Generative AI has taken the world by storm, and every industry (including property management and real estate) is scrambling to figure out how to capitalize on this. It’s a brave new world, and those who can make the most of it will be the ones who come out on top in the end.

This is exactly why I attended the GenAI Conference in San Francisco hosted by Jasper on February 14, 2023. It was the very first conference ever about Generative AI, and it brought together the leading minds in the field such as the CEO of Stability AI, Emad Mostaque, and the Chief Scientist of GPT-3, Dario Amodei.

Top caliber panelists and speakers included the former CEO of GitHub (Nat Friedman), CEO of Jasper (Dave Rogenmoser), and VP of Product and Partnerships at OpenAI (Peter Welinder).

At this conference, I learned a lot about how this technology works, where it is headed, as well as its impact on marketing any business. But since I specialize in property management marketing, the focus of this blog is how to leverage my learnings about Generative AI for property managers. Here are some of my key takeaways:

Traditional AI vs. Generative AI

Before this conference, I was under the impression that AI was AI. But it turns out, I was wrong. We’ve all heard of the “AI will take over the world” trope, which has been the subject of many sci-fi movies. It’s not exactly new.

According to the article “The History of Artificial Intelligence” published on the Harvard website, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around since the mid-1950s. Alan Turning initially explored the possibility of using machines to solve complex problems, but the term “artificial intelligence” wasn’t used until the creation of Logic Theorist, the first AI program, five years later.

Fast forward to the late 1990s, and AI was able to beat Russian chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov in– you guessed it, the game of chess. This type of AI is referred to as traditional AI.

What we refer to as traditional AI, is designed around problem-solving. It takes complex data sets and uses them to make decisions or predictions.

Generative AI, on the other hand, is designed to create content. Whether it be articles, emails or even text messages, generative AI can generate responses based on what it has ‘learned’ from data. So while traditional AI was used mainly for problem-solving tasks, generative AI can be leveraged for creative activities.

How Generative AI Works

As its name suggests, Generative AI works by taking existing data and using it to generate new information. It does this by analyzing existing pieces of content and then generating new ideas based on the patterns it finds. This technology can use both structured and unstructured data from a variety of sources, including images, audio files, text documents, etc.

One of the most innovative features of Generative AI is its ability to self-correct itself. This means it can adapt quickly to changing requirements and new data sets. It can also produce more accurate results than traditional AI.

The most popular Generative AI interface out there is ChatGPT. It’s an AI language model that was designed to mimic the way humans converse.

Why is ChatGPT So Popular?

Although the developers of Generative AI tools can tell you how they work, what’s fascinating is even they don’t fully understand what their tools are capable of. As Peter Welinder from OpenAI said during a panel, they launched their tool with absolutely no expectations. They were shocked by the mass reaction and adoption of ChatGPT. His team had no idea that their chatbot could even code in Python until users started talking about it.

So far, users have reported ChatGPT being able to write poetry or music, make predictions based on data, and generate text that can be used in business and research. The thing that makes this chatbot so revolutionary is its user-friendliness and its ability to understand context within the same conversation. These qualities (and the fact that you can get it for free) have made it accessible to literally anyone — catapulting generative AI into the mainstream.

AI to Streamline Content Creation for Property Management Businesses

Generative AI is already being used to create content in every industry you can think of. The industries represented at the conference were staggering.

There have been conversations within the property management community about how AI tools are poised to disrupt the property management marketing space. My professional opinion is that they have already disrupted the space.

To understand exactly how it has done so, let’s break it down to the different types of content that property management businesses need to generate regularly:

1. Property Listings Content

Generative AI can be used to create property listings quickly and efficiently. It can take existing data points such as location, price, square footage, amenities, etc., and generate content for each listing automatically. This saves time by eliminating the need for manual research, writing and editing.

Earlier this month, the Triple Win Podcast by Second Nature put together a panel discussion about AI’s role in property management. During that panel, self-proclaimed property management automation ninja, Wolfgang Croskey, explained how he uses ChatGPT for property marketing.

Before ChatGPT, his team could spend 30 to 45 minutes writing a rental property description that was deemed “really good.” But now, he is using Zapier to push relevant information from his CRM onto ChatGPT, and the AI then writes advertising copy for each rental listing.

He also said that doing this was a no-brainer because property descriptions are necessary, but not impactful. Think about it — when was the last time someone wanted to rent or buy a home because of the listing description you wrote?

2. Social Media and Video Content

Generative AI can also be a great ally for creating social media and video content. The same tools we mentioned above (ChatGPT, Jasper AI, etc.) can help you easily craft captions for your visuals or come up with funny puns to make your followers laugh.

The first speaker at the GenAI Conference was a very popular content creator and internet personality named Zach King. He shared exactly how he and his team utilize AI tools to spark new ideas, improve their content briefs, and get to the execution phase so much faster.

That talk inspired me to utilize AI more in Fourandhalf’s content creation process. As a result, we were able to slash our internal video creation timeline in half! And even better, we’re working on creative ways to bring those efficiencies to property management companies to help them get more visibility online.

3. Email Marketing Content and Google Ads Copy

Utilizing marketing automation and pay-per-click advertising such as Google Ads are good for business, but coming up with the actual content can be daunting and time-consuming.

Generative AI can come to the rescue in this case, as well. For example, ChatGPT can help you create email or ad copy quickly and easily – all it takes is a few clicks. One of the panelists during the conference even shared that he uses ChatGPT to draft emails for him. Although he wouldn’t trust it enough to simply copy-paste directly from the chatbot, he said that he can usually get something that was 90% good enough.

However, writing the copy is only part of the battle. You still have to set up your campaigns and maintain them. Read our blog about what it takes to maintain a Google Ads campaign.

4. Lead Magnets

AI tools can help you create interesting lead magnets such as ebooks and guides. For example, ChatGPT can help you generate ideas for topics to focus on in a lead magnet or even provide content summaries that you can use.

Just note that when Fourandhalf tested how well ChatGPT can write about property management, it skewed more towards tenant-facing content rather than owner-facing content. So if you are trying to create lead magnets to attract owners rather than tenants, make sure you use the right prompts to guide the algorithm.

5. Online Reputation Management

I know, I know. This one sticks out like a sore thumb. How is online reputation related to content creation? I’m glad you asked.

