How Property Managers Can Improve Business Relationships Using Software Tools

Property management is a “people” business. The better their relationships are with owners, tenants and vendors, the more successful and smooth life is for property managers.

But fostering good relationships doesn’t depend wholly on a sunny personality. In addition to making you more efficient, today’s software tools deliver benefits that directly impact how you get along with the people you interact with each day.

Here are some of the ways they do this.

Better maintenance makes for better relationships

Maintenance is at the top of the list of critical roles for property managers, and handling it in a timely manner with good communication all around can put a smile on everyone’s face.

You probably won’t be able to consistently accomplish this using sticky notes and phone calls. That’s a recipe for irritation and misunderstandings. But when you manage maintenance online, maintenance tasks are perfectly coordinated, with owners, tenants and service people on the same page all the way through to completion. Scheduling and status of work orders, responsibilities and costs are clear and understood by all. It’s a sure way to better relationships.

For an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction, you can have a contact center to back your busy people and take maintenance calls, freeing up staff for other responsibilities.

Paying accurately and on time has payoff

What happens when you receive an invoice? If you're like many property managers, it goes into your inbox or a file and you get to it when you have time. This is, of course, an invitation to mistakes and late or missing payments.

An online accounting system not only saves time in managing all those invoices and the accounts payable process. It reduces paper, saves storage space in filing cabinets and helps ensures everyone gets paid accurately and on time. That’s a good way to keep your service providers happy, loyal and responsive.

Property inspection apps reduce misunderstandings

Inspections can be a source of misunderstandings, not to mention a huge time-sink. But a mobile property inspection app lets you conduct move-in and move-out inspections right there at the property on a mobile device, attaching digital photos to the items on the list so everything is tightly documented. No more trips back to the office for data entry. The reports are immediately available to owners – no more waiting for the mail. Mobile inspections with online access to reports have proven to be a major owner-pleaser.

Access to information makes for happier tenants and owners

Maintenance and inspections are just two of the many areas where software improves communication, and better communication improves relationships.

In discussing what makes a good property manager, The Cooperator says: "a property manager needs to be able to listen and communicate, as well as be proactive and involved, current and knowledgeable."

A big help in keeping everyone in the loop without a lot of time and effort is the use of tenant and owner portals. Some property managers have reported that the Propertyware Owner Portal is so impressive at first sight that it has resulted in signing up new owner/clients on the spot. What they love is not having to call, email or visit the office to stay on top of what’s going on with their properties. Maintenance issues, financial information, reports and all of the things they want to stay on top of being right there in the owner portal, accessible 24 hours a day.

Tenants enjoy 24-hour access to information about maintenance and other issues as well – particularly when it’s coupled with the ability to make payments and service requests online. It’s another great example of software smoothing the relationship between tenant and property manager, and eliminating possible sources of misunderstanding.

Developing strong business relationships is key to long-term growth

Better business relationships pay off in two important ways. The first and most obvious is that frequent “issues” between you and your owners, tenants or service people will directly impact your growth and profitability. But there’s another benefit that even if a bit more subtle is likely just as important: job satisfaction – both yours and your people’s. The headaches that good software tools eliminate are the same ones that lead to compromised job performance, a stressful work environment, and employee turnover. A property management business that runs like a well-oiled machine using the latest software is a satisfying, upbeat place to work. When your owners, tenants, and service people are happy, it’s a whole lot easier to be happy yourself.

Take a free online tour of Propertyware today.