The Sperry Van Ness International Corporation has released the top five learnings from a recently conducted survey of property management executives. The survey was seeking the “Top 5 Things That Keep Property Management Executives Up At Night.” A summary is below.

1. Not having a good pipeline for future business.

Successful property managers need to develop a system for keeping the pipeline full in both good and bad markets, which means expanding their networks beyond their current relationships.

2. Lacking referrals for new business.

Getting referrals requires networking, and networking takes time. But networking with no credibility won’t yield worthwhile results. Successful companies will build and maintain relationships, and have a visible track record and an online presence.

3. Not being considered a preferred provider for larger or institutional landlords.

Institutional owners  make decisions at headquarters that may be in an entirely different city or state, believe that a national company is a safer choice, desire a single point of contact, and can perceive that an independent firm only handles a certain property type.

4. Not having access to larger or institutional landlords.

Unfortunately, this is a major hurdle for most independent and local property management companies. It takes an investment of time and money to get on institutional owners’ radar. If the owner is not local, you have to go to them or meet them at industry conferences.

5. A lack of marketing.

With small staffs and tight margins, property management companies don’t have a lot of time and money to invest in marketing. So the only real options are to invest in the future of the company and hire someone, or find time for an existing employee to contribute to marketing and business development.