Generating and converting property management leads is becoming increasingly difficult as new property managers and property management solutions pop up every day in an attempt to cash in on this profitable industry. However, being able to find new customers and retain them over time is key to growing your business and income. With the right strategies and approaches, you can still bring in new leads and turn them into long-term customers.
In this guide, we'll cover everything that rental property managers need to know about how to get more property management leads and convert them into happy customers.
Meanwhile, SummerOS offers an easy solution for all your short term rental property management lead needs. Our platform provides property managers with the data and smart tools to capture, convert, and retain customers over time. Discover what SummerOS can do to help you grow your business here.
What Are Property Management Leads?
Property management leads are individuals or investors who already own or who plan to purchase a rental property that they do not want to manage on their own. These are future or current property owners who are actively searching for the best options for short term rental management in their market in an attempt to earn passive income from their homes.
From the point of view of property managers, leads are potential clients who need to be identified, reached, nurtured, and eventually turned into customers. Property management professionals and businesses need to be constantly on the lookout for new leads to attract new clients, expand their operations, and make more money.
The Importance of Property Management Leads
Lead generation and conversion are at the core of business growth and development for rental property managers.
That's because property management leads play a crucial role in:
- Getting new customers for your Airbnb management business
- Expanding your customer base
- Growing your property management team
- Becoming a leader in the local vacation rental market
- Conquering new markets
- Increasing your revenue and profit
- Securing the sustainability of your business
- Weathering potential storms in the real estate investment industry
How to Get More Property Management Leads
Ready to grow? These are proven ways to generate leads for your property management business, whether you're a beginner who needs help to get started or an experienced professional who's ready to grow their company.
1. Put Lead Generation on Autopilot with SummerOS
SummerOS is the only lead generation and conversion engine that Airbnb property managers need. Developed by vacation rental managers for other property managers, our platform was created and designed with your needs in mind.
With SummerOS, you can:
- Get access to short term rental property investors who are actively looking for managers
- Match with Airbnb hosts who are the perfect fit for your business
- Set up tools to convert leads fast
- Organize your existing database of properties and owners to monitor performance
- Benchmark your portfolio results and find data-informed ways to boost individual property performance with Airbnb data
- Monitor your property management team performance over time
SummerOS is your all-in-one property management leads platform with which you can generate leads, convert them into clients, and retain customers. Ready to shift from reactive to proactive management for growing your business? Learn more about Summer here.
2. Start a Referral Program
A proven strategy to generate leads in the real estate industry is through referrals. These are potential clients that you get through others working in the same or related industry.
For instance, real estate agents and brokers as well as interior designers and furnishing companies that work with investors are a particularly good source of rental property management leads. They are familiar with everyone who's recently purchased a property to rent out and who might be searching for a property manager.
Launching your own referral program can be as easy or as complicated as you wish. To start off, connect with members of your professional network and offer them small gifts (a fixed fee commission, a gift card, or a discount on your services) in exchange for referring investment property owners to you.
The cost depends on the structure of the partnership. You might even be able to generate leads for free if you and your partners work on an exchange basis. After all, other stakeholders in the property industry are just as interested in getting leads as you are.
You can also use affiliate marketing software to build a well-structured referral program. This will give you access to unique links that you can share with your affiliates to identify where exactly leads come from so that you pay relevant commissions that can be offered per lead or per conversion.
Referrals can be a very cost-efficient way to get property management leads as you can pay based on results.
3. Buy Leads
Another popular way to get leads among new property managers with no network or experience is purchasing qualified leads. There are various individuals and companies that specialize in gathering names and contact information for investment property owners and selling them to professionals.
This is a quick and easy way to launch your business if you have no idea where to start with property management lead generation. Importantly, with this strategy, you can target your efforts by focusing on certain property types, property portfolio sizes, markets, and other factors. Moreover, lead information can be very detailed including first and last name, email address, phone number, social media accounts, property address, property listings (if available), property details, demographic information, and more. This means that you can apply the optimal method of lead conversion based on the demographics, whether giving them a call, sending an email, reaching out on social media, or visiting them in person.
However, before paying for leads, you need to make sure that you are getting value for your money. There are plenty of lead selling scams that offer low-quality leads that have no chance of converting even if you apply the most intelligent nurturing techniques on them.
Another downside is that purchasing leads can be very expensive. While fees vary widely, the cost corresponds to the quality, so you need to be ready to pay up to a few hundred dollars per qualified lead.
4. Use the Power of Your Real Estate Network
Another spinoff of the referral program idea is to focus on networking. Having a strong network is important for many different reasons, and one of them is the possibility to get leads for your property management business.
Your networking efforts don't need to be limited to others in the industry; on the contrary, the wider your network, the more potential leads you can generate. For example, you can reach out to the local community and build relations with various store owners and service providers. Mention your work and expertise while learning more about their business. You never know when the local hairdresser or restaurant owner will hear about someone who needs a property manager and refer them to you.
Additionally, networking can be done virtually today. Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, and other online communities can be of high value to your business. Research, join, and become a member of relevant virtual groups in your industry and community.
And best of all - networking doesn't cost anything other than your time.
5. Get Leads from Your Current Property Owners
One of the most efficient ways to obtain new leads is to make use of your current clients. It's likely that rental property owners you work with network or communicate with other investors in the area to discuss experiences and exchange ideas. This means that they can easily mention your property management services to new investors.
The added benefit with this approach is that existing customers can vouch for the quality of the services that you provide. Sharing the results you've been able to drive for their property along with your work standards and competitive fees can be more than enough to convince other owners to reach out about your work.
Many clients are willing to do this for absolutely free, just to help out fellow investors. All you need to do is to mention to them that you are growing your team and want to take on new clients. Like a referral program, you can consider offering an additional incentive to bring you more business, like a discount on their monthly property management fee for every qualified lead.
6. Build an Authoritative Property Management Website
Having a solid online presence is key in generating and converting real estate leads, and launching and maintaining a strong website is an important part of this.
First of all, you can capitalize on SEO and content marketing to grab the attention of investors looking for property managers in your local market. Second, you can share reviews and testimonials from current clients to showcase your work and the results that you bring. Don't forget to add easy-to-use lead generation forms (contact forms) on your website.
Develop product pages that clearly outline the services that you offer. Highlight the benefits that you deliver compared to competitors. You can also start a blog to provide unique tips and advice to property owners and investors and to show them the value of hiring a professional property manager like you.
The price of launching an SEO-optimized website is a few thousand dollars as you need to hire a professional developer or agency, and create content. You also need to allocate a few hundred dollars to maintaining your website and developing new content each month. Rest assured that this investment will be more than worth it considering the long-term benefits of having a strong online presence.
7. Launch a Property Investment Podcast
Real estate podcasts are becoming increasingly popular, and there doesn't seem to be saturation in the industry despite the launch of dozens of new podcasts in recent years. Similar to a website, a podcast can help you both get your name out there and solidify your expertise in the property industry.
Depending on your knowledge and experience, you can create your podcast around various topics in real estate investing, such as how to find good investment opportunities, how to buy properties, how to market rentals, and/or how to manage them. What matters is that in each episode you demonstrate your expertise and tell investors how they can get in touch.
Furthermore, you can invite guests or be a guest on other podcasts to reinforce your networking efforts. Basically, expanding your network should always be on your mind in order to get more property management leads.
Starting a podcast can be done for relatively cheap if you use your smartphone or laptop to get started. As you see the first positive results, you can invest in more professional equipment including a microphone, camera, and advanced software tools.
8. Use Social Media
Another online property management lead generation strategy is obviously social media. Now, this is a rather broad concept, so you have to decide and focus on the most effective social media platforms for your business needs.
Don't underestimate the power of LinkedIn in this regard. There are many different ways to use LinkedIn for bringing new leads to your business. The first step in all cases is to build a professional business page where you highlight your qualifications and experience. Then, you can use LinkedIn to connect with and message real estate investors, join investing and property management groups, or run targeted ads.
Another frequently undervalued platform is YouTube. That's the second largest search engine after Google, and it's particularly well-suited to the short term rental property management industry. You can create videos to show how well managed and maintained the properties in your portfolio are while talking about your expertise and the benefits that you provide.
The cost of property management leads generated on social media can vary a lot, depending on whether you apply organic or paid strategies. But you can start for virtually free, and in case you see positive signals, you can increase your time and budget here to accelerate lead generation.
9. Run Paid Ads
When organic marketing efforts are not enough, you can resort to paid strategies. Google ads, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, LinkedIn ads, and podcast ads are just some of the examples of paid advertising techniques that can quickly bring in new leads for your vacation rental management business.
The main advantage of paid ads is that they can be very targeted, so you can easily reach the ideal audience for your services. However, before engaging in this strategy, you have to carefully and clearly define your target customers so that you can direct your message to them.
Keep in mind that Google ads and others can be very expensive, especially in the highly competitive real estate industry. With cost-per-click rates of a couple of dollars, you need to spend at least a few thousand dollars on ads to bring meaningful engagement. The significant cost is why paid advertising is not usually the best lead generation approach for new property managers with limited budgets.
10. List Your Business on Local Directories
Another way to get leads online that you can try is to list your property management company on local online directories. This is similar to the traditional listing in the yellow pages.
While online directories have somewhat lost their authority over the last few years, getting your business listed at least on Google is a must. Moreover, it doesn't hurt trying a few of the other major business listing websites.
It takes just a few minutes to add your business and in most cases it doesn't cost anything.
