THE GREAT AFTER HOURS PHONE DEBATE LEARN FROM THE BEST #11 APR-MAY 2017
PROPERTY MANAGER RACHAEL 2.0 BYRNE
HOW TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE GRACE UNDER PRESSURE HOW TO KEEP YOUR COOL
SYNC AND NOT SINK THE ANATOMY OF A SUCCESSFUL MERGER
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ISSUE 11 APR-MAY 2017 | epm.eliteagent.com.au SAMANTHA McLEAN Managing Editor samantha@eliteagent.com.au
GINA McCLEMENT Guest Editor Head of Marketing, Rockend
MARK EDWARDS SHANTELLE ISAAKS Publisher | Commercial Partnerships Marketing Assistant | Newsroom mark@eliteagent.com.au shantelle@eliteagent.com.au JILL BONIFACE Sub-Editor jill@eliteagent.com.au
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FEATURE WRITERS June Ramli, Sarah Bell, Samantha McLean
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Postal Address: Suite 904, 121 Walker Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Telephone +61 2 8854 6123 Registered by Australia Post/Print Post 100020180 EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS The publisher welcomes editorial submissions from individuals and organisations within the real estate profession. The publisher reserves the right to edit, modify, reject or contribute to the content of the material provided. EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: Some opinions expressed in EPM Magazine are not necessarily those of its staff or contributing editors. Those opinions are reproduced with no guarantee of accuracy although EPM Magazine endeavours to ensure those opinions and comments are factual. Our subscriber list may sometimes be made available to relevant brands who might be of interest to our readers and from time to time we may be in touch to inform you of new Elite Agent products and services. Please visit eliteagent.com.au/privacy for details on how we collect and use your personal information. Please email editor@eliteagent.com. au if you would rather not receive these communications. © Elite Agent Magazine 2017. All rights reserved.
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Contents Regulars 006 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Gina McClement 008 WATERCOOLER Catch up on what you may have missed out on 010 READER PROFILE Kiah Coupland 016 GAME CHANGER Jo-Anne Oliveri 018 REALTY BYTES Alister Maple-Brown
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020 PM MENTOR Natalie Hastings 022 BD MASTERY Tara Bradbury 040 THE LAST WORD Fiona Blayney
First Person 012 USPs OR UFOs Bob Walters 014 GRACE UNDER PRESSURE Penelope Valentine 015 FILLING THE PIPELINE Kate Benjamin
Cover Story 024 PROPERTY MANAGER 2.0 Rachael Byrne
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Features 028 GROWTH IN A CHANGING INDUSTRY Ben White 030 THE GREAT AFTER HOURS PHONE DEBATE Brock Fisher 032 LOCKING IN EFFICIENCY Brad Larsen 034 HOW TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE Allan & Barbara Pease 036 COMMUNICATION COUNTS Sarah Dawson 038 SYNC AND NOT SINK Katharine Ettenhofer
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16 BOB WALTERS MANAGING DIRECTOR, LPMA
JO-ANNE OLIVERI FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, IREVILOUTION Where are you from originally and where do you call home now? I was born in Perth and now live between Brisbane and Orange County, California. I consider myself a ‘global citizen’. Who or what inspires you at the moment? My children inspire me to be the best version of me. What’s the most important project you are working on right now? Our iiCC (Certified Consultants) and iiTE (Transformation Engineers) programs, empowering them with the knowledge and resources to build their own business. We are also working on our ‘Pinnacle of Success’, a symbol of professionalism and excellence in PM service. Trend to watch in the industry (or in business?) Technology is allowing PM business owners to improve efficiency. If used wisely it won’t replace what we do, rather enhance what we do. I love that chatbots can identify a client’s needs and respond quickly with correct assistance. Favourite quote or words to live by? Walt Disney has always inspired me to dream. I live by his quote, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” I refer to this as 3D dreaming - Desire, Define and Do.
Where are you from originally and where do you call home now? I was born and bred in Campsie, in Sydney’s south west. I started my real estate career in a local agency when I was 18 as a letting clerk. For the past 25+ years I’ve lived in Rodd Point in Sydney’s inner west. Who or what inspires you at the moment? I’m inspired by the young, enthusiastic PM professionals making waves in the industry, and by the rapid changes in technology. What’s the most important project you are working on right now? Marketing the upcoming LPMA 2017 conference in May on the Gold Coast, planning the LPMA West Coast conference for July in WA and rolling out the new ‘HALO’ resource, communication and collaboration platform to LPMA members. Trend to watch in the industry? A rapid growth in the overseas outsourcing of admin tasks, and PM services being packaged up in
12 technological solutions to clients, moving away from the ‘one size fits all’ service offering. Favourite quote or words to live by? A quote from actor Michael Landon, who died from cancer at 54. “Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”
CONTRIBUTORS BEN WHITE MANAGING DIRECTOR, APMASPHERE (SPEAKING AT LPMA 2017)
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Where are you from originally and where do you call home now? I grew up in Brisbane and now live in Sydney, although I still go for Queensland in the State of Origin. Who or what inspires you at the moment? I’m inspired by people who try so hard to find new ways of
BRAD LARSEN OWNERBROKER, LARSEN PROPERTIES, TEXAS (SPEAKING AT LPMA 2017) Where are you from originally and where do you call home now? Being born and raised in Iowa (USA) gave me a great beginning. After seeing several parts of the world with the US Army, San Antonio, Texas is now home. Who or what inspires you at the moment? Building businesses has me inspired to learn more about this awesome ability to build something from scratch and have it work for you. What’s the most important project you are working on right now? We’re working on a national roll-up for PM companies. They are very fragmented here in the US and there is a distinct need for quality systems and economy of scale. Trend to watch in the industry (or in business?)
The industry is trending flat with management fees as there is only so much the market will tolerate, so the trend will be to maximise profits by reducing overheads. We’ll see more and more consolidation and outsourcing of everyday services. Favourite quote or words to live by? General George S. Patton, Jr. “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”
doing things despite all the challenges and nay-sayers. The good news is that our industry still attracts these dynamic people in the thousands. What’s the most important project you are working on right now? Our Insights module is now rolling out across agencies. We’re working to discover patterns in the data that will surface issues that were otherwise hidden, offering new avenues for agency growth.
Trend to watch in the industry? I think the best agencies will find new trust mechanisms to re-engage with their clients and find new sources of revenue, not just new ways to cut costs. Favourite quote or words to live by? “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” What a great thought to fight complacency and drive ambition.
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GUEST EDITOR’S NOTE GINA MCCLEMENT
I
I AM 12 MONTHS into officially working in the real estate industry as Head of Marketing for Rockend, but my passion for real estate started with my grandfather, Owen, my mother Lili and now me. What has become increasingly obviously in my inaugural year in the business of real estate is that passion runs through the veins of the people who work in property. I am 100 per cent committed to the belief that you should love what you do, so to arrive in an industry that is highly charged with emotion, commitment and passionate people means I landed in the right place! I remember my grandfather Owen saying to me one day as we chatted over a game of gin rummy, “You only buy land, Gina,” and before I even had a chance to ask why
he continued, “because they are not making it anymore.” My mother Lili listened to him, I listened to him and l learnt from her. Some years later, four purchases, one sale, one knockdown re-build and a subdivide duplex build about to start, I have ended up as a dedicated ‘Rentvestor’ with an interstate portfolio and a misguided love of building homes! Building homes is a bit like having children; you learn from each one but the enormity of the total project seems to shrink with time and reflection! So, when I landed at Rockend, working with real estate businesses was already part of my day to day life and when you’re in marketing, any predisposition to understanding your customers and their customers is advantageous. The opportunity for marketing within the real estate industry is truly boundless from what I have observed. Realising that opportunity, when marketing itself has gone through extreme disruption and today, is driven by data, technology and specialised skills, can be challenging, especially for small to medium size businesses. Yet the basic principles and essence of marketing remain unchanged. When people ask me, ‘What is marketing? What does marketing do?’ I say, ‘we are
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interpreters.’ Our job is to interpret who a business is and what a business does for the people we want to sell our business offering to. I keep it simple. Any business, no matter how big or small, benefits from taking the time to clarify and define who you are as a business and what you do. It will unify your people and motivate them to perform because they will understand why they turn up to work every day. Ask yourself: What is your purpose? Why do you exist? Everything you do as a business should ladder up to this. Understand your competitive landscape; who are your competitors? What is their purpose? What do they stand for? Find a space within the landscape that you can own alone, that’s your differentiation and importantly, understand who that space appeals to. What is the size of
the opportunity in that space? Flesh out your differentiation; that is a critical component of your messaging, what you talk about, your brand. No business appeals to absolutely everyone; people themselves and their needs are just too different. What about data and technology in marketing? It is overwhelming, but put in a few hours of Google searching and you will be surprised by what you can read and teach yourself. There is a plethora of valuable sites and information for the new marketer, the business owner and the CMO who all need to understand data and technology without being a techy themselves. Just don’t Google “Marketing Technology Landscape Infographic” as that is terrifying even for the marketing savvy. When I talk to our Rockend customers, the technology I talk about is Canva, do it yourself graphics and communication
design. Upwork is freelancers with a wide variety of skill sets at cost effective rates. Google Analytics for website traffic analysis, Hootsuite for social media management, Instapages if you need a website page built but do not write code. Most of these are free for entry level use and have subscription costs for premium versions. Some tips I offer businesses seeking help
marketing transformations I expect to see in real estate over the next few years is the connecting and merging of digital and traditional marketing. Traditional marketing, interestingly, still has a strong place within the real estate industry; magazines, events, conferences and face to face are adding value to the industry every day. Digital
ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT MARKETING TRANSFORMATIONS I EXPECT TO SEE IN REAL ESTATE OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS IS THE CONNECTING AND MERGING OF DIGITAL AND TRADITIONAL MARKETING to establish their digital and social brand is to pool funds with other businesses for a shared resource. Invest in a capable digital person to set up the initial platforms and analytics tools. The under 25’s are all digital natives; find the right ones and they will bring your digital brand to life and drive engagement across social channels because they have been doing it since birth! This issue of Elite Agent and Elite Property Manager is focused on transformation. One of the most significant
marketing is an enormous opportunity to transform brands, customer knowledge and relationships and to deliver a truly personalised and relevant experience to customers and beyond. Whilst there are a few digital real estate giants, the whole industry will benefit from investment and development in digital. I am looking forward to seeing it unfold!
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THE WATER COOLER
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Our daily newsletter #THEBRIEF brings you the latest real estate news, tech and marketing tips straight up every day. In case you’ve missed anything, here are some of this month’s trending stories. Subscribe to #THEBRIEF eliteagent.com.au/subscribe.
