5 Tips for Building a Business Plan for a Successful Property Management Franchise

If you dream of running your own business and have a huge love of all things real estate, you might decide to start a property management franchise. One thing to bear in mind as you enter the booming property management industry is that a great business plan WILL be essential to your future success and profitability. Read on, and discover five top tips for building a business plan that serves your property management franchise well.

In the field of property management, business is booming in 2022. Between 2018 and 2027, the real estate industry is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3% [Mordor Intelligence]. With this growth, the demand for property managers will only continue to increase, as investors expand their portfolios and seek to outsource support services. There’s never been a better time to start a property management franchise, and these business plan tips will help you get it right.

How to build a business plan for a property management franchise

When you decide to start your own property management franchise, it’ll soon be time to start building a business plan for your endeavour. A strong franchise business plan is essential in any sector, but especially in a sector as competitive as property management. Not only will you often be required to present your plan to your franchisor during the initial stages, but you’ll also have to present it to a bank or other funding body if you’re seeking any financial backing. 

Most importantly of all, your business plan will be something that you benefit from. It’ll be a bible for your recruitment franchise. It’ll be something that you can regularly look back on and dynamically update, using it to measure your progress towards goals and keep yourself on track. Every franchise business plan, regardless of the industry or company that you’re investing with, should include the following elements:

• An executive summary
• A business description
• Product/service descriptions
• A management summary
• Market analysis
• Operational details
• Business premises details
• Sales and marketing plans
• Financial projections and requirements

Beyond those key components, here are five business plan tips focused on an investment in the property management industry, and on building an effective, efficient franchise business. Follow each one, and you’ll be able to successfully make a career change with a property management franchise in no time at all...

1. Clearly define your client base (and sourcing strategies)

There are a few different types of property management business - residential, commercial, industrial and special purpose. Depending on your operational area/business type, you’ll have a distinct client base. If you’re working in commercial property management, for instance, you’re likely to be targeting larger companies and businesses offering your services. This is very different from residential property management, which will often see you acting as the mediator between tenants and their landlords. 

Whatever your client base is, it should be specifically referenced in your business plan, alongside sourcing strategies for attracting more clients of this kind. Defining who your services are intended for will allow you to a) stay on the same page as your franchisor, b) carve out a niche in which your business can find success and c) demonstrate what makes your business distinct and profitable for potential funding backers (more on that later).

2. Include detail surrounding your operational area

If there’s one thing your franchisor won’t know that you’ll need to fill in the blanks on, it’s going to be detail about your local area/area of operation. Are there certain regulations in place in your town/county that will impact your property management duties? Is the demographic of your area different to prevailing national demographics, and if so, how will this change how you attract clients/which clients you attract? Wherever you can add useful information about the running of your specific franchise into the mix, go ahead and do it. 

3. Set short-term and long-term goals

In order to make your property management franchise’s business plan a living, breathing document with continued relevance, goal-setting is a crucial part of the business plan building process. From short-term goals like a target monthly sales figure to long-term goals like the time you’ll take to come to profit and the goals you have for expansion later down the line, detailing your goals in your business plan is the perfect way to ensure you solidify and stick with them.

4. Clearly define the services you offer

A day in the life of a property manager does not look exactly the same from franchise to franchise. Just as defining your client base demonstrates an awareness of your business and how it can be successful, so does clearly and deeply defining the range of services your business offers in your franchise business plan. 

Common services conducted by property management companies include property evaluation, marketing properties, screening tenants, collecting rent, conducting inspections, handling repairs and maintenance. In consultation with your franchisor, spend time in your business plan asking and answering: What do we do that competitors don’t? What ELSE could we do to meet existing/emerging demand?

5. Find your Unique Selling Point

This is another thing you should discuss with your franchisor before laying it down in your business plan One of the biggest advantages of running a property management franchise, rather than going it alone, is the access to expert advice and guidance. Use this advantage. Your Unique Selling Point (USP) could be a service you offer, as suggested above, or it could simply be a marketing tactic that positions the brand a little differently to the rest. There are a million and one ways to make your franchise unique and distinct, ensuring its long-term success.

These business plan tips will help you to streamline and simplify the process of running a property management franchise

If everything you’ve learned today has left you increasingly keen to become a property manager, stay on Point Franchise to continue your research and dive more deeply into the industry/all that goes into an investment of this kind. Discover six tips for running a property management franchise, explore opportunities with the top property management franchises in the UK, and discover, once and for all, how to choose the right property management franchise for you.