There are business models in all shapes and sizes. There are retail stores, medical and legal practices, cleaning companies, general contractors, grocery stores, etc. So when you think about a business, how many business models do you know of where the business owner outsources the entire business to another party? For instance, if you visit your local grocery store, is it managed by a grocery management company? How about a retail store management company? So what makes the residential real estate investment business any different? Why are there so many property management companies and outsourced service providers to the property industry?

According to a colleague of mine, the answer is quite simple, “It is not easy, there is so much at stake, and there are many moving parts.” Also, when you think about properties as investments, there are often multiple partners and joint venture groups who own the assets. In those cases, the managing partner realizes they do not have enough time or expertise to do all of the functions required of them to maximize the value of the asset. That is what outsourcing offers.

As a property manager outsourced by these partnerships, the responsibility of managing that asset is crucial in so many ways. First of all you have been selected by the partner on the management of the asset. All of the actions you take as the manager or management company directly reflect onto the reputation of that partner or company that made the decision to hire you.

Next you have the individual people that make up the partnership. In each case, the goal of the investment with each partner is diverse. Whether there is one partner or 100, each one has their own individual investment objective. For instance, one partner may be investing because they have young children and the investment is intended to be a college fund. Another partner may be saving for their retirement. The point is that in managing the property there are many significant outcomes to decisions and actions of the property manager.

Remember, the actions you take need to be considered as part of a global picture. Each action impacts the value of the property. Now enter the customers. The actions of the property customers (aka tenants) also play a pivotal role in the value of the asset as well. For instance, if a tenant does not pay rent, the cash flow of the property is impacted. This is a business and the business must be financially healthy to exist. There are services and debts that the business is obligated to support as well. So if the rent is not collected in a timely fashion, there may be consequences to the service providers looking to be paid. The service providers are outsourced too. Those service providers need to be respected and considered as they are a vital resource to the property ecosystem and the operations.

The entire ecosystem of the property needs to flow in a healthy and respectful manner. If there are members of the ecosystem that do not respect the life cycle of the asset, there is imbalance. An imbalance is what causes tremendous pressure on the other members of the ecosystem. For instance, if a tenant does not pay, there is not enough cash flow to pay the electric bill. If the electric bill is late, there is a penalty. When a penalty occurs, it further erodes the income. When the income becomes eroded, other service providers suffer since the invoices cannot get paid on time. It is necessary to understand how all the actions of the parties involved will affect each other.

When issues arise, keep the ecosystem or big picture in mind. Each move matters and each party to the property ecosystem can make or break the healthy cycle. Hold every member of the ecosystem accountable. Follow up and follow through on everything! Make sure you have an excellent command of the property and your communication to all parties is crystal clear. As with all business habits, be fair and honest about how everyone must work together. If one party falls short of their obligation, be sure to put them on notice. Do not hesitate to follow the letter of the lease or contract or whatever you are obligated to enforce on behalf of the partners who own the property.

Being a property manager is exciting and rewarding, but it does require hard work and the ability to view the business from a holistic perspective. It can be a challenge to maintain the ecosystem, but as long as you’re always looking out for your partners’ (owners, tenants, and service providers) best interests, you will feel gratified about the work being done with the property. Your owners and investors will be pleased that you are increasing their properties’ value, and your tenants will be happy about their living situation.

“More content available at All Things Property Management by Buildium, industry leaders in Online Property Management Software.”

Peoria Charter Service Bus

If I get hit by a bus…..

Everyday in my training to those on my team, I would repeat certain sayings that I felt were important to ingrain and teach those that I cared about or those that I felt had what it would take to become a good property manager or overall employee. One of my classics was …If I get his by a bus, the next guy will be able to…….

Well the other day I did get hit by a bus (sic) and it did not hurt, it was actually pleasant! The bus that hit me was not moving but parked in a rest area taking a break. I noticed a huge mural painted on the side that stated ‘surf and ride’, but I knew there were no “waves or surf” around there, so I was my normal, curious self and I interviewed the bus driver to find out what this message was about. What I learned was so very interesting. The twist is that the bus has free wifi for its passengers. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so please view the bus photo in this article, which is a Peoria Charter Bus that travels between Champaign and Chicago, Illinois.