Save the date: ARPM 2017 ARPM 2017 will be back and brighter than ever, with dates set for 27 and 28 August. With a change of venue this year to the Star, organisers TRET and Fiona Blayney are already working hard to bring you the best of the best in PM talent with many speakers already being booked. Speaking about her plans for ARPM 2017, Ms Blayney said, “With a new venue we will be sure to have some new features across the program too”. ARPM’s official launch will be at AREC in May. Stay tuned.
What will property management look like in 2020?
A REBRAND FOR KEYLOG WITH THE LAUNCH OF NEW PLATFORM LOGITOUT.COM Keylog is rebranding to Logitout.com this month, launching a powerful, feature-rich cloud platform that will supersede the current version. The uptake of Keylog across Australia and New Zealand has been tremendous, and this has cemented the decision to expand the platform and launch into the US market. The new platform will include extra modules and intuitive technology, making it a breeze to use; and with partner integrations coming the whole ‘onedashboard’ approach is almost a reality; exactly what savvy property managers need. More in our interview with founder and director Donna Cooney, due out in April.
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No one really knows… but you do need to be aware, educated and in the know regarding the rapid changes, innovations and disruptions that are taking place in the property management industry right now – or you could be left behind with an outdated business while your competitors are moving ahead. The PPM Group have brought together the best of the best in property management speakers. They will take to the stage and share the day-to-day practices on how to improve your team’s productivity, profits and performance; what business owners need to know about managing a rent roll to prevent the asset value from falling below industry standards; growth strategies that really work, which are simpler than you think to implement; why the old traditional
property management structure won’t work in years to come, and what are the cutting edge technologies of tomorrow that are being utilised by leading agents today. Debbie Palmer, Managing Director of the PPM Group, said, “This conference has been especially designed for those agents who want to be cutting edge. It is our 15-year anniversary, so we wanted to go above and beyond all past events. “The talent and calibre of the speakers is just outstanding. The event will start with a wow speaker (who you will remember for many years to come) and you will continue to be impressed session after session,” said Palmer. Visit ppmgroup.com.au to find out more, check out our speakers and download a full colour brochure.
VISIT ELITEAGENT.COM.AU/CATCHUP FOR FULL VERSIONS OF THESE WATERCOOLER STORIES
AUSTRALIA CALLED ON AS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LEADERS RE/MAX LLC invited three Aussies to speak at the first-ever property management session at its 2017 R4 Convention in Las Vegas, which attracts more than 6,000 delegates each year. Facilitating the session was Justin Miller, Co-Owner and Property Management Director, who heads up the property management division at RE/ MAX Regency on Queensland’s Gold Coast, with panelists Cushla Symons, a licensed real estate agent, experienced trainer and Property Management Team Leader for RE/MAX Regency, and Katie Knight, who is widely recognised as one of the best property managers in Australia and owns RE/MAX Success in Toowoomba, Queensland. The Aussie session attracted professionals from many regions including Canada, US, UK and Netherlands, with a number in the audience seen to be wearing headphones presumably to hear simultaneous translation. “Property management certainly has global eyes focused on Australia, and it was evident at R4 that other regions are recognising value in the property management side of real estate business,” Miller said.
Rent.com.au’s property listings now showcasing NBN status Australia’s specialist website for rental property, Rent.com.au, has started showing NBN status for its listings in response to demand from renters. Says CEO Greg Bader, “Our customers have been asking for this. While NBN information is already available via the NBN website, it is a cumbersome process and no one has the time to check each property individually. What we have done is taken public information and then presented it in a format that is easier to digest for our customers.”
TRENDING
TAKING ON THE TRIBUNAL AND WINNING - JUST LIKE DARRYL KERRIGAN!
Have you ever lost a hearing at tribunal and wondered what might happen if you appealed to a higher court? That is exactly what Kevin Hodges did; he technically lost a hearing at tribunal, and then went for a higher judgement on behalf of a landlord in hardship and won. Hodges says, “This issue arose when one of our tenants broke his lease and it took us quite some time to re-lease the property. The tenant got unlawful advice from the Tenancy Advice
people at Consumer Affairs and stopped paying the rent…we finally got a tenant and the old tenant then refused to pay the missing rent. The Tribunal member ruled in the tenant’s favour. The grounds for her decision was on that section of the Act that states that a landlord must do everything to mitigate losses in re-letting the property.” In this case, the tenants had broken a lease because they had purchased a property and stopped paying rent after three weeks had elapsed, even though new tenants had not yet been found. Given the extraordinary lengths that he knew his office had gone to in trying to let the property for a landlord who was in hardship, but struggling due to a depressed marketplace, Mr Hodges gathered a steely resolve and applied to the appeal Jurisdiction of SACAT, hoping to address the unfairness and to cure what he believed to be an incorrect application of Section 78 of The Residential Tenancies Act (South Australia). “I was mad enough to order a review, paying the outrageous fee of $509 out of my own pocket.” Having won the appeal on the side of fairness and justice, Mr Hodges emerges as the Darryl Kerrigan of real estate. He says, “I reckon this has now set a precedent for the whole industry, and indeed even interstate. A win for landlords and property managers alike! Incidentally, the REISA have picked it up and are going to repay my $509 fee, which is the icing on the cake!”
DID YOU KNOW: 54 PER CENT OF TENANTS DON’T HAVE CONTENTS INSURANCE? This means only 46 per cent of your tenants are insured. This statistic comes from a survey put together by ‘Understand Insurance’ run by Insurance Council of Australia. So make sure you talk to your tenants about the benefits of insurance prior to sending them through to Direct Connect. Direct Connect have partnered with Real Insurance to develop a wide range of customer focused insurance covers to protect your tenants. Get a quote on car, home, landlords or tenants insurance by visiting directconnect. com.au/real-insurance or by calling Direct Connect on 1300 664 715.
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READER PROFILE National, real estate is about relationships built on honesty, professionalism and trust, not just about financial transactions.
OPPORTUNITY TO GROW As a hairdresser Kiah Coupland travelled the world on a luxury cruise ship before taking a temporary role as a BDM at First National Real Estate Springfield. Eighteen months on she has become a permanent fixture, winning top PM awards with First National and BDM Academy and loving every minute of her new career. Tell us a bit about yourself and your role at First National Real Estate Springfield. I am 26 years old and have been privileged to experience a lot for my age, which has helped me achieve many of my goals. I was a hairdresser for nine years, including two years on a luxury international cruise expedition ship, visiting over 85 countries and standing on all seven continents – yes, including Antarctica! Afterwards I went back into a busy salon in Brisbane, but after 12 months I began to lose my passion and needed to challenge myself further. Fortunately, my father Neil owns a First National Real Estate office and I had an opportunity to step into the role of the business development manager.
I stepped into my father’s business ‘temporarily’. In reality I am still there 18 months later. I identified a gap in our current marketplace and saw an opportunity to reach a new generation, as well as modernising our approach to marketing. I grabbed my hairdressing contacts, my passion for communication and the support of an amazing brand. I wanted to influence people’s perception of the real estate industry – I wanted to build on the view that at First
What motivated you to get into real estate? My father has lived and breathed real estate his entire life – and still does! Growing up, I had the opportunity to attend several First National Real estate conferences and always knew the industry was in my horizons. However, I wanted to stand on my own two feet first and experience life. After travelling,
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What is the market like in your area right now? Our current marketplace in the Greater Springfield area is on fire! We are in the middle of a massive growth corridor with thousands of houses and duplexes being built. A significant amount of residential units will also start development shortly. Who or what inspires you? Honestly… people inspire me – I love to learn and get to know their story. I have a few mentors in the industry who inspire me to achieve my goals and play a massive part in my professional life. My family and friends are my rocks; they support me, encourage me to follow through with my crazy ideas (most of the time) and challenge me daily.
Go to as much training as you can – always pick two things to take away and implement.
In your briefcase right now is…? The current issue of Elite Agent/EPM with Post-It notes everywhere, my laptop, my iPhone battery pack, headphones, Dior red lipstick, a blank PO Form 6, a pen, highlighter, course notes from Tara Bradbury’s latest conference, Warren Tate’s book I Get You and my First National stress relief ball. Something (or someone) you couldn’t live without? Anyone who knows me would say my phone as it’s usually glued to me, but honestly I would say my smile. I believe in living life to the full and being thankful for the little things. Any words you live by? My late granddad told me once, “If you are going to do something, do it fullest; if not don’t bother doing it.” I live by these words and my memory of him is a constant reminder to set goals and achieve them. What app(s) do you use most at the moment on your iPhone? Every day I use: realestate. com.au, Domain, CoreLogic RP Data, Price Finder, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Inspect Real Estate, Westpac, Calendar and SnapChat. I enjoy embracing technology and keeping up to date with my current market. I am obsessed with social media and believe that it can be a powerful tool. What advice would you give someone starting out in property management? 1. Take lots of notes 2. Surround yourself with like-minded people who are driven 3. Go to as much training as you can – always pick two things to take away and implement 4. Set and review your goals – be accountable 5. Never be afraid to ask questions 6. Treat people how you would like to be treated 7. Smile and have fun! ■
FIRST PERSON
Bob Walters
USPs or UFOs?
MARKETERS AND TRAINERS ARE ALWAYS telling us we need a
Unique Selling Point (USP) or point of difference when pitching for new business in property management. But so many property managers – and even business development managers – don’t really know how or why they are different from others, and most don’t know how to demonstrate why they should get the business over a competitor. Bob Walters explains.
Unique Selling Point (USP): “The unique benefit exhibited by a company, service, product or brand that enables it to stand out from competitors.” Unidentified Flying Object (UFO): “Any apparent anomaly in the sky that is not identifiable as a known object or phenomenon.”
For many years, I have been presenting at seminars and conferences on the topic of rent roll growth. On several occasions, I have posed the question to a room full of property managers and BDMs: ‘Why should a property investor give you their property to manage?’ In most cases, the response I get back is a blank look or uncompelling statements, like ‘We are a long-established firm’, ‘We have the most experienced team’, or ‘We use the latest technology’. The list goes on. The problem here is that the above statements are not only not unique, but they only provide the feature of that particular service, not the benefit to the client. ‘Long-established firm’ rarely
means anything to the client except that you have managed to remain in business for quite a while. It has no bearing on the quality of your service offering. ‘Experienced team’ – experience does not equal skill and knowledge in my books. Over the four decades I have been in business I have met hundreds of experienced property managers. In many cases, the ‘10 years’ experience’ they have is merely one year’s experience 10 times. In other words, they haven’t learnt much during their time in property management. ‘The latest technology’ means nothing to a landlord client unless you can demonstrate how the use of this technology will benefit them. In fact, many older clients are still afraid of technology. Everywhere I go I hear property management practitioners saying things like ‘competition is tough’ and ‘I have to cut my fees to get the business’. They were saying that in 1973 when I first started in the property management sector, so that’s not new. Yes, it is true that today competition is strong and there is pressure on fees. But, in my view, the biggest
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challenge facing growthfocused property management agencies is not potentially cutting fees to win the business, but sharpening the selling skills of property management team members who touch a prospective client. When it comes to rent roll growth, what today’s property management professional needs is: • A clear knowledge of what it is about your property
management business that is unique or different. If the client thinks you are the same as the others he/she will try to separate you on price • An understanding of what landlord clients really want from you, and how to demonstrate this in a compelling way • Knowing to add value to the client over and above the fee being charged • How the cheapest property manager is not the one with the lowest fees, but the one who puts the most money in the landlord’s bank account every year • Knowing how to present your services in a compelling way, how to overcome any objections raised by the client and how to close the sale. ■
BOB WALTERS is one of Australia’s leading property management trainers and business consultants. He will be presenting the session ‘USPs or UFOs?’ at the LPMA 2017 conference on the Gold Coast on 4/5 May. More details can be found at lpma2017.com.au.