Think of your business’s online presence as a stage and everything that can be attributed to it as the content that you put on that stage. This includes the online reviews and your clever responses that are publicly available for everyone to see. Remember, potential renters and property owners are watching and consuming all of this content during the Consideration Phase of their buyer’s journey. So, let’s give them a show they won’t forget – one that makes them want to work with you.

AI tools can help you quickly and easily craft review request emails, as well as draft review responses that are professional and custom.

6. Property Management Website Copy and Blogs

Generative AI can also be used to write website content for a property management business in less time than it would traditionally take. We’ve seen several property managers online who are vocal about their use of AI when writing copy for their website or blog pages. The most popular tools of choice are ChatGPT and Jasper AI.

But a word of caution: even though Google does not discriminate against AI-generated content, it does have very high standards on what it deems worthy of indexing on relevant Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). AI can help you write faster, but you have to pay attention to quality if you want your website copy and your blogs to help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

I recently wrote a blog on the Fourandhalf website about this very topic, so be sure to read the post titled “Google Algorithm Updates: How they Impact Property Management Marketing“.

And speaking of Google and SEO, the next section is about to blow your mind.

Bing Chatbot and Google’s BARD

BING has already integrated ChatGPT, and Google is working on a similar integration for Google Search that they are calling BARD. What does this have to do with SEO? Well, everything.

It’s really about supply and demand. As of February 2023, the majority of online searches are still done by typing a query on a search bar and then getting a whole page filled with links, images, videos, etc. This page is called a Search Engine Results Page or SERP. It’s riddled with ads, and the user essentially has to pick which pieces of content to consume and which links to click.

But once the two biggest search engines shift their platforms into chat-first, it would change the way humans get their queries answered. Users just need to type in a question, and the chatbot spits out a short, concise answer. No ads, no having to sift through several links and articles to find a source you deem credible. The chatbot will basically analyze and summarize all the relevant articles and deliver that summary to the user.

This means that the way we’ve been optimizing for the current search engines, may not be as relevant in the world of Chat Search. SEO as we know it would be upended.

GPT-4 is Right Around the Corner

As amazing as ChatGPT is right now, it’s about to get better. It’s currently based on the GPT-3 language model, but its developers at OpenAI are already working on GPT-4. This next-level model is scheduled to be released sometime in 2023, so the next several months will be a roller coaster ride for everyone.

Nobody knows for sure what it will be capable of, but it will certainly be lightyears better than what we are seeing now.

Human vs. AI: Who Will Win the Marketing Game?

This question has haunted me for a while. Are human marketers on the fast lane to becoming obsolete? Surprisingly, attending the GenAI Conference gave me the answer to this question along with some peace of mind.

Let me explain.

The closing keynote speaker was Meghan Keany Anderson, the VP of Marketing for Jasper AI. Her talk was all about this unique time when technology is forcing a turning point in marketing. She said that in the golden age of advertising, big budgets won. In the age of content marketing, higher capacity won. But in the age of Generative AI, the best ideas will win. Because when anyone can create content using AI, unique ideas will be the only way to break through the clutter and noise. 

She went on to say that AI relies on patterns and it’s not great at finding new territory. On the other hand, humans are great at finding new angles to things we’ve seen a million times before. When you combine the power of AI and the originality of people, that is where we can come up with truly great things. She urged the marketers in the room to look at AI as a tool that doesn’t come to life until it’s in our hands.

That resonated with me deeply. She made me realize that I shouldn’t look at AI as an adversary. If the world of marketing was the Kentucky Derby: we can’t win the Derby by fighting with the horses, and the horses can’t win without their riders either.

At the end of her talk, I had another realization — Jasper AI has a whole marketing team. The very tool that most people think will replace marketers, has a whole team of humans doing their marketing. That thought made me smile and gave me the peace of mind I needed.

I walked out of the conference hopeful and excited about this turning point in marketing. It’s a time when the best ideas will win and our creativity and ingenuity will be rewarded. It’s a unique time to be alive, and I’m looking forward to seeing what amazing things we can come up with in this new era of Generative AI.

Andrea Hardaway from First Property Management is blazing a path of success as she has published her book, Property Management Freedom, and recently gave an inspiring talk on the topic of market consolidation at PM Grow Summit 2022. Despite hefty acquisition offers by larger management companies coming in their direction, Andrea and company remain determined […]

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Andrea Hardaway from First Property Management is blazing a path of success as she has published her book, Property Management Freedom, and recently gave an inspiring talk on the topic of market consolidation at PM Grow Summit 2022. Despite hefty acquisition offers by larger management companies coming in their direction, Andrea and company remain determined […]

The post The Power of Purpose-Driven Property Management appeared first on Fourandhalf Marketing Agency for Property Managers.

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Andrea Hardaway from First Property Management is blazing a path of success as she has published her book, Property Management Freedom, and recently gave an inspiring talk on the topic of market consolidation at PM Grow Summit 2022.

Despite hefty acquisition offers by larger management companies coming in their direction, Andrea and company remain determined to move forward with independent operations – something we wanted

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Andrea Hardaway from First Property Management is blazing a path of success as she has published her book, Property Management Freedom, and recently gave an inspiring talk on the topic of market consolidation at PM Grow Summit 2022.

Despite hefty acquisition offers by larger management companies coming in their direction, Andrea and company remain determined to move forward with independent operations – something we wanted to explore more about!

Let’s take a deeper look at what makes them so successful.

Property Management Offers versus Property Management Conversations

Andrea and her two partners started First Property Management seven years ago in a Panera Bread. With no prior experience in property management, but a passionate drive to succeed, they steadily built up their portfolio – now managing nearly 1,000 doors! Team members are loyal and talented and they have an ever-growing list of clients and residents who trust them to keep things running smoothly.

With such a successful business, the leadership at First Property Management could probably make a lot of money by accepting one of the many offers they have to sell the business. So, why do they keep turning them down?

Andrea is clear that she’s not turning down conversations. It’s smart to have conversations because there’s always something to learn.

But, selling her property management company is not something she and her partners are ready to do.

There’s a lot that’s happened in the last few years, and a lot that’s still to come.

Here’s why Andrea and her partners aren’t ready to sell:

There’s more going on that can’t be shared yet. All of those things are increasing the value of their company. They’re also increasing and the value of what they bring to the property management industry.

Andrea and her partners want to see where those things go.

Beyond Customer Retention to Brand Ambassadors

Part of a company’s success is retaining clients and employees. It’s one thing to retain someone by keeping them from leaving. It’s another thing entirely to make them a brand ambassador.

That means something to Andrea’s company.