What a fabulous idea! A bus moving down the highway with wifi. How cool is that? I loved it. Of course it got me thinking about how neat it is when a business owner makes a decision to do something unexpected and innovative. The owner of this bus company believes that by providing wifi on his bus he betters his chances of getting you to ride his bus. This is not profound, it is simply good business.

Based on that concept, then why do we as property and facility managers not realize that by providing services, like wifi, or customer service online 24/7 or automated messages, or client document portals, that can really help grow our business? Why are we not running to get the services or subscriptions for our buildings and facilities? Is it us or is it the building owner? Who is really, driving the bus, to embracing technology in our world?

I find it amazing not to find automation or connectivity in every building or facility I visit. When I travel, I look for places with wifi. Why? Because quite frankly, I cannot work or play without it. Yes, I can use my smartphone as a hotspot now for my laptop, but there are times I need to have wifi. Where I work can change in a moment. I need to work where wifi exists, yet I trudge around looking for the service. IMHO nobody has grabbed this space yet (besides Starbucks, Panera, McDonalds) other than fast food, bookstores, airports, libraries, hotels, and (what is left?)….. No office buildings, retail stores, apartment communities, condominium buildings, medical buildings, and industrial complexes, have really embraced this yet. They are just not feeling the love for these services.

In our industry we have to realize that if a bus can roll down the highway at 65 miles per hour and offer FREE wifi service, should we as building managers embrace this for our clients and visitors too? It seems like a basic utility today, yet there are common areas throughout buildings all over America with no wifi, no online customer service, no 24/7 portals of information! It is the same old thing. Call the office between 9am – 5pm, or we will snail mail it to you or if you are lucky we can send it to you via email.

That spells o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-y in my book! Maybe your property can make a statement or get exposure by offering FREE wifi or online everything, 24/7. Maybe your company can make a statement and offer automated services of the basic paper you are pushing now. These efforts can be turned into exposure or marketing events for your property in the marketplace. They say being 1st is so very important. Why not make your property or company step up and take that step?

Alright, so you do not want to be first. That is totally understood. But guess what? You are NOT first in the world, just first in one small aspect of one single industry. Banking has totally embraced ATM, digital reports, cell phone apps, paperless checks, debit cards, and a host of other customer service tools. The airlines are online for everything. You can see your loved one’s flight online and watch the plane in the air, 24/7/365. Almost every single retailer or product you purchase has online services. You are not 1st in the world, just in our small part of one industry.

Try it by taking a baby step. Take one horribly painful task that is repetitive and paper intensive and think of how you can do it without paper or online or via a software as a service application (SaaS). Think of a communication step that you can use with automation. Once you start the conversation in your building or at your company, it will start to gain momentum. I can promise you that once you and your staff get a taste of efficiency or streamline a process, they will never look back. The only complaint you will get is, ‘Why did we not start this sooner?’

If you want to discuss solutions and ideas or a vision to take for your property or company, email or call me and I will be happy to listen and then may be able to make suggestions for solutions that are at your fingertips NOW! Call 312.725.0060 or email Linda@ManagerLabs.com.

Outsourcing of services has been around forever. Are you not outsourced yourself? So many of us are! If you own the property or building, you are not outsourced. Cloud computing is no different. It is simply a cost benefit analysis, coupled with the power of mobility, ease and efficiency. You do appreciate efficiency, right?

In so many cases we are about being mobile and we have not been good about customer service either. We need to change that. Our people and buildings need mobility and excellent customer service. Today it is not there yet. Cloud computing is the perfect compliment to our industry and our corporate needs. Not only will it reduce our overhead, but it will allow us to move faster and be more nimble. This is especially true in the strong need for our industry to increase collaboration and decrease redundancy.

This is certain.

Think about your own life and the services you find most convenient. Do you like to do business Monday through Friday from 9 to 5, or do you prefer doing business online 24/7/365? You need to think of the internet as an opportunity for your properties, facilities and companies to be open 24/7/365 as well. It is our job and our duty to our clients to capture as much traffic or service inquiries as humanly possible. It is called customer service. While your office may have the door closed and locked, the internet and your website should be open and ready for business. In essence your operation is open and available 24/7/365.  The cost is so miniscule compared to staffing, that it makes no sense to ignore the internet as a vital tool in your business.

