With 370,000 HOAs in the US, community managers have a wealth of client opportunities. With that said, there is an art to building relationships with an HOA board. To help grow your portfolio of HOA accounts, try out these time-tested strategies.
- Network with Real Estate Agents
Networking with the right individuals can lead to lucrative business opportunities. If you want to connect with more HOA leaders, real estate agents are a great resource. They work with HOAs when buying and selling homes within the communities you’re pursuing. Real estate agents who have a favorable reputation with an HOA can easily put you in touch with board members.
Successful networking depends on attending the right events and investing time and effort with each lead. To connect with real estate agents in your area, consider attending chamber of commerce events, Community Associations Institute (CAI) events, open houses in HOA-run communities, and realtor luncheons or conferences.
Use the following best practices to maximize your connections at real estate events:
- Quality trumps quantity. Focus on making a small number of meaningful connections. Consider limiting yourself to a goal of 5 strong connections per event (or however many you can reliably manage).
- Come prepared with talking points, questions and a smooth elevator pitch for your community management company. Give your undivided attention to the individual you’re speaking with.
- Don’t leave without exchanging business cards, and immediately connect with them on LinkedIn and email after the event.
- When looking for who to approach, don’t intrude on groups of two who are having an involved conversation. Instead, target groups of three or more.
- Leverage HOA Referrals from Contractors
In addition to real estate agents, there are other professionals whose HOA connections you can leverage. Contractors work directly with HOAs and have their own methods of landing HOA accounts. HOAs hire contractors for different services, including plumbing, electrical, HVAC, landscaping and more.
Networking at trade events or scheduling an in-office appointment are great ways to connect with contractors. After you make a strong connection with a few, don’t be afraid to ask for a referral. You could even establish an official referral program with contractors, incentivized with perks and rewards. Self-managed HOAs seeking a community management company love referrals; it takes some of the work out of vetting prospects. It may also give you an advantage over the competition, given the credibility of word-of-mouth marketing.
- Find HOA Decision Makers and Reach Out Directly
While networking and referrals are excellent options, it never hurts to go straight to the source. To land HOA clients, you ultimately need to get your name in the hands of HOA decision-makers. Try the following procedure to reach out to HOA board members directly.
- Visit HOA websites. Make a list of the HOA board members’ titles and positions to create a cold-call list.
- Research each HOA you plan to contact and note any projects they may be working on. Use this to determine how your management company can support the HOA’s needs.
- Call the HOA member, make a connection, and pitch them your services. Leave your contact information.
- Persistently follow up with interested leads by phone, email or in-office visits to express your continued desire to work with them. Many HOA leaders are volunteers and are simply short on time, so following up is crucial.
4. Pursue HOA Clients on Social Media
Social media provides a myriad of ways to connect with potential HOA clients. Facebook, in particular, is a great place to start for landing HOA accounts.
Here are a few great ways to generate quality HOA leads on social media:
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- Join HOA groups – Many HOAs create Facebook pages or groups for their community. When pursuing HOA leads, be sure to follow, message and engage with these groups. Strive to make genuine and relevant contributions to the conversation. Avoid doing a hard pitch of your services, so as not to be seen as “spammy.”
- Share HOA-focused content – Producing useful content will help establish you as a thought leader in the HOA industry and organically attract the right audience. That’s why it’s important to consistently post community and HOA-related articles, and downloadable content like checklists and templates that an HOA can use.
- Utilize targeted advertising – Facebook has the unique ability to put your ads for your community management companies in front of HOA board members who are looking for the services you offer. The platform also gives you the ability to target based on geographic location so you can narrow down your base
Additionally, as you gather more HOA contracts, be sure to have clients provide social media and Google reviews of your management company. You can leverage positive reviews on your website and in social media marketing campaigns.
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Whether you have many HOA contracts or are just starting out, the business partners who support you are crucial to your success. Nearly every HOA account you land will have massive mailing demands. That’s why Page Per Page can be incredibly valuable to your management company.
Page Per Page can help you efficiently manage all of the mass community mailings for your HOA clients. Among their many services, you’ll find the resources you need to print and mail ballots, notices, welcome packets and much more. Let Page Per Page handle all of your print communication needs, so that you’re free to focus on the important things, like growing your client base.
