Maintenance Call Center – Propertyware

How Contact Centers Improve Work/Life Balance for Property Management Staff

Leah Mendes — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 14:21:34 +0000

Sometimes, the simple things can improve work/life balance in property management. Just having someone there to pick up the phone, answer an email or respond to a live chat request can give a leasing staff much needed breathing room, no matter the time of day or night. Single family property managers can’t always be there to take every leasing inquiry or maintenance call, especially when call volumes are high. And believing that most prospects or tenants will call back if they don’t get an answer or reply right away is a false assumption. Covering the bases and providing a great customer experience can be stressful without a little help. “Running a business is not an easy task, which we all know typically comes with wearing a ton of hats,” said rental industry leader Hannah Lau, a Vice President of Operations at RealPage, Inc. “We have found during office hours that the contact center can capture 50 percent of calls that would have gone to voicemail, of which 80 percent will not leave a message and 55 percent won’t inquire again.” Associates at Blackwell Property Management in Charles Town, W.V. know first-hand the value of a contact center. Since choosing Propertyware Contact Center, the full-service property management company has been able to focus on improved customer service and grow business knowing that inbound inquiries are getting handled around the clock.

Enabling staff life after business hours

“Propertyware Contact Center gave us back our private lives, so for the first time we can really leave work behind when we leave the office,” said associate Melissa Francis. Propertyware Contact Center ensures management companies like Blackwell Property Management are open for business after hours. Professionally-trained, live agents are an extension of the front office, capturing every leasing call and email and offering 24/7 maintenance request support on multiple channels. The Leasing Contact Center ensures every call and email is answered in real-time, no exceptions, by live agents who are trained to fit the specific needs of the property and sales strategy. The solution has proved to enable users to sign 2.7 times more leases.

Improving customer service without hiring new employees

Patrick Blood said the Contact Center has enabled Blackwell Property Management to improve service without adding headcount. The company’s property listings have doubled in size as a result. “When a client calls they are speaking with someone who’s seeing their account live,” he said. “This attention to detail has allowed us to double our doors in the past year, taking us from 200 to 400 properties under management.” A contact center enables properties to optimize workforces, understand where their leads originate, gain market visibility and deliver consistent quality, among other advantages. Maintenance teams have become essential to the image of property management companies over the years. The Propertyware Contact Center is committed to providing a great tenant experience when repairs or services need to be completed. A proprietary dispatching system allows maintenance techs or vendors to listen to a recording of the conversation between the tenant and the Contact Center agent. This allows the technician to become familiar with the issue, even before even contacting the tenant. In addition, the vendor is provided with a work order with pertinent details in your Propertyware system, such as the issue, whether or not pets are inside, and if there are locks on the door. It’s a level of customer service that goes above and beyond. “We’d need two more eight-hour shifts to match the benefits we receive from the Propertyware Contact Center,” Blood said. Learn how Propertyware Contact Center can support your business.

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How Much Money it Costs Your Company to Answer Phone Calls

pwadmin — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 21:55:20 +0000

So, you’re an awesome property manager and for the most part, you love your career. However, being a property manager can be tough, right? However, there are ways to help you get your life back on track while providing a customer service level that decreases property owner and tenant churn (which both cost you money). Have you ever calculated a true monetary and social cost for your business for time spent answering phone calls? How about for employing staff that primarily handles phone calls?

Finding the right solution

There are solutions available that can help ease your pain. One option is to get an auto-attendant answering service. Still, that’s just a step below an old-school voicemail, and surveys confirm that people detest this kind of service. You could also hire someone to answer your calls, but that can prove to be very expensive. When hiring someone, there is much more than a salary to consider. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly cost for compensating a private sector employee is $30.80 once all employer expenses are added in. Before you make this particular decision ask yourself, do I understand all of the IRS reporting rules applicable to employees and independent contractors? Am I ready for that paperwork nightmare? Additionally, when hiring employees or independent contractors, all market indicators point toward payroll costs exploding. Even hiring part-time staff to answer your phone calls may not be cost-effective and the golden rule, “You get what you pay for” typically applies. You may also think, I already have staff. Let’s think about that for a second. If someone on your staff is in the middle of a task, and he or she is interrupted by a leasing or maintenance phone call, how much time and enthusiasm are they really going to devote to that particular call? As good as your staff may be, no one can be in multiple places at the same time. At any given time, your staff is probably missing inbound revenue-generating leasing calls. You’ve invested your money into advertising to make your phone ring, but how effective is your company with answering the calls that come in?

