Table of contents

After an exciting strategy session, clients are eager to find the perfect property for their portfolio. But then comes the waiting period—weeks or even months—before properties start coming through. During this time, questions and concerns naturally arise, and it’s our job to address them quickly to keep clients feeling confident and reassured.

Regular communication is key—whether it’s updates on their strategy, insights into our behind-the-scenes work, or even casual chats about their life or our latest content. Fortnightly progress updates and milestones also go a long way in showing them we’re on top of things and fully invested in their success.

When clients lose trust, it creates challenges and risks for everyone. That’s why maintaining their excitement and confidence throughout the journey is absolutely critical. Let’s make sure they feel they’ve made the right decision every step of the way.

The acquisition team works tirelessly to find the right properties for our clients. While you provide detailed notes, they may have specific questions about property fit since you developed deep insights into the client's personality during the strategy session. That's why clear communication with the acquisition team about client preferences and personality types is crucial - it gives them the complete picture they need to successfully present properties that match each client.

Here are some examples of what this might look like in action:

The milestone message templates below show you how to celebrate key moments with clients while reinforcing how each property aligns with their broader investment plan.

These templates cover the important key milestones: property presentation, successful purchase, unconditional status, and settlement. Feel free to use them as is, or as a guide to add your personal touch to make the messages your own.

With the exclusions of the property presentation stage, all of these milestones will be triggered as tasks that are assigned for you in your portal. Make sure you are regularly checking off the tasks so they don’t build up and ticking off these tasks!

For property presentations, you will need to keep on top of your messages to ensure that whenever a property is presented, you drop a message to back up the PAA. Clients often value our opinion very highly given we are planning out their strategy, and want to feel that we are in complete alignment when a property is presented to a client.

During this time we also need to constantly update the client on the search. These fortnightly updates are essential in keeping clients calm and knowing we are searching and working hard in the background for them.

Below are the fortnightly templates to send to clients to update them. Ensure you block time out every week to complete these updates for all of your clients.

If a client has had a property presented in the last fortnight or is currently in the process of offering on a property, you do not need to provide the update.

EDIT: The above messages are now sent in the portal workspace, rather than WhatsApp.

As seen in the video, you firstly you want to navigate to your Strategy: Pipeline view. On this view, you are able to view your current client pipeline and see all the clients who have an active search agreement in place.

The 'Date: Last Updated' column is a manual field where you track your last client contact or property presentation. When you notice a client hasn't received an update in the past fortnight, they're due for one. Send them an update using the templates below, then update this field to ensure regular communication – no client should go more than two weeks without an update.

To efficiently manage these updates, group clients by their update week. Start at the top of the pipeline with clients due for their 7th update, send them the Update 7 template message, then progress down the pipeline to Update 6 clients and so on. Doing this will save you time from jumping around using different templates!

Key takeaways:

Steps:

Sometimes clients may interrupt the regular fortnightly update cycle by requesting immediate updates, either due to impatience or because they notice the templated nature of messages. When this happens, it's crucial to reassure them of our ongoing work, provide clear insights into our process, and ensure they feel their concerns are heard.

In these situations, avoid using templates entirely. Instead, either call the client directly or send a personalised message addressing their specific concerns and providing reassurance.

Use this effective framework for handling any conflicts or complaints and realigning expectations:

Reach out to your leader if you need assistance with framing on these situations.

Show that you respect their brief but want to explore options. A brief might be adjusted in the following scenarios:

Example – Budget Extension:

“I know we set [$650K] as the budget, and I want to respect that. At the same time, I’ve seen a few good opportunities float a bit over the budget, and don’t want you to miss out on strong opportunities if we can stretch slightly.”

Each adjustment comes with strategic benefits. Use these talking points:

Example – Budget Extension Framing:

“When I ran the numbers, a $25K increase only works out to about $8–10 extra per week. So instead of thinking of it as a big $25K jump, it’s basically the cost of a coffee or two per week.”

Tie any adjustment back to their strategic objective (e.g. growth, cash flow, diversification).