IN MANY CASES, THE ‘10 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE’ THEY HAVE IS MERELY ONE YEAR’S EXPERIENCE 10 TIMES.
Revolutionary not evolutionary. Console cloud is here. In 2017, we’re working to solve a different set of problems than the ones Console solved back in 1992. We’ve started from scratch and we’re partnering with you – our loyal clients to invest in the next phase of your property management journey. To understand today’s problems, figure out the capabilities you need for tomorrow and build that into a software solution.
It’s what we do at Console. Our first client is now on the cloud, with more clients to follow in the coming months. Help us shape the future of property management. Register at console.com.au/newconsole
FIRST PERSON
Penelope Valentine
Grace under pressure: How you can keep cool MANAGING OTHER PEOPLE’S property can often seem like a
thankless task with more than its fair share of stress. Penelope Valentine looks at the most common pressures and what property managers can do to help themselves. There is a long-standing joke that property managers never take a lunch break. Each morning they hit their desk running and in a blink of an eye it’s 5.30pm. Here are my top five tips for property managers who are faced with common pressures of the job. PRESSURE 1: MINIMAL SUPPORT AND MENTORING: Property managers can feel isolated when the agency principal is focused on the sales division or, due to lack of experience, doesn’t completely understand the intricacies of the property management business. Solution: Find your local networking group to seek advice, meet advocates in the industry and mentors to help guide your career. I participate in the networking group ‘Catch Up With The Property Girls’, which was created by Leanne Pilkington, Managing Director of Laing+Simmons and REINSW
president-elect, as a nonjudgmental space for women to share challenges and ideas that are specific to their role. PRESSURE 2: TIME MANAGEMENT AND WORK/ LIFE BALANCE: Without the right time management skills and tools, a property manager can quickly become overwhelmed by the constant stream of urgent enquiries from landlords, tenants and tradespeople. Solution: Take control of your day by blocking out periods of time for certain tasks and sticking to it. Set up autoresponses to emails and return phone calls three set times
A PROPERTY MANAGER CAN QUICKLY BECOME OVERWHELMED BY THE CONSTANT STREAM OF URGENT ENQUIRIES FROM LANDLORDS, TENANTS AND TRADESPEOPLE.
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a day. Technology apps can assist with communication and managing time, but they can be a double-edged sword so where possible turn off your phone outside of office hours. To achieve a work/life balance it’s important to prioritise time for exercise, eating well and spending time with loved ones. Reading books on the topic can help master the art of time management. I recommend checking out Deep Work by Cal Newport. PRESSURE 3: BALANCING RENT ROLL GROWTH WITH RETENTION: Property managers can often feel pressure from agency principals to grow the rent roll and are then faced with the challenge of balancing growth with retention of existing clients. Solution: Set realistic growth goals and think of outstanding client service as business development. Ask existing clients for feedback (such as net promoter scores) to improve your service. Add value to existing and potential clients by sending them highly relevant and valuable information that positions you as the local property expert. This could be an enewsletter containing local market and investment trends, and legislation updates.
PRESSURE 4: COPING WITH UPSET AND SOMETIMES DIFFICULT PEOPLE: By nature, property management is rich in issues and complaints. Often highly frustrated tenants and landlords can become irate and in some cases aggressive. Solution: Equip yourself with the right tools to handle these scenarios so they don’t become overwhelming. Let the person who is complaining know that you are listening; often they just need to be heard. If their behaviour is causing you concern, ask them to put it in writing. You may need to be firm in some situations, but always remain polite and remember: it’s not personal, it’s business. PRESSURE 5: LACK OF CAREER PROGRESSION: Stress, rigid work environments and limited earning potential are just some of the reasons for high staff turnover in the industry where, on average, property managers spend just 18 months in the role. Unlike successful salespeople, property managers rarely earn the money to open their own business. Solution: Regardless of your role, you can take a proactive approach to setting out a career path. I recommend working with a third-party mentor in the industry in addition to your agency principal to create a personal development plan. ■
PENELOPE VALENTINE is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Rent360, an online marketplace for property management. She has more than 14 years’ experience in real estate and property management. Penelope has worked with McGrath, Ray White and most recently serving as General Manager of LJ Hooker in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. For more information visit rent360.com.au.
Kate Benjamin
Filling the pipeline
WHEN SET THE CHALLENGE of prospecting for new
managements, does your mind automatically jump onto the starting blocks and launch full steam ahead into finding an investor in desperate need of a tenant – today? A better strategy, says Real+ coach Kate Benjamin, is to understand your pipeline and conversion rates and plan from there.
You may be lucky to find that your office sometimes attracts investors who need to find a tenant immediately, but as we know this is not always the case. So, when these calls are few and far between, what are you doing to make sure that you are continually filling your pipeline with potential clients who will need your services in the future? What are you doing to increase calls into the office? Are you making calls from the office, and talking to investors before they even consider talking to your competitors? The key to increasing your rent roll growth is to execute a new business strategy that is planned, measured and executed. But where do you start? Let’s talk about the first steps in building an investor pipeline and executing a growth strategy. Think about your targets and make sure you have a clear picture of what you need to do. How many properties did you sign up in the past 12 months as an individual? What was your net growth across the whole business? What are your targets for the next six to 12 months? Planning for this period includes allowing for holiday breaks, annual leave and
training days. Don’t be fooled into thinking there are 52 weeks in a year to gain new business. Make sure that your plan is based around a 10-month year and that any additional business gained outside of this is a bonus. Once you know your annual target, break this down by month and week, and then calculate your daily targets. Your targets should be visible, at your desk and in front of you every day. They should include, but may not be limited to: • New business leased • Listings • Appraisals • Calls • Connects • Database contacts added Once you have set these targets, you must decide how committed you really are. The best BDMs in the country know that prospecting is an appointment with the phone, and that making connections with potential clients on a daily basis must form a regular and non-negotiable part of their ideal week. It is equally important to note that one of the keys to success is ‘what gets measured gets done’. As part of setting the above targets, you must also put a plan in place to track and record
THE BEST BDMS KNOW THAT MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH POTENTIAL CLIENTS ON A DAILY BASIS MUST FORM A REGULAR PART OF THEIR IDEAL WEEK.
your activity. This serves two purposes: it allows you both to track results and review this data. You can then be clear on your conversion ratios: • Calls to connects – how many numbers do you need to dial before you talk to someone? • Connections to booked appraisals and database contacts – how many people
FIRST PERSON do you need to talk to before you book an appraisal or add an investor client to your database? • Appraisals to listings – how many appraisals do you need to attend in a month to list your target number of properties? • Listings to leased properties – are you guaranteed to take over the management and/ or lease of all the properties you list? It is important to be clear on what works and when. Ask yourself whether calling in the morning or the afternoon yields you the best results, then track it and see. I had always been a firm believer in the ‘Eat that Frog’ mentality – getting prospecting over and done with in the first part of the day. However, during my time as a BDM, I came to the realisation that one to two afternoon call sessions per week allowed me to catch those investors who were simply not available to take or return calls early in the day. Suddenly my connection rate increased over a week. In summary, before you launch into picking up the phone, be clear on what you want and need to do to create your pipeline and increase your opportunities. Remember, the key to success is a wellthought out new business strategy that is planned, measured and executed. ■
At REAL+, KATE BENJAMIN focuses on linking business needs to highly desirable outcomes around team, client engagement and rent roll growth. She has an extensive background in property management, growth and team leadership, and is passionate about seamless property management and measurable outcomes. For more information visit realplus.com.au.
epm.eliteagent.com.au 15
Game Changer
Jo-Anne Oliveri
7 STEPS TO DESIGNING YOUR IDEAL BUSINESS Business ‘by design’ means planning every tangible and intangible area of your property management business so all elements are working towards realising your vision and achieving long-term success. Jo-Anne Oliveri explains.
I
f you want to build a property management business by design, follow these seven steps.
1
VISION First, you must get clear on your property management business by design vision. To do this, look within and consider: How will your business be different to other property management agencies? What will it look and feel like? Which resources
THE KEY IS CONTINUALLY TO MONITOR, MEASURE AND IMPROVE EVERY ELEMENT OF YOUR AGENCY. are required? When do you want to make your vision a reality? Writing down your vision helps you work out what you need to achieve it.
2
RESEARCH When building your property management business by design, research is an important step. Understanding your market area and its existing competitors allows you to identify opportunities and
threats you could capitalise on. It also uncovers gaps in your market that your business could potentially fill with a differentiated competitive advantage. As such, the research findings help you make strategic decisions about your business by design.
3
BRAND Designing your business’ brand is a crucial step when building your property management business by design. Creating a unique look, feel, experience and personality ensures your business stands out in your market area. Since your brand forms the foundations of your agency’s operations, systems, team, culture and in fact every touchpoint of your business, it’s important that you design it right from the outset.
4
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Your research findings should reveal gaps in your market area which no other property management business has tapped into. These gaps represent opportunities for your business to be different. Decide which gaps you want to fill and how you will do so. For example, it could be through innovative service offerings, unique marketing or a premium customer
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experience. How you fill these gaps becomes your agency’s competitive advantage and helps you win business.
5
FINANCIAL ASSUMPTIONS Financial Assumptions (FA) ensure that your property management business by design has enough working capital to get started and grow. The FA is a detailed document which includes calculations for expected monthly income (ingoings), expected monthly expenses (outgoings), and expected monthly business overheads. It should also include preoutgoing calculations on resources such as your physical business location, software, systems, recruitment, salaries and training. Most importantly, the FA should show exactly when your business is expected to make profit. Prepare this document to help you understand how your business will start up and grow.
6
PLAN Your property management business by design has many elements that must be strategically planned. Putting together an operational business plan is essential if you want your vision to be achieved. The plan should outline your business’ objectives, strategies, services,
FA findings and capital requirements. Preparing this plan helps ensure every element of your business is designed to match your vision.