Questions, just call us at Manager Labs for a 1/2 hour discussion on taking baby-steps into today’s world of making yourself strong, while the conditions are soft. You will be glad you did!

Q. How do I begin to automate or eliminate tasks that will make our property or facility management operations more efficient?

A. The most effective way to understand the task is to investigate. Or as I fondly think of this: investigate to automate or eliminate! The only way I have found to reduce our detail-laden industry is to follow each task like a detective and ask tons of questions. Hence the term, investigate!

In my past positions I would literally walk around and ask people what they were doing and why? I would also ask myself the same question about my own processes and procedures constantly. It was important for me to analyze what I was doing and reflect on how often that task would benefit our operation or company.

My favorite example is filing of anything made of paper. When I polled the staff on what task was the most hated, it was a unanimous vote of – FILING PAPER! Everyone hated it and felt it was wasteful. We began to analyze what we were filing and how we were filing it. Once we learned of the task, we began to measure the frequency of our need to access that paper we filed and how we accessed it: month, alphabetical, property name, client name, chronological, etc.

With a simple task such as filing, and changing your current ways, you will notice so much efficiency unfolding. You must analyze each task with the goal of either elimination or inclusion with another task to make it work smart for you! It may seem tedious, but property and facility management operations are so detail oriented that it really does require an in-depth analysis or investigation of what and why things are being done. Use this simple and short checklist. Post it around the office. Put it in your employee newsletter. Make this your motto – - Investigate to automate or eliminate!

• Think digital. Be sure all of your data and documents are on your server system.
• Follow the reports. Where are they being stored?
• Start a future cut-off date today. In other words, effective 2011, we will no longer ________________________.
• Whatever it is you are doing in 2010, try to stop doing it in 2011. Start a new method with a new year. It makes so much sense because it is easy to remember and document. For instance, if you print reports and file the reports in paper form. Stop all reports as of December 2010. Starting in January 2011, they will be in .pdf (portable document format) and filed in a certain folder on your server.
• Insure all MISSION CRITICAL folders on your server are backed up with a strict method in place. Back-ups need a back-up as well.
• What is inside all of those filing cabinets and how often are they retrieved?
• Back away from the copy machine.
• Stop using the fax machine and start using the scanner or only use the fax machine to scan it.
• How is it being filed/sorted? Is it by property or facility? How you file can make a difference in time and efficiency. By year, month, etc.
• Does everything need a file? Do you really need to file it at all? Keep digging and determining what you really need as compared to what it costs you to perform that task.

We have created a poll at trendycharts called ‘Investigate to Automate or Eliminate’ Are You Thinking Property and Facility Management Efficiency? We would love to see the trend in our industry today and how it evolves. What type of efficiency-minded thinker are you? Will this article change your mind about how you do think? Take the poll and let’s see how our industry is thinking today and into the future.

Remember:
Investigate to Automate or Eliminate.

Q. How do I use technology to generate more business/client/traffic leads for my company or property/facility?

A. Notice, the word ‘leads’? Leads because they are opportunities for business. In this simple blog post, there is no way to tell you how to improve your business itself without knowing a whole lot more information about your business. Leads are simply people making your phone ring, so to speak. In other words, if there are 10 people in your market looking for a business to hire, or an office space to lease, you MUST be sure you get to see those people and at least expose your business to them.

There is no difference in our work to lease or sell a property. If there are 10 opportunities to lease your space or your apartments, or your service centers or storefronts, don’t you push to be sure you see every single deal? The same holds true with your business. Just pretend you are a building owner and your business is a building. Why not push as hard for your business to feed it leads as you do your leasing or investment sales listings?

Here is a simple test: Search for your company or your building in Google Search. Did you find your company or your building? Remember, pretend you are the customer you want to attract. Now that you see what comes up, you need to work to see your business or property come up in that search! Once you see yourself come up in a Google Search, you have accomplished the goal.

Those techniques and tools are a must today if you are going to give your business a chance. In this blog post we share 1 single concept that reveals the most basic fundamental concept you MUST understand and have in place to give your business a chance to see those “new business deals” for your firm or property. If you are a start-up or an existing business, this blog post is of the utmost importance to understand.

