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Google reviews. Yelp. BBB. Matt says none of it actually works for property managers, and the reason comes down to basic psychology. In this Hot Takes episode, Chris and Matt of propertymanagement.com break down why the property management industry has never had real third-party validation, and why that's finally changing.
Stop trusting reviews, start trusting data
That's the line you'll see if you go to propertymanager.com and hit enter. The idea behind it starts with a story from a Verizon Wireless store. When a customer said they were going to shop around, the store manager pulled out Consumer Reports, flipped to the market-by-market page, and asked, "Do you see Verizon number one in every one of these major markets?" It worked because the claim wasn't coming from him. It was third-party validation.
The Law of the Drummer Boy
Other people need to beat the drum for you, not you. If you're constantly beating it yourself, you're overselling. Credibility has to come from someone else.
Why third-party validation is worth real money
Matt points to J.D. Power. You've seen the car commercials that line up the vehicles and list their awards. He looked into how much J.D. Power makes and found it's hundreds of millions of dollars. His takeaway is simple: third-party validation works.
Why current review sites fall short
Property management has never really had that kind of validation. Google reviews, Yelp, and BBB are a broken system when it comes to incentive alignment between what property owners and property managers are actually looking for. Even Google is the best of the worst, and it can be gamed. Two problems make it murkier:
- Tenant reviews muddy the water.
- Fake reviews happen more than you'd think.
Becoming the industry's trust layer
Twelve months ago, propertymanager.com was just an idea: a Carfax for property managers. Early on, some property managers asked for proof points, like how they'd know their conversion rate would go up. Matt's answer was always that it's basic psychology. If you say you have the world's greatest coffee, no one believes it. If coffee.com says you're number one after tasting 17,000 lattes, they do. He doesn't think property managers are thinking about that yet.
Ready to back up your story with real data? See how Rentvine helps you prove your value, find out why property managers choose Rentvine, or see Rentvine in action and schedule a demo.