7
IMPLEMENT When all previous steps have been completed, it’s time to implement. Starting up your property management business by design is the exciting moment when all your hard work pays off and your vision finally becomes a reality. However, the hard work should not stop there. When it comes to operating a successful property management business by design, the key is to continually monitor, measure and improve every element of your agency. Doing this ensures your business’ ongoing success. Building a property management business by design means gearing every element of your agency towards realising your vision and achieving long-term success. It’s how you can make the business of your dreams a reality. ■ JO-ANNE OLIVERI, CIPS, TRC, is the Founder and Managing Director of PM business solutions company ireviloution intelligence. For more information visit ireviloution.com.
Realty Bytes
Alister Maple-Brown, CEO, Rockend
THE POWER OF PURE CLOUD COMPUTING What is the cloud? Where is the cloud? Am I using the cloud? These are all questions you’ve probably asked yourself at some point when you think about ‘cloud computing’.
I
n the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the internet instead of your computer’s hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the internet. It goes back to the days of flowcharts representing the internet’s gigantic network of data centres as nothing more than a puffy white cloud. These days, most businesses use at least a couple of cloudbased services to deliver software tools to users. But what if you could take your use of cloud computing even further? What if all your computing infrastructure was cloud-based too?
HOW IT WORKS A simple way to understand it is to think about a standard onsite computing set-up. Typically, there’s hardware in your office – a server. Then there’s an operating system installed on the server. And running on the operating system is an application. That application is installed on the server and could be anything from accounting software to business programs. The application may then be connected to a database. The set-up might also include some other services like access control, security and networking. Over time, hardware needs to be replaced,
operating systems need to be updated, databases need to be maintained and more – and scaling up and down according to user requirements can be unnecessarily costly, tiring, labour and time intensive if your business is not technology. Now compare this standard onsite set-up with a similar scenario where the application is in the cloud running on the Microsoft Azure platform. There’s still hardware powering the
of managing all the elements yourself, with Microsoft Azure it’s all taken care of for you. And you can use as much or as little capacity as you need, when you need it – you’re not constrained by the same capacity limitations you have with onsite infrastructure.
PROPERTYTREE USERS GET THE BENEFITS Why are we talking about Microsoft Azure? Because it’s the platform we use to build, deploy and manage PropertyTree.
PropertyTree. Rockend has been a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for the last 10 years. This means we have access to a wealth of resources that benefit our customers in terms of service and technical expertise. We know how integral PropertyTree is to the businesses of our customers. It needs to be incredibly reliable to ensure business continuity. When we developed PropertyTree, we wanted our customers to be able to access the system via secure,
AZURE OFFERS THE ABILITY TO INSTANTLY PROVISION COMPUTING RESOURCES ON DEMAND. application, but you never see it. And instead of the application running on one server, it’s running across many servers in a data centre that’s part of a global network. As a user, you’re not faced with the task of setting up, replacing, managing or scaling infrastructure. You don’t ever even have to think about it. It’s all done behind the scenes by Microsoft Azure. The basic idea of both set-ups is the same. What’s different is that Azure offers the ability to instantly provision computing resources on demand. Instead
18 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
Rather than maintaining our own data centre to support PropertyTree, we’ve harnessed the power of Microsoft’s world-class infrastructure and services. In the world of computing, the Microsoft name has enormous brand recognition. The vast majority of us will use at least one Microsoft program each day, whether it’s Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or something else. People know and trust Microsoft – and Rockend trusts them too. Microsoft Azure was the logical platform for
fast, reliable and robust infrastructure, and Microsoft Azure provides that. As a customer, you have peace of mind that PropertyTree will always be available and provide you with the capacity to carry out all the functions you need, when you need them – and you can get on with the business of doing business. ■
ALISTER MAPLE-BROWN is the CEO of Rockend. For more information visit rockend.com.au.
4 - 5 May, 2017
JUPITER’S ON THE GOLD COAST THE ‘MUST ATTEND’ PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE FOR YOUR ENTIRE PROPERTY MANAGEMENT TEAM 20 expert presenters Specialist sessions for Agency Principals, Property Managers and Business Development Managers Dinner and dancing at the LPMA Gala Dinner Network with the cream of the property management industry See the latest PM products and services on display
For more information visit
lpma2017.com.au
Property Management Mentor
Natalie Hastings
HEEDING THE WARNING SIGNS OF FRAUD Doubts around misappropriation of trust funds is one of the things that causes the some people to distrust the real estate industry. It’s also a major concern that keeps principals up late at night, because it could happen to anyone. Natalie Hastings highlights five signs to watch out for.
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rincipals tend to be particularly alert to fraud when their property management portfolios are in their infancy. However, as rent rolls mature and businesses begin to thrive, a principal’s perception of the risk of fraud diminishes – and it’s this very comfort and complacency which create the ideal environment for real estate fraud to flourish. Remain vigilant and protect both your business and your clients from real estate fraud by understanding your
accounting processes – and keeping an eye out for signs or environments that make your business ripe for property management fraud.
CENTRALISED CONTROL Principals are busy people. That’s why they engage specialist staff across their property management and sales businesses to support their clients and their dreams of expansion. Unfortunately, many cases of serious real estate fraud involve very trusted, very senior staff members stealing from a trust account.
20 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
No matter how well you know your business, no real estate agency is immune from fraud. You can better protect yourself by becoming engaged with your trust accounting processes, and by spreading risk across your team by developing strategic systems and processes which hinder individual fraud. Learn how to balance your own books thoroughly before engaging a staff member to assume that responsibility for you, and prioritise developing checks and balances within your property management
department, putting you in control of all your accounts.
THE BOOKS AREN’T BALANCING Fraud can begin in small ways, with $20 or $50 missing from petty cash which can ‘easily’ be explained away. Fraud can leave small traces which appear irrelevant initially, but indicate more serious problems when you dig a little deeper. The bottom line is your books need to balance. If you’re regularly ‘out’, even by amounts you consider inconsequential, bells should be ringing. Engage an
auditor or trust accounting expert to identify unusual patterns within your accounts, and act as required. Hopefully, it’s an anomaly born of poor accounting practices rather than fraud.
A FAILING BUSINESS Ignorance of basic trust accounting concepts are no defence when it comes to committing real estate fraud. Neither is being short on cash as a real estate business
owner, for that matter. In recent years, principals across Australia have been fined and had their licences revoked as a result of misappropriating funds from their trust account to pay for business expenses. It doesn’t matter whether you promise yourself you can pay back the amounts ‘borrowed’ from the trust account; you’re engaging in fraud. So if your business is failing, call in a business coach or call it a day. Don’t compound the failure of
ONE COMMON WAY TO COMMIT TRUST ACCOUNT FRAUD IS BY DRAWING ILLEGITIMATE SUPPLIER INVOICES.
a business – which is sad, but not the end of the world – with committing fraud and being barred from the industry you love.
A FLURRY OF NEW SUPPLIERS Noticed lots of new supplier invoices being raised? Take note and be wary. One common way to commit trust account fraud is by drawing illegitimate supplier invoices. Large rent rolls with landlords who are disconnected from their investments, such as regional or overseas landlords, are particularly susceptible to this kind of fraud. A property manager may create a business identity, like
a window cleaner, plumber or a gardener, and be invoicing landlords from this identity for works which were never required and never executed. (And yes, we do hope this sends a shiver down your spine!) The landlord and principal are none the wiser, as their property appears to be cared for and their books appear to be balanced. A sophisticated hoax, so keep an eye out for new suppliers you may not have signed off on as a potential indicator of fraud. ■
NATALIE HASTINGS is the Managing Director of hastings + co. For more information, visit hastingsandco.com.au.
MUSCLE UP AND RAISE THE BAR IN REAL ESTATE SPECIALIST REAL ESTATE ADVISORS AND ACCOUNTANTS At businessDEPOT, we’ve got a unique insight into what fuels the fire - this allows us to package specialist tax, accounting and business advice to raise the bar of your real estate business. Get in touch with John Knight and his team to #MAKEITHAPPEN. businessdepot.com.au
info@businessdepot.com.au
We also help with: commission structure reviews, advisory board participation, cashflow & profit projection, tax minimisation strategies.
07 3193 3000
epm.eliteagent.com.au 21
Business Development Mastery
Tara Bradbury
THE THREE PROSPECTS YOU NEED TO KNOW Meeting with a potential client for the first time can be an unnerving experience. We can find ourselves being overwhelmed with fear and excitement at the same time, but understanding client personality types will help. Tara Bradbury explains.
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efore, during and after meeting a possible new client most of us will go through the same questions in our head, including: • Will they like me? • Will they see value in what we offer as an agency? • Will they question our fees? • If they don’t sign today does this mean I have missed the opportunity? • Have I missed anything I should have covered in the meeting to get them across the line? The list can go on, and the more time we spend overthinking the above questions the more exhausted and demotivated we become.
as you can about the property and the area. Make sure you have all recently leased listings (all agencies, not just your own) top of mind and ready to share in case you are put on the spot. This will show you have a finger on the pulse when it comes to the market. I’ve found that most prospects will have one of three different personality types: the concerned client, the convinced client or the complacent client. The concerned client is entering the meeting with fears and past issues that they may or may not share with you upfront. Be sure to ask plenty of questions, because if
IT IS OKAY TO LEAVE THE MEETING WITHOUT A SIGNED AGREEMENT, BUT NOT WITHOUT KNOWING WHEN YOU WILL NEXT CONNECT. What’s the solution? Before the meeting make sure you do your homework and go in as prepared as you possibly can. Make sure you know the types of questions you want to ask and remember always to be relatable. You can do this by asking initial questions over the phone prior to the face-to-face meeting, collecting as much information
you don’t during the meeting they will leave wanting to find someone who will. The convinced client is someone who knows they could do with the help, but they’re not always easy to get across the line because they think they already know everything. In most cases, you have initiated the meeting so do your research.
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With a convinced client I find it’s best to try to educate (not dictate) when it comes to giving advice on how they should move forward. They generally don’t like being told what to do and can be easily offended. However, the complacent client is prone to sitting back and letting the world go by until they are hit with a problem. These clients can be more understanding of mistakes, but they can be easy to convert as shiny new things easily distract them. The complacent client will put full trust into those they see as experts but are reluctant to make quick decisions, so don’t be surprised if you don’t sign them on the day. All three personality types share the same opportunities for conversion, but each one of them needs a tailored approach and regular contact. Regardless of which personality they are, they will all be affected by first impressions of you as well. Follow these easy steps to woo them from the start: • Don’t turn up on time, be early! Aim to be five to 10 minutes early. • Park on the street and not in the driveway, as you don’t want to be interrupted during the meeting. • Make sure you know all the owners’ names prior to the meeting and how to
pronounce them. • Greet them with a confident handshake. • Ask to be shown through the home and always offer to remove your shoes. After you have gone through the above, ask, ‘What is most important to you when selecting an agent to manage your most valuable asset?’. This will often raise any insecurities they may have, including bad previous experiences. This allows you to ask more questions and confirm time frames. The main goal is to leave the meeting with an agreement signed, or an understanding of what they need to do to take the next step. It is okay to leave the meeting without a signed agreement but not without knowing when you will next connect. Follow-up is one of the most important keys to becoming a successful BDM, and those who are at the top have a very strong and diligent process when managing a successful database. ■
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.
