Knowledge and detail

Some property managers really do not have the attention to detail and extensive knowledge that commercial and retail property management requires. This is a common problem in the industry where property managers have been sourced from residential property management with little or no training for the new commercial and retail properties they are being asked to manage.

If they do not have the required knowledge for the tasks that they undertake, they then should be trained (and fast). There is a major difference between working on residential property and then moving the same person to take over and manage commercial or retail property.

Losing the landlords trust

When the landlord is getting to the point of not returning your calls and not taking your recommendations, you have in effect lost their trust. They may tolerate your poor management style for the immediate future but it is quite likely they will move property managers soon.

The situation can be reversed, and it will take effort and focus to do so. Understanding the landlord is part of the process to fix the problem.

So what is property management all about?

Successful property management is not just a matter of controlling tenants and cash flow; it is mainly about strategy and forward looking control processes that improve the landlord’s property for the longer term. The landlord’s targets should be respected and pursued.

To achieve this goal, know what you are doing and have reasonable knowledge about the industry, the tenants, and the property type. Local knowledge is essential here.

These are some of the critical factors that every property manager should totally understand and control as part of the services they provide to the landlord:

Lease implementation and administration for the tenancies throughout the property is foundational to services you have provided. This will include the types and levels of rental that achieve the returns that the landlord requires. Add to this the methods of leasing in the current market, the lease incentives, and the terms and conditions of a competitive market lease package.

The vacant tenancy marketing should occur to all local businesses so that any vacancy downtime is minimised. If any lease expiry is identified early, the vacancy downtime can be minimised.

The income optimisation of the property asset is achieved through your efficient management of rent reviews, lease negotiations, rental adjustments, and the timely processing of all rental matters.

Maintenance processes are to be controlled and budgeted; this is associated with good property performance including the obligations that stem from essential safety measures, risk management, environmental, and heritage. This includes the management of maintenance contracts and tendering where appropriate to achieve cost efficiencies with all your selected contractors in balance with correct levels of maintenance needed in the property.

Lifecycle management is a special skill. It includes the impact of property maintenance on the current occupants, machinery maintenance including the older plant and machinery, refurbishment and renovation strategies to maintain the physical appearance of the property, and the optimisation of rental given the quality of the property presentation.

Monitoring of the comparable properties in the local area will have to occur. This is so they have minimal impact and disruption on your tenancy mix, leasing strategies, and income stability.

Management of not just the leases, but of the tenancy mix should occur in balance with the property business plan. This is so any relationships between the tenants can be shaped to improve the performance of the property. This is highly relative to retail tenants and shopping centres. The surrounding demographics of the community and businesses will need to be considered here as part of the process.

Communication with the tenants in a comprehensive and detailed way will improve both the property performance and the property income. Good tenant communication allows you to minimise any difficulties of occupancy and potential future vacancies.

A sound and detailed knowledge of legislation, rules, and all regulations that impact the property from an occupancy perspective is required of the property manager. Compliance with all of these factors will keep the property functional as an investment.

Detailed reporting to the landlord should occur so they are kept appraised of all property strategies and events. This will include all budgets, forecasts, tenancy mix, and lease strategies.

As a property manager you should be comfortable with technology and the concepts that involve technology in building operations and performance.
These are some of the major factors involved in professional commercial and retail property management. Failure to provide these services will jeopardise the relationships that you have as a property manager with the landlord that you represent.

You could say that the person to provide these services will need to be intelligent, articulate, confident, knowledgeable, and accurate in their job role; you would be correct. Good commercial and retail property managers are special people.

The niche you have chosen should allow creation of more than one product or service. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts, to complete turnkey solutions; there is no need to worry about spending time on the real products sold to the customer. The main ones are keyword selection, sales copy principles, graphics, affiliate programs, product creation, online payment processing, auto responders, and search engine optimization.

Once you’ve earned money from this type of information product business, you can invest in the creation of your own products if you want, or start offering more informational products that allow you to sell your knowledge. But the creation and production costs of a similar big ticket in sequence product, although higher, are still pretty low. A key by-product of this process will be the creation of 3-D, Computer Assisted Design art.

The Association for Financial Professionals permits the following activities for repatriating funds: Research and Development activities, advertising and marketing programs, hiring and training new recruits, acquiring patent and other rights to intangible property, improving transportation, funding capital investments with the purpose of job creation and job retention & funding product responsibility or environmental claims.

It prohibits certain activities like: Tax payments, Payment of executive recompense, Payment of dividends, Redemption of stocks, Debt investments and Portfolio investments. Therefore, before repatriating the money, you must consider whether it is worth or not.

Checklist on what artist and product development necessitate includes: Exceptional vocals, musicianship and/or songwriting skills, Continued education and enhancement of musical skills, Quality equipment, Performance ability, Image creation and maintenance, Plan of action, goal setting, excellent promotion materials including photographs, press releases and artwork, Business management skills, Marketing, Publicity and Promotion knowledge, Online and Offline Professional management, Basic knowledge of recording, producing, engineering, and mastering, Basic knowledge of manufacturing, distribution, and sales online, brick and mortar and air-play, Good choices in members, staff and advisors, Physical and mental preparedness, Basic knowledge of finances, accounting Law and legal issues etc.

