Seamless Handover: Optimising the BDM–PM Workflow

We sit down with Karlie from Boutique Realty in Perth to unpack how a modern BDM drives growth across sales, onboarding, and property management. We map the tools, scripts, and handover routines that keep owners confident, PMs informed, and marketing consistent.

• BDM background vs property management experience
• In‑person appointments vs online meetings
• High volume vs high value market dynamics
• Social, website, and sales database lead sources
• CRM choices: IRE/BDM (Reapit) vs Phoenix
• Light automation plus phone-first follow-up
• Onboarding flow from appraisal to lease
• Capacity triggers and task splitting
• PM trust via weekly huddles and visibility
• Post‑handover boundaries and owner support
• 12‑month touchpoints and investor audits as strategy

If anyone needs to reach out to myself or Karlie, just send through a message. We’re always very happy to help.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Carly: From Sales to BDM
• 3:11 Does PM Experience Matter for BDMs?
• 4:21 In‑Person vs Online Appointments
• 6:31 High Volume vs High Value Markets
• 9:21 Marketing Mix: Socials, Sales, Website
• 12:41 CRM Choices: IRE, Reapit, Phoenix
• 17:00 Automation vs Phone: Campaign Strategy
• 20:20 Onboarding Flow: Appraisal to Lease
• 24:30 Capacity, Home Opens, and Leasing Pace
• 28:00 PM Trust, Applications, and Communication

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:33

All right, today I love getting newbies on my podcast because today we have the lovely Carly Snelger from Boutique Realty in Perth joining us. Carly, welcome. Thank you so much for having me, Ash. Now we are going to be having a really good chat today about the BDM role. And as I was mentioning just before we press record that I find the conversations around BDM and just what people are doing, people really love listening to journeys, what's working for you, what's not working for you, and and and just really sort of picking up anything, any little golden nuggets that way. So I appreciate you sort of sharing your journey with us. So to start with, I'm gonna just ask you a few questions about sort of you know where you are and what you've been up to, just to set the scene. So you have been, have you been a BDM only in property management, or have you been a property manager or started in a different position in real estate before?

SPEAKER_01: 1:30

Yeah, so I started actually in land sales.

unknown: 1:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 1:34

And then moved to sort of general manager of a business. So done a bit of selling of houses and trust accounting and then property management and commercial property management. So that was really good. So yes, I think it helped starting my journey like that across the board to get a bit of a feel for what it's like. And yeah, I wasn't a BDM straight up. It took, yeah, a bit of practice and a bit of confidence to get into that role, but I do really think it's helped starting as a property manager, knowing then when I hand over a property to a property manager what they're what they're looking for and how it feels to receive a property and what you would like in that handover as well.

SPEAKER_00: 2:13

Yeah, it's a really interesting topic, actually, because there are a lot of BDMs that don't have the property management experience, and then yeah, those that do. So I I actually, interesting enough, I it makes sense that you've had property management experience, but I am not seeing any strong, you know, pros or cons for those that haven't either. Like they still seem to be quite, quite successful, but they just come in with just I they just come in oozing sales, I think, don't they?

SPEAKER_01: 2:46

Yeah, that's right, exactly. And I don't think, like you said, I don't think it's necessary. You don't necessarily have to have that property management background, but I find for me it just helps absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 2:56

Do you find that people these days like oh actually, first question, are you doing a lot of in-person appointments or are you doing a lot online?

SPEAKER_01: 3:04

Um now I'm actually doing more in person. So and that's what I prefer.

SPEAKER_00: 3:09

Yeah, I I've you know, I've been doing like one a year in person, and it's like so awkward going out and seeing people, it's so weird.

SPEAKER_01: 3:18

Especially if you're used to, like you said, just doing it online. Yeah, it's so different.

SPEAKER_00: 3:22

Yeah, okay. So you so you've got an increase now, which is good.

SPEAKER_01: 3:25

Yes, absolutely. And I think depending on area, like we were discussing before, depending on the area, the type of investor I'll get is is to whether or not it'll be in person or not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:35

Okay. So previously you were with an agency that is what I would consider the high volume, low value in terms of the rental value, and you then have moved to an agency where it would be the higher value and then potentially lower volume coming through, or maybe not lower volume, but definitely the big difference in the rental. When you were at the agency where, you know, it's an area where maybe at the time an average rent of, I don't know, 400 or 500 a week, sort of, let's just use that as an example. Did you find that those clients were the landlords different to deal with from a BDM point of view? Were were have you noticed a difference in the the level of investor?