Here is the key concept to comprehend………..drum roll, please.

Key Concept

You must have at least one or more versions of your business name, reserved as a domain name.

If you are a new business or an existing business, a new property or an existing property, get the best domain name that describes what you do or the full name of your property. If you can get a keyword in your legal name, that helps tell what you do, that is even better. If your business is a destination or is geographically significant, add the location to your name or geonaming, (made up word) which means, add your location to your domain name or putting your location in your social media names and microsites.

It is difficult to put all of your services into a domain name without it being long. For instance, Property Management, Facility Management or Property and Facility Management, coupled with other services typically provided: leasing, investment sales, project management, consulting, etc., is much too long. I suggest you get your main name reserved, as well as micro-sites in many different configurations. Here are some illustrative examples:

Chicago Property and Facility Management Services, Inc. (super long, but it does say what you do and where you are!) Today, keywords and name searches are really important, especially for mobile use.

http://www.chicagopropertyfacilitymanagementservices.com (Main domain)
http://www.chicagopmfmservices.com (Micro-site)
http://www.chgopmfm.com (Micro-site)

http://www.chicagofacilitymanagement.com

http://www.chicagopropertymanagement.com

http://www.chicagopm.com

http://www.chicagofm.com

http://www.chicagopmfm.com

http://www.chicagoleasing.com

http://www.cpmfms.com

On top of that, you can add the .net, .org, .us, or whatever other category of domain name is applicable to your country or type of business. If your main domain is too long, simply use a shorter version of your name and just forward the other domains to your main site through your domain hosting service. If you use a domain registration service such as GoDaddy, this is super simple and takes a few moments to set up. Now when someone searches for you, no matter what they use, they will find you. Also, the micro-sites are a great way to see what is working in your marketing and promotions. If you know that you always use http://www.chicagoleasing.com for ALL of your “hire us for our leasing” promotions, that traffic is directly attributable to your leasing efforts and is now tracked through that domain.

This is a concept and not an exact blueprint for every business, but in concept, do not limit yourself to one single domain name. Many domain names cost pennies to own and they belong to you once reserved. With the internet exploding and growing, reserve these names now for future use; but always point them to your main site. If you have a long established name, it is also a great way to liven things up in your marketing; add other names that point to your firm. How about http://www.thebestpropertymanagerinchicago.com? or http://www.greatestleasingbroker.com, depending on your business service or http://www.bestplumberinchicago.com, http://www.bestjanitorialinchicago.com, etc. Today with tools like NameCheckList, it is so simple and NameCheckList does all of the heavy lifting for you! There is no excuse any longer as you can now see a complete picture of the name availability of your domain, across multiple opportunties. There is no excuse for any business today, not to be online.

If you do not have the $11.00 to scrape together to reserve the domain name, at least do a Google Place page, Twitter site and Facebook Fan Page, or even Squidoo lens, which are all FREE. Every business should at least have a single page on the internet in some fashion. Reserving your domain name is really step one to embracing the technology available and insuring your company and/or your facility or property has a presence on the internet.

When it comes to your business or name, now is the time to set that up. This is not only your main domain, but your social media names as well. Our industry is so very behind the times, along with our properties. Each property or facility we manage should have their names and a location online to be found. The commercial real estate industry is in its infancy with the internet; so it is not too late. The point is to get your Facebook Fan Page (not Facebook account), Twitter Site, Google Places and domain set up now. Even if you do not have time to use it, at least get your names reserved for future use. Make a pact with your company to include a budget for each property in 2011 called Technology. Include an annual budget for a property website and domain registration. The budget should be at least $5.00 per month! Yes, you heard correct. I am talking about pennies here, just for a single page that gives the basic information. It truly is your job and responsibility to insure your clients and/or your company are not being left behind because you did not reserve the domain name for their company, property or facility.

Take this PM/FM Poll in trendycharts.com. trendycharts is the place to find out what other PM/FM think, so take the poll.

If you need help with this concept for your properties or firm, please send me an email or call me and I am happy to help. My personal agenda is to remind our industry to obtain a good domain name or social media name for their business or property and facility. It is a necessary business decision you must make today.

