Humanizing Property Management

In recent posts we answered the questions, what do tenants want and also about what makes tenants happy. These are 2 extremely important questions. What questions have you asked as part of your business health checkup?

There’s one more key question: how do you personalize your relationship with tenants in the era of digital communications?

As someone who has been a tenant with many different landlords and property management companies throughout the decades, I can say with certainty that there is rift between tenants and property managers. Okay, rift might not the right word here. How about the word void instead?

How Do You Close the Gap?

The thing about this void between the both of you, is that communication will usually be weak. Talking to and engaging with tenants can be time consuming which is why you and they might avoid it.  How many landlords prefer silence to the possibility of face to face situations with renters?

Familiarity might breed contempt? It’s conceivable that some tenants might not like you personally so a professional online conversation might help you keep relations smooth.

And without good communication, property management performance is more about luck and wishful thinking.

Chances are tenant turnover will be worse with a distant property manager. Distance makes it easy to leave and perhaps not be responsible for their actions. With personalized contact, tenants relax and enjoy your conversation.  It’s your opportunity to ease their discomfort and keep them as a tenant, regardless of what issues they might be experiencing.

One thing for sure, tenant turnover and negative tenant reviews online are something to be avoided.

Where Will You Get the Time?

Property managers like yourself juggle a lot of properties and challenges. I’m not sure how many you manage yourself right now, but it’s likely you’ll be managing a larger portfolio in future.

If you’ve got 100 to 200 properties, maintaining personal contact is tough so you’re not exactly top of mind with tenants. What if you streamline personal relations and focus on tenants who need that interpersonal touch, while maintaining a helpful connection with all the others?

Tech’s Effect Depends on How You Use It

Technology has had a unfortunate effect of alienating people via email, voice messaging, and web page help, yet the solution for personalizing relations can also be achieved via Proptech.

Proptech has a nice way of informing and soothing emotionally upset tenants before you speak with them. I’m sure you’ve had some angry phone calls and demanding tenants knocking on the door. And those thoughts bother you.

Using tech is more than customer service efficiency though.  It’s about optimizing customer relations in 2019.

Here’s 5 Easy Ways You Can Improve Customer Relations in 2019

1. Become software empowered – give yourself and staff better, 24 hour, and faster outreach to tenants. Gen Z’s, Millennials, Gen X’s and Babyboomers all report liking digital communications, especially via their smartphones. Every year, people grow more comfortable with these devices, which means technology is now within their comfort zone.

Go digital and use Proptech communications and business tools to make bookkeeping, accounting, and lease management a breeze for you and your tenants. Wiping away troublesome details and requests makes them like you more. But have a process in mind, and a goal of pleasant resolutions, that will govern your communications with them. Careful with spontaneous text messages that might send you in the wrong direction.

2. Engage customers via Facebook – social media has to be managed professionally. Yet an infrequent communication via Facebook can bring you into their personal sphere, and create a personal connection that can make your business communications more pleasant. If you can learn a little about them, it helps, and they might like that transparency which is part of relationships.

3. Engage customers via your software’s tenant communications feature – using ManageCasa’s communications feature, you’re creating conversations with a context. It’s entirely contained within the software program which makes conversations/requests more focused and less confusing. Your messages become part of an ongoing conversation that ensures them you resolve issues satisfactorily and hear them clearly.

4. Tie communications to your website help pages, customer chat, and messaging features  – it leverages your software and your website to help tenants learn more and perhaps resolve issues before they call you. With less micromanagement, you have more time to spend with tenants you need to spend time with.

5. Communicate clearly, concisely, with the right details – this helps resolve their problem, gets them focused to give you the right information so your responses are appropriate.

Property Management Software Platform

Your ManageCasa property management software helps you reach tenants, communicate clearly to all of them simultaneously, and get the responses or info you need from them. It doesn’t waste their time, create new issues or friction, or get overly personal, and fits in with their preference for digital mobile solutions.

Where an uneasy void between you and a stranger once existed, you’ve created some discussion and familiarity. And the more value you have to offer tenants, the more they’ll want to hear from you. Tenants are the lifeblood of your modern, large portfolio property management business. Use software to connect with them. It’s how it’s done today.

If you haven’t tried ManageCasa, why take the time to discover how you can optimize everything from accounting to document management to customer relations all on one platform. Make your work easier.

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Tips for Landlords and Property Managers

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