For this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Deniz Yusuf, an expert business development coach from Australia. Since transitioning from being a real estate agent himself, Deniz’s focus has been on training other property managers on the best practices for attracting and signing up new business.
In our conversation, Deniz covers a wide range of topics of interest to any property manager who wants to excel in the industry. We start off by briefly discussing his background, and he touches on how the customer service skills he learned by selling fruit and vegetables have remained valuable throughout his career.
We spend a fair amount of time talking about business development managers. Hiring a BDM can be a great way to prevent burnout (or reduce it, if you’ve already reached that stage). In addition to hiring the right person, you need to make sure you compensate him or her effectively, so we talk about compensation best practices and whether it’s a good idea to hire a realtor as a BDM.
Deniz also emphasizes the importance of implementing a CRM system early on. He explains why you need to know your closing ratio, which is a vital piece of information that far too few property managers track accurately. We also spend some time talking about a couple issues that may seem counterintuitive at first, including cases in which it can be a good idea to take on business in a below-average area, and why it’s a bad idea to list a property as “no pets allowed.”