that can affect the performance of an app, from how it is used and when you press ‘save’, to the operating version of the software on the device using it, to the network where an upload or download of information occurs. Perhaps an interruption during the process could affect the data, or what about if a battery goes flat?

THE IMPERSONAL EFFECT OF A PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMER BEING JUST A SET OF DETAILS IN A DATABASE, NOT A VOICE ON THE END OF THE PHONE, SEEMS TO LEAD US TO DEAL WITH THEM IN WAYS WE NORMALLY WOULDN’T.

After the warm and fuzzy feeling of amazingness about your new app has passed, make sure you have a proper conversation with your provider about any vulnerabilities that you need to be aware of, and what sorts of things you would have to do to the app to lose your information. It’s incredibly important to understand where the information actually is, and at what point during

course all their inspection data was still on the app; it had not yet gone anywhere. But after they deleted the app there was no hope of recovering any of the data.

EXPERIENCE YOUR OWN SYSTEMS Template correspondence in property management is hardly new news, or cutting edge. But don’t underestimate the number of templates in your business and

DON’T LET THE SYSTEM TAKE THE BULLETS FOR YOU. the process it is not recoverable. This education should also form part of any new staff induction process.

I’ve seen instances where multiple days' worth of routine inspection data was lost because a user had issues with syncing when they returned to the office and the app was constantly crashing on their device.

Instead of seeking technical advice, they simply deleted the app on their device and re-installed it, as that is what they did with their other apps if they crashed and wouldn’t open. This simple reflex action subsequently lost a massive amount of information, as of

the ongoing impression they create with your customers. Think more broadly than just your letters. What about things like owners’ statements and all the messages and communications that technology such as your online booking software is sending out constantly?

I enquire on our rental properties all the time, just so I can check ‘what happens next’ and see from the customer’s perspective what correspondence we’re sending out. I am also an owner in our system so that I can use all our apps and portals, and experience our correspondence

from the same point of view.

It’s really important, I believe, to experience your own products from the front end, client-facing perspective, and not always just be fiddling around in the back end.

If you have had an owner for five years, are they still getting an emailed statement each month ‘welcoming them to the convenience of email statements’? How about their routine inspection letters or copies of their lease agreements? Is this still the ‘same old same old’ every time so that your customer sees the same thing over and over and over again?

The hallmark of a good system is that it doesn’t look like a system to the client. When was the last time that you refreshed or updated your everyday correspondence? ■

BROCK FISHER’s experience in property management spans almost two decades.

With Little Real Estate’s acquisition of Rental Express, Brock is now the National Manager, Customer Support for Australia’s largest property management company.

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The Last Word

Fiona Blayney

A TROUBLE SHARED Why is it so hard to ask for help? A chance encounter with a stranger leads Fiona Blayney to reflect on the wisdom of admitting when things are getting too much.

I

once received an email that shot me into an instant energy boost for the day. It started with, “Wow! I wish I had hooked up with you a long time ago” and continued with words like ‘eye opener’ and ‘liberating’ – and yes, I am talking about work.

In that context you’d be forgiven for taking this as little more than a beating of my chest, but it is so much more than that. It is a reflection of a moment in time when the light went on; someone had reached out to talk about goals, dreams and current reality, only to be met with the possibilities of today and the realisation that the desires of tomorrow were accessible.

My new client had asked for help, been authentic about goals and together we had identified the ‘reality of life’ and the ‘true’ path to success.

I wonder what life would have looked like for my new friend had they continued to make the decision that they didn’t need help, that they could do it on their own? Why do so many of us struggle to ask for help, in business and in our personal lives?

During one of my many cab rides home from the airport recently, and in what became an all too familiar couch session with my friendly cabbie, we unpacked the challenges of his family life: a sick wife, disengaged children and his desperate unhappiness. He was at the end of his tether. “Thank

you for listening. I’m sorry to discuss this with you. I really shouldn’t have,” he said, clearly shocked at where our drive home had ended up. “I just don’t have anyone to talk to about it all, and perhaps it’s easier to speak with you given we are strangers.”

As he was clearly lost and embarrassed, I congratulated him on our conversation, thanked him for sharing his life with me for that moment and encouraged him to keep doing it. We even chatted about why people don’t speak more openly. Culture, fear, judgement; it’s just not the done thing.

Perhaps it is something that has been drilled into us since birth, manifested through childhood and then blossomed into our adult life.

Do we see speaking up or

40 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • OCT-NOV 2016

asking for help as failing? I’m sure anyone who has asked for help would agree that more often than not it makes achieving goals, completing projects or persevering through life’s many challenges so much easier.

My mind, over the years, has become the most incredible

WE EVEN CHATTED ABOUT WHY PEOPLE DON’T SPEAK MORE OPENLY. CULTURE, FEAR, JUDGEMENT; IT’S JUST NOT THE DONE THING.

vault of information, secrets, fears, goals, dreams and ambitions that we are so fearful to discuss. I am constantly blessed, through the coaching in my business life and the discussions in my personal one, to know that we all have the same challenges – including thinking we all don’t have the same challenges.

We are all vulnerable and embarrassed to discuss our world, yet I see how liberating it can be when we do.

I too have a vault of fears, goals, dreams and ambitions.

I make mistakes and I often don’t know the right answer.

But every day I work really hard at communicating them to that group of people around me who are keen to help me succeed and I reach out to them for help, support, and guidance.

Stop and think about the challenges you have right now.

Take a look; there are people around you – some with the same challenges, others with the answers to them. Perhaps it’s time to put your hand up, reach out and tap into the abundance of knowledge ready to be shared by a world full of authentic people who want you to succeed at having the best life possible. ■

FIONA BLAYNEY is the Founder and Director of Real+, an industry-first property management learning platform.

For more information visit realplus.com.au.

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