First Property Management has achieved incredible success without relying on traditional marketing and advertising. Instead, their growth relies entirely on organic relationships.

When your growth and your success is based on relationships, you need a lot of trust, and that trust has to be protected.  Their clients refer other clients to them. Several owners on the west coast talk to their colleagues and when those colleagues are ready to invest in Andrea’s market, a referral is made. By building strong bonds with both customers and employees, FPM has managed seven years worth of sustained development – proving how important it is to invest energy into creating meaningful connections when striving for success!

Here’s how Andrea and her team turn owners, residents, and employees into brand ambassadors.

Keeping Property Owners and Investor Clients Happy

The client base is grown from relationships.

Andrea and her partners Brian and Randy also invest in properties themselves. This means they’re not a fee-heavy property management company. They have fees, of course. How else would they stay in business? However, there are certain things they’ll never charge their clients for.

One example is maintenance. A lot of property management companies use maintenance as a profit center. Andrea says she understands this; it’s a great way to make money and sustain a business.

At First Property Management, however, there is never an upcharge for maintenance. The vendor’s invoice is passed on directly to the owners so they can see that they’re paying exactly what the vendor charged.

Their clients trust them and value their commitment to transparency. They’ve built a reputation for effectively managing properties and helping owners and investors build wealth and grow toward greater financial success. As a result, not only do clients stick with them, they’ll even refer others to First Property Management.

Residents, not Tenants

At First Property Management, they understand that a home is more than just four walls and a roof – it’s an essential part of living. That’s why Andrea and the rest refer to their tenants not as renters but rather residents.

This messaging is important in communicating with residents. When a property manager sees a house as a home, there’s a different sort of relationship in place. When property managers understand that a home is just one part of a broader life, the relationship deepens. Property managers at First Property Management believe in moving work orders along and meeting the needs of residents because a home is a foundational part of a person’s life.

When FPM first launched their resident benefit package, there were some mixed reactions from tenants.  However, when it was presented as a way to improve their day-to-day living in their home, the majority of them embraced it.

Keeping a Property Management Team Happy and Intact

Andrea wants her employees to be so happy about arriving to work that they skip to the front door, but she understands the work isn’t always easy.

Property management is a difficult industry to be in. It’s not super complicated, necessarily, but there’s so much involved in it, and that action never stops. Andrea wants to create an atmosphere where team members are joyful.

To this end, Andrea works closely with the Director of Operations, who oversees the day-to-day business. She is realistic with her expectations. She tells her team when she’s unhappy about something, but she also tells them when she’s excited about something.

There are a few things Andrea believes help her retain her best team members.

First, she offers one on one meetings with each employee. This is their time to talk about whatever they want – things they are happy with, things that they think could be done better, whatever. Any conversation topic stays between her and them unless it’s critical and needs to be shared. In that case, Andrea checks with the employee and makes sure that they are comfortable.

Next, she conducts an internal survey every six months. This allows her to get a pulse about whether people support and rally behind the business or whether they’re detracting from it. Specific questions are asked about the company itself and its performance. She wants her team to know that she’s listening to concerns.

Finally, she has team-building days that take place in the field. Not every person who works in property management gets out there. They work in offices or from homes and they don’t always see the properties that are being managed. She does team building events where the office closes and everyone participates in some group activity. Recently, it was a three-hour cooking class one morning. After class and lunch, they went on a van tour of the homes that they manage. They went inside to tour the homes that are vacant or being turned over.

The point of this? So her employees could see these places not just as an address but as a physical space that someone will call home.

If you’re not already doing something like this, you might want to consider it.

Investing in the Community

Part of Andrea’s strategic plan is community engagement, but it’s about more than growing her business. Andrea and her partners truly care about the impact that they can make on their community.

Here are some of the things Andrea is working on individually and with her business. 

Real Estate Development and Affordable Housing Nonprofits

Andrea has joined nonprofit boards related to real estate and development and affordable housing. Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise and the Community Foundation of Chattanooga are two such organizations. She’s also on the board of the Chattanooga Design Studio, which focuses on urban design and development.

Eviction Protection Initiative

Andrea is on an advisory committee for Eviction Protection Initiative (EPI). This is a surprise to a lot of people since property managers do most of the evicting. But, she takes no joy in evicting people. Inspired by Dan Heath’s book Upstream, she believes that it is better to get to the root of problems early rather than just solve symptoms one-by-one. She understands there are correlations between factors like late payments and utility shut-offs which can lead to eviction down the road; so with EPI, they’re looking upstream – finding indicators before negative outcomes occur and guiding those affected onto more secure paths towards stability.

Collaborating with Affordable Housing Developers

By partnering with private developers, First Property Management is working to address a difficult problem – making affordable housing available in Chattanooga. But it doesn’t stop there – they’re also encouraging their own residents to consider homeownership by providing a robust set of benefits and assistance.

The company is passionate about this, and Andrea wants to see owners and brokers encouraging meaningful action in their local communities too. Why just make real estate deals? Why not make deals that make a difference?

Not only does community involvement benefit those being served, but it also impacts retention. The more they are in the community, the more exposure their company gets.

This community investment shows up in clients and team members, too.

During COVID, many people began having financial issues. They were losing jobs and not getting paid. There was an eviction moratorium and people were getting behind in rent. One of Andrea’s clients paid the rent for some of his residents. He took money out of his pocket and put it towards the rent he would have collected so the property managers and his own company got paid, even if it meant a loss in profit for himself.

He did that because of the way he views people. We are all connected in some way, and that matters to Andrea. These are the clients she and her partners want to attract. If they’re not that type of client now, she hopes they grow into that.

There is an opportunity to do very well financially while doing a whole lot of good in the community. They don’t have to be separate. You can be motivated by money and committed to the community.

Andrea also suspects that one of her employees paid someone’s rent when they fell behind. She’s not supposed to know that (and would never require an employee to do it), but she thinks it’s a beautiful display of care and optimism.

But do not mistake that optimism for naiveté. This is simply the culture Andrea feels responsible for creating.

How to be Profitable in Residential Property Management

Are you wondering how Andrea remains profitable with all of this in place?

She affirms that profitability is important. It allows her company to stay in business and create new opportunities.

Profitability starts with company structure. She and her partners are living the lives that business owners should live. They don’t have to put in 40 hours at the office. They can leave and come back knowing that everything is running smoothly and they won’t miss a beat.

