Focused on growth: Kurtis Pirotta

Carl Bard once said, “Although no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.”

I would like to share three key ideas that give you the opportunity to rethink what you’re currently doing, evolve your knowledge and skills to stay ahead and inspire your team with new strategies to grow.

Growth is always a hot topic for real estate businesses, but what is even more important is retention

FOR BUSINESS OWNERS

This time of year is when we see some of the highest demand on realestate.com.au from renters looking for their next home, as well as landlords looking to choose someone to help them maintain and grow their investment.

Knowing this, we always recommend to business owners that they ensure their online presence is strong, consistent and up to date. This is a great way to ensure you generate as many enquiries as possible – for your business and for each of your listings.

FOR LEASING TEAMS

Price, Promotion and Presentation: the Three Ps of real estate, the only things we can control in a marketing campaign. If it’s a struggle to get a result in the first seven days of a rental marketing campaign, it’s often only one of these things that are off track or out of alignment… the price.

Teams will often comment to me that landlords won’t budge on price, which is why properties sit on the market for longer than they should. Landlords always want the maximum return on their investment property – who doesn’t?

However, we also know that when landlords engage property managers to take care of their property, they also want your expertise and recommendations.

If we fail to provide the right data at the time of price setting and neglect to update the landlord regularly, we will fail them in the long run.

Regular communication with your landlord about the state of the market is key. I use the analogy of the share market: each quarter, if you invest shares in a bank, you’re provided with a report of how your investment has performed and how that compares to the market.

A property investor expects the same update. I recommend that property managers use data from 1form to help communicate the state of the market in a simple way to landlords throughout the year.

Come lease renewal time, this enables you to have a conversation with your landlord about their plans, their price expectations and the market. In most cases, your landlord is going to trust your advice and recommendations because you have been their source of local knowledge through the year, instead of the nightly news.

If their expectations are higher than you expected and there is no way of talking them down to market level, you can leverage your previous communications and use the data again to help them understand.

Property managers who use this strategy can prevent properties sitting on the market longer than they have to. More importantly, they can avoid the negative conversation or old-school ‘conditioning’ of a landlord while their property is on the market or – even worse – vacant.

The formula for leasing a property is simple:

• Spend time educating your landlords with data and insights
• Set price expectations early, before the property is on the market
• Have price alignment conversations in week one or after the first open for inspection.

FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS

This is peak time and our activity levels are high; and despite being busy, this is also the moment for us to put our best foot forward. Right now, we are on show to potential landlords more than at any other time throughout the year.

Growth is always a hot topic for real estate businesses, but what is even more important is retention – it’s no good if you have twenty managements coming in each month if you’re losing ten out the back door to other agents, sales or landlords moving back in.

When we spend time talking to BDMs about their growth plan, this is always the first place to start. It’s the foundation for solid, sustainable growth.