SPEAKER_01: 4:24

Yeah, uh to be honest, I have. Not always, not all circumstances, but I think it comes around sort of the dollar value will depend on what they're needing as well in terms of the service. And a lot of the clients I've previously dealt with before have been Eastern States investors. So I've been really on the ground for them. So they're feed on the ground. So pre-purchase inspections, videos, just giving them the information that they need. Whereas now a lot of my clients here in Perth. So I will meet with them and then they've done some of the groundwork themselves, and then we meet and collaborate from there. So it is sort of different in their terms of their needs and what they require.

SPEAKER_00: 5:05

So, in terms of the marketing then that you've done as a BDM, how has has that changed? Like what sort of BDM are you? Are you a back to basics BDM? Are you someone that yeah, that that that is just more of an attraction BDM? Like what does that look like in your space from a marketing point of view?

SPEAKER_01: 5:23

So I do definitely like the online. I think it's amazing. You can target a lot of people from there, not to say that letterbox drops aren't helpful. I haven't done that for a while, I'll be honest. I do get quite a bit of inquiry through sort of social media and also our sales team, which is amazing. But where I was previously, they did a lot of marketing sort of strategies and that. And I think it's sort of the volume that was coming through that office definitely made a difference in terms of the marketing style and the and the brand, I guess. But yeah, and it's different areas, like you said, this is a different area. I think the marketing goals are the same, but I do find that the social media aspect over here works a lot better.

SPEAKER_00: 6:09

Yeah, and social media from a personal point of view or from a business point of view?

SPEAKER_01: 6:14

So I've created my own BDM page as such, but we do have the business page as well. And we just float between the two, but it can't, it'll come through both and the website as well. So people still will inquire through the website, just an inquiry. I think they find that not as daunting as picking up a phone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 6:33

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It it's that's something I guess that I always think about is we we always talk about what type of style communication we like, depending on our generation, whether it's SMS or phone call or email. But then we quite often forget about the client's preferred option as well. And and I think for me, I usually run on, I don't know if it's still seven, but generally there were seven lead generation options, you know, three ways that leads were coming in. And I think you sort of got to tick all the boxes these days with making sure that you're doing a bit on the socials, a bit on the email database, a bit on the personal, you know, whatever it is, you sort of can't be reliant on just one because you you're just gonna like it might it might be really popular and work for a short time, but it's not gonna be forever. So in turn so in terms of your leads coming through at the moment, if you were to pick one that's working really, really well, like one platform, so whether that's Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, email database, office website, etc., what would what would be the one that you would focus on if you could only pick one?

SPEAKER_01: 7:48

To be honest, it would be my inquiries through, so into or now known as RePIT. So from uh our sales database as well. So any inquiries through there, you know, picks up the keywords, and that's how I get a lot of inquiry, our current listings. So that would be the the biggest generation at the moment of my leads.

SPEAKER_00: 8:10

Yeah, okay. So the people that have inquired about the sales listings but say that they're an investor.

SPEAKER_01: 8:16

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and it just sort of opens that door. And like you said, it's better to have all those avenues covered, that you can't, I feel, just have your eggs in one basket. Like we can't just go social or let a box drops or letters or emails. We've kind of got to be across all of those, I feel.

SPEAKER_00: 8:32

Yeah, I agree. Now, I I didn't want to be the one to bring it up, so hopefully this isn't going to reach the wrong people's ears. But so I have previously been a big lover of IRE BDM and and still am. I I think it's a great platform. It it it we use it exactly the same way as you do, and we have some great campaigns going out of it, but there's a lot of talk on social media about about IRE, BDM, and RePIT and putting their um prices up and all of that at the moment. And so we have decided to recently change, and we're only changing because I'm trying to get the same platform for sales and property management. And that that's actually really the only reason because I do believe it IRE is a good product. But for me, in our next season of work, we're actually going to move to a platform called Phoenix, which is hopefully going to be the same, but but be for a CRM for property management and sales, and sorry, and use it for both. So that's sort of what I'm going to be trialing next. And I I only mention products because I think people that are listening, people that are listening need to know what options are out there to inquire about. And I feel like we you should always know about all the products. You should have demos with all the products, know what their capabilities are doing, and make sure that you are on the right one. And if any pain points come up in three months or six months, you know where to go should that happen, or you know, where you would go to to solve that. So that's sort of where I'm finding a few BDMs are starting to shift a little bit. So it'll be curious to watch that space. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 10:12

But uh it makes sense, like you said, to have it under the one CRM, because at the moment, obviously, yeah, I'm juggling the two. So you're looking for details over here to match over there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:23

Yeah, I know. And it's just been a little bit, it's just it's not been a pain point at all. It's only becoming a pain point now because we're re-energizing our sales department. And so if we weren't doing that, I probably would stay with what I like. But yeah, I think think people can just be curious about what platforms they use. But one of uh do you use on IRE BDM at the moment, it it is the BDM portion that you're talking about?

