The Top 5 Tools for PM (Ellen Reads Her Blog Episode #2)

Welcome to The Rent Roll Starter Podcast. This is the second episode of our 6 part series: Ellen reads her Blog.

This is the recording from a Facebook Live I just recorded recently where I talk about the top 5 tools for property management. I wrote this original blog at the end of 2020, and I wanted to share 5 tools with you that made the most difference in my business (and the rent roll owners I worked with this year).

So, if you own, run or work in a Property Management department, and you want to use the 5 tools that have helped other rent roll owners this year, you’ll love this episode.

Here are all the links to the resources mentioned in the video today:

Email template for holidays/long weekends/Christmas

16 Social Post Ideas for rent roll growth

The Social Summit training event

Want to read the transcript from the podcast? Read it here:

Welcome to the rent roll starter podcast. My name is Ellen Bathgate and I’m a property manager, turned rent roll owner, turned rent, roll growth coach. If you want to discover how to grow your rent roll using cheap and often free marketing strategies, you are going to love the rent roll starter podcast. Today’s episode is another edition of Ellen reads her blog. And in this episode, I’ll be covering five tools for property management. That totally changed my business and the businesses of those clients that I work with in 2020. So if you love the idea of getting awesome and free tools and resources, then stay tuned for this replay.

Well, hello, it’s Ellen here from rent roll starter and welcome to episode two on Ellen rates. Her blog now might seem a little bit weird to do a live video like this, but the truth of the matter is quite often, when I go back and read the blog that I wrote, I have extra things to add to you. And quite often, I know that you don’t have enough time to actually read the articles. I write about rent roll growth. So I thought I’ll read them to you. So this is episode two, we’re doing six days over the coming weeks. So I hope you really enjoy them. Now, before we get started, I want to let you know that today’s blog article that I’m reading is actually titled five tools for property management. So I’m actually talking about five tools or resources or pieces of software or whatever that are going to help you with your property manager department and with your rent roll growth, so general growth.

So to get started, I wanted to make sure that I let you know that I am going to link all of the tools that I mentioned in the notes. So if you’re watching this on Facebook, it’ll be in the comments below. If you’re watching it on another platform, check the description and you’ll be able to find it there. And if you are listening to this on podcast, check the podcast notes and you’ll be able to find it there. So I’m just going to get started by popping the links to all of the tools that I’m going to mention in the comments below, straight away, so that you can use them straightaway if you want to watch out for them. All right. So let’s begin with the blog. I’m going to pull the blog up on my screen. So you can read along with me and I’m going to pause at different times because I’ve got a few things to add to the blog now.

So it’s called five tools for property management. Now I wrote this at the end of 2020 we’re at this at the end of 2020. So it’s always the end of 2020. So I want to share five tools with you that made the most difference in my business and the rent roll owners that I worked with this year. So if you run or work in a property management department and you want to use the five tools that have helped other enroll owners this year, please check these out. Now I’m going to pull us briefly here before I keep reading the article to you. So I wrote this at the end of 2020, however, as I’ve revised all of these tools, these are still probably in my top 10. So I’m pretty excited to share them with you. So let’s keep reading.

Okay. Tool number one is a tool called bond Euro. Now I love Bon Euro. Um, [inaudible] is my favorite tool for sending short sending short video messages. So you can use it for any prospective landlords and you can use it to update your current landlords as you finish an open home or as you’re finishing a routine inspection. So this is such a great way to buy yourself some time after finishing a routine inspection. And as you prepare and send the inspection report, plus, one of the things I love about Bon Juro is that you can get a free version of the app. So I’ve popped a link in the description or in the notes here so that you can actually take a look at bond Euro. Now, before I keep going on, it speak very briefly about Bon Gerard. So I would suggest if you’ve never used it before, just download the free version to begin with.

That’s all you need. And then just start practicing by sending short 30 to 62nd videos. Now these are not bulk messages. These are messages is these are messages that you send to individual clients. So a couple of ways that I encourage you to use this messaging platform. One is when you get a lead for a potential landlord coming in and you can’t get them on the phone straight away. So maybe they’ve submitted a form on your website or they’ve come in through, uh, one of the local agent finder type websites. So they’re coming there. So you’ve got their email address. Maybe you’ve got their phone number. And of course, you’ve got, you’re going to ring them first, but maybe you don’t get them on the phone straight away. They had to be face-to-face with someone or on the phone with someone is absolutely the best way to communicate with a potential landlord.

However, if you can’t get them on the phone straight away, and if you can’t, um, get in front of them straight away, then I think video is the next best thing. So pulling out your phone, recording your phone recording a quick 30 to 62nd video, letting them know that you either have tried to call or you’re going to try to call is a fabulous way to connect. So definitely use it that way when it comes to new business. And then when it comes to existing clients, then you can be looking at working with, um, using bonds Euro on an ongoing basis to the, in communication with your existing clients. So a couple of ways you might want to look at doing this is, uh, when you finish an open home or a private inspection, now you might be using InSpec open home software. So you might send a report to your landlord almost straight away.

That shows how many people were interested, maybe how many people have requested and inspect an application. So you might send all of that, but sometimes a landlord just really wants to get a little bit more detail. So you can whip out your phone, record a thought, your phone record a 30 to 62nd message for your client and let them know how the inspection went and how many applications you’re expecting. And then what the process is from here. Just so that you’re buying yourself some time. If you need to, again, you can do the same thing with a routine inspection. If you’re finishing a routine inspection, you can even pull out your phone and record on bond Euro as you’re pulling the door behind you. So you’re leaving the house and you pull it all behind you and say, Hey, this landlord, I’m just wrapping up at your house.