ELITE AGENT AC A DEM Y
CPD ONLINE
Ready when you are! From 1 April, Elite Agent will be delivering distance CPD and other short courses online for NSW Agents in association with MRT (RTO 41529).
Standard online courses from $89 including assessment and certificate (or contact us about having our team put together a bespoke CPD course for your office)
Visit eliteagent.academy for more information
ELITE AGENT AC A DEM Y
COVER STORY
PROPERTY MANAGER 2.0 RECENTLY AWARDED REIQ’S Property Manager of the
Year, Rachael Byrne of Jean Brown Properties, at the northern end of Queensland’s Gold Coast, is convinced that a focus on tenant services is at the core of a new and better direction for property management. Sarah Bell caught up with Rachael to find out more about her brand of positive property management and the modern approach of Property Manager 2.0.
R
ACHAEL’S ENTHUSIASM FOR A POSITIVE property management approach is palpable. Coming into the industry and having her own perceptions of PM from the vantage point of a tenant, Rachael was curious to explore what she saw as a cloud of negativity in a sector that had the potential to positively impact all its stakeholders. “I had worked in property management once before and I came from a company where I wasn’t happy at all. I learned QCAT and dispute resolution… I learned what not to do; I just had to learn it in the most horrible way. I actually took a year off. Jean, who is the Principal of this company, was actually my [own] property manager, and I saw that she did things differently.” While acknowledging that keeping owner clients happy is imperative, Rachael soon realised that the value she was providing for owners was to be of service to tenants. To Rachael that simple realisation about putting tenants at the centre of property management was a revelation. “It was quite simple. Tenants were unhappy because things weren’t being done and the communication was so poor. So if a tenant was reporting maintenance and that maintenance wasn’t being completed, it’s understanding the effects that has on a tenant with no cooking facilities, no air con facilities... things that they need for their day to day life not working. I’m busy, they’re busy and if it’s then being detrimental to their enjoyment of the property then that’s going to have a negative effect on their relationship with us,” explains Rachael. An understanding that owners are clients engaging a professional service but that tenants are the end users of that service just makes sense. Owners engage property managers to
24 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
create a calm and well-managed tenancy and to provide a service to tenants on their behalf. That is the essence of Rachael’s Property Manager 2.0 and it is paying dividends. “I didn’t click to a lot of that until our referral business started coming from our tenants,” says Rachael. The agency is expanding and outgrowing their current offices, almost purely from their referral business. “The fact is that we’re not marketing, we’re not advertising, we’re just trying to keep up with the referrals! [We’re] being referred from a tenant basis, from our suppliers, electricians, plumbers, handymen ... Our suppliers are all referring business through to us. We’ve even had our software developers be like ‘Hey, I’m really happy with my property managers but I think I’d be happier with you guys.’ Rachael’s background – working in an investment company developing property for landlords – gave her a unique insight into what goes into the purchase of an investment property. Empathy and insight regarding the position of a landlord in their investment journey is an important feature of Property Manager 2.0. “There is a general consensus that if you own investment properties you must have a lot of money. A lot [of landlords] are tenants, they are parents, they are grandparents and they are just trying to get ahead in life by doing the wealth creating, setting themselves up for retirement,” says Rachael. “A big part of our market is brand new
epm.eliteagent.com.au 25
COVER STORY investment and dealing with those type of clients, so being able to use that relationship as well; but for me it’s understanding what our owners are going through. That might mean sympathising with owners in bad situations when they don’t have the money to do repairs, or tenant rent situations, but just going through the whole process and making sure they’re set up and following your risk management. I don’t want those owners to lose that house or struggle because a tenant has missed two or three weeks’ rent.” On learning more about Rachael’s approach to property management, the gravity and the responsibility of the task begins to imprint. The impact that property managers have on owners and tenants is enormous. Taking a long-term approach to relationships and a transparent approach to information sharing is a hallmark of Property Manager 2.0. Rachael says that there are practices that have eroded faith in the property industry across all sectors. “Developers, marketers… selling properties to people who really can’t afford it. Over-appraising properties and the owners not getting a second or third opinion, not jumping onto realestate.com.au
and seeing what it’s worth… that there’s 400 houses available in that pocket and people are dropping rent. Then seeing owners lose houses, not achieve their rents, not being able to service their loans from not having that information. “A big thing for us with owners now is telling them: ‘Do your research. Pit me against somebody else or get three others to appraise it as well; make me put my money where my mouth is and test what I know’.” Rachael feels Property Manager 2.0 needs to adopt better and more positive language to describe the specific tasks and activities of
“I HAD WORKED IN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ONCE BEFORE AND I WASN’T HAPPY AT ALL... I LEARNED WHAT NOT TO DO; I JUST HAD TO LEARN IT IN THE MOST HORRIBLE WAY.”
26 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
property management. “What we do is quite archaic, really, calling ourselves ‘property managers’, we’re actually tenant relationship managers, we’re owner relationship managers, we’re creating relationships. When people say ‘property manager’, well, they just manage property – but it’s so much more. Routine inspections? Oh, it’s just a routine... No, it’s an asset protection inspection. It’s trying to look at it in different ways as well.” Adopting better and more positive language to describe property management tasks allows Property Manager 2.0 to be purpose-driven and to understand the ‘why’ behind the action. Rachael confesses, “I don’t like doing routine inspections, but I understand the importance of them”. A mature appreciation for the stakes of property management is the final quality of Rachael’s embodiment of Property Manager 2.0, with a proactive and restorative approach to conflict. “I’ve been asked to speak at a conference about QCAT and how to build a strong case [for Tribunal]. I feel that’s not really my platform… As property managers, why are we being taught how to build a strong [Tribunal] case when we should be staying out of it?” says Rachael. Finally, Rachael believes that good systems are freeing. “I actually found when I broke it down it was a really simple process. It’s so, so simple, you’d think it was almost idiot proof. So many people over complicate it and put systems on top of systems,” she says. “Get your systems in place and be authentic in everything you’re doing. Stick to your word; don’t overpromise and under-deliver. Do what you say you’re going to do.” A platform to exchange and share knowledge is a must for Property Manager 2.0, as is a keenness to continually learn, reflect and develop new ways of doing things and redefine success in property management. “Can I be successful? Can I do this? Seeing women who have had it 10 times harder than I have and then managed to rise above that, I think it’s the influences around me. It’s not so much the real estate conferences; it’s outside of that. I see some great speakers and, every conference I go to, I can probably pull one or two stand-outs that really speak to me. I’ve always been driven by successful people and curious [about them], ‘Well, why are you so successful? What did you do differently? What makes you so special? How have you done it?’” A natural leader, we have no doubt Rachael is well on the way to joining them as she continues to spread the mission of the modern property management. ■
GROWTH
WHEN YOU GET IT RIGHT, data
can help you make better decisions and can act as the true north for your agency. It can help you define culture and positively impact how you communicate within your team. And, it can also help your clients and other stakeholdrers, as Ben White explains.
T
HE PROBLEM IS THAT so many agencies have up to a dozen different software programs and apps that each perform some function or task. Some of them are large, central pieces of the puzzle, like trust accounting; others might do nothing more than help you take photos at a routine inspection. Regardless, they all contribute to the business and the challenge is to find ways to pull them all together to bring insights. I used to believe the only solution to this problem was to seek the one perfect application that did it all. It turns out that’s a fool’s errand. The better goal is to find ways to bring together what is important and find the insights buried in all that data. Accessing and using your data effectively can provide your agency with a critical advantage, and I believe that it should be an agency’s highest priority. So what might that mean in practice? Here are a few areas that we have been working on for some of our clients.
GROWTH IN A CHANGING INDUSTRY
28 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
FIND THE GOOD NEWS IN ARREARS How much time do we spend as an industry talking about, and doing something about, arrears? Of course it is important, but what about spending a bit of time recognising and celebrating the tenants who are never in arrears? Why don’t we find those tenants and thank them? Fostering a respectful and workable relationship with your tenants is critical to finding productivity gains in your agency that cascade throughout the life of every tenancy. LEVERAGE YOUR WINS FOR GROWTH Did you know that one in four landlords owns more than one investment property? Well, you do now. Once you find those quality tenants in your rent roll, pick up
the phone and let the landlord know that it has now been x number of years since the tenant has missed a rent payment and, accordingly, she is just that much closer to paying off the mortgage. All thanks to a great property manager! ‘Hey there, lovely landlord, the tenant that we placed in your property has paid rent on time, every time, for one and a half years. Do you own any other properties? Do you know if rent is being paid on time, every time?...Sure thing, of course we could manage your other property for you.’ We know this works because we’ve seen it with our own eyes.
FIND THE REAL PROBLEMS We often use a lot of simple statistics in our agencies. Vacancy rates and arrears rates are often quoted as simple percentages. Those numbers can be very misleading. For example, take two agencies that each have 100 managements and each have an arrears rate of 10 per cent. If agency A has a 10 per cent arrears rate but the arrears are generally spread out across different tenancies from month to month, then few landlords will suffer undue harm. If the other agency has the same 10 tenancies in arrears each month, then those 10 landlords are going to be suffering financially.
I USED TO BELIEVE THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM WAS TO SEEK THE ONE PERFECT APPLICATION THAT DID IT ALL. IT TURNS OUT THAT’S A FOOL’S ERRAND.
You can only really get to this level of understanding by digging below the high level numbers and looking for the underlying truth. In our experience, 80 per cent of total days in arrears each year are caused by less than 15 per cent of tenancies, and we know how to find them and deal with them. You can’t escape the old 80/20 rule!
KNOW WHAT YOU’RE LEAVING ON THE TABLE One of the most incredible things about this industry is how many agencies do not charge the fees that they are entitled to. We have now got the proof to show it. By comparing the fees that have been agreed with the landlord to what has been entered
into the trust accounting system and then to what has actually been charged through journal entries, we have found shocking results. Our data shows that the typical agency is failing to charge between 8 per cent and 12 per cent of its revenue. For most businesses there is the opportunity to double the cash flow if the correct fees were charged. This is a complex problem to solve, but the algorithms exist today to help you understand your agency’s fee leakage.
