What does an article on French fries have to do with property management? If you are interested in scaling your property management business, it’s worth looking at McDonald’s. Read on.
Have you wondered how a teenager who probably has no cooking experience (or interest) can make pretty good French fries? Or, no matter which teenager is tending to the fries, the fries are similar in quality?
This consistency is possible because of two key reasons:
a) The teenager is part of a system that has been designed to “consistently produce high quality French fries”, and
b) The teenager has been trained, and is given regular feedback
Property Management Systems Lead to Results
The French fry “system” doesn’t just address activities in the back of the restaurant. The system stretches from the farm where potatoes are grown, to the storage and processing points, to the restaurant.
The movement and handling of the potatoes and other ingredients is coordinated, measured, improved along this way. This is the kind of heavy lifting that makes the consistent production of good French fries look so simple.
Are your leasing agents, maintenance staff, office managers part of a deliberately designed system?
Your Property Management System
Think about your property managers, your maintenance staff, your leasing agents, your collections team. Are they part of a system that has been deliberately designed to address the needs of prospective tenants, active tenants, staff, and even owners and investors?
Property Management Systems Have to be Designed
Property management companies have to actively design “systems” for core activities, such as converting leads to leases, or planning and executing turnovers, or collecting rent.
The executives that can figure this out are posed to grow their portfolios without hitting plateaus, or worse, burning out.
See How McDonald's Does It:
Here are two interesting PDF documents from McDonald’s that I recommend looking at: