DGS 291: How to Guarantee Failure for Your Property Management Team

If you were managing a football team and you had someone with the skills to be a star quarterback, would you have them be a kicker? 

In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth experts Jason and Sarah Hull discuss the pitfalls of having dual roles in your property management business.

You’ll Learn

[01:26] How to Guarantee Your Team Will Fail

[06:19] Why Dual Roles Often Do Not Work

[09:17] Set Your Team Members Up for Success

Quotables

“It's never ideal when we have a dual role, but it is possible in certain cases.”

 ”Most entrepreneurs, we can do this, we can shift and balance back and forth. The problem is that then we think that's normal. And we expect other people to be able to do that.”

“We make the mistake as entrepreneurs of assuming other people think the way we do.”

“You probably could wear 10 different hats in your business, but you don't enjoy doing probably half of them at least.”

Resources

DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind

DoorGrow Academy

DoorGrow on YouTube

DoorGrowClub

DoorGrowLive

Transcript

[00:00:00] Sarah: If you have a star quarterback...

[00:00:02] Jason: yes. 

[00:00:03] Sarah: And that quarterback... 

[00:00:03] Jason: super sharp 

[00:00:04] Sarah: can put that ball anywhere on the field with pinpoint precision, 

[00:00:08] Jason: right? 

[00:00:09] Sarah: Are you going to take that quarterback and make him the kicker? 

[00:00:12] Jason: All right. We are Jason and Sarah Hull, the owners of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we have spoken to thousands of property management business owners, coached, consulted, and cleaned up hundreds of businesses, helping them add doors, improve pricing, increase profits, simplify operations, and build and replace teams. We are like Bar Rescue for property managers. In fact, we have cleaned up and rebranded over 300 property management businesses, and we run the leading property management mastermind with more video testimonials and reviews than any other coach or consultant in the industry. 

[00:01:02] Jason: At DoorGrow, we believe that good property managers can change the world, and that property management is the ultimate, high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income.

[00:01:12] Jason: At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the bs, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now let's get into the show. Alright.

[00:01:26] Jason: Sarah, what are we talking about today? 

[00:01:29] Sarah: We are going to talk about how you can almost guarantee that your team will fail. 

[00:01:34] Jason: Guaranteed failure. And the method to do this- yes- we call dual role... 

[00:01:40] Sarah: oh. 

[00:01:41] Jason: Team members... 

[00:01:41] Sarah: yes. 

[00:01:42] Jason: Right? So and so, what's the scenario? What do we mean by dual role? And it's pretty common.

[00:01:48] Sarah: I see it quite a bit. 

[00:01:50] Sarah: Yeah. Do you see it a lot? 

[00:01:51] Jason: Yeah. I mean, do you want me to explain the idea or you want to explain what you see? 

[00:01:55] Jason: No, I just want to know if you see it a lot. 

[00:01:56] Jason: Yeah. I see a lot of people make this mistake when hiring. I don't see it work 

[00:02:01] Sarah: Well, no. 

[00:02:02] Jason: And I see people try to do it, but I see a lot of failure.

[00:02:06] Jason: I've seen companies with, I talked to one the other day with 6,000 doors, which was kind of trying to do a dual role. And I've seen lots of startups try to do more than just two roles. They're trying to get somebody that's like them. They're like, I just need to find the clone. I call that the clone myth, like that's the earliest stage of hiring, the biggest mistake.

[00:02:26] Jason: They're like, I just need somebody that can do 10 roles, 10 things. Someone just like me as an entrepreneur that would love to work for me, unlike an entrepreneur. Right. So how about you? You've helped a lot of our clients with hiring. So what what comes up? 

[00:02:41] Sarah: So usually, and let's just backtrack and say, alright, by dual role.

[00:02:47] Sarah: Yeah. What we mean is, Hey, I need to hire someone and they're going to do this and that. So they're going to do, you know, sales and manage the doors. They're going to do the operations and like help me with the team and stuff and then also they're going to be a property manager or a maintenance coordinator or whatever.

[00:03:08] Sarah: Yeah. So take two roles that are not the same thing and mash them together, and this is what we mean by dual role. And this situation gets aggravated significantly if those two different roles are also two different personality types. 

[00:03:26] Jason: Yeah. 

[00:03:26] Sarah: So if you have someone who's going to do operations and function as an assistant.

[00:03:32] Sarah: Okay. I mean, it's not ideal, but it's possible. Yeah. It's possible. If you have someone who's going to function as like a sales appointment setter and a closer or, and a BDM. It's possible. It's never ideal when we have a dual role, but it is possible in certain cases.

[00:03:52] Sarah: Okay. Where it never works out is what all entrepreneurs think is, "oh, I'm like that. I can do that." Yeah. So somebody else should be able to do that too. Well, I can shift in and out of different roles and in and out of different personality types, and I can turn it on and off like a light switch when I need to, so then that means everybody can, and it's not true. We are very unique in that. 

[00:04:17] Jason: Yeah. 

[00:04:17] Sarah: So I can also turn it on and off, like light switch when I need to get into something, I'm like, okay. Like let's go. And then when I'm done, I'm like, oh, okay. Get out of that. And I kind of shift back to my natural normal state.

