EPM: Customer Service
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9 things I’d do as a Property Manager during COVID-19
COVID-19: There is no point of reference for Businesses, Property Managers, Owners and Tenants to refer to, because we’ve never been through this before. This is not “Business As Usual”, and it could be quite a while before a normal operating rhythm returns. To negotiate this period, here’s 9 things I’d be focussed on. Scripts and PracticeThis is one from my days as a BDM, …
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What to do about that bad review
Today I want to focus on rating websites, which is an area we all love. There are so many to choose from, and you need to work out which ones will get you the most leverage and best position online, so you’re visible to the consumer. The problem is how do we get the consumer to share across all review portals and websites. …
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What matters most
Why is there the need for more innovation in property management in Australia? It’s because renting a property is such a difficult experience in this country,filled with administrative tasks – from communicating with stakeholders, filing paperwork, meeting legal requirements or dealing with maintenance issues. This rings true for everyone involved in the process. Also, today’s customer expectations mean they have less patience for much of the service levels now on offer, …
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Toad-ally got this: Debbie Palmer
One of my favourite stories that I share in my coaching and training sessions is about what was thought to be an incurable disease within the property management department. The story starts as most do. Once upon a time, there was a man with an incurable disease known as toadulitus. He had consulted many doctors and specialists, but no one had a cure for him. …
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The best way to handle negative reviews
The latest review platform, outside Facebook and Google, for property management departments, is a website called ‘Don’t Rent Me’. I recommend you check it out if you’re not familiar, to see whether you or your agency has been featured on what they call ‘The Wall of Shame’. Following many telephone calls and messages from property managers wanting guidance in how to manage these negative reviews, …
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How to perfect the customer experience: Danelle Hunter
“I don’t like being quiet,” says Danelle Hunter. It’s why she chose a career in property management and what keeps her so responsive to her clients. Danelle’s customer service dedication culminated in 2017 with a win at the AREAs, where she took the title for Excellence in Customer Service – Residential. But it’s clear that Danelle isn’t in it for the recognition; …
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How Transparency Creates Trust: Jess Kindt
It is widely known that real estate agents are categorised amongst the least trustworthy of professions within Australia. So how do we turn this stigma around with our clients? How do we establish a relationship of trust so that we can build loyalty amongst our client base? No one has all the answers, but since changing my approach to clients I have successfully achieved 100 per cent client retention for going on 12 months and have managed to grow our business exponentially through personal referrals. …
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Lauren Kirk: Is Your Customer in Control?
When it comes to service, consciously or unconsciously your customers expect you to provide an excellent experience at every point of the transaction. Lauren Kirk looks at what you can do to meet their expectations while staying in control of the process. Think about the way you communicate: emails, texts, Facebook messages, WhatsApp, phone calls, Instagram, Snapchat; the list goes on and on and can become a little overwhelming at times. …
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How to achieve a 100 per cent customer retention rate: Danelle Hunter
Keeping customers content is one of the biggest challenges of the real estate industry. While property continues to be Australia’s preferred method of investment, owners seek assurance that their agent is managing their asset with utmost care and many won’t settle for anything less. Danelle Hunter has five simple steps to keep your customers smiling and secure the future of your sustained success. …
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How to make the property manager switch seamless this Christmas: Danelle Hunter
To landlords, changing property managers can seem like a lot of effort, and it is often perceived as something that requires painful amounts of paperwork and rep tape. In fact, I have known customers who have chosen to stay with sub-par property managers far longer than they should have – simply to avoid the headache! However, with Christmas just around the corner, …
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Great Expectations
Technology can help you to create the best possible experience for your clients. Here are a few questions to ask yourself when deciding on the right technology to elevate the client experience and effectively position your business for the future. 1. DOES IT MAKE INFORMATION ACCESSIBLE? You don’t need to control every bit of information that flows to your clients. They shouldn’t need to call or email you every time they want the answer to a simple question. …
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Tennis or Paintball?