They have a great team and they have KPIs to manage the business. Along with profitability, they look at client retention each month and make adjustments as needed.

There’s a financial reserve in place, too. The company has a capital reserve in place in case the business gets in trouble. Her team gets paid. The partners get paid. Taxes are paid. There’s an operating margin and a budget that they work to. She recommends reading Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, which gave them the framework for their cash management solutions.

First Property Management is always working towards remaining profitable. You don’t have to choose between making money and doing good. But, as a property management business owner, you also need to recognize when it is time to step back and take of yourself so that you don’t burn out. If you and your team are not burned out, then you can be better advocates for your business, your clients, and your community as a whole.

Andrea literally wrote the book on this – Property Management Freedom: Grow Your Property Management Company without Burning Yourself Out. 

If you have any questions about this podcast, contact us at Fourandhalf.

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We’re back on The Property Management Show with Kathleen Richards. In Part I, she shared her story about buying and selling a property management business, and how she introduced herself to her new employees and clients.

We ended the chat talking about toxic owners and how to deal with them while acquiring a business.

Property Management and Customer Service

Giving bad owners permission to leave

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We’re back on The Property Management Show with Kathleen Richards. In Part I, she shared her story about buying and selling a property management business, and how she introduced herself to her new employees and clients.

We ended the chat talking about toxic owners and how to deal with them while acquiring a business.

Property Management and Customer Service

Giving bad owners permission to leave is helpful when you acquire a new business. And, if you don’t call people out on their bad behavior, you’re telling them you are okay with it.

Don’t do that.

Make sure you can distinguish the bad owners from those who simply need a new strategy.

In her first six months of taking over the business, Kathleen had to fire a couple of owners that were not working out. Overall, she was committed to being proactive with people and letting them know that she was there to help.

One owner had extremely high expectations. Kathleen is fine with high expectations, but what she didn’t like was his habit of bringing up every mistake that had ever been made with his properties. These are problems that pre-dated Kathleen, but he hammered away at them anyway.

Kathleen told him that she represented a fresh start. She suggested that they tour all of his properties together. They did that, and then they sat down over lunch and discussed what he wanted to do with each property. It was a meeting of the minds.

It delivered a great outcome. Everything was reviewed together and they agreed on a course of action. Moving forward, he agreed to let Kathleen do her work without bringing up past mistakes where everything went wrong.

It was about discussing what could be done together, and the relationship improved dramatically from there. This owner became a favorite client and a dear friend.

Setting expectations is an important part of the acquisition process. Tell the owners who you are and what they’re getting with you. They need to know how you operate.

Communicating with Your Employees While Acquiring a Property Management Business

Be positive when meeting with employees. Invest in the time it will take to sit down and talk to them. You don’t want to give superficial assurances that everything will be okay. This is new for you, and you’re excited. But, the employees you’re meeting with are likely scared.

Connect with employees by asking a lot of questions.

Listen to what they’re saying.

Get them to understand that you need each other.

Seek their advice.

Ask for ideas.

Find out what their career plans are. There may be room for pay increases. Discuss a performance plan. Show them that you’re looking to work with people who are excited to be contributing to the company. When you come into a new team from a place of compassion, you’ll earn their trust.

Employees leaving is not usually the problem.

The problem is that they’re stuck in how they’ve always done things. “That’s not how we do it” is commonly heard, and there’s often resistance to some of the change that’s coming.

Getting employee buy-in will matter. Performance growth plans will matter.

Find out how to work with your employees. With remote working, you might find out that someone is starting to care for a parent. Why not see if they can work from home for some hours? If you’re willing to work with your people, you’ll see they are bringing a lot to the table.

What can you bring to that table?

Have a meeting of the minds.

When you’re talking to your employees as a new owner, ask more. Tell less.

You also want to make space for emotions. It’s okay to be sad when the company is sold. Be compassionate and acknowledge their grief.

Retaining and Restructuring Tenants

How can you retain good tenants and set boundaries with problem tenants?

Problematic tenants need to be dealt with head-on. Enforce your rental agreement and remind your tenants about what the rental agreement says. You cannot just evict nasty tenants anymore in California. You need just cause.

People skills are necessary when dealing with tenants. Here’s an example Kathleen provided:

A tenant was late with rent every month. She would come in and pay $200 and then $400 the next week. Obviously, the prior owner had allowed this. Kathleen met with her at her home and realized she was living in a three-bedroom home all by herself. It turned out this was the home in which the tenant raised her children. Kathleen suggested finding her a one-bedroom with lower rent. It was less of a financial burden.

She could have said no to partial payments, and she would have been within her rights. Instead, she began asking questions and finding out a better way.

Owners, tenants, and vendors typically want to do the right thing. But maybe the owners you’re working with have had multiple property management companies, and they’re scarred by previous experiences. When you let people know how you can have a successful relationship, they’ll rise to the occasion and be willing to participate.

Another example Kathleen shared is from 2009 when she had a tenant who was downsized from a job in Silicon Valley. Instead of evicting him because he could not pay rent, they put together a plan. He moved out as soon as it was possible, and a new tenant moved in.

There is always a solution as long as you can have a conversation and problem-solve.

Talking and communicating is where it starts.

When you communicate with residents, they feel like you’re there to help them. Remember that you hold a lot of power over your tenants. You are connected to the roof that’s over their head. Try to come to them from a perspective of wanting to help.

Solve problems together, Kathleen advises. This is what has worked for her.

Another example:

A tenant was a nurse working nights and sleeping during the day. He kept calling because other tenants were noisy and he could hear the kids playing all day while he was trying to sleep. They weren’t doing anything that isn’t normal, so Kathleen had to suggest that living in a fourplex might not be the best idea while working nights. She helped him find a unit with a bit more quiet.

Kathleen is simple and straightforward. Honesty and integrity are her two main business values, and she tells all prospective owners that. If they want to get $6,000 a month in rent from a studio apartment, she’s not going to lead them to believe that she can deliver that.

Building up trust is important as a new business owner. You have to elevate your communication.

Scaling the Service Model for Larger Property Management Companies

The examples Kathleen has provided are perfect for a small business when it’s possible to reach out to individuals. What if you’re buying a giant business and you can’t really just pick up the phone and have those conversations directly?

If you’re buying 1,000 doors or 2,000 doors, that’s not your role. You shouldn’t be calling every owner.

Understand your position in the company. In a large business, you have departments and teams and an organizational chart (pleasehave an organizational chart).

