Hiring Your First BDM and Building Referral Relationships to Unlock Growth

Feb. 18, 2026

In this week’s NARPM podcast episode, host Pete Neubig interviews Trent Bray, who trains Business Development Managers (BDMs) for Property Management Inc. (PMI) franchise partners on the sales process. Bray advises new owners to wait until they are near the break-even point to hire their first BDM, arguing they should first understand the sales process themselves. He emphasizes that property management is a relationship-driven, referral-based business and prefers hiring a salesperson over a marketer to build these networks. Bray suggests BDMs build relationships with real estate agents using platforms like LinkedIn to warm up the connection before in-person meetings, and also recommends networking with mortgage brokers (not lenders) as a secondary, investor-focused referral source.