The goals for doing so are for the product owner to: Communicate the whole, Determine and communicate when releases are needed, Determine what functionality is sufficient for each release & focus on business value derived from the releases. The delivery team on the other hand will see the whole, learn about the steps to realize the vision, learn the business priorities, provide technical input to the roadmap and provide estimates for the projected features. The salesperson must lead the prospect through the various decision criteria needed in order to secure a sale. Whether your idea is the development of a product, launch of a service business, or even the creation of an event or program for a non-profit, creativity is the root of all entrepreneurial efforts starting with the vision itself.

People quickly learn to spend their time on marketing and product creation, rather than repetitive tasks. Apart from empowering companies and individuals, there should be a particular focus on identifying labor intensive businesses that have the potential to make a significant and positive impact on employment creation as well as those businesses that have a product or service offering for export markets with the final objective of booming local economies.

If you tried to think of people involved in product creation, who would come to mind? You may think of Edison, Franklin, or maybe Henry Ford. Would you ever think of yourself as someone who can create a quality product? Product creation is actually relatively easy and product launching is not that tough either! If you follow a few easy to understand steps, you could be starting the product creation and product launching process sooner than you think.

The first step in creating your information product is to know and understand your market. This can be very time-consuming, especially if you are unsure of what to do or where to look to know your market. Studying your niche market and understanding the buzz words and buying patterns can ease the process dramatically. Personally, I would recommend networking with someone who has had success in the niche market you are considering and learn from their results. If they are into product creation and not very business savvy expect some hesitation. If they only sell products and have nothing to do with product launching or product creation you may your first affiliate (sales person)! Something else you can use to find hot trends is with the Google Trends tool.

The second step is the product creation process. Take your niche market and brainstorm ideas and topics relating to it. There are a lot of product launching contests going on recently relating to a newly created internet marketing tool. There are so many aspects to the mentioned niche that literally, and unfortunately, anything can be considered an Internet Marketing tool. The reason that anyone can basically create an Internet Marketing tool is because of something called Private Label Rights products.

What I use private label rights products for, and highly recommend them in this specific manner, is to cure writer’s block especially when it is lingering. Many people base their entire product creation and product launching on a private label rights product. This is where you can start to shine and build a strong brand for yourself. If you set goals for yourself, short-term goals to be exact, you can see your product creation come into being much faster and there is a good chance with less revision needed. If you keep hitting time restraint road blocks; however there is nothing wrong with a slow and steady approach, you can consider outsourcing portions of your project. Outsourcing can be an extremely huge benefit or just as great of a disaster.

You can find someone to outsource work to at a freelance site such as Guru.com or eLance.com. When reviewing proposals it is almost mandatory you perform a background check on them as you are in essence hiring them. Doing a background check on freelancers is as easy as asking for samples of their work and reviewing feedback on the freelance site from previous customers. Depending on the size and requirements of your project this can add up to a decent sized investment, so caution is very important. One tip I always recommend to people looking to hire an individual is to ask them what they can provide you that no one else can. This simple question gives them a chance to “toot their own horn” and acknowledge where they feel most competent as far as their skill set.

The final portion of the product creation and product launching formula is the launch. This can literally make or break the effort, time, and maybe (if you invested) money you put in to your project. There are numerous aspects to product launching and although their relevance is debated in terms to their effect, experts agree all must be followed. The person in your field who you asked for product advice from can help you substantially if you have kept in touch. If not, the first thing you need to do is to create a visually appealing website with flawless design work.

I also mentioned outsourcing before, this is one aspect of product launching I have little strength in and I always outsource this portion. The website does not have to be large however the content (ad copy in Internet Marketing) must be stellar and as perfect as possible. This is where advertising knowledge or experience is beneficial. When the site is set up you now put a lead capture form on your website.

I put two lead capture pages on all products I create on the internet and is one of the best methods of getting a solid start when you are in the product launching stage. When you gain information from a prospect or someone looking to get paid for referring sales you are able to provide them updates or specials. Many people abuse their prospect or affiliate lists by in turn emailing them with a new product daily and I find the recommendations to be totally unrelated to their original need, problem, or interest.

Another stage in the product launching stage is creating a free report or demo version of your product to entice the product to sign up to your email list. Using proper follow up with this can help generate numerous sales for you. One thing you need to ensure is that your free product completely relates to your main product that you are looking to sell.

You are now ready to advertise your product launching to customers as well as the opportunity to sell for affiliates. This is the single aspect that many product creations and launches fail on. It is actually not entirely difficult. One thing you can do is write articles (and a good amount of them) on topics relating to your product. I am a huge advocate of giving a solution in forums. When you join a forum you are normally offered the opportunity to create a signature. In your signature, you should enter the link to your opt-in or lead capture page. When you respond to posts, you are advertising your opportunity.

It is not impossible to create a product and it does not have to take a long time. You need to setup a plan and stick to it. If you get stuck, look at similar and successful products to your own and try and see how they did it. When you sit down and brainstorm you will be surprised with what you can imagine.