Want to Learn the Secret of Prospecting?

Prospecting is a fact of life for those wanting to be successful in New Business. I’m sure we would all much rather rely on referrals, word of mouth, even sales leads, however in order to get ahead of the curve and generate more leads we have to prospect!

So why is it that even the most experienced of us resist this proven strategy unless we are poked, prodded and pushed by our managers?

Excuses include:
“I don’t like the rejection.”
“I don’t want to come across like I’m desperate for business.”
“I don’t want to sound like a telemarketer.”
“I don’t like interrupting people at work.”

There are few main dynamics that prevent us from embracing cold calling. Cold calling is hard work, no one likes to hear ‘no’ and we all have the need for instant gratification.

The key to busting these excuses and breaking the mould is understanding that it’s all a numbers game. You need to train yourself to recognise that every ‘no’ you hear brings you one call closer to making an appointment or creating a relationship. You also need to condition yourself that eventually you will get a reward for your efforts, there is sadly no magic quick fix or instant result. 

When you learn any new skill (even a hobby, sport, or language) it takes time to just become comfortable. It takes longer to develop a level of consistent proficiency. And, it takes even more time to develop your skill to the point of excellence. The same concept applies to prospecting. You can’t expect to make ten calls and master the skill (or get the results).

The more calls you make, the easier it will get and the more proficient you will become. As your skill improves, so will your ability to generate leads and secure appointments. If you can push through your initial resistance you can develop the ability to postpone your need for instant gratification. And as you do this, your results will improve!

If you are Real+ member, click here to visit Real+TV where you can watch our webinar: New Business Bootcamp Part 7 - Prospecting.

New Legislation in South Australia is Coming into Effect

We’ve just received word that new legislation surrounding the Residential Tenancies Act 1995 will be coming into effect on 1^st March 2014 in South Australia.

This initial phase of legislation amendments intends to increase the security and protection of all parties who sign a private rental lease agreement or a rooming house agreement. A second phase of legislation reform will come into play in the 2014/2015 financial year, dealing predominently with rental bonds and bond procedures.

Landlords and agents will be given a two month grace period from March 1^st. This transition time is to ensure that you have the opportunity to make all necessary adjustments to your rental property management practices and procedures.

The Real+ team is currently reviewing all modules and content to ensure our learning platform is completely current. We will advise when the relevant updates have been made in our platform to ensure you can make the most of utilising our program to re-educate yourself.

In the meantime, the Consumer and Business Services has issued a summary of the changes to legislation which you can find by clicking here: http://www.cbs.sa.gov.au/assets/files/Summary_of_the_Changes.pdf 

Are You Demonstrating Value?

A Facebook conversation caught my eye yesterday. There was a quickly developing chain of comments on the back of one friend’s status. The status was regarding her extreme disappointment with her property manager and asking around for an opinion as to whether she should self-manage.

People that I didn’t even know were owners of investment property were suddenly coming out of the woodwork to express their disappointment with their property managers too.

The conversation revealed complaints of lack of customer service, no response or communication, comments around not seeing value in having a property manager (to put it nicely) and comments around it being better to manage their properties themselves.

After 10 years working in property management, these kind of comments really disappoint and concern me. The fact that we are not seen to be the professionals we should be seen as, that people do not see value in what we do, and that there is a notion that property managers are “useless” means that something is not working.

We know how tough and demanding property management can be. We know the flack PMs can cop whilst working long and hard to navigate the complexities between keeping landlords, tenants, and contractors happy, whilst acting within office procedures and the legislation of your state. And we know how hard it can be to get back to everyone in a timely manner.

We are further challenged now than ever before as we are now expected to be experts in so many areas and wear many different ‘hats’ for our now well-educated 'Google generation' of landlords and tenants. Unfortunately now, even 20 years' property management experience sadly doesn’t mean we have all of the skills to deal with the expectations those educated clients of 2014 have of us.

In saying all of this, research shows that this notion of 'useless' being perceived from the outside often comes down to a basic lack of communication.

There is no doubt that ever-mounting inbox can become overwhelming. Top that with the clients phoning to see if you got the email that is sitting in your inbox and it can start to feel like there is a big monkey sitting on your shoulders.

What we need are additional techniques, skills and systems to overcome these challenges, and to fulfil our roles. Ongoing training and continual learning (for both property managers and their managers) is going to be the only way to deal with this.

