Sometimes the best marketing involves an investment of time, rather than money. When your schedule is already jam-packed and your time is extremely valuable, it may seem somewhat overwhelming to offer a sampling of your services for free. But giving a little can pay off big in the long run and is an unparalleled way to set yourself apart from the competition.

Demonstrate Commitment
Your clients know that time is money, and they know that your time and services are a valuable commodity. So when you take the time out of your schedule to offer a free sampling of your services (such as consultancy), they’re going to know that you’re really committed to earning their business. Because properties represent a significant investment on the part of the owner, commitment to their best interests is one of the most appealing qualities a potential property manager can demonstrate. Show your commitment to potential clients and chances are they’ll return the favor in kind by hiring you for the job.

Put the Proof in the Pudding
Lots of people can talk the talk. And from your potential client’s end, determining which property management company is best for the job from marketing materials alone can be a daunting endeavor. After all, chances are your competitors are touting many of the same qualifications you are: responsible, experienced, knowledgeable, and affordable property management services. So how is a potential client supposed to determine which property manager really does best demonstrate these skills?

Get a leg up on the competition by letting your potential client see some of these skills put to test. Chances are, seeing your skills in practice versus your competitors’ skills on paper will make for a decision that works in your favor.

Generate a Sense of Loyalty
By nature, potential clients that are in the process of selecting a property manager do not yet have an affiliation (and, therefore, loyalty) to any one property management company. Performing pro bono work is a great way to instate a certain sense of loyalty that will work in your favor in a way that is simply not possible on paper.

Remember, when you’re offering free services to clients dedicate the same amount of time, effort, and attention to the task at hand that you would if you were being paid for it. This is the time to put your best foot forward. Very rarely do potential clients forget when they receive an extra dose of attention and effort, so this is your chance to make a lasting impression. Even if your property management services aren’t ultimately commissioned for one reason or another, chances are you’re still setting forth a very positive impression that may well just earn you referrals and great word-of-mouth down the line.

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As a property manager, you are expected to be a bookkeeper — even if you don’t have an accounting background. You might not even know if you are using the cash method or the accrual method to keep your books. Below are some great links to help you better navigate the accounting world.

• Self promotion is shameless — our accounting book is a great place to start!
• If you are going to trust anybody with your accounting questions, trust the IRS. Check out the IRS’ take on the accrual method.
• Here is what the IRS has to say about the cash method.
• As long as your accounting procedures are consistent and accurately show your income and expenses, you may be able to use the combination method.
• If your business is considering hiring an accountant to keep your books, here are some tips for finding the right accountant.

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Although not all property managers have an accounting background, it’s nonetheless important that any landlord handling the books has a firm grasp on basic accounting principles. Perhaps most importantly, it’s essential to have a working knowledge of the differences between cash and accrual accounting. Quite simply, the difference between cash and accrual accounting comes down to when you enter information in your books.

Cash Method Accounting
With the cash method, information is entered into the books as soon as money changes hands. In other words, as soon as you receive a rent check, it’s entered into the books as income. And as soon as you pay the plumber for the kitchen sink he unclogged, you enter that into the books as an expense.

Accrual Method Accounting
Accrual method accounting requires that payments and income be recorded as soon as money is due or owed. In this case, even if a tenant is a bit late on rent for July 1, you would still log that rent income into the books despite the fact that you have not yet received a check. Likewise, even if you have not yet cut your property management company’s checks for the week, you will enter the money you owe to the plumber for work completed as an expense immediately upon receipt of the bill.

Whether you use cash or accrual accounting is completely up to you, dependent upon which system seems most intuitive and appropriate for your company. While most property managers use the cash method, this is purely based on the system’s simplicity—as soon as a check is received, it’s immediately entered, making for a clear-cut system. The benefit to accrual accounting, however, is that it may provide a more accurate snapshot of your company’s accounts. For example, even though you haven’t paid a vendor yet, with accrual accounting you still know that $1,500 is earmarked for this expense and, therefore, should not be spent elsewhere.

Remember, when it comes to accounting, consistency is key. Whether your company ultimately opts to utilize cash or accrual accounting, be sure that your records consistently use the same system. It’s also important to know that, although you may choose either cash or accrual accounting at your own discretion, you must alert the IRS and obtain their approval if you opt to switch to the other system at a later date. For more property management accounting basics, be sure to check out Buildium’s book Property Management Accounting: A Survival Guide for Non-Accountants.