Basically, you have a more defined structure to your business. The owner communication will be up to your property managers, who you need to trust to speak to their owners the same way you would.

You’ll need to empower your team.

Kathleen doesn’t hire anyone without knowing how they handle conflict and challenges.

In a larger company, make your property managers the experts. Defer to them when it comes to doing what they do best. This empowers them when they need to handle things.

Put together a monthly training session with your staff about expectations and customer service once you’ve been in an ownership position for a while. Find out how they do things. Train them to become leaders.

Very successful companies like Coldwell Banker and Starbucks and In-and-Out Burger all have specific training programs in place for employees. Once you grow from a small business, you have to scale the training and the mentoring. Universities can exist within companies.

Don’t show up as a know-it-all when you’re a new owner. Get down on the ground floor and always be in a place where you’re assessing how you can improve. Make your staff your leaders.

What about the future of property management acquisitions?

Many venture capital companies are buying everything up. But, there’s still a place for smaller companies. In the marketplace, there are always going to be owners who want to work with smaller property management companies. They appreciate the unique service.

Your business model is not going to go away.

If you have any questions about how to acquire a property management company with ease, get in touch with us at Fourandhalf and we’ll talk further about this podcast and how we can support you.

Have you heard about the new shiny piece of technology taking the world by storm?

It’s called ChatGPT.

In case you haven’t heard the buzz yet, here’s a quick overview:

What is ChatGPT?

Have you heard about the new shiny piece of technology taking the world by storm?

It’s called ChatGPT.

In case you haven’t heard the buzz yet, here’s a quick overview:

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot that’s been trained to respond like a human would. It can take a few words or sentences that you type in and use them to write a whole paragraph or even a whole story.

But that’s just scratching the surface.

You can “talk” to it as if you were talking to a person via chat, and the possibilities are endless.

AND it’s free – at least for now.

Since its launch on November 30, 2022, it has been used by over a million people to search for information and write anything from computer code to poetry or music. While it’s controversial, students have been using it to write essays and papers for school.

You might be thinking the same thing we are: can this AI write property management content?

How Does ChatGPT Work?

If you’re asking whether it can WRITE a property management blog, the answer is YES.

ChatGPT can write on almost any topic.

How?

Using a technology called Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning, ChatGPT can generate blog text pretty easily. It has read much of the internet up until 2021 as part of its training dataset, so it uses all that information to scrape together something that satisfies whatever prompt you give it.

Keep in mind that this tool has its limitations.

OpenAI, the developer of this tool, is upfront about what doesn’t work:

Think of it this way – when you search for the term “property management” on Google, it generates about 2.1 billion results in half a second (2,130,000,000 results within 0.60 seconds as of Jan. 9). That’s over 2.1 billion pieces of content related to the term “property management.” Of the 2.1 billion pieces of content, would all of those contain 100% accurate and unbiased information?

Probably not.

So, if ChatGPT is referencing an imperfect dataset, it comes as no surprise that it could sometimes come up with information that is inaccurate or biased.

Here’s another thing to consider: If it can write blogs, will the blogs be unique or is there a possibility of content duplication?

To answer that question, I decided to ask the chatbot itself:

Will AI-Generated Content Help You Rank Higher on Google?

Now you might be thinking, what about using ChatGPT to write content not for humans but plainly for SEO? Isn’t ranking all about the keywords anyway?

That’s a really good question.

Two factors affect output:

There is no capability for original thought, and it’s possible to end up with duplicate content when using it to write blogs.

And as Google has said in the past, duplicate content is a no-no.

The text generated by ChatGPT could pass off as human, but it doesn’t necessarily write copy that leaps off the page or stands out. It will never be personalized to your specific property management company and its strengths and services.

There is more to SEO than the actual blog content you post online or the keywords you put in those blogs. In fact, Fourandhalf has covered this topic in our past blog posts. Feel free to check them out.

AI-generated content can HELP you?

Yes.

But, can you simply rely on tools like this to succeed?

No.

In fact, Google’s recent algorithm updates address the topic of AI-generated content in relation to search rankings. We’ll be releasing more on this subject soon, so stay tuned for that.

Will ChatGPT Replace Content Marketers?

It’s important to mention that as good as the responses sound, it is still a chatbot.

You still need to figure out the best prompts to give, you still need to spend time checking, rewriting, and then actually posting and sharing that piece of content online.

As a content marketer, I am not opposed to the development of AI technology such as ChatGPT. In fact, I used it to help me create this piece of content, as you can see.

I found though that although it’s a useful tool to help me with ideas, I couldn’t quite get the quality piece I wanted straight out of the chatbot. I still had to spend a lot of time rewriting, fact-checking, and adding to what it gave me.

At the end of the day, it’s not a magic bullet.

Just for fun, I wanted to see if ChatGPT thought it would replace marketers like our team here at Fourandhalf. Here’s what it said:

This response came from the chatbot itself.

And if you’re in need of the creative and strategic thinking from an experienced marketing team, look no further than Fourandhalf Marketing Agency.

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The prospect of acquiring a property management business is very exciting.

The hard part comes when the deal is done. How can you handle the baggage that comes with a book of business? How do you protect yourself from the potential loss of owners and employees?

Our guest on today’s podcast has personal experience with this. We are welcoming Kathleen Richards, also known as The Property Management Coach. She’s also the

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The prospect of acquiring a property management business is very exciting.

The hard part comes when the deal is done. How can you handle the baggage that comes with a book of business? How do you protect yourself from the potential loss of owners and employees?

Our guest on today’s podcast has personal experience with this. We are welcoming Kathleen Richards, also known as The Property Management Coach. She’s also the brain behind PM Made Easy.

There’s so much to talk about with Kathleen that this is a two-part podcast. Let’s jump into the first discussion.

Acquiring a Property Management Company: How Kathleen Did It

If you’re not aware, before she became The Property Management Coach, Kathleen was a successful property management business owner. She did not start from scratch. In fact, she acquired Portola Property Management before it was even called that. The company she bought was an established business with a decent door count.

Owners did not know that Kathleen had acquired the company right away; she was introduced as a new property manager. It was rolled out as the former owner being semi-retired and pursuing other things.

Kathleen took a few immediate steps:

This portfolio had a lot of clients who had been with the company for 30 years. They were older and the internet in 2005 was not what it is today. These personal phone calls were necessary (We didn’t even have smartphones then).

At the beginning of her ownership, Kathleen did not make any changes to the way the business was run. Continuity was important.