[00:04:30] Sarah: So if any of you guys see me ever in person. That is not my natural normal state. It's just not because it's so high energy. Especially at something like a DoorGrow Live event. Yeah. Like after DoorGrow Live, I crash for about two days, like two full days. This is true. I'm done. I am done. I sleep for like 15 hours, 16 hours straight because I've spent too much time in my opposite.

[00:04:54] Sarah: Yeah. And most entrepreneurs, we can do this, we can shift and balance back and forth. The problem is that then we think that's normal. And we expect other people to be able to do that, and most people cannot do that. 

[00:05:07] Jason: Yeah. The mistake that a lot of us make, like you said, is we make the mistake as entrepreneurs of assuming other people think the way we do.

[00:05:15] Jason: Entrepreneurs do this all the time. They assume other people are money motivated, so they try to bonus them or compensate them with money. Most people are not actually. They assume that people are adaptable and can just wear lots of different hats and be entrepreneurial like that way, but that's also not generally the case.

[00:05:34] Jason: And if they are adaptable, usually they go start their own business. So they leave, and I've seen a lot of property managers steal doors from their employers, so their employer's basically just training their next replacement. 

[00:05:47] Jason: I love, I think when we don't put the dogs away during a podcast, and I'm being super sarcastic right now.

[00:05:52] Sarah: Yeah. Well, I did say this was going to be a quick podcast, but the food...

[00:05:56] Sarah: so maybe this is a sign we should wrap it up. Yeah, the food that you ordered is probably... 

[00:06:01] Jason: Oh yeah. I ordered some food.

[00:06:02] Sarah: ...being delivered right now because it's like six o'clock on a Monday right now. Which is great. 

[00:06:07] Jason: They're protecting us from the food.

[00:06:09] Jason: So, while we've got a chorus of dogs in the background. 

[00:06:12] Sarah: They're just confirming. 

[00:06:13] Jason: Yeah. 

[00:06:14] Sarah: They're like, definitely they agree with us. Don't try to hire two different people. So here's the idea. 

[00:06:19] Jason: Let's break this down real quick and then we'll wrap up because the dogs are going insane, but. People do not have split personalities that you want to hire.

[00:06:28] Jason: They're not two different people, and so different roles have different personality types, and it's very difficult to find somebody that can jump into very different roles and personalities that would actually enjoy those. Even you as a business owner, you probably could wear 10 different hats in your business, but you don't enjoy doing probably half of them at least.

[00:06:46] Jason: If not most. Yeah. And so that's the idea. So you need to figure out what would a good property manager look like? What would a good business development person look like? They can't be both. What would a good assistant look like? What would a good operations person look like? What would a good maintenance coordinator look like?

[00:07:02] Jason: They can't be multiple things typically, and I think we got to end. Okay. It's getting louder. 

[00:07:08] Sarah: They're just dropping off the order. That's all. Now we have three dogs barking. 

[00:07:13] Jason: It's not stopping. 

[00:07:14] Sarah: So we have a big one and a medium one and a very little one. 

[00:07:19] Jason: Okay. 

[00:07:19] Sarah: But you know, that's a good example though, is so we've got three very different dogs.

[00:07:25] Sarah: Like Captain is small, he's maybe 14 pounds, and Parker is pretty large. He's about 85 pounds. So would I do the same thing for the big dog that I would do for the little dog? No, I'm going to feed him differently. I'm going to, you know, get him like a different size harness, et cetera. You have to kind of think of roles in your business the same way. If you're trying to treat every role the exact same, it'll be really hard because you'll be like, I don't know, I don't understand. Like that worked with my sales guy. Why can't I just throw more money at this person and then they're going to be better? Yeah. That worked with my sales guy.

[00:07:58] Sarah: Yeah, of course it did. It's not going to work in other roles. And then if you're a dual role and you're trying to constantly bounce back and forth, like, oh, I got to do the sales and I got to like do maintenance coordination and like property management work, like, oh well, which, what am I supposed to do?

[00:08:14] Sarah: What do I prioritize? And then when you get busy, when you get overwhelmed and you get stressed, something is going to not get done. And it's really hard sometimes to choose, well, what am I going to sacrifice? Because both things are important, and I can tell you that 99% of the time, the thing that will be sacrificed is the thing that they just don't like doing.

[00:08:35] Sarah: Yeah. So if they don't like doing the property management piece. Your delivery is going to tank. And then if they don't like doing the sales piece, they're going to focus on the delivery and your sales. You're going to have none. And you'll be wondering, well, I don't understand. Like I hired you to do both and this is why this is that pitfall.

[00:08:53] Sarah: So if you want to guarantee that your team is going to fail, that your business is going to be stressed, and that your team, you are, it's almost a guaranteed like turnover of your team as well because they're not going to, they're not going to stay when they're not happy. And part of them is doing a role that they hate.

[00:09:11] Sarah: The other part of them might be doing something that they really love, but part of them, for part of their day, they're doing something that they hate. 