SPEAKER_01: 10:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:45

Do you use the like the campaigns and the automatic emails, or are you very like much of a phone call type person?

SPEAKER_01: 10:52

So I do have some of the automation set up for the initial bit, but then I have to make a phone call. If not, if the phone phone number's provided, that's what I use. But campaigns I think will come later. It's something I've dabbled a little bit in, but the confidence isn't there yet to fully go out with it.

SPEAKER_00: 11:10

Campaigns are good. I I highly recommend. So what we did is we set up different campaigns. So you're gonna so you have a campaign for your landlords that don't yet have a property, and then they're the ones that you do your pre-purchase inspections for. And then we have a campaign for those that have got a property, and then we've got a third campaign, maybe it was the ones that were looking for the investment property, looking for it to buy property. I can't remember what it was, but it was there's three campaigns, and so we have a separate one. So depending on how they come through as how and how their their status is, depends on what campaign they get. So I think that you should go and do that. I think that was.

SPEAKER_01: 11:46

Yeah, I'll I'll have some more training and a bit more of a play with it for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 11:50

And actually, I'm glad you mentioned training because that was the other thing I I was just forgot to say was that quite often with products that we've got, it's someone uh mentioned this to me the other day where they actually had a product they were using and they actually said to the the company, can you come and do a demo like you would do it for a new client, just so we can get a refresh on what your system does. And I thought, what a great idea. I think it was actually Beck Colton from LJ Hooker. And I thought, what a great idea to ask the products you've already used for a fresh demo. And so that might be something like potentially, even with IRE PDM, is to ask them to do a fresh demo for you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:28

Yeah, such a good idea. Actually, when we implemented it, they were really good and said to me in six months' time, I'll reach out and we'll just touch point on what you want to refresher in, as you say. I think it helps because there's such so much information, everything's forever changing in those CRMs as well, or like any software. So I think we really need to keep updated.

SPEAKER_00: 12:48

Oh, and and we get the little like little icon thing that comes up, but no one watches it. You close it down because you're in the middle of trying to put in a client. So no one watches that at all. So can you talk us through the so we touch on the marketing, making sure we're exploring lots of options, and then you mentioned that probably the the best one at the moment is is really those sales leads coming through. But can you talk to us about your onboarding experience? Because this is something that I I just love hearing how different officers do it. So the process from BDM to property manager, where does the handover take place? What are your responsibilities within your management? And then when do you pass it on to the property manager?

SPEAKER_01: 13:29

Yeah, okay. So from where I am now, how I do it is I will do the appraisal and then we do a list, what, if anything, needs to be done to the property in order to lease. So talk in terms of compliance and anything that you know you do a walkthrough and you think, you know, maybe you might need to replace a cabinet or carpet or and it really just depends on the client, I guess. But they're just suggestions, and then obviously some of them are compliance. We need things done. So ensuring that all the compliance is done, and then organizing obviously the agreements and completing all those checks, and then photography, marketing, all of the advert tech, so all of that, and then putting it on online, and then can I actually conduct the inspections at home opens for our new ones, and then I do the application process, and then after that it's leased, is then when I will hand it over to the property manager, or if it's one where it's a management but it's got an existing tenant, I will still do that initial process, but then obviously liaise with the current agent for that handover and then make sure everything's entered correctly and then hand it to the and do the introduction as well to the property manager. So, and that's different, I guess, again, because of the volume than what I've previously done, where it would just be sort of onboarding and then getting it ready and then passing it to sort of you'd advertise it, but then passing it to the a leasing team. So yeah, it just works a bit differently. And I think a lot of my clients here prefer that. I've noticed that you know, you explain your role and what your PM role is and who will help them across the board because we are end-to-end here. So I feel they sort of get a clear understanding of that. And I find at the moment my clients prefer that sort of system.

SPEAKER_00: 15:21

Yeah, it's and I don't think at all there's ever any right or wrong with the whole process. I think it's absolutely just whatever works with the volume that you bring into the office for sure. Do you like if what do you think is because that's a lot of work for you as a BDM to do home opens and to so you process the applications? Do you do once the application is accepted, are you doing all the lease agreements or do you just accept it and then pass it on?