We are so very excited to show you a tool that is available to you if you can use your imagination for a few moments. Now visualize an LCD screen in your lobby, the script you wish to use, some electricity to the location, and an internet connection. A PM/FM, Stan Cappe out of, Canada did this many years ago, in fact, I think he said 8 years ago, using an ATM-like cabinet. Now, Stan did not have the avatar-like component, but he executed some awesome automation for his customers and building owner. Click the play arrow below to listen to Grace, our Manager Labs Site Desk Administrator!!

The cabinet that Stan utilized 8 years ago was just like a large piece of furniture. Today we can just mount an LCD monitor to a wall, plug it in and connect it to a simple computer. Once you connect that computer to the internet and you have an on-site PM or FM. This virtual PM or FM can take work orders, track your utility consumption, provide forms and documents to be completed online, provide a virtual tour to your vacant office space, show floor plans, take propspect lead information, like email, phone, etc. I guess the proper description is Virtual Leasing Agent and PM or FM, or Virtual Property/Facility Administrator, to be absolutely correct.

How about take a work order? If you have not clicked on the avatar above, to hear what Grace, our Site Desk Administrator has to say, you are really missing out on something that is creating history in our industry!! Please share the excitement and breakthroughs we can all make together. This is not a toy or a gimmick. This is serious business and a real timesaver for us all. Think about this and how it can lighten your load and IMPROVE, yes I said IMPROVE, customer service. Please leave your feedback and contact information below. We really want to know what you think. Good or bad, we can take it. Also, if you want, we can follow up with you if you have any ideas about implementing this type of service at your property or facility or on your website! Stan is also able to give you his insight as he using this technology today as well. Stan Cappe can be reached via email at stncappe51@gmail.com and, of course, Stan is one of our many members of our PFMI (Property and Facility Management Innovators) on LinkedIn. By clicking the link, you can join Stan and I, along with a great group of PM/FM people from around the world, while we discuss innovation and day to day issues that impact all people in our industry.

Okay people, it is not Greyhound this time, but the bankrupted Amtrak and the very dysfunctional DMV in Las Vegas, Nevada (you had to be there). Our industry has been passed up again! I just heard from a fellow Buzz connection, that Amtrak is now offering free wifi on its trains. While at the same time, I have also learned that the State of Nevada-Las Vegas DMV is following the post office’s APM machine, since 2005 and has kiosk automation that collects money and processes basic services! Although the comments on some of the blogs about Amtrak today, were quite entertaining, the subject reminded me of our recent post, “If a bus, a hamburger and plane can do it, why can’t we?”

Nevada DMV Kiosk, circa 2005.

You may recall that McDonalds offers free wifi at all of its restaurants. I am not talking about slow, bogged down lame wifi here folks. I am talking about super fast and awesome wifi. The workers are clueless that it exists, most of the time, but boy is it fast. I love it. Surf the web and drink coffee and eat yogurt. Yummy.

So when I saw the Buzz this morning that Amtrak now has wifi, I just shook my head. Here we are, property and facility managers with captive audiences all over our properties, owners who want full buildings and no FREE or public wifi or even the thought of automating anything at all! I think it is absolutely unbelievable. How did this happen? How did the world just pass us by? Why and how can the most dysfunctional and blatantly known, perpetually bankrupt Amtrak and the classic DMV offer something as simple as wifi and a kiosk/machine, similar to an ATM, inside a building or facility that we completely manage, repair, clean or worse yet, own. Yet, we still do not have wifi or even the thought of the dream machine like -an APPM (Automated Property Management Machine) for our industry?

I look back over the 30 some years in this industry and shake my head every single day. I talk to property managers, facility managers, service businesses too, that tell me they have no website, no domain name, no awareness of what is happening all around them. What is Twitter is not even remotely in the cards. Now even Facebook has passed all of us up. Yes, Facebook. The app that your great grandmother uses! The buildings are in a time warp or something and the managers got swooped up too! We are all just stumbling and mumbling while this goes on.

Facebook at 500 million users!!

