Netintegrity Blog

Property managers have a lot of responsibilities but if they can’t effectively collect fees from their customers then they can’t do much else. While it may be cliché, it’s true – cashflow is the lifeblood of any business, so property managers find effective, efficient, and convenient methods to collect payments to enable growth, enhance customer service, and optimize planning.

Property management companies make tons of financial transactions every month from receivables to payables between customers and vendors. The ACH/EFT network is generally very secure, in the first quarter of 2020, ACH payments in the US increased over 7% but approximately less than 1% of transactions were returned as invalid, of that 1%, only a fraction is a result of fraudulent activity. The problem with ACH/EFT fraud is that the large value of payments and the potential breach of sensitive customer data which can hurt a company’s customer relationships as well as their public reputation.

Having vacancies for too long can be bad for business, they can reduce cashflow, customer satisfaction, and employee morale. No matter how well you advertise or how well you maintain your customer relationships there will be turnover and vacancies. While it’s less than ideal, it’s not an impossible situation, here are 5 strategies to reduce the time units spend vacant.

There has been an unprecedented growth of cloud-based software and SaaS platforms, Gartner estimated that cloud services would grow 17.5% in 2019 and continue to grow exponentially by 28% in 2022. The monumental movement to cloud-based software may have some property management companies weighing out whether or not there is enough reason to transition from self-hosted physical servers to a cloud-based SaaS platform. 

Communication is crucial to seamless and productive operations in any organization, but as businesses grow, maintaining strong communication can become increasingly difficult. According to a 2018 Gallagher study, 60% of companies do not have a long-term communication strategy, yet around 50% of those companies said that they wanted to prioritize improving leadership and communication.  Organizations that seek to improve the effectiveness of communication can integrate mobile apps into their strategy to extend the reach of communication and as a result improve employee engagement.

Of the 2.7 billion smartphone users and additional 1.35 billion tablet users worldwide, people are spending 90% of their time on apps rather than web-browsers. By offering employees access to their property management software from a mobile app creates, companies are providing a platform that is more adaptable to both their job and lifestyle. Apps available on smart devices provide additional efficiencies to users and can also facilitate a new and improved standard of productivity.

There is no question that customer relationships are crucial in the property management industry. The role of the customer has become increasingly significant, what once could be boiled down to the simple ubiquitous adage “the customer’s always right,” is now a customer-centric business model. For property managers to improve customer relations they must tailor service to suit customers’ the specific needs. To do this companies are using a concept called “Voice of the Customer (VoC)” which helps businesses determine how they can provide value to customers.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an essential element in the service industry. According to Gartner, the global CRM market was estimated to have grown to $48.2 million in 2018, the prominence of the CRM platform represents a shift in business emphasizing the focus on customer relations and customer-perceived value. CRM software is used to facilitate how companies interact with customers and prospects ensuring they follow that organization’s specific “principles, practices, and guidelines.” CRM is used to track interactions with customers, behavior, and trends to help businesses improve their customer service and customer appeal.

Offering an online knowledge base is a helpful in creating a complete and effective customer service strategy. 89% of customers expect companies to offer a self-service support portal, and Forrester research determined that the most frequently used self-service platforms are knowledge bases. A strong and comprehensive online knowledge base can come in many forms: a website, FAQ, manual – even social media, or it can be a combination of multiple platforms.

Signing a new client is great, it is rewarding, validating, and exciting. Generating new leads and converting prospects is huge part of staying operational but developing strategies to retain customers is arguably more crucial than converting leads. Repeat customers typically account for 65% of a company’s current business so, a focus on retention is beneficial for property management companies looking to expand their portfolio. After you bring a new customer on board the goal becomes oriented around keeping that customer, but only about 32% of executives say that retaining current customers is a priority.