Peter Lohmann's Newsletter - Issue #149

The Best Book I've Read on Change Management. Interview w/ Dr. Julie Gurner.

Author

Peter Lohmann
July 18, 2025

A no-fluff weekly publication for the property management industry.

Change Management, AKA “How Do I Get My Team To Use This New Thing?”

I talk to a lot of property management business owners who are really frustrated because they introduce an exciting new tool, process, or vendor into their PM company, but their team doesn't use it.

Sometimes you need to get buy in, slow-roll the changes, explain the benefits, and delegate your authority.

And sometimes, you just need to say: This Is Happening, Now.

For 7+ years, our company operated out of a bunch of Word & Excel docs and folders stored in Dropbox on a shared drive. It was our company’s knowledgebase, employee handbook, and process documentation. But several years ago, I found a superior tool for those functions: Notion.

You’ve probably heard me talk about my Notion buildout (here’s a video tour if you haven’t seen it, and here’s Part 1 of my blog post series about how to use it for property management).

I spent a long time copying info over into Notion and organizing everything there, updating a lot of it as I went. After doing all that work I needed a way to make sure that nobody was using or referencing the old, outdated information—plus, I was hell-bent on making sure the team started actually using Notion and taking advantage of everything it had to offer a small business with many moving parts. Eventually I hit on the idea of just deleting the old docs and pointing team members to the new Notion page containing the same info:

Actual screenshot of a deprecated policy inside our Dropbox

It worked perfectly, but if I would have waffled on this decision it would have been chaos, with half the team referencing or even updating files that nobody else was even using anymore.

When you know it’s time to make a change, go all-in. That’s my best advice for change management.

P.S. The best book I’ve ever read on change management is called The 4 Disciplines of Execution. I’ve mailed 20+ copies out at my own expense to friends and colleagues.

[Crane members get access to my full Notion buildout with membership. Non-members can purchase it here. Not really trying to sell this but I know people will ask.]

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NEW: My Interview with Dr. Julie Gurner

Dr. Julie Gurner is a doctor of psychology and executive performance coach compared to Wendy Rhoades from 'Billions' by The Wall Street Journal. She provides high level coaching services and is the founder of the Ultra Successful Newsletter on Substack.

We first connected on Twitter years ago and I have learned so much from her posts and newsletter. Dr. Gurner and I go deep on the topic of MINDSET for personal and business performance and well-being. It was such a pleasure and honor to interview her for the second episode of my brand new podcast season.

Available anywhere you listen to podcasts and on my YouTube channel:

New Property Management Companies For Sale This Week

  • Here is a property management company for sale in San Diego, CA (asking $600k).

  • Here are STR management accounts for sale in Lake County, FL (asking $550k, 20+ accounts)

  • Here is a property management company for sale in Los Angeles, CA (asking $2.4M, 260 units)

  • Here is a property maintenance company for sale in Atlantic County, NJ (asking $2.1M, 130 units contracted)

Wouldn’t you love to know how much property management companies actually sell for? Check out the 2025 Property Management M&A Report, backed by data from 89 actual M&A transactions. Save 25% with discount code MARC25 through July 23rd.

Industry News & Events

  • More on ICE demanding tenant info from property managers from the AP.

  • Slow news week! Vendors, send me your press releases and conference codes!

Closing Thought

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P.S. Did someone forward you this email?

Stats from last week’s issue:

Valid Recipients: 16,280

Open Rate: 71.7% (wow!)

Clickthrough Rate: 3.7%

Most Popular Link (163 clicks): ICE Demanding Info From Landlords

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The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. I may have consulting agreements with, or financial interests in, companies mentioned in this newsletter. Additionally, some of the links included in this newsletter are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial or business decisions. *Affiliate link.