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Businesses aiming for consistent, scalable growth should focus on the right priorities, align their team around common goals, and deliver exceptional service efficiently, a business development management expert has said.
Speaking at the REB Property Management Excellence (PMX) Conference, Housemark associate director Jordan Slinger shared tips on how property managers (PMs) and business development managers (BDMs) can grow their operations.
After nearly a decade in the industry, Slinger said a good BDM secures 10–20 managements a month, while a great one can reach 60 by focusing on the right areas.
Slinger said that BDMs aiming for 60+ leads should prioritise building client relationships, which helps answer key questions needed to drive consistent growth and demonstrate superior value.
He said that one of the key drivers of growing a business has been to provide a point of difference in service.
“If we can provide quicker, better, and more reliable service, then we have a value add that nobody else can have,” Slinger said.
Slinger said that when growing a business, it was important to work quickly to attract new clients and retain existing ones.
“If your delivery of service is quicker than anyone else, firstly, your landlord is going to be happy, then they are going to refer you to more of their friends.”
While developing relationships has been vital for the industry, Slinger said BDMs should not neglect nurturing existing relationships, ensuring leads continue to flow back into the business.
“Just because someone sent you a lead once doesn’t mean they are going to send you a lead again.”
Easing the administrative burden
Slinger said that one of the key aspects for growth was to separate administrative tasks from BDM's role, in a bid to free up time for them to drive the business forward and attract more clients.
“I cannot preach enough: I do not touch any of the administration tasks.”
“If you are a BDM trying to build a lead generation flow of more than 50, 60 leads a month, you cannot be bogged down.”
According to Slinger, BDMs often find themselves stuck on tasks that are non-dollar-productive for the business, encouraging them to find ways to lighten the administrative load and focus on what they do best.
Slinger said BDMs could offload to an executive assistant or automate tasks, including drafting documents, scheduling, and sending follow-up emails.
“If you are a BDM and you are serious about growth at an exponential level, you cannot be doing any of this.”
Additionally, Slinger said that the more BDMs were tied up with unnecessary tasks, the harder it would be to provide the level of service they were capable of.
“If you don’t back up what you say you are going to do for clients, it’s very hard for them to refer more to you.”
Keeping up a standard
In addition to prioritising tasks, Slinger said that accountability was essential to maintaining a consistent level of growth.
“Every principle needs to have a crystal clear vision on what the growth is for the business, and everyone needs to share that goal.”
“If you don’t have a crystal clear vision, then you’re just running blind, and you won’t be able to grow as quickly as you want to.”
Slinger said that everyone on the team needs to be striving towards the same results and that businesses need to identify when someone’s goals are not aligned with the long-term strategy.
“Now if your property managers don’t want to grow, it is going to be very hard to grow.”
“We have an expectation in the business, and if someone doesn’t meet those expectations for multiple months in a row, then they’ll no longer have a place in our business.”
“If you surround yourself with a growth culture, then you are going to grow; if you are in a box, you are going to stay in a box.”
While trying to maintain a consistent level of growth, Slinger said that it will be important to be patient and understand that the process takes time.
“It has taken a long time to be able to list the number of properties we have been listing; it isn’t going to happen overnight, unfortunately.”
“You are playing a marathon, not a sprint, especially in the referral stage,” Slinger 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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