Examples:

Empower the client with choice while showing the upside of flexibility.

Example:

“This doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to find a property at the absolute maximum, but by allowing us to search up to $675K, you’ll at least have the opportunity to see the full range of options.”

Reassure the client that this is a common and effective strategy.

Example:

“Many of our clients are surprised at how little the cashflow difference is when they see it broken down. But it could open up that one opportunity that really aligns with their brief.”

Use the following messaging as ready-made templates or inspiration when speaking with clients.

Hi [Client Name],

Hope you’re doing well! I wanted to quickly check in on your brief.

Given how well you’ve been saving and the recent rate cuts, your borrowing capacity may have improved. I’d love to see if there’s any flexibility to slightly increase your budget so we don’t miss out on stronger opportunities.

When I compared properties at $X and $Y, the weekly difference came out to around $Z after tax. That $[X–Y] jump might feel large on paper, but the real weekly impact is much more manageable.

Locking the cap at $X may mean we miss seeing properties at $X+10K or $X+20K. Increasing slightly gives us more range, with no pressure to proceed if something doesn’t feel right.

We’ve also seen that slightly higher price points often have less buyer competition, which can help us negotiate better.

Would you be open to slightly adjusting your budget to keep your options wide? These deals align with your goal of [X].

Hi [Client Name],

Hope you’re doing well! I wanted to run something by you.

Would you be open to considering properties with light renovation potential? Think cosmetic upgrades—paint, flooring, minor fixes—not full-scale renos.

Why consider them?

We’re usually talking $15K–$20K max spend. But it opens up strong opportunities you might otherwise miss.

Would you be open to including these options in your brief? I think they’re aligned with your goal of [X].

Hi [Client Name],

Hope you’re doing well! Just wanted to touch base as we’ve seen a couple of great opportunities that are slightly below our usual yield target, but the growth potential is very strong.

For example, [Suburb/Market] is showing great long-term indicators, and this might mean more equity growth even if the short-term yield is a bit lower.

Would you be open to looking at these kinds of deals if they make sense for your goal of [e.g. building equity / long-term wealth / diversification]?

If yield is non-negotiable, no worries at all. But some flexibility here might unlock high-quality properties that fit your broader plan.

Hi [Client Name],

I wanted to quickly check in on your brief. Right now, it’s very focused—which is great—but sometimes that can limit the number of suitable properties.

By expanding the brief slightly, we’ll open up more options while staying within our data-backed recommendations.

For example:

These additions won’t dilute quality. They’ll give you more shots on goal, and you can still say no if something doesn’t feel right.

Would you be open to expanding your location brief slightly? I think this could really support your goal of [Y].

To ensure we don’t miss any potential opportunities for active clients by reviewing properties that have been marked as “No Suitable Client” by the PAA team. This quick daily task helps identify good fits that may have been overlooked or are worth stretching a client’s brief for.

Every day, at the end of the day. There’s a calendar reminder for you to review daily.

Depending on the situation:

Option A: Likely Fit, In Brief

Contact the relevant PAA:

“Hey [Name], just reviewing the No Suitable Client properties, I think this one could work for [Client Name]. Here’s my rationale: [Insert rationale]. What do you think?”

Option B: Potential Fit, Slightly Outside Brief

Subject:

Hey [Client Name],

I’ve come across a property that seems like a really strong fit for your overall strategy and brief, the only catch is that it just sits outside your original [insert parameter, e.g. location, budget, config].

Based on what we’re trying to achieve, I think it’s worth considering. It still aligns with the big picture and strategy we’re building to get you to [Insert Goal]

If it’s still available, would you be open to flexing on this particular aspect if it ticks the other boxes?

Let me know and I can dig deeper into it.

Cheers,

[Your Name]

As a final layer of review, the Head of Strategy will also check the No Suitable Client Properties Pipeline daily when reviewing their own personal pipeline.

Their role is to ensure that:

This ensures consistency and a safety net across all client briefs.