BUILD YOUR ASSET We all know that the property management business is the most valuable asset in an agency. It follows therefore that the data in the property management business is at the heart of wealth creation for a principal. It is a concern then that our research shows that less than half of all management and tenancy combinations have complete, accurate and actionable data stored in the agency’s main software. This means that an agency is fundamentally limited in its ability to build and foster better and more profitable relationships with its stakeholders, and is also setting itself up for a lower sale price when the time comes. In short, running a data audit program is critical to the value creation process. BUILD YOUR CULTURE No amount of morning teas together or weekend retreats can beat a team culture based on success. When a team works hard together, overcomes obstacles and, importantly, sees their shared successes, you will develop a culture that supports your shared ambitions. Sharing results with the team in an easy to read, always up-to-date format is a great way to unify and focus your team; it also takes the emotion out of things as everyone knows where you stand. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using data in practical ways. It can seem intimidating at first, but the good news is that this analysis is becoming easier each day. I believe that developing a data competency and building a culture based on data is fast becoming a necessary precondition to success in our evolving industry. ■ BEN WHITE is the founder of Apmasphere and its Halo platform. He will be speaking at the LPMA conference on 4-5 May 2017.
epm.eliteagent.com.au 29
CUSTOMER SERVICE
The Great After-Hours Phone Debate A CURSORY GLANCE THROUGH any of our
industry social media groups shows story after story about the trials and tribulations of being responsible for the dreaded after-hours ‘emergency’ phone. In an industry renowned for staff churn and burnout, Brock Fisher asks: Why does it have to be this way?
30 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
I
N A PREVIOUS ROLE I was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for three years until eventually I quit a job that I quite liked, working for awesome people whom I respected and admired. I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time, but the ever-present issue of never truly being able to ‘switch off’ was a huge contributing factor. It’s worth noting that during that time, of all the calls I ever got, there was never anything that couldn’t wait until the following day. They were often about things that I needn’t be involved in at all. Refereeing domestic disputes, people locking themselves out or neighbours being noisy are all issues that can be managed in a number of other ways, apart from calling your property manager. I recall on more than one occasion telling tenants that I was not a 24-hour concierge service and if they needed that style of assistance they should go and stay at the Marriott. Upon reflection, being a little older and wiser now, I’d have handled those instances differently. That retort is certainly out of line with customer experience standards, but this was the
I WAS ON CALL 24 HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, 365 DAYS A YEAR FOR THREE YEARS, UNTIL EVENTUALLY I QUIT A JOB THAT I QUITE LIKED. result of festering frustration about my time never truly being my own. Apart from commission-based scenarios, property management is the only industry I can think of where having staff on call outside their normal working hours as part of their duties is just an accepted norm. I have many mates who work in various trades; all are paid significantly to be ‘on call’, and then paid again each time they actually have to action a job while rostered on. Starting at Rental Express as a property manager, I was amazed that not only did we not have a work mobile but no property manager ever had a mobile number advertised or promoted. Everything was done via Direct Office line, with property managers having the option to have MessageBank messages emailed to them from our phone system in real time.
I was gobsmacked at this initially, wondering if the world would continue to spin on its axis. I curiously asked our managing director about this arrangement, and he replied simply that property managers deserve to switch off. When they leave the office for the day, they should be able to do that. This was a business that managed several thousand rental properties and added up to 900 new properties organically each year, so this after-hours approach had negligible impact on the growth of the business. Similarly, at Little Real Estate our scale allows us to handle this issue in a slightly different way, but the same principle applies. We have our own Customer Care team with extended operating hours who handle the majority of tenant phone enquiries. Outside of that, phone MessageBank and tenancy sign-up processes actively direct tenants to our website should they require emergency maintenance outside of hours. Tenants are then able to select one of our approved after-hours tradespeople, who themselves are trained in troubleshooting issues by phone, to handle after-hours callouts in line with our expectations. Residential Tenancy Acts in all States comprehensively cover the rights and responsibilities of all parties in relation to emergency and after-hours issues. As an industry, what is stopping us from using these provisions more broadly and giving our hard-working property managers the real chance to switch off? Empowering tenants to take action after hours need not be viewed as ‘anti’ customer service. Property managers often become the unnecessary third wheel between tradesperson and tenant, relaying messages and coordinating times and troubleshooting when the parties could be communicating directly with each other for a faster and more efficient outcome. The same applies to noise issues and things like flooding or roof leaks in storms. Tenants are able to call the Police or the SES directly to address these matters, and will do so provided that this is clearly explained to them during the sign-up process. I understand that there can be apprehension about being completely unavailable after hours, but there are still ways to filter out issues and only have the ‘real stuff’ get to you. For example, consider an after-hours call service where the office phones get directed to a professional answering service outside of hours. These solutions
can be quite economical; your provider can be given guidelines and training in relation to what really is an emergency that you need to be involved in, and how to handle other types of enquiries that may come in after hours but are not urgent. Even on a smaller scale, in single-person businesses where support services are not financially viable, there are ways to lessen
I RECALL ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION TELLING TENANTS THAT I WAS NOT A 24-HOUR CONCIERGE SERVICE AND IF THEY NEEDED THAT STYLE OF ASSISTANCE THEY SHOULD GO AND STAY AT THE MARRIOTT. the after-hours impact. I recommend having a detailed and specific ‘out of office’ email message that you can turn on as you leave the office. If a tenant emails with an issue outside of hours, then this auto-responder is able to guide them regarding what actions they can take, and state that other issues will be responded to in the morning. In addition to this, simply customising a MessageBank greeting so that it is informative and able to guide tenants on these issues outside of hours assists with the amount of calls that you need to deal with specifically. Staff retention and engagement are critical factors in property management, and I have no doubt whatsoever that afterhours accessibility has a huge impact on both. In all businesses large and small, I would like to encourage everyone to find a way, in their individual circumstances, to switch off as they leave the office. Refresh and recharge – you deserve it! ■
BROCK FISHER’s experience in property management spans almost two decades, having started his career in the 90s as a property manager in regional NSW. With Little Real Estate’s acquisition of Rental Express, Brock is now the National Manager, Customer Support for Australia’s largest property management company, managing approximately 23,000 investment properties across Australia.
epm.eliteagent.com.au 31
INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICE
Locking in efficiency LOCKBOXES – does
your office use them? While more popular in the USA than here in Australia, LPMA 2017 speaker and successful property management business owner Brad Larsen believes they can add to your existing key management systems by improving efficiency and reducing incoming office traffic.
I
F YOU’VE NEVER used a lockbox, simply put they are a small, padlock-shaped box that hangs around the doorknob of a house. In the US, they are used quite regularly for houses that are on the market, particularly when several agents are involved in each transaction. Basically, the device holds the keys to a house to allow access for real estate agents while continuing to keep the property secure. In property management, we use them for multiple purposes to improve business practices, meaning we don’t encourage tenants to come into our office at all, if possible. And there are a variety of different lockboxes that suit different purposes.
TYPES OF LOCKBOXES
1
Combination lockboxes These are the simplest type of lockbox. They are released by engaging a manual lever in conjunction with depressing the right button numbers
32 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
in the right order on the front of the lockbox. In some cases the combination won’t work outside specific hours, such as 9am and 7pm. We are fond of using combination lockboxes. We have weather-proof, laminated stickers printed, numbering the lockboxes from one to 250, with each numbered sticker relating to a four-digit combination recorded in a spreadsheet that is safe and under password protection1. We have three to four copies of the printed labels. This way, when a lockbox has to be de-commissioned you can replace it easily with another sticker and new lockbox.
2
Supra (US Only) Our local San Antonio Board of Realtors adopted the Supra boxes a decade ago; they use infra-red technology to open them. They have served well throughout the duration, but their batteries are starting to go and they may no
longer pop open with the electronic signal from your mobile phone or key fob.
3
Satellite boxes The latest trend is what may be called satellite boxes. These are the newest type of code boxes that communicate signals via satellite to allow them to open. An example is sentrilock.com. The simple lockbox can be seen as a form of convenience to your tenants that could be enhanced. Renters will appreciate the streamlined effect of their showings, moveins, maintenance and move-outs. In many cases, they may be willing to pay for this convenient service, possibly creating an additional revenue stream for your business. USING LOCKBOXES IN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Showings – accompanied To facilitate easy access to homes, we employ combination lockboxes. Each lockbox has its own specific four-digit combination and is given out to licensed agents when they use a Centralised Showing Service2 (eg showings. com) to show one of our homes. Most regular lockboxes can assist in accomplishing an ‘accompanied showing’, where one of our agents is with that prospective applicant during the showing. Showings – unaccompanied These types of showings have been
gaining more and more traction in the last few years in the US, especially with the advent of more secure/satellite/bluetooth lockbox technology. In most scenarios, you would get some sort of ID or credit card to validate the prospective tenant prior to granting them access with either a code or further instructions in using one of the satellite lockboxes. Some of these ensure access only in certain hours of the day.
Trades and suppliers Suppliers of trade services love simple lockboxes with combinations. Mostly, they do not want to go to an office, sign out a key and then return it – which in my opinion is no safer than a lockbox. The technology in satellite lockboxes allows each trades person to be assigned a specific code to access the satellite box. The benefits include being able to track
WE HAVE FOUND THAT TENANTS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY NOT TO HAVE TO COME TO OUR OFFICE IN HEAVY TRAFFIC JUST TO PICK UP A KEY.
the tradesperson’s access, although the cost of technology (and unfortunately technological failures) can run pretty high.
Move-ins If a combination lockbox is already at the home during the time of showing, your business could also put some thought into allowing for a lockbox move-in with newly leased homes. You could consider this the ‘Fast Pass’ – like at Disneyland – where the newly signed-up tenants can go straight to the home and gain access via the combination lockbox or satellite box. We insist upon the new tenant signing the lease and paying the first month’s rent prior to the release of this lockbox code. If you require them to sign the lease agreement in person at your office, there may not be a place for this technique. We have found that some tenants are extremely happy not to have to come to our office in heavy traffic just to pick up a key. Inspections You may want to leave the lockbox somewhere attached to the home (not in plain sight) in order for you to conduct inspections if the tenant is not at the residence. Move-outs This technique has excited us the most because it’s going to make it easy for the outgoing tenants to surrender possession of the home back to the management company. Since we are allowed to re-market the home to new prospective tenants during the last 30 days of our standard lease agreement, a lockbox is put onto the home with a key inside. Rather than the tenant driving to our office in traffic to turn over keys, we allow them to sign an electronic form and to then send us an email picture of the keys and remotes left behind. This gives us a date and time stamp of the home being ‘surrendered’ on our email system – and visual proof of what keys or remotes were left. If a remote that was supposed to be there is not, the tenant would get charged. ■ BRAD LARSEN is the broker and owner of Larsen Properties in San Antonio, Texas, and currently manages around 550 singlefamily homes. Brad will be speaking at LPMA 2017; for more information and to register visit lpma2017.com.au. Editor’s notes 1. In Australia, systems like Keylog/ Logitout could also fulfil this function. 2. It is much more common in the US ‘outsource’ open homes than in Australia.
epm.eliteagent.com.au 33
MINDSET
HOW TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT IN LIFE
THE REASON MOST PEOPLE don’t accomplish much
or have much in their lives is because they haven’t decided what they want. Top body language experts Allan and Barbara Pease outline a proven way to do just with an extract from their new book, The Answer.
