RoR (Return on Relationships)

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Hey friend,

Welcome to the 21st weekly edition of Pillow Talk! This is where I share my personal thoughts on property management topics.

This week, I’m talking about Return on Relationships.

NARPM Annual 2025 kicked off with a keynote from professional networker, business matchmaker, and TV personality from A&E’s Flip This House, Peter Pasternack.

When I say professional networker, I mean networking is Peter’s fulltime job! Prior to covid, he was doing 100 one on one meetings A MONTH as part of his real estate networking group. He maintained that pace for years before slowing down during the pandemic.

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at Peter’s keynote the night before when he joined the Blanket team for dinner with the Leading Women in Property Management. I sat with him and DD Garzon and chatted for probably an hour about the crazy stories and lessons learned Peter has collected from so many 1:1s.

One such story that he also shared on stage was of a real estate professional he met at his local Dunkin Donuts who began hysterically crying in the middle of their meeting! Something Peter said struck a nerve (in a good way). When she regained her composure, she shared her worries, her challenges, and that she really needed the support Peter was offering.

That’s when I realized what makes Peter unique. I could tell by the way he told the story that he wasn’t embarrassed, annoyed, angry, or even uncomfortable with the woman’s tears. His only thought was “how can I help her?” He said he takes this same mindset into every meeting. I realized that, for Peter, the relationship is the goal. So, even when he can’t imagine any possible way for him to gain from helping someone, he still believes it’s worthwhile. He leaves his business and personal motives at the door, and doesn’t expect to leave with anything but a good conversation.

But as Peter will tell you, there’s always a reward. Sometimes years later when you least expect it in the form of a simple, heartfelt message, but it always comes full circle. He calls this RoR (Return on Relationships), and it’s the unexpected nature of RoR that makes it magical.

RoR in action

If you missed the news, Blanket took home Affiliate of the Year last week at NARPM Annual! 🥳

It was an incredible (and surprising) honor that made me beam with pride in our team. Abi Ortscheid said in a recent PMAssist post that a 2 year old vendor winning AOTY might be a record. She also said “[Blanket] came into this industry asking one simple question: “How can we help you?’”

I am so thankful that’s the impression we’ve made, and I think it’s a perfect example of RoR! Being so new to the industry, we never could have expected AOTY. But as RoR tends to do, it takes you by surprise. We didn’t strategize, plan, or “hack” our way to AOTY. We simply trusted what Peter and property managers have known for a long time: Relationships come first ☝️

Good night 😴

Lior Abramovich
Co-founder, CEO