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• Here are some questions that property owners must ask themselves when looking to hire a property manager. Having clear, intelligent answers to these questions can help you win the job.
• Are you just starting your property management career? Indeed.com is a great place to search for that first property management job — or to find additional properties in your area in need of management.
• Many property owners looking to hire a property management company go to Yelp! first for reviews of companies in their area. Is your property management company reviewed?
• Any good property owner will want to make sure a potential property manager has both the bandwidth and the experience to effectively take on additional properties. Linkedin is a great place to provide some information on your experience as a property manager and to provide references in a public place for property owners to see.

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Understanding what triggers property owners to seek out the service of a professional property manager can not only help you more effectively pitch your services,
but may also put you in a position to approach potential clients before they have the chance to get your competition’s notice through an advertisement for services. Following are some common triggers that compel property owners to seek out property management services — and some tips for making your best approach.

Increased Number of Properties
Managing one property is one thing. Managing two or more properties is something else. Many property owners ease themselves into the rental industry, managing their own first property, then bringing a professional property manager on-board as their property portfolio—and, thus, workload—increases.

To cater to property owners who are looking to hire managers for this reason, it’s important to highlight your field expertise. Clearly, they are building their own portfolio and will want to know they have a valuable partner with industry know-how on their side.

Time/Cost Benefit
As any property manager can attest, looking after a property can very easily be a full-time job. While many property owners manage their own rental units, it’s not all that uncommon for them to reach the point where they realize that the time saved and expertise gleaned from hiring a professional manager for the job is well worth the expense.

Because such clients are aware of the workload property management requires, in pitches like this it’s important to prove that you have the bandwidth to take on another property and a proven track record of effectively balancing a number of properties.

Geography
Due to relocation for any number of reasons, many property owners find themselves as unwitting landlords when they make a temporary or permanent move to another location and find themselves renting out a property. In this common scenario, a property owner may well decide that it’s worth acquiring the services of a local property manager to ensure someone is nearby to monitor the property, take care of problems as they arise, and meet with various parties as needed (whether that be a potential or existing vendor, potential tenant, or existing tenant).

In scenarios like this, it is of the utmost importance to prove that you are responsible and hands-on (which, of course, you are). More than any other instance, property owners who are not local are really trusting that their property manager can take care of business because they are not around to monitor the situation.

While every property owner wants a responsible, knowledgeable manager to oversee their property, tailoring your pitch to their specific situation is a great way to stand out from the competition.

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So you get it — you might need to reconsider the power of the images you include in your rental listings. A little extra time spent on capturing more marketable photos of your property could translate into significantly higher rents and lower vacancy rates. Here are some links to give you some great additional information.

• Have a few high-end properties that you need to portray in the best possible light? Consider hiring a professional real estate photographer.
• So you’re more of the do-it-yourself type. Make sure you have the equipment you need to make your listing images striking. Check out Consumer Reports’ Digital Camera Buying Guide.
• Here are some great tips on how to get the most out of your digital camera and your property. http://bit.ly/9tRrM6
• Now you’ve got some great images — make sure you are pairing them with rental listings that sell.

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Previously, we’ve spent some time on this blog stressing the importance of writing thoughtful, effective rental listings. But no matter how much time you put into writing a great listing, if you don’t also include an image of your rental unit it may all be for naught. Did you know that many rental sites allow users to search listings according to whether or not an image is provided? In other words, on sites like Craigslist, a potential renter may never even see your listing at all if an image isn’t provided.

Aside from potentially increasing your unit’s searchability, images also provide yet another way for your property to stand out from the rest. There are lots of comparable one-bedroom/one-bath apartments out there–but for renters, these statistics are only half of the story. Remember, they’re looking for a place to call home and, many times, the things that make a place feel like home are intangibles. Providing images allows renters to get a feel for your unit, to see if it seems like their style, and to begin to form an emotional attachment to it before the in-person viewing even occurs. Which, it goes without saying, provides you with a significant leg up on the competition.

With this in mind, following are a few simple tips for taking listing images that will really get the job done.

Tip #1: Show Your Best Side
If you’ve done some research on Craigslist, you’ve probably seen some good examples of “don’ts” when it comes to rental images. Yes, they’re an important part of your listing but, no, that doesn’t mean anything goes as long as a picture is attached.

You don’t have to get crazy and stage your unit prior to snapping a few shots, but you should make sure that it’s nice and tidy. Of course potential renters know that it will be cleaned prior to their potential move-in, but you only have a few seconds to capture their attention.

Don’t false advertise through imagery, but do put your best foot forward. If you’re missing that huge window by shooting from the left side of the bedroom, then make sure to shoot from the right so that tenants get to see all the great little aspects of your unit.

