A successful property management company is built upon strong relationships with your residents, but also your property owners. To grow your business, you need to demonstrate that your property firm can deliver on renting properties quickly, reducing turnover, conducting effective maintenance and increasing profitability. In short, the strong owner relationships that will help you grow your business are a direct result of excellent customer service and delivering tangible results and value to the owners.
Here are some key strategies to will help you build stronger business relationships.
Offer Operational Transparency
Property owners don’t want to be kept in the dark about the status of their buildings and its operations. You can build strong relationships with owners by enabling transparent, personalized communication through an owner portal that they can access at any time to see real-time information about the daily operations properties, like inspection reports and work orders for repairs and maintenance.
The beauty of an owner portal is that it is self-serve, keeping owners in the loop 24/7. They get on-demand information whenever (and wherever) they want it, and can also see exactly what is going on with their property at any time. Equally as important, it helps save your time so you can concentrate on doing the work that matters – delivering value to the owners.
Communicate Frequently and Proactively
In addition to being able to have self-serve access to property information, owners also want to hear from you and know they can reach you when they need to. Through the owner portal, you can provide timely communication and any pertinent updates to their properties. You can schedule reports to go out at the first of the month, or send details about any new issues or challenges that have arisen.
While some owners are hands-off, many do want to be a part of the decision-making process and expect regular updates. Our property customers use the Property Vista communication module to streamline and maintain regular contact with owners via phone, email or text.
Savvy property firms leverage their owner portal to survey owner clients and ask for feedback on an annual or semi-annual basis. This way, you can address any issues immediately, and keep your clients happy.
Drive Up Retention Levels
While some tenants will leave due to issues out of your control, loss of job or moving for a new career opportunity, many tenants leave over very solvable issues, like repairs not completed to the level of tenant satisfaction. Owner relationships strengthen when they are confident that you are reducing turnover costs and retaining as many quality tenants as possible. When there is an available unit, getting in new tenants quickly.
Taking advantage of technology and digital tools like automated ILS listings, online applications and integrated screening tools shows owners that you can attract new tenants where needed. (And, by empowering tenants to pay rent online, owners know they are improving their cash flow and reducing costs.) The ability to digitalize the leasing cycle, and capture electronic signatures for lease renewals helps streamline your processes and maximize lease renewals, as nothing falls through the cracks.
Provide Secure Access to Financial Statements
In addition to accessing daily operations, owners want to know just how well their buildings are doing financially. When you can give owners real-time data and customizable dashboards, you empower them with the insights they need to make faster, more informed decisions. Dashboards allow owners to drill down by building or by region to see how properties are performing or to compare buildings to look for opportunities.
And, owners want to know that any financial information is for their eyes only. For example, property firms using Property Vista software can share financial reports with a simple click using the integrated permissions tool. Unlike downloaded reports, presentations, and email attachments, shared reports guarantee the data remains safe, secure and fully in your control.
How Property Vista Helps
Keeping your property investors and owners informed is vital, so Property Vista makes “managing up” easier, maintaining a healthy bottom line and happy stakeholders. By providing your owners with convenient anytime-anywhere tools, proactively communicating, and looking for ways to add value, you can strengthen your relationships and grow your business. To see our pricing and arrange a demo, visit PropertyVista.com/pricing.