SPEAKER_01: 15:58

No, so I'm currently doing the lease agreement as well. But once I think once the workflow changes and it increases, then obviously that that that dynamic will change and it might be to the point of marketing, then the handover for leasing to the PM.

SPEAKER_00: 16:13

Yeah. What so what point do you think you would need to get to before you make that change from a volume point of view? Like what would the capacity be? Or would it just be a a feeling when you get to a point where you can't do it?

SPEAKER_01: 16:28

Yeah, I think it's probably a it's probably gonna sound bad, but a feeling that I'd get because I've like the yeah, at the moment I'm sort of sing like singular digits per month, like in the incomings where I've done double digits before and was still able to manage. But I think once you hit those double digits, I think it would be harder to facilitate that across the board.

SPEAKER_00: 16:51

Yeah, and the other thing as well, like in my mind, I was thinking that it's sort of not also just about the number of properties because depending on the market, because you might have properties where you do one home open, it's done, it's dusted, but then you might be in a market where you need to do three or four home opens. And I'm just thinking like that will be a big factor.

SPEAKER_01: 17:10

Yeah, absolutely. You're right there. And I I noticed as well, obviously with the higher dollar value ones, anything at the moment that's sort of a over that a thousand is taking that a little bit longer to lease than obviously the the other item or properties, but I think that's it as well, and just making the time to make sure that's they're fully serviced. I never want a client to feel like I'm not giving them the full service or their property's forgotten about.

SPEAKER_00: 17:37

Yeah. How do you manage the confidence with a property manager being happy with the tenant that you've placed? Does that ever come up as any like concern? Like, do you need to like make sure that the property, like, of course, the property manager has to trust you a lot, but are there any situations where a property manager will be like, why did you put this person in all, you know, anything like that? Anything like that?

SPEAKER_01: 18:06

No, to to be honest, touch wood, not so far, but I know like there will be a day that it might not happen. However, during that process with weekly meetings, I I am sort of very open. This is what I've got, these are the candidates we've got, this is what we're looking at. So, and then if there is ever a time that I can't fully process something or I've got to run off or something there across what's happening, but generally it's pretty open and they so far are so good. So hopefully it'll continue.

SPEAKER_00: 18:36

If you got an application, would you be inclined or only like you know, case by case, like, but when you call, you know, I mean, I'm sure that the the property manager is probably keen as well to hear how the leasing's going. Do they ever do you ever say to a property manager, hey, I've got an application, it's two adults, one kid, I'm about to put through the owner, I'll let you know. Like, does do you ever have conversations or not really?

SPEAKER_01: 18:57

Yeah, definitely. No, definitely. They're really across it. So they'll have an idea of the applications and even the leasing process. So I've done a home open this week. We've only had two people through and you know, whatever it may be. Otherwise, yeah, I don't want them to be completely in the dark, but I also feel like it just sort of alleviates a bit at the moment that I can do that part of it for them.

SPEAKER_00: 19:19

Yeah, because I was just thinking, because there will be people out there that sort of have that thought. And I know just with my team, like who are a little bit controlling, they sort of like to know who they're gonna have to deal with for the next 12 months. Yeah, I understand. Yeah. But but that would probably solve the problem, I think. If yeah, if you are having those discussions, or just the advice to people listening is that, yeah, if you if people are worried about that, there is no reason why you can't say to the property manager, okay, these are the ones I'm gonna put through the owner, I'm gonna put push through for option, you know, option one, any, you know, and see get any feedback from them. So at least that they're sort of involved in the process, but really not doing anything specifically, just sort of saying, Oh, yep, that sounds good. Thanks. Let me know how you go.

SPEAKER_01: 20:03

Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 20:05

Open communication is key, right? So yeah. Yeah. Now, given that you've worked in with both styles, with like, you know, just the sign up and pass on, and then and then, yeah, obviously doing more. Do you have a preference for either? Like, how do you feel that the clients prefer?

SPEAKER_01: 20:22

Um, I I wouldn't say I have a preference. It's all like time, if I've got the time to be able to do both. But if I ever feel like I couldn't get to that leasing point, then that's when we would need, like I said, someone else to come in. There's not really a preference. I do, uh, my personal opinion is I do like to see it through just because I feel I meet them, I I get the owners what they're looking for, what they're ideally hoping to achieve, and then trying to find them that perfect match, really. Whereas before and previously, the other way, it works great, like the support's there, but it's I sort of hand it off and I feel like, oh, did you find this online? How are you going? You know, you can reach out if you need me. So I I miss that sort of bit. And certainly it's the same with every BDM, I guess. You hand it off, but you sit there, you know, wondering how it is. And I always reach back to the client anyway. I give it a certain period of time and I'll reach back just to see how they're finding it and if I can help in any way. So they're not forgotten. Like I'm still a contact, they've got their point of contact, but I'm still there for them at any stage, really.