There are a few (seemingly simple) communication techniques that you can use to better deal with these clients and mirror the level of customer service that they are expecting:

• Set expectations from the start of the relationship (such as your expected response times to phone/email/texts). Also seek out their preferred method of communication. It's no use waiting on a response to emails if they are a phone person.
• Set expectations on the whole property management process from the start - i.e. how often routines take place, what is an urgent vs non-urgent issue, how does the invoicing and statement process work
• Readjusting expectations if external factors mean you cannot deliver a result
• Have an auto response on your email account that thanks the client for their email, and gives them an expected response time. Also indicate response time on your voicemail (and of course deliver on that expectation)
• Update your client – even update them before they ask for an update, even update them if there is no update

Of course, all of these tips will only work if you do what you say you will, when you say you will do it. If you are prone to forget, diarise call backs in your outlook calendar at the end of the conversation. Utilise modern technology to assist with 'to do' lists and managing your time. 

Having your time more efficiently managed, (i.e. using blocking techniques) will make sticking to your own communication program easier. If you are unsure of how to implement and manage any of this, seek additional training.

If we start to use tips like these, and ensure we are constantly training and developing ourselves, perhaps we can start to change the notion of property managers being “invaluable” to being worth every cent of management fees. And that next time someone asks if they should self-manage – that the responses might look a lot different. 

NCAT is Now in Full Effect

In case you missed it, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) commenced on January 1 2014 in place of the Consumer, Trader & Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT).

NCAT integrated the existing 23 separate NSW tribunals in an effort to provide a single (less confusing) gateway in a bid to improve the accessibility, efficiency and accountability of the tribunal system.

To maintain consistency and transparency across the board, NCAT now consists of five different divisions – consumer and commercial, administrative and equal opportunity, occupational and regulatory, guardianship and victim support, in hopes of increasing confidence in the public with using these services.

Matters that had been lodged or in progress with CTTT before January 1^st do not have to be relodged.

For more information visit: http://www.ncat.nsw.gov.au/

Realmark Blog About the Real+ Product

Our clients over at Realmark have written a blog post about the innovative Real Plus product, and why and how it benefits their property management teams.

Follow the link to read the post:http://www.realmark.com.au/our-geeky-property-managers/

National Occupational Licensing System Dumped

On 13 December 2013, the Council of Australian Governments decided that the proposed policy for National Occupational Licensing System (NOLS) should no longer be pursued. This comes as a relief to many throughout the industry who believe a better option exists.

After discussions with the State governments, several concerns surrounding the NOLS model arose. If a policy for NOLS was pursued, there would have been significant costs for the governments and occupations involved so the jurisdictions encouraged that alternative approaches be sought.

An new alternative plan for labour mobility will be particularly beneficial for real estate professionals that live near the borders of two states as it will allow licensees to operate in any state of Australia using just the one license, rather than having to pay a fee or apply for additional licenses.

The NSW government is working alongside the other States to ensure a system is implemented, and the framework is likely to be similar to how the driver’s license system operates.

Stay tuned for more information on this as it develops.

The Rise of Long-Term Renters

As we have seen the number of Australians who own their home decline over the last decade, we continue to see a rise in the portion of the population who are renting long term – renting for a continuous period of 10 or more years.

Here are some quick stats on the current long-term rental landscape:

• In the last decade, the percentage of people renting compared to owning a house has risen from 18.4% to 25.1%.
• $347 is the average amount a household can expect to pay on housing per week – which is 19.7% less than homeowners with a mortgage pay per week.
• The average renter spends 20% of their gross income on rent.
• 10 years ago, around 27% of renters had been renting for 10 years or more. Today, 33.4% of renters have been renting for 10 years or more.
• 31.8% of people feel they need to rent for longer periods of time to save for a larger house deposit.
• The number of middle-aged Australians renting long-term continues to increase.
• More and more families are occupying rental properties, whilst the number of single person rental households is declining.
• A significant proportion of people who rent don’t feel a sense of community in the area they live, and are less satisfied financially.

What does this mean for property managers?These statistics highlight how important it is to value and take care of your tenants, rather than viewing them as dispensible. If tenants are frequently moving in and out, a property is going to experience a lot more wear and tear.

Property managers should encourage their landlords to find long-term tenants and keep the positive aspects of not having a vacancy in mind when considering when and how often to raise the rent.