A contact center can be an effective tool

So, what’s the best solution to solve this daily dilemma? With proper organization and the deployment of the right resources, you can keep both your tenants and property owners happy. Many property managers are using contact centers to support business phone calls. If you have decided to outsource your phone calls, you obviously still want anyone calling your office to feel as though they are calling directly into your office. You do not want them to feel like they’re calling a generic answering service. It is possible to prevent call interruptions, and you can accomplish this for less money and headache than hiring or allocating staff. You can, of course, research multiple call center vendors, but the best and first place to start is with your property management software provider. You owe it to yourself to do the research to save your company money, maximize efficiency and reduce stress.

Jimmy Warlick works in the sales department at Propertyware and has been with RealPage for seven years. He has worked in the property management industry for 12 years. Before joining Propertyware, Jimmy served in the United States Air Force in Europe and also worked for the U.S. Justice Department. Jimmy is a University of Texas at Dallas graduate and calls the DFW area his home, where he lives with his wife and two daughters.

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4 Ways a Contact Center Improves Customer Service

Leah Mendes — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 14:19:00 +0000

No one likes to wait in our world of instant connection – people are used to getting what they want, when they want. Sitting on hold can be a frustrating experience for a perspective owner or tenant. And if they don’t get the information they need after finally talking to someone, they can form a negative perception of the company. A July 2015 study by Consumer Reports, “The Problem with Customer Service”, shows Americans are fed up with poor customer service and highlights some of their top irritants. Here are just a few most of us have experienced at one point, and the percentage of people who find these areas highly annoying:

75 percent – not being able to get in contact with a live person
66 percent – long hold times
65 percent – a proposed a solution that was useless

The divide between good customer service and bad customer service is growing rapidly. Cutting corners to save costs is no longer an option to stay competitive in the market. Businesses are expected to reduce hold times, provide well-trained customer representatives empowered with information, and stay engaged in social media to respond to inquiries and feedback. Your customer service isn’t only benchmarked in a caller’s mind with other single family property management companies down the street. They’re ranking their call experience against all the customer service interactions they have had, including those from companies like Amazon, Zappos and Southwest Airlines. And you want to measure up. So what should you do to step up your customer experience? Here are 4 reasons to implement a 24/7 contact center today.

1. Stop Missing Opportunities

You’ve spent a lot advertising dollars and time getting perspective owners and tenants to call your office…don’t miss their call. Leasing agents are missing up to 40 percent of incoming calls, and chances are high those callers won’t be calling back. A well-staffed contact center provides professional, around-the-clock coverage so you do not miss out on the next great opportunity!

2.Quickly Respond To Inquiries

When a property can quickly and effectively respond to service requests, tenants take notice – and tell their friends. A great contact center takes and prioritizes requests, then provides follow-up to ensure resolution. Deliver a customer service experience that quickly and effectively resolves their issues.

3. Deliver Expert Help When They Want It

Well-trained call center staff can offer specific information about properties and answer questions when your staff is unavailable. This makes the entire experience seamless for perspective owners, tenants and current residents, saving property managers and staff time. Set yourself apart from the rest with a contact center equipped with knowledgeable professionals.

4. Meet Your Business Needs

Property managers balance countless responsibilities on a daily basis – a contact center is a flexible solution to a growing business or times of the year when demands are high. Use a contact center to become more accessible to callers without hiring more staff or keeping the office open late. Interested in learning more? Visit us online or give us a call at 855-782-5790 to learn more about how Propertyware’s Contact Center will improve customer service and grow your single family business.

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