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Speaking at the REB Property Management Excellence (PMX) Conference, real estate personality Tom Panos has shared tips for business development managers (BDMs), inspired by the strategies used by sales agents.
Having spent over 30 years in the industry and established himself as a leading real estate coach, Panos said BDMs could draw inspiration from sales agents' strategies and approaches to enhance their businesses.
“If you took a great salesperson, took their disciplines and put them into a BDM, they could bring in 40 managements a month,” Panos said at the REB PMX Conference.
“If you get super focused, you can build a rent roll at blinding speed.”
According to Panos, one of the biggest advantages BDMs can gain from observing sales agents is their aggressive approach to growth.
“They have got a mindset that they are relentless,” Panos said.
“You have to accept that rejection is part of the game in business development.”
Panos said the best BDMs fueled their strong growth by being “obsessed” with finding new business and willing to work harder than the competition.
“Hustle beats talent when talent won’t hustle,” he said.
“You want an energised person that is super focused, that is out there spending their time and energy seeing more clients than their competitors.”
“That's the absolute secret, more meetings equals more management.”
Panos said BDMs can avoid feeling overwhelmed by focusing on what they can control and giving their brain a chance to reset.
“They [need to] focus on what they can impact and influence, and let go of the rest,” he said.
Branding push
To achieve further growth, Panos encouraged BDMs to cultivate a digital brand as a market authority to place themselves in the public eye and drive clients towards their business.
“In 2026, it is all about getting people’s attention. We are in an attention economy,” he said.
While everybody can post on social media, he said it wasn’t about agents being unable to create content to grow their personal brand, but about whether they were willing to put themselves out there.
If agents were struggling for content, Panos said it was as simple as posting market updates and asking artificial intelligence (AI) tools for ideas.
He said that when growing a personal brand on social media, PMs should avoid the urge to push a product or service in every post and instead help landlords address the main pain points.
“[PM’s] solve, they don’t sell,” Panos said.
“You don’t get paid for the time spent, you get paid for the value added.”
Finding the landlords of tomorrow
Over the years, Panos said that property management divisions have been the “true plumbing” of real estate businesses.
“When a business gets sold, no one pays anything for the sales, but they pay everything for the rent roll,” Panos said.
He said that building a strong relationship with buyers was an underutilised way to grow the property management arm of the business
“Buyers are just landlords in a waiting room,” he said.
“So I've got to say, every time you meet a landlord, I want you to think that there's a sign on there for that says, make me feel important.”
Panos said that it was important for property managers to be “Teflon, not Velcro” and avoid taking things personally.
“You know, when you are lying in bed with insomnia, thinking about them, they are not thinking about you."
“Let it go,” Panos concluded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mathew Williams
Born in the rural town of Griffith NSW, Mathew Williams is a graduate journalist who has always had a passion for storytelling. Having graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Sports Media in 2023, Mathew recently made the move to Sydney from Canberra to pursue a career in journalism and has joined the Momentum Media team, writing for their real estate brands. Outside of journalism, Mathew is an avid fan of all things sports and regularly attends sporting events across Sydney. Get in touch at
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