Like any other business, customer satisfaction is fundamental to the success of an investment property. Every property investor is in the business of making money. But your focus on customers, not capital, will get you to where you want to be with the long-term success of your investments.
As a property investor, what does it mean to keep your customers happy? You keep customers happy by fulfilling your promises when you lease the property. That means meeting and possibly exceeding the tenants’ expectations in your rental property.
When they do this, landlords and property managers often discover, to their amazement, that they are helping themselves more than they are helping their tenants. That is because tenants who are happy with your service quality will be more than happy to go out of their way to protect your property.
Treating your tenants right will let you recruit them as partners in maintaining your investment property. Because they are closer to the property than you are, tenants can detect and report problems before they become emergencies. Happy tenants are also unlikely to terminate their leases.
That will allow you to save money in two important ways; you cut down on maintenance costs by solving problems before they escalate. You also get guaranteed income – rent from long-term renters – while minimizing marketing costs and vacancy rates.
What can you do to improve customer service at your property? The key is to make meeting tenants’ needs the central focus of everything your business does. Why do people lease your property? They do it because they need a safe and comfortable place to live or a nice place to do their business.
Is your property meeting their needs fully?
Tips for improving customer service at your property
1. Set expectations early
Conflicts between landlords, property managers, and tenants often happen because something must be spelled out at the beginning of the relationship. Taking the time to explain every item in the lease agreement will save you future trouble. When a tenant moves in, it is essential to do a walkthrough of the building to orientate and educate them on how to use or look after specific features of the property.
2. Communicate clearly and proactively
Delaying to inform clients of things that affect them will cause you avoidable problems. People don’t want you throwing them off-course with information they are unprepared for. If you have to do some work in the building or inspect the property, make sure tenants know well ahead of the date. Send out scheduled reminders to clients if a contract or transaction is coming up for renewal or revision.
3. Accommodate clients’ schedules
When there are important things to discuss, finding a convenient time for you and the tenants is hard. You do not want to make tenants adjust their schedules to suit your preferences. It is your job to accommodate your schedule to suit their needs. If you don’t attend to tenants when they want to talk, the next time you hear from them might be when an issue becomes a costly emergency.
4. Provide easy access and respond quickly
Create multiple ways for tenants to contact you. Make it possible for them to make payments and complete transactions or report complaints and have them resolved without face-to-face contact with you or your staff. Ensure that your online platforms are user-friendly. When tenants contact you, they should have a timeframe within which they can expect you to respond. Provide avenues for reporting emergencies.
5. Understand tenants’ needs
Keeping up with their detailed information can be challenging, depending on the number of tenants you have. Still, this insight will help you tailor a tenant’s experience in your property to their unique needs. When you first meet a tenant, get all the details about their needs and expectations while they are in your property. Ask questions and pay attention to their answers.
6. Connect them to other services
A big part of meeting customers’ needs is anticipating them and making it possible for them to have those needs met. You can do this by being an intermediary between your tenants and the other services they need. With this arrangement, tenants gain access to the people in your network, and you make your tenants comfortable and less likely to leave your property.
7. Make them feel special
Look for ways to add a hint of friendship to the relationship without letting it become personal. Remembering details like birthdays or anniversaries can create this feeling. Do not forget to send them a gift during the holidays. Small gestures like these convince renters that you care about them as humans. If people feel that way, they will go out of their way to make you happy.
To conclude, excellent customer service comes from putting yourself in your tenants’ shoes. If you can always find a way to do this, you will have happy customers.
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