Do clients really all want cheap fees?
A lot of BDM’s and property managers will say ‘yes’, but when they’re asked how many owners they’ve signed up new in the last 6 months who only signed up because of ‘cheap fees’, they soon realise owners really signed up for other main reasons like trust, relationship, connection, and confidence.
Fees get whittled down for all sorts of reasons when it comes to new business. However, why is it that one agency is always under pressure and always seems to be discounting when the other agency down the road walks away with business all the time at full fees, and those fees are likely the most expensive in their marketplace?
There are going to be clear reasons why.
Here are EIGHT KEYS quality agents use to get the best property management fees in their marketplace.
1- Believe you’re worth it!
Your fees will always be won at what you believe they’re worth. Knowing you’re worth it is a strong belief and conviction. If you believe it, your voice tone, body language, facial expression all confirm this. It just flows from you. If you believe it, your clients will too! If you don’t, then they will want the fees adjusted down to what they believe it’s worth.
2- Create strong trust and rapport quickly.
No one will sign up with you without trust, even if you’re the best in town. Therefore building trust quickly assures you the essential ingredient to winning the business.
Ensure you turn up on time, don’t park in their driveway, present professionally and create a great first impression, look for things to talk about with their interests, and most importantly genuinely care about them. If they trust you the most, you will win their business.
3- Have great promotional material.
Ensure your booklets, flyers, and promotional marketing material matches the very best out there. Ensure it’s been designed by a graphic artist and not created in-house. Don’t skimp on printing and production. You are what you perceive yourself to be. Become the very best with your marketing materials.
4- Have strong points of difference.
Most property management agencies when asked what points of difference they have that are different from their competitors can’t really give anything of substance and it has no real influence on the prospective client. When you have no perceived difference, price now becomes the issue.
From walk-through property video tours to the Rockend Tenant/Owner portal to ensuring you take professional marketing photos to use Property Owner and Tenant Handbooks. We know there are at least 38 out there to be utilised. You just need to get a few and know how to use them well in the listing presentation.
5- Overcome objections using effective scripts
When an owner says ‘we will sign with you if you can match your fee with the other agent down the road’ to ‘your fees are too high’ to ‘but the other agent will give a discount, why can’t you?’ are all objections that are easily overcome with effective scripts.
Knowing your scripts brings confidence which breeds enthusiasm. Enthusiasm wins the business.
6- Use a Listing Kit.
Have a folder filled with examples of your work from a sample PCR/Ingoing Inspection report with photos to a tenancy agreement, to an example of a good routine inspection report. In fact, there are over 40 different things you could choose to include.
However, people remember more by what they see and hear, not just hearing only. Ensure you perform a quality ‘show and tell’ and you will create a much greater impact, one that will be remembered.
7- Have stats and data ready.
Back yourself with good data and statistics. Know your vacancy rates and use words like ‘Mr. Smith, 98.5% of our properties were occupied last month’ or ‘97% of our tenants last month paid their rent on time’ to ‘we showed 50 tenants through property last week’ to ‘we have property on the market an average of 4 days.’
8- Be the expert
Know what’s going on in the area with rents; ensure you’ve examined the market of comparable properties before you arrive. Know your stuff and people will take you seriously. They want to give their property to the expert and who they think does it the best.