Tip #2: Don’t Just Shoot the Obvious
One of the great things about online rental listings is that you don’t have the same image limitations you would in a newspaper. In other words, you can include as many pictures as it takes to give potential tenants a good idea of what your apartment looks like. Of course you should include an image of all the rooms in the unit (or at least the major ones, such as kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom), but also include anything else that may win tenants over. For instance, is the exterior of the house completely charming? Then definitely show a picture. Great city view from the apartment’s balcony? Click it and put it online. Does everyone compliment the garden in your property’s backyard? Give potential tenants a gander.

Remember, images are essentially a marketing tool for your property and when it comes to marketing, you always want to be strategic.

Tip #3: Use a Current Picture
It may be tempting to save a little time by using those pictures you already have on-hand of the same unit a couple years ago, but we advise against it. Things change over time in ways you may not even think about. Plus, the last thing you want to do is false advertise—this is your first chance to make a good impression on tenants. Modern digital cameras allow for an easy shooting process, so invest the ten or fifteen minutes it will take to capture listing images every time a unit comes up for rent.

Tip #4: Image Resolution
Now that you’ve put all of this effort into taking great images, make sure viewers can easily see them. At a  minimum, high-resolution 1024 x 768 images are recommended for pictures that are large enough to easily view and do not appear grainy.

Remember, little touches can go a long way. And when it comes to including images in your rental listings, it’s one of those things that may just make a potential tenant choose your unit over one of your competitor’s.

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We know, we know…you’re busy. But, nonetheless, if you haven’t already harnessed the power of online customer reviews, it’s critical that you do so. Here are some time-saving links to the most useful pages for your property management business.

• Still not sure how Yelp can help differentiate your property management business from your competitors’? Here’s an example.
• Don’t take our word for it–Time Magazine agrees that Yelp is an essential site.
• Check out this video for a quick tour of what Angie’s List can do for your business.
• Ok, ok … you’re finally sold on Angie’s List. Good news! A membership is less expensive than you might think.

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Sure, your mom always told you that it isn’t nice to judge. But the truth of the matter is that in the professional world, we’re all judged. Don’t fret, though—being judged can actually be a good thing.

In this day and age customer service reviews move at the speed of light—or at least at the speed of the average internet connection. As if you need any more reason to improve customer service, here’s another one: Good customer service may very well work as a powerful PR and marketing tool for your business.

Online sites like Yelp and Angie’s List are quickly becoming some of the go-to-sources upon which the public bases its selection of service providers. On these open forums past customers rate and review your business, allowing potential customers to see how you rank against your competitors. Here’s how you can make the jury of public opinion work on your behalf.

Yelp
Since its inception in 2004, Yelp has grown exponentially — the site now gets up to 31 million visits per month (as of March 2010). In other words, Yelp reviews are serious business. Over the course of the past few years, Yelp has come to be regarded as a reliable, accurate source for business and service referals. Don’t underestimate the power of Yelp reviews or their importance to the success of your business.

While you can’t control content on Yelp, you can encourage happy customers to rate and review your business. It’s also important that you monitor your Yelp business page. If you see an unhappy customer post a review, turn it into a positive. Contact that person to address their issue and improve their experience with your company. Many Yelpers are quite conscientious about updating  and editing reviews to document such resolutions. Also remember that Yelp’s rating system works on averages. In other words, if one or two disgruntled customers give you an unfair low rating, rest assured that more even-keeled ratings will average this out.

Business owners can get in on the Yelp scene too. Special business accounts can be set up for free. Once this account is initiated, you can post things like special offers and discounts to Yelpers, which will appear under your business listing. From here you can also update basic business information, track traffic to your Yelp business page, interact with reviewers, and receive notifications when your business is reviewed.

Angie’s List
In business since 1995, Angie’s List is a bit more targeted than Yelp. You won’t find listings for things like restaurants and shops here—it’s limited to service providers and is especially targeted to homeowners and home repair issues. More than one million consumers actually pay a subscription fee to join Angie’s List and, for that fee, they rely on the customer-generated reports and reviews provided by the web site. Along with ratings (which appear as a “grade”) and reviews, customers also receive information on service providers’ prices, professionalism, and timeliness.

Business owners can click here to add their company information to the Angie’s List directory. This free account will also allow you to monitor and respond to your customer reports. As with Yelp, property managers can offer Angie’s List members discounts and special offers, but cannot affect their own business’ rating. On the Angie’s List Company Connect page you can actually find a link to a form specifically designed for business owners to distribute to customers so that you can encourage satisfied customers to share their experience.

Customer review sites like Angie’s List and Yelp can be your best friend. Not only do they spread the good word about your business, but they also provide your property management company with a very visible online presence, word-of-mouth referrals, potentially good marketing, and that extra little nudge to keep your customer service as satisfactory as possible.

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