Sometimes during a property search, clients may need to pause due to changes in their circumstances. Alternatively, we may need to pause it from our side if they are not responding to property drops. When this happens, it's important to document the pause and update their status in Attio.

Trigger: Client has not responded to a property presentation within 24 hours despite follow-up via portal message and call. You must also confirm that the PAA has tried to call and message them.

Follow up timing: You will need to follow up with the below sequences and set tasks for yourself on Attio

Send a warm and respectful final message via the portal AND email:

When presenting a property to clients, they may raise objections based on their existing knowledge. While it's essential to respect their comfort level, our role is to educate them and thoughtfully challenge any misconceptions. By ensuring clients have complete information, we help them make informed decisions and avoid missing out on valuable investment opportunities.

Our acquisition team excels at addressing property objections, and we collaborate effectively to reinforce their expertise. Clients view us as trusted advisors since we've built strong relationships during our sessions and maintain a comprehensive view of their plans and goals. As a result, they often place significant weight on our professional opinions and might want us to still give our thoughts as well.

When we update our buying locations, adding new markets or removing old ones, it’s crucial that we reflect these changes across all active client briefs and communicate updates with care and clarity.

The below outlines the process for updating your briefs, aligning on messaging, and executing communication workflows.

It's crucial to recognise when a phone call or Google Meet is more appropriate than written messages. When clients raise objections or have detailed questions, lengthy back-and-forth messages can muddle the explanation and lead to misunderstandings.

This approach wastes both our time and the client's time, often leaving them unsatisfied and still wanting to speak with someone directly. Voice communication is far more effective than long written messages—clients feel more valued and supported when we make time to talk with them personally.

When handling client objections, research is your strongest tool. As research specialists, we need to support our recommendations with solid data and evidence. The toolkit contains comprehensive research blogs that address common objections with detailed data and analysis. By thoroughly understanding our research materials, you'll know exactly where to find supporting information. The Daily Reading Library in the 'InvestorKit Blogs' tab is particularly valuable - it contains all our current blogs, searchable by keywords.

If you need help crafting a response or have questions about a specific topic, reach out to your leader. For deeper research questions, the Research chat in WhatsApp is an excellent forum to start a discussion!

Some clients are highly analytical and will ask detailed questions about why specific markets should or shouldn't be included in their brief. They often have targeted questions and concerns about market conditions.

Your role is to guide them through their brief, explain the markets under consideration, and clearly articulate why we recommend these markets for their situation.

Preparation is essential - anticipate their likely questions so you can prepare thorough answers and gather the relevant information to share with them.

Meeting Approach

Throughout your work, you'll encounter clients who are dissatisfied with their outcomes or simply aren't aligned with our service approach. This is natural, but we must handle these situations professionally to ensure a positive experience and reach mutual understanding. When such situations arise, please brief your leader with a summary of events to keep them informed.

How to manage the conversation

Example confrontation: In this case, the client felt we should have disclosed a proposed development in the area we recommended and is now considering requesting a refund.

First, hear the person—let them speak.

Then reiterate their concerns: “It’s sounding like __. Am I understanding that right?” (Make sure they really feel heard.)

At the end of this call, I completely understand that you may decide a refund is what you’d like, and if that’s the case, I’ll make sure it’s arranged. (This helps to diffuse the situation by showing they have control—it’s not going to be a boxing match.)

I’ll present some information to you shortly. But before I do, I want to address the trust component and rule that out altogether.

This isn’t about trust—we simply didn’t know, and that may not be as critical as it seems. It’s okay to have differing opinions, but we believe research should be based on data, not news articles. There are countless cases where alleged developments either don’t go ahead, or if they do, they have little to no negative impact on the suburb.

We rely on confirmed, reliable, and battle-tested data. News articles come and go—they’re not a solid foundation.

Now, even if the development does go ahead, I’d like to walk you through the actual data. And if you still feel this doesn’t sit right with you—or that we’re not the right fit—I’ll respect that and process a refund.