Communication And Customer Service Critical In Property Management

Did you know the number one reason a landlord leaves an agency is due to poor communication? It seems such a simple thing but rarely is it executed properly in property management.

Communication and customer service go hand in hand, if you aren’t communicating with your landlord, you certainly aren’t providing good customer service either. A lot of property management companies deliver similar technology, they are governed by the same laws and regulations and have similar fees, however,  the one area an agency can really stand out in the crowd is Customer Service.

Good communication and customer service 101:

1. Have a procedure for returning calls to clients – within 24 hours ideally. 
2. Have a procedure for the types of situations you need to communicate with clients – all emergency repairs must be communicated, all rental breaches and every time a tenant vacates.
3. Have a policy to regularly reach out to clients for ‘positive’ communication when nothing is actually wrong with the property. When you think about it the only time we really reach out to a landlord is generally when something goes wrong. How nice would it be every week to call a few owners and advise, “Everything is going great, I just wanted to touch base and tell you that!”.
4. In our technology-driven era email is often the key form of communication, but picking up the phone is a more personalised means of communication and in the time you have written one email, you can probably speak to three landlords.
5. Giving owners online access to information regarding their property is a great way to ensure owners can access information when it suits them, simply with the click of a button.