Acquisitions and Employees

The person Kathleen bought the business from did not tell his employees there would be a new owner. The secretive nature of the transition made things difficult. She was introduced to the staff as the new owner, and there was some stress.

Kathleen reassured them quickly. In the first week, she let the part-time leasing agent go because that employee had been lying to owners.

The company was structured as a real estate office with a property management division. There were four property managers, each with their own portfolio of business. Most of them were Realtors. One person was a full-time property manager. There was also a full-time assistant who was very valuable to Kathleen as she took over. They discussed her career goals, found money for a pay increase, and Kathleen supported this employee in getting her license and moving forward with the work she wanted to do within the company. This employee knew the owners. She knew how things worked. It was important to keep her on board.

Before buying the business, due diligence was essential. An outside CPA was brought in to look at the books. Kathleen looked at the properties on paper and drove by the homes.

It’s a different situation when you only have a couple of employees. But, even if there are 20 employees, you have to approach the business you are buying with excitement. Take time to talk to each individual employee. Reassure them as a group that you’re going to look to them because they’re the experts.

Cultural fit is critical. If you’re buying the business as your starting point, you have more space to keep things as they are. If you’re buying the business and incorporating that business into your own existing business, you have to make sure there’s a culture fit. If your existing business works in a way that’s 180 degrees different from the new business, you can expect some friction.

When Kathleen ultimately sold her company, she was told the new owner didn’t need a bookkeeper. It was painful for Kathleen to let her own bookkeeper go, but she wanted to be the one to do it so she could offer severance and support.

Employees will want to know where they stand.

Before You Acquire a Property Management Company: What to Look At

Kathleen consults with property managers preparing to buy a business. Here’s what she tells them to find out first:

Kathleen worked for a property management company for a little while to ensure she liked the business, and she was surprised when the broker bought a whole book of business that turned out to be junk. They were crappy properties with owners who didn’t care. The new owner had to close out every door.

This portfolio was bought from a friend. Deals are often done between property managers, but remember – this is still a business. If you’re buying from a friend or colleague, do your due diligence anyway.

If the company runs well and produces cash and the employees are running it so that you don’t have to be hands-on, you’re in a good position. Compare this to a company that needs a lot. Maybe it’s a sole proprietor who doesn’t want to upgrade their software. Kathleen coached a client who inherited 200 doors when her father passed away. Everything was on paper. It was an old-school ledger and not even an Excel document had been used.

Know what you’re getting.

Minimize Losing Owners During an Acquisition

Reach out to owners right away.

You should not be a surprise to them.

You can be proactive. Email the owner-clients and introduce yourself as the new business owner. Or, don’t introduce yourself as the owner. Call yourself the vice president or the property manager. It’s up to you.

Don’t make dramatic changes to the business because it scares people.

When you start doing things that will help – you minimize owner churn.

Improve communication. Owners will like that.

Share ideas for increasing revenue. Owners will love that.

When owners see early improvement with you, they’ll be less likely to leave.

Here’s something that may feel counter-intuitive: invite some of your owners to leave.

Kathleen knew early on that there were simply some owners that she wasn’t going to get along with. They were rude, verbally abusive, or simply difficult. So, she went straight to them and told them that she was the new property manager, and it was okay if they decided to take their property back and either manage it themselves or look for a new property management partner.

She simply asked for 60 days of notice so she could provide a smooth closeout.

Kathleen knew that these problem owners would only find some simple or stupid reason to blow up at her and fire her. She wanted to avoid that, so she gave them the opportunity to leave. She said it was okay. Many of them took her up on that and were relieved they could leave without conflict.

Does it mean losing business? Yes. But, you’re exiting the relationship on a positive note rather than a contentious one.

You won’t say this to everyone. Only the owners that you know won’t work out. It’s okay to close them out.

That’s what we have for Part I of this podcast with Kathleen Richards. Contact us with any questions. And make sure you join us for Part II.

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Retaining Employees and Clients in a Way that’s Purposeful and Profitable:

A Chat with Jan Leasure from Monterey Bay Property Management

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a team who was in it for the long haul?

How do you define the long haul in property management? Is it 10 years or maybe 20 years?

What about 30 years? Is it possible?

It is. We’re talking to Jan

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Retaining Employees and Clients in a Way that’s Purposeful and Profitable:

A Chat with Jan Leasure from Monterey Bay Property Management

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a team who was in it for the long haul?

How do you define the long haul in property management? Is it 10 years or maybe 20 years?

What about 30 years? Is it possible?

It is. We’re talking to Jan Leasure, the owner of Monterey Bay Property Management. Her company has a great track record for employee retention, and they also do well with client retention and profitability.

Employee Retention – Why Do They Refuse to Leave?

Jan has employees who have been with her for decades. Thirty years, even.

What’s the secret?

There are a couple of things that impact this type of retention rate:

Jan has turned a golf pro into a property manager. She’s also hired a former nail salon owner, a former restaurateur, and a former physical therapist. This doesn’t always make sense, but their professional backgrounds aren’t as important as their fit with the company. It’s been highly successful. Choosing the right person at the beginning is a good way to start.

Jan has never had a job opening at Monterey Bay Property Management.

She invests in her team before she has the work, creating opportunities and trusting that the work will show up eventually.

Identifying the Right Employee and Position

For Jan, there is always wisdom in starting new people at the front desk.

Everyone coming into the company starts there. It works well because they are on the firing line from the very beginning. They’re taught to answer the phone, find out what the person needs, and then ask that caller to hold while the right answer is sought. That shows a new employee how the wheels of the company will turn.

People learn by doing. You can give them a procedure manual or a checklist, but just by listening to the questions and finding the answers, a lot is learned. That’s training.

When Jan meets someone out in the world, what is it about that person that makes her want to hire them?

She hired the woman she saw in the restaurant time and time again because of the person’s sparkling personality. She was always on an even keel no matter what was happening. The temperament was always the same. That’s the attitude that’s so desperately needed in property management. We have to be unflappable. Customer service skills are much the same.

How do you approach someone not even looking to work for a property management company?

One day when Jan was being waited on by this woman, she engaged her in a conversation about how long she had worked there. Jan asked if she had ever thought about doing anything else. She pitched property management and they kept talking about it.

The interview process is different from any other typical job interview. Jan wants to know how they will fit into the company culture. They discuss problem-solving skills and talk about challenges. Once that step is complete, you hire them and you get them to a place where they feel like they can see themselves working there for 20 or 30 years.

