Wondering how to grow a rent roll organically?

Or weighing up the benefits of buying a rent roll to kick-start your growth?

I mean, you probably know that it’s generally cheaper to grow organically, but it’s often slower too.

So, what’s the best way to grow a rent roll organically?

One word:

Service

Yup, service is the way you grow a rent roll organically.

Let me break it down for you.

Service falls into 3 categories

Service before they meet you…

Service once they appoint you…

Service after they leave you…

Now, I’m not talking about typical definitions of “customer service”.

This is not about answering the phone within 3 rings

Or replying to emails by close of business each day

This is not about how you handle maintenance request or customer complaints.

It’s about having an attitude of service.

The way you grow a rent roll organically is by having an attitude of service.

It’s about asking yourself “how can I help this person more?”

Remember, your rent roll represents a collection of individual people.

And when you’re looking to grow a rent roll organically, you’re actually looking to service a collection of individual people.

So, let’s talk about the 3 categories of service.

Category 1

Service before they meet you

Growing a rent roll organically means that you need to be serving these people before they even meet you.

How do you serve people before they meet you?

Content.

You can serve potential landlords (and tenants too) by providing good quality content and making it easy for them to find.

We’re talking blogs, videos, reports, newsletters, podcasts, checklists and ebooks.

This is a great way for potential landlords to feel served by you and cared for before they even meet you.

So, if you’re not creating brilliant content to help grow your rent roll organically, it’s time to start.

And if you are creating content, but you needs tips on writing newsletters that people love to read, check out my article on this topic.

Category 2

Service once they appoint you

You’ve been working with this landlord for months…

Communicating, sending articles, sharing videos, writing hand-written notes, following up on the phone…

And finally, they’ve signed the management agreement!

Woo Hoo!!

This is where so many people “drop the ball”

You’ve been serving this landlord so well, while you’re trying to secure the business, to grow your rent roll organically.

But once the management agreement is signed, you stop with the articles, videos, hand-written notes, follow ups on the phone and this landlord ends up getting the same service all your other landlords get.

And, I’m sure that your service is great with your existing clients…

But I’ve gotta ask you…

“Are you communicating with your current clients as frequently as you communicate with your prospects?”

If you’re not, you’re setting your new landlords up to be disappointed.

So, set standards around the way you’ll serve your clients once they appoint you.

If you’ve been chasing, following up, over-communicating with the landlord while they’re a prospective client, but then you stop doing that once they sign the management agreement, they’re gonna be disappointed.

The funny thing is…

Even if your levels of service in your property management processes are better than all your competitors…

If there’s a drop in communication levels and service between when the landlord is a “prospect” and when the landlord becomes a “client” – that’s when the disappointment appears.

And your client wont even be able to tell you why they’re disappointed but they’ll feel a shift in the level of service they get.

This can happen most easily in that handover from BDM to Property Manager

So, service at this time is essential for growing your rent roll organically.

Category 3

Service after they leave you

Time for a truth bomb.

Your clients are not going to be your clients forever.

Situations change.

Investment properties are sold.

Landlords move back into their properties.

And sometimes (although you hate to admit it) landlords leave and go to a different agency.

You can’t change these facts.

But you can change what you do about it.

When your client leaves, you still gotta serve them.

You’ve gotta serve them because they still know people – and they’ll talk!

The good news is, the way you serve a client after they leave is very similar to how you serve them before they meet you.

But before you put a past client on an email list to get a “property of the week” email update, have a think about how you and best serve this client now that they’ve left you.

What is it going to take to make them feel truly served?

Is it staying in touch with them about the market?

Or is it simply remembering their birthday each year?

It’s not going to be the same for everyone, but it’s so important for growing your rent roll organically, that you serve these clients, even after they’re not your clients anymore.

So, it’s not really that hard to grow a rent roll organically.

It’s simple, but not easy.

But if you want to grow your rent roll organically, the key word here is service.

Have that attitude of service in each category.

Are you a business owner growing your own rent roll organically?  Download the 5 Ways To Get More Landlords Here

If you haven’t seen my last blog titled Is It Okay To Have A Small Rent Roll? be sure to check that out next!