11. Become a Source of Authority in the Property Management Industry
No matter what other techniques you apply to get property management leads, you have to be constantly working on showing your expertise and authority in order to generate leads and convert them. After all, you have to stand out from other property managers in the market and have clear advantages so that leads come to you and not your competitors.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways in which you can build your authority. You can start with your website, podcast, and social media accounts and then expand into things like guest blogging, being a guest on other podcasts, giving interviews to industry publications, collaborating with local influencers, and more. Basically, the sky's the limit.
To outperform the competition, you have to become very resourceful and use every opportunity to highlight yourself as the leading property manager in your market.
The cost of becoming an authoritative source in the property management space really depends on your budget, goals, and resourcefulness. There are many things that you can do for almost free (like share your knowledge on your website or YouTube channel), but you might need to pay a lot for others (like being featured in a major publication or being a guest on a popular podcast).
12. Attend Local and National Real Estate Events
Another proven way to get more property management leads is to participate in different online and offline events. These can include weekly local real estate investing meetups, quarterly national real estate conferences, or annual international property management conventions. You can start out small - in line with your limited budget, expertise, and availability - and build up as you acquire more experience and financial resources.
Both small and large industry events are a great way to meet new people and expand your network. Some of your new acquaintances might turn out to be investors looking for professional property management services, while others might be agents, brokers, interior designers, lenders, or others you can add to your referral program.
The necessary budget for this strategy depends on the events you decide to attend. Local meetups are usually free of charge, while the cost of attending a major conference might reach a few thousand dollars between participation fees, travel, and accommodation.
13. Utilize Cold Calling and Cold Emails
Finally, no matter what you might have heard, cold outreach is not dead. Indeed, it can be a very efficient way to get new leads for your business as long as you implement it right. A few important factors for the success of this strategy include having the right contacts, choosing the correct approach (phone call vs email), and building a strong pitch.
If you want to make cold calls or send cold emails to potential leads, you have to perfect the message you're delivering. Keep it short and to the point to get and retain the attention of investment property owners who are not actively looking for you. Test a few different pitches to find out the most efficient one and then work on improving it.
Cold outreach is affordable unless you want to scale it up significantly. All you need is your phone or laptop and a couple of hours.
With so many options out there, the best way to get property management leads depends on your business, skills, and budget. Usually it's a good idea to try a few different approaches and focus on the ones that give the best results. Remember that with some strategies - like content marketing and social media presence - it will take time to build your authority, but results can be very rewarding in the long term.
How to Convert Property Management Leads
Getting leads is one thing, but converting them into paying customers is another. That's where property management leads conversion strategies come into play.
Here are a few tips to make sure your efforts pay off:
- Communicate quickly and efficiently: Make sure that you connect with leads who have expressed interest in your business right away. One of the worst things you can do is to bring leads to your website or inbox and leave them hanging for days on end. Your responses have to be fast.
- Organize an in-person meeting/interview: Propose to meet in person and discuss the owner's property and how your services can help them achieve their goals. With the influx of online communication, leads appreciate your time and effort and may be more likely to choose you over competitors who don't want to set up an in-person meeting.
- Personalize your approach: There is no one-size-fit-all model in property management leads conversion. Adjust your communication style and conversion funnel for each customer.
- Provide comprehensive, yet customizable services: Try to include as many services in your portfolio as possible. Start from interior design and furnishing rental properties, go through all day-to-day activities, and finish with property maintenance and tax collection and remittance. At the same time, allow leads to choose the set of services that they need to increase the chances of turning them into clients.
- Offer free consults to your leads: Offer a free consultation to your leads. Propose to visit their property, evaluate its potential, and discuss ideas to boost its performance. Show that you truly care about their success as rental property owners first before asking for money.
- Follow up shortly: Establish a regular follow-up process without appearing too pushy or needy. This can be done via phone or email, or you can even organize additional in-person meetings if more details of the property management process need to be discussed.
- Estimate results: Use data and analytics to provide accurate estimates of the expected performance of a lead's property as a short term rental. Utilize average daily rates and occupancy rates from the local market to calculate how much revenue they can realistically earn with your professional management. Offer home improvements (like amenities) and factors (like optimized marketing) that can boost results. Leads are much more likely to hire you if your services will increase their earnings.
- Offer clear pricing with no hidden fees: Work out a single monthly fee that includes all required services. Things get unnecessarily complicated if you try to charge additional fees for extra services, which might push away potential customers.
- Capitalize on success stories: Use examples from your experience to show how you have been able to drive results for other homeowners. Make sure to send your happy customers to any review sites to leave their stories. Investors are more likely to trust you after they see what you have done for other owners and their properties.
With these easy-to-implement tactics, you can convert leads into property management customers for growing your business.
Bottom Line
How well you are able to get and convert property management leads determines how quickly you can grow your business. While there is an ever-increasing number of property managers competing for real estate investors, a comprehensive, adaptive strategy can help you stand out from the competition and generate new customers for your property management services. You should continue trying new approaches until you find those that produce the best results for you and your team.
