I keep hearing that property managers are a great referral source for utility audits but I'm not having much luck in the Lynchburg market. Most property managers I've contacted seem focused on immediate maintenance issues and don't want to bring up utility costs with tenants. Has anyone cracked this nut successfully?
Property manager referrals - goldmine or dead end?
Faye H. - Property managers can be great but you need to position it right. I don't ask them to bring it up with tenants. Instead I offer to do free energy assessments for new tenants as a value-added service the PM can offer. Gets me in the door and the PM looks good for providing extra service.
Beverly's approach is smart. Here in Milwaukee I partner with commercial property managers by offering to review utility bills for common area charges. Found several cases where properties were being billed incorrectly for shared services. Now three PM companies refer me regularly because I help them reduce operating expenses.
Both great strategies. The key is making the property manager look good to their clients. I've seen members succeed by offering educational seminars for tenant meetings - "How to Reduce Your Business Utility Costs" type presentations. Property manager gets credit for providing valuable content and you get exposure to multiple potential clients at once.
Randy that seminar idea is brilliant. Most business tenants have no clue about utility optimization. A property manager who could offer that kind of educational value would definitely stand out from competitors.
Thanks for the ideas everyone. I've been approaching this all wrong by asking PMs to sell for me. The value-added service angle makes much more sense. Going to reach out to a few with the seminar concept.
Just wanted to follow up on this thread. I tried the tenant seminar approach with a property manager here in Augusta and it worked great. Presented to about 15 business tenants and got three audit clients out of it. The PM was so happy he's setting up quarterly sessions.