SPEAKER_00: 21:28

I mean, it makes sense because as a BDM, like you would have a sense of responsibility because you know, you have met with them, you've given them advice on what they should do, what type of tenant, how much they should rent it for. So I I get how you would feel like passing it on too soon because you're like, well, did it happen? You know, did what I say was is is what I recommended correct? And and did it result in what I told the client it would result in. So I can see that sense of responsibility there and and why it makes sense. So it's yeah, it's really good just to hear that and another way of people just managing that BBM role. The last question for you is do you find this happens and how do you handle it? Where you bring in a property, you lease it out, goes through to the property manager, and then the owner may keep on calling you for you know advice or maybe second guessing a property manager's opinion or sort of you know referring sort of back to you. It happens to us a little bit, not too much, but a little bit. Does that does does that really cool cord, you know, ever stay attached where they keep on bothering you too much or not not too?

SPEAKER_01: 22:40

Not really. I mean, yeah, it does happen, absolutely, but then it's just reiterating that I'm there as a support, but your PM is your main point of contact. And I find sometimes, I mean, even in my role, they just want to hear someone else say it. Like, and it's not that I'm you must listen to me. It's just another person saying the same thing that the property manager's already said. Um, and as long as your property manager has the understanding that you're not stepping on any toes, you're you're backing them and you're supporting them, I think it works okay. But I'm really clear at the start of my journey with the client that whilst I like I I can be there at any point, that the property manager is your main point of contact. So they are the one that you need to go to. But if you you can't get through or you have a question that you're not feeling is answered, please come to me. But we're a team. That's sort of how I attack that, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 23:31

Yeah. I just think otherwise you fall into like a head of department position having to deal with it all. That's all. It's um it's it's just it was just worth mentioning because yeah, if someone is in a position where they're like, why does the client keep on calling me? Well, it could be that yeah, you haven't explained it clearly enough as well. Do you have any? Sorry, I know I said last question, but one more question. Do you have any touch points with the clients like like during the tenancy? So I sometimes hear of some offices where the BDM might touch base when it needs to be leased out again, or you know, at a certain point, do you I mean, we we don't personally have any other touch points, but do you have any other touch points during a management with a client?

SPEAKER_01: 24:16

No, so it might be 12 months in, then I would sort of touch base just to see how they're going and if we can help in any other way, perhaps. But also if it's a lease renewal, like you're saying, or a re-advertising, the PM will also just offer if they want to talk to myself about appraisal opinion. It's not that the PM can't do it, but if they're snowed under or they've got other things on and they want me to have a second opinion, then I'm happy to do so. But generally they're with the PM and then 12-monthly, it's just a touch point. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 24:48

Yep. Shameless plug that I'm just gonna do really quickly on that point is is the annual investor audits that I really try and promote in offices, that would be something where it would be good if you're not doing them, but doing bringing them in like from the because anyone can do them, whether it's the BDM, the business owner, the property manager, but that would probably be a good point to touch base in checking in how's everything going, how's the rent and all of that. If if someone was looking for an excuse to check in, they could sort of maybe do a little bit of a health check or their own version of a health check at the same time. So, but I think from like the way that I see it is that that check-in that you would do like after 12 months is probably like another BDM strategy in a way, because maybe they're thinking of getting another property or yeah, absolutely. Whatever it is. So I would be, yeah, I would be framing it as in that's yeah, that's part of my strategic plan to touch base with them. So wonderful. Well, thank you for your time. I like I said at the start, it's really great just to hear how different offices work because so many people work in offices where they think what they do is normal, that there's no other options, this is the way uh other people do it. And I think by listening to podcasts and and hearing other ways of doing it is is good. And it's good to hear that you've worked in offices where there's you've worked both both ways, um with the leasing portion and not, and it just being reflective that it actually is no different. There's there's no one that was better than the other. It just really comes down to the time, the volume the office brings in. And maybe it also depends on whether the office is task-based or portfolio-based as well. And they're just factors that you would consider when making the decision if it's right. But if what people are doing is working for them, then stick with it. Yeah. But if it's not working for you, then you know, Carly's way that she's doing it might be something to consider. So thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. And um, and if anyone needs to reach out to myself or Carly, just send through a message. We're always very happy to help. Sure am. Thank you, Ash.