[00:09:17] Jason: Yeah. So to drive this home, it's really important that you don't put people in a position that they're going to fail. And here's a big major tip. If you have somebody that's good at selling, and you're having them waste time doing anything else, that is a really stupid way to like waste a resource. Like if somebody can make you money and bring fresh money into the business and you have them doing stupid stuff like posting notices or talking to your existing clients. You are wasting a massively valuable resource.

[00:09:54] Jason: They would make you so much money they could pay for multiple other team members if you just let them only focus on business development. And so if they can sell, get them just doing that. If they're good at that. If they are good at property management, don't have them waste time dinking around trying to sell.

[00:10:11] Jason: Go get somebody that can sell, that can grow your business. Right. And there's other roles, but we're using these two as an example. But yeah, dual roles work. I doesn't work. 

[00:10:19] Jason: I think 

[00:10:19] Sarah: that's one of the most common ones. I see. 

[00:10:21] Jason: Yeah. It is pretty common. 

[00:10:22] Sarah: It's either sales and operations, which like never works.

[00:10:25] Sarah: Yeah. Or sales and like property management. Yeah. Those are like the two most common that I see. And the way that I explain it to people is. If you understand sports...

[00:10:37] Sarah: we're using sports analogy? 

[00:10:38] Sarah: We are. We're going to use a sports analogy. Okay. So on a football team... 

[00:10:43] Jason: yes.

[00:10:43] Sarah: If you have a star quarterback...

[00:10:46] Jason: yes. 

[00:10:46] Sarah: And that quarterback... 

[00:10:47] Jason: super sharp 

[00:10:47] Sarah: can put that ball anywhere on the field with pinpoint precision, 

[00:10:52] Jason: right? 

[00:10:52] Sarah: Are you going to take that quarterback and make him the kicker? 

[00:10:56] Jason: No, that'd be stupid. 

[00:10:57] Sarah: Or the blocker...

[00:10:58] Jason: that would be really bad. 

[00:10:59] Sarah: Or a defensive lineman? No way. How about the water boy? 

[00:11:02] Sarah: No. 

[00:11:03] Sarah: Why would you ever do any of that? Right? 

[00:11:04] Sarah: So people who are like, they're like, oh my God, no. So are you going to see the star quarterback doing anything other than his job? 

[00:11:13] Jason: No. 

[00:11:14] Sarah: Never. Never. No. 

[00:11:15] Jason: That's actually a really great analogy. 

[00:11:18] Sarah: I know. I'm really smart sometimes. So there's... 

[00:11:21] Jason: you're really smart all the time, and you know this. 

[00:11:24] Sarah: I do know this.

[00:11:24] Jason: Don't pretend you're humble.

[00:11:26] Sarah: Well, I'm the most humble of all of the Zodiac signs. 

[00:11:30] Jason: Yeah me too. I'm super humble too. 

[00:11:31] Sarah: No, I'm the most humble though. 

[00:11:33] Jason: You're way more humble than me. 

[00:11:34] Sarah: I'm more humble than all of... 

[00:11:36] Jason: you're the most humble ever. 

[00:11:37] Sarah: As Scorpios, we all are. Okay, guys. Yeah. So anyway, if you're going to have your quarterback doing anything other than that, like that would just be silly. It would just be stupid. So if you were watching TV and that's what your team did while you were watching... 

[00:11:52] Jason: yeah. 

[00:11:52] Sarah: And it's like a playoff game. And that's what happens is you're like, why is my quarterback, what are you...? You wouldn't even believe your eyes. But then that's what you are doing in your business is you are taking your sales person, your star sales person, and you're making them do other stuff. So it works the same way. It's divide and conquer. That's like football teams do this. That's why it's not just a free for all when you get on the field, it's like, all right guys, just figure out how to, no. Yeah, they're specialists. They divide and conquer. Your business is the same thing. 

[00:12:22] Jason: That's a great analogy. Cool. So it's super obvious in sports, like you've got some guy, man, he could throw it anywhere on the field. Look how accurate he is. He's not super big, but man, he can really throw it. Maybe we should have this guy just be a kicker. Yeah. That would like, that'd be crazy, but somebody's really amazing kicking the ball. 

[00:12:39] Sarah: Some of you guys would lose your freaking minds if you saw that happen in a game. 

[00:12:42] Jason: Right? But then you're doing it in your business!

[00:12:44] Jason: You do it in your own business. You're doing it in your business. They're like, well, they could do both and maybe it'll save money and they can kind of do two things, and you wonder why the business is struggling or not growing. So we need to make strategic hires. We need to be make careful hires.

[00:12:56] Jason: We need to get the right personality fit, skill fit, culture fit. We talked about the three fits on previous episodes, but you also want to make sure that personality fit, they are a really great personality fit for that particular role, and you're not trying to hire them for two. All right. Anything else we need to say about this?

[00:13:11] Sarah: I don't think so. We're going to go eat. 

[00:13:13] Jason: Cool. So if you have felt stuck or stagnant and want to take your property management business to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com. Also, join our free Facebook community just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review.

[00:13:34] Jason: We'd really appreciate it. Until next time, remember, the slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.