Embracing a consistently evolving industry

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Property management is an exceedingly high paced industry. The number of renters is increasing, with over 50% of the world choosing to rent. The increase in renters has increased the demand for professional management. Consequently, a huge part of being successful has become the ability to adapt and take advantage of the industry changes. It was an honour to hear the CEO of Palace, Michael Abbott invites businesses to embrace the changes occurring (especially, as innovation continues to evolve) and provide the opportunity to gain insights from various industry leaders. Now that the dust has settled from the Generation of Change conference, and everyone is back to business as usual, we've had time to process our highlights of each speaker during this amazing event.

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Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling

Dr Farah Palmer is a mana wahine who has achieved immense success in her career but it didn't come without its challenges. She has pioneered various changes in her field. In 2016, Palmer became the first woman on the NZ rugby board; which had been a predominately male board for 124 years. Rather than viewing this as an obstacle, she saw it as an opportunity to play at her strengths. She has strong clarity of what her values are, which gave her the ability to transform perceptions towards women in rugby. Palmer is a great representation of resilience, hard work, and proves there are no limits for women leading change.

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The Investor Mindset

Claire and Hamish Wilson are co-owners of A1 Property Managers Ltd and with over 20 years of investing experience, they were able to provide a new lens to get a deeper understanding of what it takes to be successful within the industry. They have built their empire with three objectives in mind: to value, gain trust and inspire. By gaining trust, they are able to uncover their

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Property Management UK Style

The conference also invited an international speaker, Frank Webster; whom is property management royalty. He was the Vice-Chairman of 'Finders Keepers' which is a broadly respected property letting & management agency based in the UK. It was astounding to listen at how detail orientated the company was and how much of a focus they had on people; both internally and externally. They saw tremendous value in investing in the people around them in order to be successful long term, Webster felt that "good staff were the key ingredients to a good profitable business". So, how did they achieve this kind of community culture? Firstly, they they were not incentived by profits. Instead, they focused on staff at the individual level. They encouraged all their staff to be idea makers and all staff were seen as equal whether you worked in the background or in the front line. At the start of employment, every team member was given a career map, showing them the opportunity for future career development. Finders Keepers, also worked with their staff to make sure they were given self esteem education so they could learn to deal with stress, all wins within the company were celebrated and all staff received qualifications (including reception). The extensive fixation on staff meant there was strong communication and trust in the business which was fundamental to Finder's Keepers success.

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Mistakes Happen, Now what?

The best thing about making mistakes is the opportunity to learn and grow from them. Zac Snelling; from Ray White, opened up about a big mistake that caused him to completely change his mindset. Afterwards, Zac shared solutions for the top five common mistakes that property managers face everyday. One mistake that was brought up was centred around communication. Whilst, this seems like an obvious and simple concept, it is one of the most impactful traits for a company. Lack of communication or bad communication can often lead to much bigger problems. Great communication is about expectations and understanding. Set clear expectations with your clients. Take time out; right in the beginning of your relationship; to understand what they know, don't assume your client knows everything. Make sure that you and your client both leave your first meeting with a deep understanding of what the other's expectations, even the finer details that may seem insignificant at the time. Quality communication is an essential part of creating positive customer experiences.

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From Zero to $2 Billion Dollars in Managed Assets

Geoff Lovegrove led his business; The Rent Shop; to success by engraving an opportunistic mindset within the company. They always had the end goal in mind when setting business objectives. He encourages other businesses to evaluate where they were 10 years ago and where they want to be 10 years, in order to gain a perspective of the bigger picture. Lovegrove believes that a company's legacy lies in the relationships within the company. The Rent Shops forte is to create opportunities for others. They believe in employing people that better than you to take the business further. This selfless way of thinking allows the company to be stripped of pride and fixated on pursuing excellence. Always thinking about value over volume. These messages are vital for carrying out successful company processes and making sure every action taken is one in the direction of the companies overall goals, whilst letting the people within the company hold the companies legacy at a high standard.

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Knowledge is Power

Will Alexander is a jack of all trades. After having a successful cycling career, Will turned to the property management business. He is now the CEO of More Minutes Ltd and the General Manager of Property Brokers. Too often property managers are overwhelmed by the amount of software and technology that is available in the market. Alexander teaches not to fear innovation but to learn to utilize it to your business's advantage. Its important new software serves a purpose and solves the right problems, do your due diligence through industry research and looking at market trends. Innovation is altering the capabilities of the property management trade and being open-minded is valuable for future growth.