Retaining the Employees You’ve Hired

Once you have the right employees in place, you need to lead them to the decision that they want to stay with you for the long term. This is done by understanding what each individual needs.

Before she became a real estate broker and a property manager, Jan was a teacher. One of the skills teachers have is the ability to evaluate each student based on their individual skills and abilities. From there, they can meet their individual needs.

She transferred those skills to her work in property management, and it helps her retain employees.

After someone has been in place for a while, they talk about what they like and what they don’t like. Adjustments are made.

Jan can clearly remember a specific situation where she thought an employee would make a great reservation agent for her vacation rental operation. But, she had no interest or intention to do that. The employee is still with the company, however, as a bookkeeper.

Some people are fine without a periodic check-in and other employees need that ongoing conversation. Instead of having one process for everyone, Jan nurtures and coaches her team individually, depending on their unique needs.

Compensation and Employee Retention

When you’re willing to restructure things to meet the needs of your employees, you’re more likely to retain them. People have children while here. They may need to work from home. They may want to bring the baby into the office.

The ProfitCoach team believed Jan over-compensated her employees when it came to salary and money. She agrees that her salaries are probably some of the highest in the country for what they do. She doesn’t mind. She sees it as trading longevity for compensation. It’s a math problem, and she’s willing to work out the math.

Monterey Bay Property Management is very profitable. The balancing act is necessary; if she’s spending on employees, she cannot spend in other places.

What surprised Jan was that when she asked employees what they valued most, she learned that flexibility is more important than money. They want to be able to work from home or from the office. They want to choose their own hours.

Jan rarely says no to any requests for time off. In fact, she wishes her employees would take more time off.

This is good business. When you give people a little bit, they give back a lot. It builds tremendous loyalty.

Employee retention translates into owner retention. The company does not typically leave because they’re dissatisfied or looking for a better deal. When they leave, it’s because they’re selling the property or moving into it themselves.

Outrageous Customer Service

T. Scott Gross wrote a series of books years ago surrounding the idea of providing positively outrageous service. The idea is that you go the extra mile, do the unexpected, and provide great service as a result.

Here’s an example from Jan:

One year, on Thanksgiving, a tenant’s oven was not working. The tenant was trying to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Jan was able to send a repair man out to look at the oven, but the part could not be ordered until the following Monday.

That wasn’t going to work for the tenant.

Rather than apologize and do nothing more, Jan had a solution.

She took the tenant’s turkey to her house and cooked the bird for that tenant.

People don’t forget that. It’s an example of positively outrageous customer service, and that story is still being told today by the tenant and anyone else who was involved.

Answering the phone doesn’t seem like it should be outrageous – but in this day and age, it is.

Find your own way of providing positively outrageous customer service. You’ll notice a change in your retention.

Jan also writes a newsletter every month for her owners. It goes out with their statement. The newsletter isn’t fancy; it’s not in a prescribed template. It’s simply information on what’s going on in the market and what she expects to happen. She’s an investor too, so it’s written from that standpoint.

Employees and Profitability

Here’s an example of outrageous customer service for her employees: Jan has helped some of her employees establish their own property management businesses.

You might think that in their small market, this cannibalizes her own profit.

Yes, and no.

She did cannibalize her own portfolio to help her employees get started. She leased them some of her accounts, which meant a small fee was still coming in on those properties.

Monterey Bay is a small area, but there’s enough business out there for everyone. Jan wants to help train the next generation of property management leaders. She’s launching them into the market and into their own businesses.

It’s another strategy that supports retention. Employees see Jan supporting their teammates. They know she’ll be there for them when they need help. Employee loyalty is something every business should aspire to.

It’s a question of how fulfilled you want to be.

Jan says she’s fulfilled by this way of doing business. Some people grow for growth’s sake. They want to see how big their business can get. That doesn’t have to be you. Jan wants to grow so she can help others do great things.

There’s not just one way to do things.

Jan acknowledges that her way is not for everyone. She has enough and she’s living the quality of life she wants while facilitating success for others.

If you’d like to talk about managing employee and owner retention or if you have thoughts on today’s podcast, please contact us at Fourandhalf.

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Managing Properties in One of the Country’s Toughest Places

What does it take to get an amazing reputation, not just on Google, but also on Yelp? Our guests on the podcast today are from R.E.M. Residential. It’s one of the highest-rated residential property management companies in all of New York. They have not had a negative review, not even on Yelp, since 2017.

How can they manage in one of the toughest

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Managing Properties in One of the Country’s Toughest Places

What does it take to get an amazing reputation, not just on Google, but also on Yelp? Our guests on the podcast today are from R.E.M. Residential. It’s one of the highest-rated residential property management companies in all of New York. They have not had a negative review, not even on Yelp, since 2017.

How can they manage in one of the toughest markets in the world while keeping people happy without people-pleasing?

We’re about to find out.

Introducing R.E.M. Residential

R.E.M. was started in 2000 by Rick Elezi. Rick came from an extensive real estate background. He started out as a porter, and he also worked as a doorman and handyman. Shpresa Elezi met him because her dad was a resident manager next door to the buildings where Rick met. They began doing property management in 1995, and five years later, R.E.M. was born.

Rashaad Middleton is the company’s director of management. He started with R.E.M. about 14 years ago as a broker. Ten years ago, he became the director of management. He’s been a landlord for two years, so he understands both sides of the rental relationship. He’s proud of the retention rate of the company, both with clients and employees. Fourteen years in, he’s happy.

Lara Lapysh has been with R.E.M. for seven years. She started as a broker and has been growing the condo department. She specializes in condos and co-ops. R.E.M., she says, is a family. The industry has a large turnover rate, and she enjoys being an old-timer in the company she’s committed to.

How To Maintain Zero Negative Reviews in a Thankless Industry

We know the property management industry can be thankless.

The concept of property management is simple but keeping up with the concept is hard. It’s really just about meeting needs and exceeding expectations.

We all have basic needs wherever we happen to live. We want to know that things will work. Doorknobs turn and there aren’t any leaks. When you go to the bathroom, you want to know that the bathroom is going to work the way a bathroom should work.

When clients or tenants approach the team at R.E.M. Residential, the goal is to give them what they want. It’s not just fixing what needs to be fixed. The team helps them solve problems. They’re bringing a better experience to the people they work with.

Property managers cannot control everything. Some situations have no resolution and no one is perfect. But, when the focus is on relationships and innovation, exceptional customer service can be achieved.