M
OST PEOPLE struggle with questions such as ‘How do you define success?’; ‘Who do I want to become?’; ‘What do I want to experience?’; ‘What assets do I want to accumulate?’ Everyone knows the feeling of having an inner urge to do something that excites you whenever you think of it. But generally people rarely make that thing happen.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RAS – YOUR BRAIN’S COMMAND AND CONTROL CENTRE The brain’s RAS (Reticular Activating System) filters the incoming information and affects what you notice, your level of arousal, and decides which information is not going to get access to your brain.
WHY MOST PEOPLE NEVER DO MUCH When you were born you were absolutely clear on what you wanted in life and you refused to let anyone or anything stand in your way of getting to it. If you were hungry you cried loudly until someone fed you. By the time you could talk you were hammering your parents over and over with your wants until they either gave in to you or they ran away from home. Overall, you laughed at most things that happened in life and didn’t take yourself too seriously. So what happened between childhood and adulthood? Well, when most kids are young, their brains are being continually programmed with phrases such as:
34 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
• Act your age – grow up • You should be ashamed • You are selfish • Accept what you’ve been given • Who do you think you are? • No, you don’t feel like that • Eat everything on your plate • I wish you were more like … You are a bad child! As a result of this RAS conditioning, most people arrive at puberty being compliant with the demands of others. The spontaneity and dreams they had as children have been suppressed or completely lost. By their late teens they are doing things that adults want them to do and, whether they realise it or not, have been conditioned into making choices. This might be marrying the ‘right’ person rather than someone they want to marry, taking university courses that their parents want them to take, or choosing a ‘secure’ job instead of pursuing an exciting life. They take the safe, sensible path and many then tiptoe silently through life to retirement and early death. What’s the point of climbing the ladder of success to discover you’ve leaned it against the wrong wall? Living up to others’ expectations is futile and will only bring you anxiety and unhappiness. We respect people who are passionate about what they want and who beat their own drum, even when we don’t necessarily agree with them. Make a decision now that you will take control and do what you want in life, not what others may demand of you.
HOW TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT The starting point is to write down anything you think you may want to do or achieve, regardless of how trivial it may seem to anyone else. Include on your list any dreams you have had as a child that still hold some significance to you. Also record any idea you may see or hear about that strikes a chord with you. Try to have at least ten to twenty items on this list and include anything that has ever seemed appealing to you. And we mean anything. Writing something on a list doesn’t mean you are committed to it; it’s just an idea that appeals to you right now or has interested you at some point in the past. When you start your list, keep it to yourself or share it only with someone you completely trust. Do not discuss the list with anyone who may want to manipulate you or who may tell you that something on your list is a silly idea or can’t be done. This list is all about you. Do not show it to dream-stealers and never allow yourself to be defined by someone else’s opinion. Don’t
let people who gave up on their dreams talk you out of yours.
DECIDE WHAT – NOT HOW Most people don’t get the things they want in life because they focus on how they might achieve something. They look at what others have achieved and think, ‘I wouldn’t know how to do that’. So they do nothing. Instead they should decide what they want to achieve. The first and most important principle in achieving any goal is to decide what you think you might want, and not focus your thoughts at this time on how you will actually achieve it. If you concentrate on how something could be done you can become discouraged, because right now you either don’t know a way of doing it or you don’t have the skills or circumstances that are required to achieve it. And so nothing happens – you never get started. The most important lesson right now is to think about what you want and don’t, under any circumstances, think about how you will do it – not yet. We’ll get to this later. First decide what you want. Your RAS will then search for the answers to how to achieve it and the ways will begin to appear. CREATE A GOALS BOOK Collect pictures, images and text that describe or illustrate your goals. Put them in a book, and read it every day. Our personal lists are wide and varied and include things that often just seemed like an interesting idea at the time. But, either individually or together, we have started and mostly achieved over 90 per cent of the items we wrote on these lists. WHY WRITING A LIST WORKS Have you ever noticed that when you read a newspaper or magazine you see some articles but not others? You may feel that you’ve read everything in that paper until someone asks if you read a particular article and you can’t recall seeing it. You then re-read the paper and discover that the article fills an entire page! But you didn’t see it. This is because your RAS is a targetseeking mechanism that only lets you see things related to the thoughts and ideas you’ve put into it and ignores the rest. If, for example, you decide to think only about tigers, everywhere you look you’ll see stories, movies and information about tigers. You’ll see tigers on the television,
on the internet, in magazines, on cereal packets and on advertising billboards, and you’ll hear people talking about tigers. Yet prior to deciding to think about tigers you probably never saw anything about them.
knew exactly what they wanted, they had a significantly lower incidence of written plans than did the billionaires. The message here is clear. Make a list of your goals – in handwriting.
WHY HANDWRITING YOUR LIST IS SO IMPORTANT Studies show that you are 42 per cent more likely to achieve your goals just by handwriting them. When you use a keyboard to type, it only involves eight different movements of your fingers and this uses only a small number of neural connections in your brain. Handwriting can involve a range of up to 10,000 movements and creates thousands of neural paths in your brain. Writing your goals activates your RAS and instructs your subconscious to work on them, whether you are thinking about them or not. When you decide exactly what you want to do, have, or become, your RAS will begin to seek out the ways to do it. Once you put the thought into your mind, you’ll begin to see, read and hear things about it. It’s that simple. And this is what very few people ever do. Constantly re-reading your written list of goals will soon clarify how important or unimportant each item really is to you. Keep adding, modifying and subtracting from your list. After a while, some of the items will keep reappearing because these have the most meaning for you. Put a copy in any location where you can always see it. As you think of new things, add them to the list. The longer your list, the better.
HOW TO DISCOVER YOUR TRUE BUSINESS, CAREER PATH OR LIFE MISSION How you spend your working life is usually one of the top priorities on most people’s lists, yet studies show that more than eight out of ten people don’t like what they do for a living. Here is the answer to finding your life’s mission – what is it in your past that you enjoyed doing more than anything, and that you loved so much that you’d do it for free if given the opportunity? Think back to the things in your life that gave you the most joy and happiness, and made you feel the best. These are the areas in which you will find your life’s mission, business or true career.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES A study of wealthy people in the 1970s was conducted to determine the main differences between millionaires and
YOU CAN MAKE A GREAT LIVING OUT OF DOING ANYTHING THAT REALLY TURNS YOU ON.
billionaires. While both groups were wealthy, the researchers wanted to know why one group was so dramatically wealthier than the other. After three years of research, the one point that was the most similar between the two was that both groups knew exactly what they wanted, but the billionaires had clearly written lists of their ideas, goals and objectives. While the millionaires were equally passionate about their goals and
FIND SOMETHING YOU LOVE TO DO AND YOU WILL NEVER WORK ANOTHER DAY IN YOUR LIFE. Maybe you enjoy eating out at nice restaurants, reading books and magazines, going to parties and dance clubs, watching movies, listening to or playing music, meeting new people, surfing the net, playing sports and shopping. Well, thousands of people get paid to do those things. By producing things for other people to enjoy or use in their lives you convert a passion into a sustainable income. You can make a great living out of doing anything that really turns you on. But you first need to decide exactly what you love and then write it down. THE DEFINITION OF A ‘JOB’ – JUST OVER BROKE Millions of people are making successful careers right now from the things that turn them on. They wake up every day full of excitement about going to do more of it. This is what you need to do too, if you want to live a fulfilling life. Starting in a venture or career purely to make money does not stand the test of time, and it can make you cynical and unhappy. Do what your heart says you were meant to do and the money will eventually follow. ■ Barbara and Allan Pease are two of the world’s foremost body language experts and authors of 18 books. For more information visit peaseinternational.com. Allan will be speaking at LPMA 2017; for more information visit lpma2017.com.au.
epm.eliteagent.com.au 35
CASE STUDY
COMMUNICATION COUNTS OPENING THE doors of
CAN Estate Agents in West Melbourne in 2015, Sam Zhao was single-minded in his determination to ensure his systems and procedures were geared toward providing the best client experience at every touch point. Here he explains how cloud-based software is helping him to achieve this.
A
fter seven years working hard to build someone else’s agency and with no scope for further advancement, CAN Estate Agents Director Sam Zhao decided it was time to take on a new challenge. “Starting my own agency was something I’d been thinking about for a while. I wanted to build something that was my own,” Sam says. “And I was also aware that some clients were not receiving the level of service they expected and deserved. I felt I could do a better job and realised the only way I could do that was by starting my own agency – so I did.” At the core of Sam’s business philosophy
36 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
is a focus on building strong relationships with his clients. “This business is not just about property. It’s about people,” he says. “I believe clients are for life, and the nurturing of people is how I’m building my business. I don’t just focus on the property I’m managing for them. I also put a lot of energy into the relationship I’m building with them, as I want it to last for a long time.”
MOVING INTO THE CLOUD As any property manager will tell you, one of the biggest challenges in property management is communication. So when he established the agency Sam knew the ability always to have the information he needed at his fingertips would play a critical part in his ability to communicate effectively with his clients and provide a premium level of service. “Having our property management systems in the cloud was non-negotiable for us. We knew we needed a system that was fast, secure and reliable to ensure business continuity,” Sam says. “We made the decision to go with Rockend’s PropertyTree and the fact that it’s a cloud-based solution was a major factor in our decision.” While the CAN Estate Agents office may be based in West Melbourne, an average day sees Sam and his team out and about more than sitting behind a desk. And with the agency covering all areas within a 30-minute radius of the Melbourne CBD, this can mean a lot of time away from the traditional office environment. “These days property management is an ‘anywhere, anytime’ business. Out of the office, out on the road and out of business hours, property managers need the right technology solutions at their fingertips to
get the job done,” Sam explains. “As a property manager you can’t afford to be reliant upon software that’s desktop based. On-the-spot access is essential. “We’re constantly on the road, and having easy access to PropertyTree wherever we are is fantastic. The car becomes our virtual office and we can make the most of our time. Client data is always on hand. All we need to do is pull out our laptop, tablet or smartphone and we can access the information we need and provide a great service to our clients. “No matter where we are during the day, we can maximise every minute.” Being able to access the system 24 hours a day, seven days a week is also a great benefit – particularly because many of Sam’s clients are located in China. “My overseas clients often contact me outside our Australian business hours. But no matter what the hour, I can give them the information they’re after – they don’t have to wait until I’m back in the office the next day,” he says. “We live in a fastpaced world. Our clients expect answers immediately – and now we can provide those answers without delay.” Importantly, PropertyTree has also allowed Sam and his team to automate
manual and routine tasks. He is impressed with not only the efficiencies this has created, but also how much it has contributed to his team’s ability to communicate with clients. “We can tailor and personalise the statements we provide to our landlords, so every client is receiving the information
“Hardware and maintenance costs for servers are eliminated, as everything is stored remotely and maintained in secure data centres. And, as a cloud-based application, it automatically updates to the latest version so we don’t have to do manual upgrades ourselves or pay for an IT professional to help us,” Sam says.