COMMUNICATION WITH clients is key to succeeding in our industry, as we have all heard. However, many workshops and seminars fail to give us critical information on what to say within the conversation to achieve the goal, or how to get our message across effectively. Rebecca Fogarty explains how to serve up a great dialogue. WE HAVE BEEN told to communicate often, …
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The Great After-Hours Phone Debate
A CURSORY GLANCE THROUGH any of our industry social media groups shows story after story about the trials and tribulations of being responsible for the dreaded after-hours ‘emergency’ phone. In an industry renowned for staff churn and burnout, Brock Fisher asks: Why does it have to be this way? In a previous role was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, …
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A Reputation for the Extraordinary
How important is customer service in growing and sustaining your business? For Michelle Williams of @home Property Management Solutions, it’s everything. However, she was disappointed when instead she recently learned many business owners are looking for a ‘quick fix’ solution to rent roll growth. Recently I was asked to be part of a round table discussion forum where each speaker had a different topic around business growth; …
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When Property Age Is an Advantage
FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS who have older property listings on their books, a reminder about tax deductions can help secure investor buyers for older properties. Bradley Beer explains. While it’s sometimes true that older properties will later result in additional expenses due to the need to complete more regular repairs, many expenses involved in holding an old or new income-producing property are tax deductible. …
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Quality Time
What’s the difference between an average property manager and an amazing property manager? Many will answer: communication. But how can you be a great communicator if you are constantly rushed off your feet? Sophie Lyon takes a lesson from a gentler pace of life and reveals how to make every moment count. I had a birthday recently. Not a significant one but, scarily, I can see the big 5-0 from where I am standing now. …
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How Happy Are Your Clients, Really?
What is the best way to collect and measure how your clients feel about your services? Brock Fisher outlines the key elements and most common mistakes. If you are passionate about measuring the customer experience and keen to implement measuring tools, there are two books that you should read: The Ultimate Question and The Ultimate Question 2.0 by Fred Reichheld. Mr Reichheld is one of the world’s foremost authorities on customer loyalty and the metrics attached to it, …
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Numbers Game – Segmenting Landlords
In his latest book ‘Numbers Game’, Ben White profiles four different types of landlords that have very different needs. APMASPHERE HAS worked with hundreds of agencies over the last eight years,and we’ve distilled our learnings into a series of books. Numbers Game is the third and latest book in this series in which we explore lessons from agencies that have achieved great success, …
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Seven Fundamental ‘Screaming’ Realities of Customer Service
QUALITY SERVICE, EXCELLENCE, benchmarking and best practice have become the fundamental rules of business today. Your customers are more demanding than ever and your service standards may make or break. Colin Pearce explains the realities of what it takes to keep them happy. 1 CUSTOMER SERVICE MANNERS ARE A PRIORITY You know as well as I that getting it right for our customers is vital. …
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The Grass Could Definitely Be Greener
IN THE 2020 REPORT1 by Elite Agent Magazine, there was some discussion on the types of jobs and roles that you might see in real estate in the future. Domain Property Advocates (DPA), under the guidance of Director Melanie Dennis, is already leading the way with the use of their own in-house makeover team, and improving owner ROI in many innovative ways. …
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Enough’s Enough: When To Let Landlords Go
A difficult landlord can be a strain on resources both physically and psychologically, but making a decision to fire them isn’t always easy. Natalie Hastings helps you decide if a client is worth keeping. IF YOU’RE A property management professional you’ve been there. An insufferable, unreliable, disrespectful or unkind landlord has made your life, or the lives of your tenants or your team, …
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Look after your tenants and turn your PM portfolio into gold
What’s your property management portfolio worth? To many agencies it’s a pain, but it should be a gold mine says Dawie Verryne, CEO of Property IQ. In Australia there are anywhere between 380,000 and 550,000 residential property sales per year. On average, 30% of those sales are to first home buyers (the current figure may be greater). So who are these first home buyers? …
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13 Proven Strategies To Help You Retain Your Clients
Client retention is one of the best ways to unlock a sustainable income stream in your property management business. What follows are 13 proven strategies from Jo Oliveri that will help you retain your clients and take you closer to the ultimate end goal: financial freedom. CLIENT INDUCTION: CONSISTENT AND ONGOING Just like you induct new members of your team, you must give your clients an induction too. …