One of the main complaints people have is that they cannot get to a live person when they’re making a phone call. When property managers and their teams are willing to talk to people, those clients and tenants will feel updated. They’ll feel taken care of. Sometimes, that’s more important than an instant resolution to a problem. People appreciate a personal touch.

Spresha says she has had disagreements with people, and those people recommended the company to other people anyway. The disagreement is not the problem. As long as you’re communicating and sharing your expertise, even your adversaries will relate to you.

Layers of answering machines and automation do not resolve anything.

There’s a lot of disagreement in property management. It’s part of the job. The team at R.E.M. Residential is dealing with sophisticated, educated, and successful people. They might tell their property managers what they want, and those property managers will respectfully disagree. This is the job.

What makes the relationship work anyway? Communication. Common ground can be found. A perfect record of reviews is more about relationships than resolving management issues.

Keeping Relationships Happy When People Are Not Happy

You cannot make everyone happy all the time.

The key to keeping the relationship happy is getting back to people. Right away. Don’t promise you’ll call back in an hour and then wait two days to call. Even if it’s bad news, communicate immediately. Be respectful. Use soft words. Treat tenants and owners and building board members like humans. Guide people in another direction if they can’t get what they want.

Property managers can establish better relationships with tenants by explaining that they need to implement what their owners require. You’re the liaison between landlords and renters. You have to get to know the people you work with and show them that you’re sticking around when it comes to service. For example, Rashaad has rented apartments in many of the buildings managed by R.E.M. People know him. He showed a lot of his fellow tenants an apartment. They remember he was easy to work with, and they remember when he got them a deal. When those tenants find out he’s also working with the management company, they know that he understands their needs.

Your contract with your tenant does not end when the lease is signed.

The job of a property manager is to advocate for everyone; owners and tenants. A little bit of effort makes a big difference to your tenants. A human element is necessary, even when important things are automated for efficiency and accuracy.

When you work towards tenant retention, remember that you have tenants who love to communicate online and via text but you also have more traditional tenants who want to pick up the phone and have a personal conversation. Be prepared to use the apps but also have the conversations.

Reach everyone.

Automation and Personal Relationships: A Both/And Situation

There’s a place for automation. A need for it.

Specific things can be automated when the human element is not taken away. Tenants can pay rent online and schedule maintenance through an online app, or they can call their property manager and talk about a problem that’s happening in their apartment.

Be flexible. Make sure both options are there and make sure your tenants know that both options are there.

The team at R.E.M. Residential provides their personal phone numbers to owners and tenants. No one has abused that privilege yet.

There’s absolutely a need to automate. You cannot manage properties in 2022 and 2023 without automating. Stay ahead of the tech curve and invest in what you need to run your business better.

Ultimately, however, you have to remember that a property manager’s job is to be a human and to talk to humans. No app will resolve a conflict between seven people in a room.

Balancing the workload at R.E.M. is largely about instinct and knowing how each team member works best. Brittany calls it “a vibe.” No one is overloaded. Personalities are matched to properties and clients. Property managers are asked if they have time to take on another building or another client. They’re not assigned new work without consent.

No one needs to have their time wasted or compromised.

It’s easy not to respond to people who are calling for help or to complain. Most of your clients understand that a large part of your day is putting out fires. You’re a property manager. If you tell them that you’re prioritizing what you need to do, and you’ll get back to them about their situation as soon as possible, they’ll be okay with it. They’ll know they’re going to get what they need.

People want to be heard. They don’t want to feel like they’re sending something into the black hole and they don’t want to give up on ever hearing back from their property manager.

A cheerful response is essential, too. Spresha says she hires receptionists based on how they sound when they answer the phone. Communication goes a very different way if there’s a bad attitude or a voice that sounds rushed and disinterested answering the phone.

Retaining Property Management Clients with Service

R.E.M. has never lost a client, except for a couple during COVID who could not travel the way they intended and thus decided they did not need a property manager.

Their retention rate when the building isn’t sold is near perfect. A customer may sell the building and that typically means they’ll lose the client, but when a building is in the position it needs to be in that it can be sold, they know they’ve done something good while managing it.

R.E.M. Residential does not want to be the biggest property management company in New York. They want to be the best.

Retention at the employee level is also near-perfect. It’s a family. They’ve been a family for a long time, and sometimes they argue and sometimes they come together. The team socializes outside of work. They have wonderful personal and professional relationships.

Without trying to team-build, they manage to do a lot of team-building.

Rick makes most of the decisions, but when suggestions come up, they’re heard. Sometimes, he has to be worked on and sometimes he listens to their opinions right away.

If someone makes a mistake, there’s an immediate meeting. The management team at R.E.M. Residential knows that everyone they’ve hired is good at what they do. But, mistakes get made. The purpose of talking about the mistake is to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Mistakes are not a problem, but repetitive mistakes are a failure.

There’s also a collaborative vibe to the team. They cover for each other and they contribute to problem-solving and workload issues. This isn’t just to help their co-workers. It’s also to protect their brand. If one person drops a ball, the entire brand suffers. This understanding brings the team together.

Be Obsessed with Reviews

Rick admits to being obsessed with reviews. That shift has made the whole team pay more attention. Everyone is checking in on their reputation online.

Everyone monitors reviews at R.E.M. Residential. They also ask for those reviews naturally. And, they suggest that the positive review is not for the company, but the specific person who helped them. Usually, it’s the building super.

If a tenant calls in and says they are moving out after five years, they’ll be asked if they were unhappy. Usually, the answer is no. They simply need a bigger space or a smaller space or they’re interested in living in a new neighborhood. So, the team asks that tenant to go online and leave a five-star review for the building super.

Anyone who calls is asked to provide a five-star review for their super or any team member that contributed to a good experience. This request is always made verbally, on the phone. If one of the property managers sees someone in person, they’ll also ask for a five-star review that way.

Seize the opportunity. Have a conversation about the experience, and then ask for the review. This establishes a commitment.

Secrets to Success: A Review

No negative Yelp reviews. Now you see how it’s possible.

The secret to the success R.E.M. Residential has achieved is:

There’s no formula. Everyone on the podcast admits that. The business works because the people in the business hold the same values and they work well together. Their strategy is to treat people well and go off all the best gut instincts.

Creating a culture of accountability and collaboration translates to better client experience, which contributes to client and employee retention. If you’d like to talk more about this podcast, please contact us at Fourandhalf.