Everything is a swipe, a click, a snap or whatever, but we still have 3 part Peachtree NCR forms on our desk and are filling out paper lease forms and logs on clipboards. It is so funny, but it is not really. It is rather pathetic and mindblowing. There must be something scary to us or we have a fear of technology. I am not exactly sure which. The IT departments at our companies might as well be frozen in giant ice cubes since 2000 (yes, 2000!!) when they started to think that a property or facility manager might be able to use a single computer in an office of 5 people. Oh and they gave us 1 single email address called abccompany1@abccompnay.com. They did stop technology once they rolled out the LANS, only at the corporate office. Each of our desktop machines were not even connected due to the cost of a modem phone line in 2000. I guess that was good enough for us and all we could handle.

Now grant it, there are many that have embraced it, exploited and used it up like it was air, but those are the few and far between. All of those people are at Realcomm right now in Las Vegas, Nevada. They are having a blast and they are mingling and talking to Jim Young about where we are today. (According to Jim that is probably 5% of us are using webbased systems) and Jim is just so worked up right now with all of the enthusiasm you cannot imagine the frenzy and energy at that place. I bet Las Vegas is wondering what on earth came to town!!

I am eager to hear feedback from him and I will do my best to track him down or Jean Claude Goldenstein, the founder of http://www.creopoint.com or others that will be sure to attend. Once I do, I will give you the report and a take away. Many of the people from all of the major software accounting houses are there, along with the technology SaaS people, like Dale Vanderlaan of Realogic and his team. We will find out what and how things went down and share it right here for all of us to learn.

But the icing on the cake of all of this. And this is a true story, for real, totally accurate. I got 3 very fuzzy pictures today. So fuzzy, I do not believe they are real. I actually asked my friend Stan if these were real. He said yes, these are real. Here are 3 pictures of the first that I have ever seen, APPM units. APPM=Automated Property Management Machines. No joke. Read the fuzzy words on the screen. It brings a tear to me eye, it is so awesome. I am hoping that Stan will give me more information on these fuzzy pictures. He had better not be kidding. If it is true and these are real machines (outside of the U.S., of course!) You will all be the very, very first to hear of this. Stay tuned.

APMM = Automated Property Management Machine

Value.

Ask me anything about technology or efficiency or automation or websites or whatever. If I do not know, I can find out.

Before that however, you have to have the basics. Today, you must be Informed and Equipped so you really do bring Value to your Properties, Facilities, Companies, Organizations. DO NOT bury your head in the sand. Spend this downtime getting really, really Valuable.

Every PM/FM professional must have and/or at least understand the below and its potential, both personally and professionally. How many of the below items can you articulate to an employer, employee, student, client, etc.?:

Anti Virus Software
Anti Malware
Anti Spyware
Computer Cleaning/Maintenance Tools and why
Automatic Microsoft Updates and why (sorry Apple, this is for the masses)
External Hard Drive + Automatic Back up + Additional Back up
FREE Online photo album
FREE Online document sharing
FREE Online calendar
FREE email account or two
The Twitter concept is not a stupid gimmick
Online PR Tools
FREE VoIP phone number and voicemail
FREE conference calling service
Online fax service
Why Notepad and html is so powerful
ISP = Utility
FREE Social Media account or two
Domain name
A website to call your own and a basic understanding of it
FREE tools for everything imaginable are everywhere

If any of this is of any interest to anybody, I am happy to go on and on and on with information. I do not want to freak you out or scare you, just make you and your projects better equipped.

I cannot imagine managing a property without the above under any condition. I need the above to function and manage my property as efficiently as possible.

Do others agree or am I just a freak here? If anyone wants to help me, jump in. If you think I am off base, just say so.

Thanks,
Linda@ManagerLabs.com

Please take this one question poll about how you process work orders. It should take you 5 seconds to respond!

Everyone in the Property Management and Facility Management industry is looking at how they do things. It is a good time to take a pulse on what methodolgy the industry is using for work orders?

Check out this poll and take the poll yourself.

Thanks,
Linda@ManagerLabs.com

Click here: http://polls.linkedin.com/p/82981/bfkgx

If you think being a Property Manager is about maintenance, utilities, contracting, technology advances or troubleshooting, you are sadly mistaken. Property Management is about “Customer Service” first. The entire purpose and being of a Property Manager is about tenant satisfaction and tenant retention. There is nothing else it is about.

With each maintenance item, utility bill, new technology and contract signed, it is about the end result: Customer Satisfaction and Service. It is probably the last thing you hear folks talk about or plan for or think of, and it should be the first! Each day you are on the job you need to start your day with: What have I done for the tenants today? If you ask that question and honestly address it, you will be an excellent Property Manager. Remember, if the tenants are happy, the building owner should be happy.

