The Problem is right in front of you

I am off this week, so guest post here from Dylan Scroggins, Founder of Kalmar Group, who is a friend, podcast co-host and foundational partner of PropertyManagement.com. Enjoy!

Most property management companies don’t have just a lead problem.

They have an accountability problem.

They want to blame it on the market, or the software, or that competitor who has fake Google Reviews, but the problem might be coming into the office 2x a week and working remote the other three.

When things are stalled are going south, the default move becomes:

Buy more leads…. add more software… spend more money and hope everything fixes itself.

Well, “hope is not a strategy”.

Every part of your business is systems + people and you need to audit both of those factors.

Here’s how to stop lying to yourself — and what to do when the issue isn’t marketing at all.

Start at the Top (where revenue begins)

Dirty water at the bottom of the river can only be changed at the top.

How often are you meeting with your BDM(s) to talk through their process from the absolute beginning to the absolute end?

Number of leads, speed to lead, contact rate, appointments, proposals, closings… is there a number tied to all of these? If not, there needs to be.

Property Management is one of the most operationally intensive industries that exists, yet we are not tracking one of the most pivotal parts of that engine?

If you can’t measure these, you can’t expect improvement in your systems or your team.

Head to the Bottom (where cash hit the bank)

Whether you are “sales oriented” or not, you need high visibility in the final steps of your closing process to make sure all parties are aligned to close deals.

If your sales process is broken, more leads just creates more opportunity for failure.

So start here:

How many proposals did we send last week?
How many did we close?
How long does it take to get a signature?

Simple questions, sometimes get uncomfortable answers. Silence being the worst!

If your leads are not getting converted…is your BDM doing their job?

That question isn’t mean. It’s leadership.

Three numbers that tell the truth fast

1) Speed-to-lead If you are not responding to leads asap, you have a people problem. You’re paying for leads… and then letting them die while your BDM is on DraftKings.

2) Contact rate How many leads do you actually reach? Not how many times you called. How many you connected with. If contact rate is low, it’s usually a hustle problem.

3) Follow-up process This is where most deals die - not because the lead wasn’t qualified, but because nobody followed up with “relevant and persistent consistency”.

In the BDM’s defense, did you teach them or hold them accountable for any of this?

What you can do to improve (BDM Audit)

After an audit, you’ll find one of two things:

the leads and process are bad
the sales execution and effort is bad

I’ll be blunt. It’s usually #2.

A few quick tips:

Stop evaluating sales like a personality contest... a lot of owners evaluate their BDM like this:

“They’re nice.” “They’re trying.” “They’ve been here a while.” “They’re great on the phone.”

Cool. But are they converting?

Instead, evaluate them by pipeline performance based on data.

Sales is a performance role. If the numbers don’t work, the feelings don’t matter.

Training: the part everyone skips (and then complains about)...

Here’s the reality:

Most BDMs aren’t underperforming because they’re lazy. They’re underperforming because they were never trained.

So ask yourself:

How much training did we actually provide?
Did we role-play calls?
Did we teach objections?
Did we review calls weekly?
Did we provide ongoing coaching?

If your BDM isn’t getting better every week, then your business is not growing.

Compensation: is it market rate or wishful thinking?

You can’t hire (or keep) a unicorn on donkey prices.

Audit the comp plan:

Is it market rate now? NOT when you hired them, but now.
Is it simple enough to understand?
Does it reward signed deals (not just activity)?

A good comp plan makes the right behavior inevitable and a bad one makes excuses inevitable.

What you can do to improve (BDM Recruitment)

If your pipeline depends on one person, recruiting isn’t optional since you can’t afford to miss on the wrong hire.

Recruiting is a core business function that deserves the same attention as other foundational parts of business.

ABC = Always Be ‘Cruitin

Always Be ‘Cruitin means you recruit constantly — not only when you’re desperate.

Have your business card on you at all times.

Have a great convo with an up-and-coming roofing salesman? Recruit him.

Your nephew just got married to a go-getter? Recruit her.

The one 20-something at the local investor meet up? Recruit them.

Industry knowledge can be trained, but the grind and grit can’t be.

27 of the last 30 placements we’ve made in property management did not have property management experience.

Use a recruiter (because bad hires are expensive)

Bad sales hires cost you more than salary. They cost you: wasted leads, lost deals, lost time, and lost momentum.

A recruiter helps you avoid hiring someone who interviews well but couldn’t sell a steak to a lion.

(And yes — I am biased — but The Kalmar Group has built sales teams for respected property management companies across the country and are here to help)

The Takeaway

You might not have a lead problem. You might have a people problem.

Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy once threw an errant pass to a wide open Julio Jones. Walking to the sideline, he knew he was in for a “butt” chewing from Nick Saban. Instead, he was welcomed with an apology.

“I’m sorry Greg” Coach Saban said.

Greg looks at him quizzically.

Saban continued, “I am sorry that I ever recruited you”.

Audit your system.

Train your people.

Start actually recruiting and see what happens!

📣 Re-Announcing Again: The Vendor Performance Index

A few weeks ago we announced the VPI™. It will be our TrueMatch™ score but for the software vendors who serve the property management industry. And thank you to everyone who has completed our surveys. We've already received hundreds of responses!