The Real Decision-Maker in Multifamily Isn’t Who (or What) You Think

Why PropTech adoption stalls — and how to fix it.

Most PropTech sales teams assume they’re selling to a VP or an asset manager.

Wrong.

The real battle isn’t about convincing a single decision-maker — it’s about overcoming status quo bias and operational friction. Even when leadership loves your product, adoption can quietly stall or die before it ever takes off. And here’s the kicker: it has nothing to do with cost, features, or even ROI.

It has everything to do with how much effort it takes to change.

What Multifamily Operators Actually Care About

Multifamily operators don’t wake up thinking, “I need new software today.” They wake up thinking:

• “Leasing is down this month. How do I fix it fast?”

• “Maintenance is backlogged. How do I keep residents happy?”

• “My team is already stretched. How do I make their jobs easier?”

If your product adds even the slightest friction to their daily workflows — more logins, more manual work, more training — you risk losing momentum, even if the operator believes in your solution.

Why Friction Kills Deals

Multifamily isn’t a single stakeholder. It’s layers of teams with competing priorities:

• The VP sees ROI.

• The asset manager sees efficiency.

• The leasing team sees another login they don’t want.

• The maintenance team sees a process change they don’t have time for.

If frontline teams resist the change, adoption stalls. When adoption stalls, your product never gets fully integrated. And when that happens, you don’t get renewals, referrals, or scale.

How the Best PropTech Companies Win

Many thoughtful supplier partners in multifamily understand this challenge and work proactively to reduce friction while driving real value. They know that selling to multifamily is about removing friction before it becomes a deal-breaker.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Meet teams where they are. Show how your solution fits into existing workflows instead of forcing a complete overhaul.

• Make it ridiculously easy to implement. If a property manager can’t get value from your product in the first 30 days, you’ve already lost.

• Win over the onsite teams early. If they love it, they’ll push leadership to keep it. If they hate it, they’ll find ways not to use it.

The strongest PropTech companies don’t just build great products. They build products that get used.

Want faster adoption? Sell the outcome — and eliminate the friction.