“OUT OF THE OFFICE, OUT ON THE ROAD AND OUT OF BUSINESS HOURS, PROPERTY MANAGERS NEED THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS AT THEIR FINGERTIPS.”
FOSTERING GROWTH Sam believes he’s only just scratched the surface when it comes to experiencing the benefits cloud-based technology can provide to his business. “There are still lots of features we haven’t yet tapped into, and by taking advantage of new innovations we’ll be able to communicate more effectively with our clients and provide them with a better, more tailored level of service,” he says. “The way we use technology is definitely going to help us grow our business into the future.” ■
they want in the way they want it.” Beyond the benefits of mobility and flexibility, the immediate cost savings that came with implementing cloudbased technology also factored into Sam’s technology choice.
SARAH DAWSON is the Head of Sales at Rockend. For more information visit rockend.com.au.
ARPM 2017 SAVE THE DATE 27 + 28 AUGUST THE STAR SYDNEY.
arpmconference.com.au epm.eliteagent.com.au 37
RENT ROLL ACQUISITION
SYNC AND NOT
THERE ARE SO MANY HORROR stories where rent
roll purchases go wrong, yet when successful the process of purchasing a rent roll is a way to increasing revenue and profit. Katharine Ettenhofer looks at factors to take into consideration if you are thinking about adding to your property management business.
38 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
T
HE PROS FOR purchasing a rent roll outweigh the cons. By studying your business strategy and growth plans, the reasons for buying are simple. It could remove a competitor from your marketplace, position you within a new market, build on your core rent roll to assist with accelerating your growth or could even be a booster to your sales department in some instances. The list goes on and on. Every transaction has a different reason or purpose and this is what
creates the opportunity to a business owner. But for those of you that have been there and done that a typical attitude in hindsight will be one of two possibilities: either ‘Never again – it was a total disaster’ or ‘It was brilliant and assisted our business to achieve goals we could not have reached by organic measures in the time frame we set.’ Purchasing a rent roll can ultimately set the benchmark for your business to grow continually by both organic and acquired mediums, increasing your revenue streams while achieving a higher market share. However, the horror stories cover factors such as losing 25 per cent (if not more) of managements purchased and problems with staff retention or loss of staff, leaving the business with gaping holes. This can ultimately lead to more clients exiting rapidly and tarnishing your brand’s reputation. There are also times where existing managements have suffered as the attention is deflected onto the new clients and the acquisition becomes the main focus. The company vision becomes blurred towards their previous client database and they recognise that a shift has impacted the service levels that they once had. The only reason that we have so many horror stories within our industry is due to ill-conceived integration plans, or lack thereof, which are often handled by agents who are not experienced with mergers and acquisitions. I am frequently asked why you would buy a rent roll, as many real estate business owners often wonder how they can translate the addition into a revenue-raising success. My response to this is if you have a definitive strategic integration plan, why wouldn’t you?
REMOVE THE EMOTION AND MAKE THE DECISION BASED ON THE FACTS AND FIGURES IN FRONT OF YOU. EXPERIENCE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE Buying and selling a rent roll in the world that we live in today is lucrative and fast paced. Whether you are selling your rent roll or making a purchase for the first time, it is critical that you have a team who can advise and support you throughout the process that has done it before. As with so many things, if you lack the skill set and knowledge around mergers and acquisitions, one mistake or bad advice can potentially become a very costly
learning curve for all parties involved. When looking at making a purchase, it is important to fact find first. Like most decisions in your business and in life, you need to understand what your limits are. Remove the emotion and make the decision based on the facts and figures that are in front of you, while aligning the outcome to your strategic business plan.
DIG DEEPER Mistakes can be made when you become commercially excited and forget about your finance requirements, capacity on lending and how this relates back to a successful profit and loss, and any additional running costs associated with the acquisition. Alternative areas where mistakes have been made by business owners in the past can include your team infrastructure, technology platforms and even your retail space needing consideration to optimise the overall outcome. The unknown of an acquisition can be a daunting and dangerous territory if you do not have clear and accurate advice. It is also imperative to recognise and understand the parameters of the vendor’s expectations and how the purchaser is to achieve the desired outcome. Having a clear and precise vision and a foolproof contract are all key contributors that will lead to the desired outcome. I often dig deeper with the business owners who have had a negative experience, as it fascinates me what went wrong. After speaking to principals who admitted that they would not make another rent roll purchase, the reason is very clear. They either did not have the knowledge or the correct formula to assist them throughout the transaction or lacked the preparation required to take on the purchased managements in a logical and seamless transition. Timing, as always, is also key and must be considered when looking at making a rent roll purchase. PLAN AND PREPARE A successful rent roll acquisition must have the foundation to succeed before you start. The strategy as to why is already known when looking to make a purchase; however, it is the execution plan upon finding the rent roll that is where the true journey begins. Treat it like signing up a new property management listing or sales listing. The checklist and preparation still applies; it is your ‘tool kit’ that will make the adventure of buying a rent roll seem effortless and lead to a successful transition between vendor and purchaser, whilst protecting all parties throughout the process and retention periods. The same rule applies to merging an
existing business into another business or vice versa. The importance of communication with all parties is critical and, most of all, remember: If you are integrating teams, they need to be involved leading up to the settlement of the rent roll and made to feel welcome ahead of time. We all know that staff are the most valuable tool in any business and, when it comes to integrating the newly purchased acquisition, the rule must still apply.
WHAT YOUR TOOL KIT NEEDS TO INCLUDE There are five topics that should be included in what I like to refer to as a ‘mud map’. This is to ensure the planning begins in the correct way. The important rules of rent rolls being sold and purchased are to avoid miscommunication while negotiating and create the foundation piece before you begin. By following the rules of engagement around buying and selling, you will ultimately remove any additional stresses and know ahead of time of any gaps or issues that need to be accounted for or rectified leading up to settlement and throughout the retention period. Like anything else, education, execution and delivery of the terms will ultimately assist you with optimising the process in a streamlined and organised manner. The tool kit should include: 1. Critical importance - Around the sales advice and contractual terms 2. Due Diligence - What this is, why you need it and how to leverage the information throughout the course of the purchase 3. Pre-settlement - What this looks like, how it should be run and expectations around pre-settlement to settlement 4. Compliance - What makes a file compliant vs. being non-compliant 5. Settlement - What to expect and how to cover off any additional legislative requirements While the tools of the trade vary, the formula does not. If you follow the general rule and process, your experience and outcome will lead you along the path of a successful transition and leave you with the knowledge of how to make future purchases with ease and confidence. ■ KATHARINE ETTENHOFER is the director of RE Performance and is an industry coach + mentor + consultant for real estate businesses who want to optimise their strategy, growth and performance. For more information visit reperformance. com.au.
epm.eliteagent.com.au 39
The Last Word
Fiona Blayney
IT’S NEVER THE LAST WORD Chromosomes or personal choice? Fiona Blayney takes a cautious look at the great gender debate and arrives at a surprising solution.
I
’m lying in bed writing this, balancing a laptop on my legs whilst my husband snoozes quietly and my kids are finally fast asleep. I’ve been designing my final words for you over and over in my mind for weeks. I’ve put fingers to keypad on numerous occasions, only to metaphorically rip the pages out of the typewriter and throw them away. Perhaps I’ve been experiencing writer’s block! Awesome: that means I’m a writer, right? But actually, as the deadline looms, I’m faced with the reality: it’s not writer’s block, but writer’s fear. A fear that stems from a reaction to the result of my weighing in on the gender debate. I’ve been told, ‘Fiona, you need to speak up for women in real estate. As a high-profile woman in our industry it’s your role.’ I’ve considered this request at great length and remain very uneasy about it. Why? Because I don’t want to debate that there is such a thing as ‘women in real estate’ when I believe we are all simply ‘people in real estate’ and I’d love to bring us closer together. Over the past 15 years that I’ve moved in and out of training rooms, board rooms and offices, I’ve yet to experience a scenario that I felt had unjustly occurred because of gender. From my personal experience I’ve formed the view that, when it comes to the gender balance in our
industry, in the main the world is in order. As I sit in leadership meetings and planning sessions I am not surrounded by an establishment that shuns women from its ranks, but organisations that embrace them. When I read publications or attend conferences I don’t feel like the odd one out in a skirt. I certainly don’t feel unheard and gone are the days when I, or any of my female friends, were treated like the ‘little women in the corner’. Maybe I am lucky or maybe the tide has well and truly turned for us. I coach females and males alike, and interestingly one of their main desires is to understand each other, to work better together and achieve more by using both their strengths. Let me be bold and tell you what I do see. I see choice and
condemnation for it. I make choices every day that work for my family and me as we carve the road to our goals. And so, if you asked me to champion women, I must equally champion men; hey, why not just champion people and their right to choose? If I could ask something of you, I’d ask you not to worry about the makeup of a person’s chromosomes. Let us all set our own boundaries by which we choose to develop our professional careers and balance them with our personal lives. Leave everyone to decide how far up the ladder they wish to climb in our industry. Some of us aren’t holding ourselves back; we have consciously decided the rung on which we wish to stand. I’d ask you to work with your life partner as a team and decide for yourselves your family values, your time
SOME OF US AREN’T HOLDING OURSELVES BACK; WE HAVE CONSCIOUSLY DECIDED THE RUNG ON WHICH WE WISH TO STAND.
40 ELITE PROPERTY MANAGER • APR-MAY 2017
allocation, who puts out the trash and who washes the dishes. Unless you’re unhappy with the situation, it’s no one else’s business. If we were talking about professional you, I’d ask you to not get caught up in the big numbers, the superearners, the perceived cultural measurement of success based on your GCI ranking. I’d ask you to remember there will always be someone better, someone smarter – but only one you, and only you define your goals. Decide what you want and make it happen. Choice is an amazing thing, and whilst life journeys provide for different options we all have the gift of choice. I recently discovered that each day, according to a range of internet sources, we make 35,000 decisions. Surely that means we have over 70,000 options? Incredible! And that is both men and women. What choices will you make? And even though I know I won’t get the last word on this topic, and really I don’t expect to or want to – there will be someone else who will take care of that – I will simply say, in the words of Ita Buttrose, “You can have it all, just not at the same time”. ■
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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