The challenge
Proptech businesses lose this market for predictable reasons. They pitch the operations director when the budget sits with finance. They price per unit into a sector that budgets per bed. They demonstrate features to people whose actual problem is a leasing cycle that starts in eight weeks. The product is rarely the issue.
How it works
We start by mapping the buyer, not the product. Who signs, who blocks, who influences, and in what order each needs convincing. For most vendors this is where the plan was wrong.
Positioning and pricing are then tested against how this sector actually budgets — per bed, in an annual cycle, against a leasing calendar that does not move. We work through the competitive set, including the incumbent system you would be displacing.
Output is a go-to-market strategy and roadmap, with the sales narrative and objection handling written out. On retained arrangements we stay in as the plan meets the market, and make introductions where there is genuine fit.
What is included
- Buyer mapping — who signs, who blocks, who influences, and in what order they need to be convinced
- Positioning and proposition tested against real operator and investor needs
- Pricing and commercial model review against how this sector actually budgets
- Competitive landscape, including the incumbents you will be displacing
- Sales narrative, collateral and objection handling
- Route to market — direct, partnership or channel
- Warm introductions where there is genuine fit
- Conference, event and content strategy for the sector calendar
Who is this for?
Strategy
Fixed scope
The go-to-market strategy and roadmap, delivered as a document and a working session.
Retained
Strategy plus advisory
Ongoing input as the plan meets the market.
Retained plus
With introductions
Access as well as advice, where there is genuine fit.
Why RESI Consultancy
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We have sat on the other side of this work. The people delivering it have run the buildings, written the budgets and defended the numbers to owners — which is a different starting point from a framework and a benchmark.
We take no introduction fee or commission from any operator or vendor, and we do not bid for the work we advise on. Any interest that could be perceived as a conflict is declared in writing before an engagement begins.
Outcomes
A shorter sales cycle
Pitching the right person in the right order, rather than learning it deal by deal.
Pricing that fits the sector
A commercial model built around how this market actually budgets.
A narrative that survives the second meeting
Objections anticipated, because we have raised them from the buying side.
Warm introductions
Where there is genuine fit — not a list of names.
Common questions
Asked often enough to answer here.
How long does it take to sell into a PBSA operator?
For a mid-sized UK operator, expect three to nine months from first contact to signature, and longer if the decision touches the property management system. Institutional owners and university clients are slower again. The most common mistake is building a forecast on a sales cycle borrowed from another sector.
Do you take equity or commission?
We work on fees, not commission on the sales we help generate. Where a retained arrangement includes introductions, the fee is for the strategy and the access, not contingent on a deal closing — which keeps the advice honest when the answer is that a prospect is not a fit.
Free first conversation
Tell us what is not working.
Most people arrive with a scheme that is not performing, an operator they cannot read, or a board paper due Friday. Any of those is a fine place to start. Thirty minutes, no proposal attached.