The title of this blog post alone can give property management executives anxiety just by reading it. In a white paper that we released earlier this year, the Top 5 Things that Keep Property Management Executives Up at Night, 4 out of the 5 issues identified were related to business development. Most property management executives are not sales people; and that is not a bad thing. If you were great at sales, you would have probably chosen a career path more aligned with being a broker. But you probably have a great skill set that can be leveraged to help you generate new business. To know where you stand, you can complete a SWOT analysis, not only on yourself, but also on your company.
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Much like goal setting or weighing the pros and cons of a situation, you should take your time on this and allow others to participate. By inviting others to participate, they will provide insight into things that you may not have considered or even be aware of. Maybe one of your property managers’ best friend works for a competitor and they are always sharing ideas about where they have found to be successes or struggles. This will help. To get you started, below are some ideas for each category that you may be facing:
Strengths
- We have the local expertise and knowledge
- We have a great team
- We have a well established company/brand name
Weaknesses
- Outdated marketing; do not have time resources to keep up with the new trends
- We do not have the time, resources, or expertise to compete for new business
- We have not been successful in competing for large or institutional investor owned properties
Opportunities
- Our management has strong ties to the local community
- We have a succession plan in place to continue our firms existence for another generation
Threats
- We only have knowledge of a few product types; losing out to other companies with specialty groups
- Our current and prospective clients are moving towards awarding business to large national firms
- We do not offer a full service approach; losing out to companies with brokerage, auction, etc.
Once you complete your analysis, you will have a clearer picture of where you are in the marketplace, strengths you can build upon, weaknesses you need to address, the opportunities you have to grow your business, and threats you 
need to be aware of in order to avoid becoming obsolete.
Being a local firm with a rich history is what makes up the vast majority of franchisees within the Sperry Van Ness® organization. The brand’s culture, tools, resources, and strong marketing are just some of the things that have helped Sperry Van Ness International Corporation to be recognized as the 8th Top Property Manager[1] in the nation. Take the next step in learning more about how you can overcome some of the weaknesses and threats above, and build upon your strengths and opportunities by clicking here.