Owning your expertise as a property manager is the ultimate move when it comes to growing your business, realizing your full potential, and helping you build a pipeline for the doors of the future.
The best part is you already have the tools you need! You know the ins and outs of property management, the challenges, the potential. This makes you an expert already. The trick is to start leveraging that expertise by taking what you already know, injecting your day-to-day experiences and sharing that with the world.
Build authority, grow your business
So, what does it mean to own your expertise? It all starts by building authority. This has to be a priority. You can never become the top-of-mind, go-to resource for property management if people don’t know what you do and what makes you different from everyone else.
In property management, having authority means:
- You’re a subject matter expert
- You’re a go-to resource for all things property management in your community
- You have recognition and brand awareness (this one’s more of a long-term goal)
Why is authority so important?
- It helps you make yourself and your services known
- Starts to establish trust and confidence in your market
- Attracts new customers to keep your pipeline full
- Allows you to give back to your industry through knowledge sharing
One of the best ways to start that process of making yourself and your business known and establishing trust is by dipping into the world of thought leadership.
Property management and thought leadership
Thought leadership is all about planting the seeds for the doors of tomorrow and future-proofing your business. It has been critical to growing all of my businesses, including Doorpreneur, and I’ve seen firsthand how thought leadership can make an impact.
What do I mean by thought leadership? Thought leadership involves putting yourself out there and sharing your expertise by creating content—a blog post, social media post, or video, for example.
How to become a property management thought leader
We’ve already established that you have the expertise you need. Plus, you’ve already established yourself as a leader when it comes to your business. Now, here are 3 steps to take to start sharing that expertise with the world:
- Clarify your value/expertise
Start to think about your own unique expertise and how you add value to your customers and community. For example: are you a property manager with a real estate license? This could be very valuable to owners who are looking to expand their real estate portfolios (and to you as a way to grow your door count).
This also doesn’t have to be 100% about property management. Our experiences as individuals inform our everyday and authenticity is important to our success and our ability to connect with people and potential customers.
On calls with new leads, I find myself spending maybe 5 minutes (or less) talking about property management. Everything else is about myself, our philosophy as a business, and figuring out our different personalities and how that might translate to a business relationship.
Put your own spin on things. This makes a huge difference.
Create a framework
A helpful exercise when considering your values and expertise is to create a framework. A favourite of mine is the Genius Model. This helps you visualize your business model and consider how you’re connecting, educating, and converting.
The most important part? Creating a framework that actually means something to you so you can fully commit to the work you’re doing.
- Choose your channels
The easiest way to do this is to start by considering where your audience spends their time. Social media platforms like Facebook are an obvious starting point. Are there real estate Facebook groups in your area? Community groups where it’s appropriate to share content related to your business? (Pro tip: read over group rules first to be sure)
Once you’ve determined where your audience is, commit to posting on a schedule that makes sense for you. While it would be great to post everyday, sometimes our schedules and other obligations don’t allow for that. It’s okay to start small and strive for consistency and quality over quantity.
- Measure your influence
Finally, don’t forget to measure how your efforts are going. Set up a system to measure your reach by tracking the number of mentions, shares, or downloads your content is receiving. You’ll also want to track growth in your number of followers. These give you real measurable results to show how your hard work is paying off and to show your reach as you work on becoming a property management thought leader.
Bottom line: Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there! You have the expertise, now it’s about building your authority and putting yourself out there to rise above the rest of the pack.
Want to learn more about how you can transform your property management business into a business empire?