Blog / Prospecting
BDM Tips to increase your Rent Roll
Charlotte Norman interviews Tara Bradbury
Are you SERIOUS about growing your rent roll and profits?
If you are, business development is the key to building your rental portfolio and long term growth. Rockend caught up with BDM Academy’s Tara Bradbury for her advice on business development in the real estate sphere. Tara is a highly successful business development coach who helps individuals and businesses grow through organic rent roll growth. What is the importance of business development and how can you improve your current practices?
How can you boost your rent roll? Tara believes the key to gaining new managements is having your team working towards a common goal, “It is important your team understands your market and understands the offering you are giving the marketplace. If you and your staff do not understand this it becomes very difficult to sell. You can do all the prospecting in the world and come unstuck because you don’t have the right foundations in place across your team”, Tara explained. Aligning your businesses goals will create a clear vision for the year and will help you reach these targets.
With 2015 already in full swing now is the time to implement individual and team goals if you haven’t already done so. Your goals should be derived from last year’s targets along with projected targets for this year. Tara suggests “Focusing on the months in 2014 where things didn’t go to plan and determining where the areas for improvement are. Ensure there are new plans of attack in place for 2015”. It is important to diversify business development practices to ensure the business is not going backwards in growth. In order for your business to grow, it is vital to recognise and learn from your mistakes and improve the processes around these failures.
One of the biggest mistakes Tara believes principals make is making assumptions. “We assume too much in our day to day lives and people assume other people in the team will pick up the slack and complete tasks for us. People are quick to delegate tasks but often fail to ensure the task has been completed 100%.” Tara explains the importance of monitoring all people in your team, as well as their KPI’s, “Using KPI reports to monitor areas such as lease renewals, rent increases and arrears can help determine the best plan of action moving forward. It will also help you identify areas which need improvement with each individual”. Your software package should have the ability to generate a variety of KPI reports which will help principals monitor their teams closely.
If you want serious growth you need a plan and you need dedicated people to network and build relationships in your market place. Tara suggests imagining the firm without a sales team, “Principals tend to focus too heavily on the sales team, when they are really only one source of opportunity for growth. By having a dedicated business development manager you can explore your current client base, spend time with them and find out their needs and wants along with targeting prospects”. Many agencies do not realise the importance of business development and how vital it is to the success of the property management side of their business.
Tara has experience working with a variety of different businesses and has seen huge growth in these businesses by following the above steps. One business Tara recently worked with has generated over 120 new managements in 2014, which is a huge success for a business which initially was gaining 6-8 properties per month. Tara said, “The key to their success was motivation”. This particular business had a high vacancy rate at 10% due to the market of the area. This provided a bigger incentive for growth as it was vital the business seized every opportunity possible. As Tara explains, “It can be demotivating to have a high vacancy rate, but it’s all about pushing through.”
What’s the final tip Tara suggests for boosting your rent roll? “Good things come to those who hustle”, Tara explains. “Many of us have been taught the saying ‘good things come to those who wait’, and although this is true in some circumstances, for business development it is far from the truth”. Tara suggests stepping out of your comfort zone and searching for opportunities, not waiting for them to arise. The fundamental aspect is setting challenging and not unrealistic goals, such as making 10 call connects per day. Ensure your business does not neglect prospecting, but that it is set as a priority instead.
Tara’s simple tips can help grow your rent roll by placing more focus on business development. Implementing these simple changes could result in a huge return for your property management team, so target 2015 as your year for rent roll growth.
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