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There are a tonne of hot, quick time-management tips I could write about here. Believe you me, I have found many faster and easier ways to do things in order to remove as much stress as possible from our crazy property management worlds.
However, in this instance, I want to focus on the importance of having a good relationship with your clients, and how taking a bit of extra time to build and work on those relationships can actually save us time in the future.
In particular, the strength of our relationship with that client may be a direct effect on the amount of time spent dealing with difficult situations. We continually see that generally this 20 per cent of difficult situations take up 80 per cent of our time.
However, the way I see it, the better relationships we have, the more easily we are able to prevent issues, resolve disputes, settle negotiations, predict behaviours and effectively manage the people we are dealing with. This means that the percentage of time spent on dealing with these situations will minimise.
Of course we will still have what I like to call the soul ‘zappers’, where there is no winning, and we may need to make a decision as to whether we want to be in a relationship with that client.
I find we spend so much time at the beginning chasing and wooing our prospective landlords, building a relationship to win them over, but I cannot help feeling that often the landlord is left feeling as if they are not getting what was promised to them in the courtship stage.
Because of this, resentment can build and it becomes much easier to fall into a dispute or argument, or we find the landlord has a lack of trust in what we do, making it harder for us to get the smallest of tasks complete without tedious backwards and forwards strain.
How can we spend a bit more time on building relationships throughout the tenancy, not just at the start? How are we ensuring we are delivering what was promised? How do we need to adapt our own personalities and behaviours to meet the needs of our clients?
I would recommend you start by picking up the phone and having a conversation with your client on a regular basis, continuing to find out more about them and how to best deal with them. Next time you’re thinking of sending an email, pick up the phone and open a conversation, don't just start an email chain.
Food for thought...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
hermione-gardiner
Business Manager - Real+
Hermione has been part of the real estate industry for over 10 years. From Property Management to Corporate Leasing, New Business and Team Management. She has successfully managed a broad range of clientele, and delivered winning new business growth strategies.
Excelling in areas of team training, leasing product development and implementation of new software, her invaluable skills have led her to Real+ where she is passionate about assisting our clients to achieve their maximum potential through the online learning experience, Real Plus.
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