Control Panel (CPL), Industry News, PM Website (PMW), System Use, , , ,

Filling the Pipeline…Getting Owner Leads. 

The Online Business Card
HERO PM distributes your online business card to numerous websites where owners are looking for property managers, such as ResidentialPropertyManagers.com. Be sure your online business card, which can be edited from the Configuration tab in your Control Panel under Company Info, contains all of the following elements:

  • A stunning logo
  • Information about your company that inspires confidence
  • Specialization information that attracts the kind of business you do best, while eliminating the stuff that you want to avoid
  • Geographic information that includes a list of cities and zip codes where you manage

 

Your Company Website

Your website can be the most valuable tool you have in your marketing and information delivery arsenal, if used correctly. We suggest focusing on these three elements:

1.  The Content.  Your website content must clearly communicate the value you bring to an owner or investor. Remember that your prospect isn’t always just comparing you against other property managers, but is often working to determine the value of professional management as opposed to personal management. To be most effective, address both segments by answering the following questions on your site:

  • What are the biggest pain points of personal management; what is the value of professional management?
  • Where and how will my company help reduce or eliminate your pain?
  • What is unique about my company and why are we the best choice for your needs?
Remember to write in terms of benefits, rather than features. Put yourself in an owner’s shoes; which of the following communicates most powerfully to you?
  • Feature: “We’ve been in business over 20 years.”
  • Benefit: “With over 20 years of property management experience, we’ve seen it all and can help you avoid problems that someone else would never think of.”
  • Feature: “We offer online applications.”
  • Benefit: “With our online application offering, we receive more applications per property, and can get your home rented faster – choosing the best tenant from a larger pool of applicants.”
2.  The Call to Action.  One of the biggest mistakes when trying to woo prospects is the failure to call them to action. We often deliver compelling information, which is great for the education of our prospects. But to build a business, our prospects must do something with the information they just read. While offering a phone number or email address for prospects to call is a good step, the “Request Management Proposal” seems to work even better in many cases. With your website, you can make this simple and effective.
  • Create a form page in your website, asking for information like the owner’s property address and contact information. Ask for the least amount of information you need; long forms can be perceived as scary and are more likely to be abandoned.
  • In the intro, be sure to communicate how you’re going to use this information, and that it does not create an obligation on the part of the owner.
  • In the Success Response (the page that an owner sees after successfully completing and submitting the form), consider offering the owner more detailed information, a link to your listing packet, a video of your offering, and what to expect next.
  • Track submissions with the Form Results for this page, and be sure to follow through quickly and thoroughly.
3.  The Circulation.  Like a store needs a road leading to it, you need to make sure prospects are reaching your website so you can explore doing business with them. Your website must be where people are looking.

Focus on two areas:
a)  Direct navigation traffic. Be sure your website address is short, memorable, and everywhere. Put your website, as well as scannable QR code that directs traffic to your site, on your yard signs, on envelopes you mail, letterhead, business cards, on your car, on park benches, on Super Bowl ads (well, maybe not that one). When someone is thinking about property management in your area or in your market, you want them to run across your website address in their memory or their field of vision, somewhere.

b)  Search Engine Traffic. If someone is going to Google and specifically searching for property management, you want to be found. While the science and art of this is outside the scope of this article, here are a few pointers:
    • Be sure you have at least version 4 of the HERO PM Website System. Version 4 complies with all of Google’s advice for effective ranking, and adds a bunch of automated processes and industry-specific user tools to maximize ranking.
    • Use the version 4 SEO Tools found in your Site Administration.
    • Be sure you have the keywords in your website that you want to be found on. Be specific; don’t try to fight for a top position for “property management”, instead, try to get the position for “residential property management,” or “property management in Des Moines”.