Happy Tenants Here!

Now, I know there are some building owners who are never happy and will never care if the tenants are happy. There are always a few bad apples in every batch, but for the most part, savvy building owners who really care about the bottom line do get it. It is really the naive building owner who does not get it. Quite simply, tenant retention is everything about Property Management.

With times being so tough it forces many to realize that their treatment of their tenants will surely rear its ugly head if the tenants have not been considered first. When you think about it, this just makes good business sense. Why would any business operate against the customer? Why would any business plan its operations around annoying customers? It makes you wonder sometimes when tenants are treated badly or ignored. That is absolutely insane. Why would you not answer the phone with each ring or respond like a lightning bolt with each work order request? I say it is pure training and education. Most folks who are trained or mentored are not always taught the importance of being nice and the simple rule that the customers come first.

Today it is paramount. It is not optional. The tenants must be considered and respected or they will move. It is that simple. When you look at the massive effort it takes to find a NEW tenant! OMG, you are lame if you do not treasure the tenants you have. If a tenant moves, that should be like a knife in your heart and it should hurt really bad. Nobody wants to lose a tenant today.

Now I realize that there are tenants who go out of business; but I am talking about a tenant who moves to another location. You must avoid that at all costs! You should never let a tenant leave your building. All of the staff must have that drilled into their heads. It must be the #1 thing they eat, drink and sleep, literally. It should be like propaganda on everything they use or work with. Make it your tag line and make it stick. Put it at the bottom of every timesheet, email or on every work order ticket. No matter what you do, every single member of the operations, housekeeping, security, contracting, suppliers and so on, must know this is your entire reason for being.

Once you are sure each member of your team is committed, the next thing is to create your program each year. Literally walk through each month of the year and create a theme or program or whatever you can do. It must involve everyone. That means, contracting services, staff members, and any other groups who touch your tenants must be on board with the plan. Include your contracting service vendors in the events and in sponsoring the events. The motto must be – We are in business because of the tenants and we appreciate the business very much!! That can be said in a ton of different ways, but you get the drift. Create a code word that equals your message.

If you come to the building every day with that message in your head, it will make a difference. Just think about being in the tenants’ shoes. How do they see the building, the staff, the contract service vendors? Do they see a group of folks they are proud to work with or do they see sloppy and messy or rude folks? All of that makes a difference and can make a tenant move as a result.

There is no room for error here. The Property Manager is the leader of the team and the leader must think of the tenants in every project, every thought, every maintenance plan, etc. How you ask? Well first of all communication is the #1 thing. Today there is so much technology you can use for free, especially email. Be sure all of the occupants of your property know what is going on. That is the most effortless and basic thing you can do. For instance, if you are doing anything to improve the building, tell them about it. Also let the tenants know what to expect. That is the most basic rule of customer service. Hang signs, hand out flyers, whatever you can do. Plaster it in the restrooms, whatever works for your configuration or building traffic flow. Nobody wants to walk in to the office and ask, what is going on. They should already know. Give all tenants advance notice!! Do not wait until the last minute. Why? Because that tenant may be planning a big event themselves, or they may have VIP visitors coming to town. Encourage them to tell you about their significant visitors or meetings. Why? Because you can help to welcome those visitors as well. You can spread the word to the staff to be on the look out or to help people get into the building with boxes or whatever. It is jumping through hoops and making them feel special.

There are so many ideas on tenant retention and most of them are truly common sense and not rocket scientist level stuff. They are old fashioned and traditional courtesies or ideas that show people you care. Your goal is to have the nicest and friendliest staff in the world! If you can create a powerful team, you have it cinched. If you have cranky or ornery folks among you, they will have to go if they fail to follow your leadership. I am sorry to say, but you will have to hire nice people who can deliver the best customer service possible. Do not compromise that point. You can always give folks a chance to change, but if they do not change, they must be asked to leave.

Just remember to ask yourself – What have I done for the tenants today? – and if you do that simple thing each day, you will be on the road to excellent Property Management and superior Customer Service which all lead to high levels of tenant retention that you can count on at your property.