I’ve just done the inspection. Uh, this is how it looked. This is what happens next. So it can just buy you some extra time as well. So that you’ve got a bit of time to get that report out to the landlord. Especially if you maybe want to organize some repairs to be done or a quote to be done, or something like that, or you want to do off a CMA so that you can actually look at reviewing the rent. Then that’s a great way to buy yourself some time. So that’s in time. So that’s absolutely one of my favorite apps. And that is why it’s towards the top of the list in this list of five. So let’s keep moving. Number two is Canva. Now this is probably no surprise to you. You probably use Canva already through these. I am terrible at graphic design.

So a, so many of my clients who are rental owners. So that’s why we use Canva. Canva’s like the ultimate tool for your social media posts, eBooks listing presentations, just everything. It’s just the most amazing tool. If you are not using Canva yet, please start using canvas. There’s a link in the description or in the comments below. Um, and of course you can just use the free version of Canva as well. So if you love the idea of getting some canvas templates, send me a message. Um, I’ve got a couple of Canva templates. I’ve even got a listing presentation, Canva template. It’s not populated, but it’s populated, but it’s a lovely design that can work really well. I’m happy to send it to you for free and you can just download it into your own canvas account. So if have a canvas account and you want some like that listing presentation template, or I just recently created a beautiful descope template as well, that allows me to organize the desktop on my computer.

So if you’d like that, shoot me a message on whatever platform you’re listening or watching this on. Uh, so that I’ll, and I’ll gladly share them with you totally free. All right. Number three is the Pam excite resource bundle. Now Pam excite is the most amazing training platform for property managers. Um, my friends show me Draper and Terry handy, Ali, amazing founders of Pam excite, but in particular, I want to mention the therefore the, their free peer mix site resource bundle. So if you need help getting Google reviews, or if you are thinking about implementing Trello into your PM department. So Trello Trello is the project management software, or, oh, you just need all the property management training, please go and grab the payment excite resource bundle. It’s totally free and it is linked in the comments below. So it’s just such an awesome tool.

And I think you’ll love it. If you, if you like the idea of getting more Google reviews, go and access the free resource bundle, and there’s an actual training session on how to get more Google reviews, super valuable, go and check that out. All right, let’s get ready. Number four is my Christmas email template and office sign. Now just keep in mind. I’m just going to pause this for a moment and come full screen. Keep in mind that I did that. I did write this article at the end of 2020. So I’m referencing a Christmas email, but an email that can go out to your landlords and tenants explaining when your office will be closed. However, I’m still going to mention it today because if you close for long weekends, uh, if you have I staff development day where you’re not going to be in the office or something like that, and you just need a template for that sort of thing, you can still use this Christmas letter.

Let me keep reading. So if you’re planning to close your office at old, during Christmas period, even if it’s just for the public holidays and you want a template that you can use, including a Canva template that you can put up as a sign in your office. So again, you can just download this template into your canvas account and use it as a sign on your front door. I have created this void, so it’s been downloaded by hundreds of rent airliners. And if you would like a copy, you can grab, you can grab a copy of my Christmas email template popped it in the comments, the below here on this live video, if you’re watching it somewhere else, you’ll be able to download that Christmas template in the notes section of wherever you are watching

Video.

I think the thing with closing our offices, no matter when it is, whether it’s just for a long weekend, whether it’s for staff development day or whether it’s for Christmas or Easter or something like that. I think the most important thing we can do is communicate with our clients. So if you want a template of the letter or the email that I used to send to my clients, um, you’re welcome to grab it in the comments below. All right, we’re on the home stretch. Let’s finish reading number five is 16 social media post ideas. Now, if you are struggling to come up with ideas on what to post on social media, I’ve put together a media, I’ve put together a list of 16 different types of posts you can use in your social media strategy. And if you enjoy that list, then you are going to want to register for the social summit, which is our free social media training, especially for rental owners. And it will be coming up again soon at the end of 2021. And yes, that list is all free too. So, uh, if you want that list of 16 different social media ideas that you can download, um, and use for your own social media, then you can just click the link in the comments below, or you can just head to rent, roll stata.com forward slash 16

Hosts.

So let me finish by wrapping up my blog. And then I’ve got one last little thing I wanted to share with you. So that’s my top five tools for 2020, and they’re the ones that my clients have loved the most too. And if you want a bonus favorite, check out my free training, five ways, check out my free training, five ways to grow your rent wrong. It’s on demand and ready for you. And I’ll make sure I link that in the notes below as well,

Five tools from 2020. I wanted to add one more resource that I absolutely love and have fallen in love with even more in 2021. And that’s the elite agent magazine. So if you have not subscribed to it, please make sure that you subscribe to the elite agent magazine. You will not regret it. So that’s like number six on my list as well. But I want to hear from you, what are your top favorite tools for property management? Like what’s the one or two tools that make your job just that little bit easier, make things run a little smoother and make your life a little bit easier each and every day. Let me know in the comment below. Thank you so much for joining me for the live so much for joining me for the live. And I’ll see you in the next episode of Ellen reads her blog. Bye for now.