How to scale a small property management agency for optimal growth

Bradbury began her property management journey 23 years ago and started her business in 2019, while McKay moved across from the sales about 15 years ago and launched his agency in 2022.

At the Property Management Excellence (PMX) Conference, they explained the keys to success were fostering a positive work culture, leveraging technology for efficiency, and focusing on creating good tenant experiences.

Create a positive tenant experience

According to McKay, property managers should seek to create a positive experience for their tenants, who may leave online reviews that can boost their reputation.

“I'm very big on that, and that's, for us, created a real tangible point of difference, and we are probably now at a stage where about 20 per cent of our enquiries, new enquiries or new business comes from the tenant network,” he said.

When entering the profession, McKay said he saw property managers providing landlords with good service, but tenants were often neglected.

“The first point of thought for me was, I looked at the leasing inquiry right through to the outgoing, what were the things that I could do to try and live up to creating a positive experience for tenants?”

He said a simple way he improved the tenant’s impression was by meeting them directly at the property instead of asking them to come to the office.

“There were specific things that I wanted to deliver rather than [say] ‘hey, we offer concerns, we'll get back to you’,” he said.

He added that a significant driver of business growth was deciding to work with landlords who also liked creating positive tenant experiences.

“It’s actually attractive for us [when] like-minded landlords say, ‘I like looking after the tenants – you’re creating instability there with the tenants’,” he said.

Build a solid team culture

Additionally, McKay said that creating a strong work culture where people can enjoy their jobs enabled a highly functioning team that aimed for excellence.

He said that agencies should aim to recruit people who wanted to be part of the business’s journey and were excited to stand out.

“In the recruitment, I've specifically looked for people who were excited by a startup and responded to me getting excited and talking about points of difference rather than the experience of the property manager.”

He also said that he helped to boost the team’s passion for the role by encouraging them to outperform the larger agencies in the surrounding suburbs.

“I incentivise based on that, they get excited when a senior review comes in, we're messaging each other at 10 o'clock,” he said.

“It's getting them excited by the business and what we're doing, and reminding them just how different we are to the marketplace and getting the right people.”

According to Bradbury, to create a well-functioning business, it was important to give staff time to recharge so they could operate at their best.

She said her agency was open from 8am to 5pm from Monday to Thursday and from 8am to 1pm on Fridays, allowing team members to have Friday afternoons off.

“I found that that's been really beneficial for our staff to have that recharge, I will say that the hours that they're working, it's nonstop,” she said.

“It's go, go, go – so there's no time for meditation or any of that yoga stuff when they're in the office, but they do really appreciate that flexibility.”

She also liked organising monthly lunch get-togethers to boost team morale and arranging team meetings to talk through key performance indicators (KPIs).

Leverage technology

Bradbury said property management agencies should leverage technology to drive efficiency and streamline tasks, allowing them to focus on other essential duties.

“Our property management software that we use is Managed. I started with them straight away when we launched the business six years ago,” she said.

“I've seen that software grow and develop – it’s been exciting to be using the software but also happy really to be a part of the journey and be able to share feedback with them as well, and its growth,” she said.

She also said that her business used Inspection Express, enabling paperless condition reports and virtual tours.

“The quality I'm finding with the team, and we are all the time, sometimes it's actually writing better than I would, so it’s quite impressive, what we’re seeing in that as well,” she said.

McKay said that his agency’s platforms of choice were HubSpot’s customer relationship management (CRM) tool and Inspect Real Estate.

He said that the latter enabled automation for enquiries from prospective tenants and a system for ongoing communication to generate future leads.

“We've got all the automation there. So that continues the contact points after we lease the property,” he said.

Goals for the year ahead

Bradbury stressed that having clear goals with the team helped strive for excellence.

She said that her team was on track to have 400 properties under its management by the end of 2025 and hoped to build on that growth over the next year.

“Our goals for the business are to work towards a hundred and net growth a year, which is important to us in our area.”

“For me, the goals of the business are lifestyle and growth, and the team that I have is really on board with that, and they enjoy how we operate things, and they enjoy the process and celebrating with us.”

Likewise, McKay said that growth was on his agency’s agenda and planned to add a new operations role to the business.

“We're also just launching a subsidiary company that's going to look after executive and Airbnb management, which is a tough gig, but we just kept being a property management specialist company,” he concluded.