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100% Guaranteed
Are you prepared to pay when a team member makes an honest mistake? Tara Bradbury explains the advantages of having a property management guarantee in place. HAVING A property management department guarantee in place is fantastic for the Business Development Manager (BDM) because they can use it as a selling tool during the listing presentation. It is now fairly common to see an investor horror story on A Current Affair or Today Tonight. …
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The One Number You Need to Know
Harvard Business Review calls Net Promoter Score (NPS) “the one number you need to know to grow your business”. Having had such a positive impact on Rental Express, Samantha McLean spoke to Managing Director Chris Rolls to find out how it works. Global companies like Apple, GE, Phillips and American Express started measuring it a couple of years ago, Qantas announced in June this year they are implementing it, …
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Tenants with Pets: the Pros and Cons
Property Management Expert Debbie Palmer recounts her experiences, as well as the pros and cons of leasing to tenants with pets. When I first started my career in property management, almost 20 years ago, I was very naive about the pros and cons of accepting pets as co-habitants to the property. It wasn’t until I had a couple of years’ experience with pets in properties that I started to form an opinion on the issue. …
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As Easy as ABC
It’s easy to make your agency even more successful by returning to the basics of good business. To shine in customer service, go back to the classroom and rethink your ABCs. A is for Attitude; B is for Business Knowledge; C is for Customer Satisfaction We all know the essential ingredients of what makes great customer service; after all, we are all customers ourselves. …
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Communicate, Educate, Initiate!
Tracey Bulmer reveals her secrets to making sure your relationships with your tenants remain calm, happy and rewarding – for them, and for you! As most Property Managers who have been in the industry for a while will agree, the job at hand can sometimes be very testing. A large component of this can pertain to the interaction of dealing with clients, …
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Task or Portfolio Manager
Stacey Holt from Real Estate Excellence looks at the pro’s and con’s of both methods of department operations. In recent years, task management instead of portfolio management has become popular. This may have occurred for a number of reasons, such as increasing legislation and demand for increased services from clients. It may also have occurred due to risk management. Of the many agencies I have had the privilege of working with over the years, …
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Keeping In Touch: Seven steps to relationship bliss with your landlords
Never before has there been so much pressure to keep in touch and connect with clients; to have a relationship beyond obtaining approval on repairs. The main reason for this relationship is future referral and business growth. Research tells us this is the way your business and client base will grow. So how can you build successful relationships in Property Management that keep you on top of your game? …
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How well do you treat your tenants?
As the age old saying goes, “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. It is simple enough and easy enough to put into practice, yet, in the world of renting, this isn’t always the culture emanating from our property management departments towards our tenants. Tracey Bulmer explains why this needs to change. As the age old saying goes, “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. …
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What Customers Really Want
How can we truly provide service excellence if we don’t really understand how our customers think? One of the easiest ways to understand what makes them tick is simply to ask. Steven Brett continues his customer service series. You should identify those times in the life of the customer when the service they receive from you is critical and survey them immediately afterwards. …
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The “Where” and “Why” of Customer Service
It seems to confirm what a lot of real estate agents may have known all along; that good old fashioned ‘word of mouth’ or ‘referral’ business is the key. In the last issue, we defined the overall concept of great customer service. With an understanding of just ‘what’ customer service involves, we now move on to the ‘where’ and ‘why,’ beginning with a closer look at where great service lives in your business. …
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The Relationships That define A Property Manager
As we countdown to the commencement of the new tenancy legislation, never before have the relationships of a Property Manager been as important or ’key’ to their success as now. Terry Christianos discusses why. As property managers and professionals, we represent 4 distinct groups of people – Landlord, Tenant, Principal/Business Owner and other Third Parties that are essential to our job. …
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What Tenants Want
As simple as it sounds, one of the most common complaints made by tenants is that their Property Manager does not return their calls. With the low vacancy rates enjoyed by investors and Property Managers alike over recent years some may say,Who cares what tenants want?” Although there may be plenty more tenants in the sea and no need to offer gym memberships, …
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