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I’m sure many of us in property management have noticed our landlords and tenants are becoming more educated and demanding than ever.
Blogger: Hermione Gardiner
The skills of a property manager now need to extend far beyond a collector of rent or a coordinator or repairs, with expectations of a property manager higher than ever. This is partly because our clients are easily educated by the internet, are persuaded by stories in the media, and are able to communicate both positive and negative experiences far more easily amongst their community through social media.
Thanks to this, those we perceive to be “difficult clients” are far more prevalent in our day-to-day dealings, and situations with potential for conflict are arising more often. At Real Plus our most common request for training is on communication and conflict resolution. What we see is that even experienced property managers in general are not always equipped with the communication and conflict resolution skills needed to cope with these increased demands, expectations and knowledge.
The most successful agencies we work with have ongoing training plans in place to grow and develop their teams and businesses by both educating themselves and also finding ways to educate their clients, therefore becoming the expert in their field. Ongoing training will also enable them to add an array of communication techniques and training to help their teams avoid conflict and turn potential complaints into compliments. Some tips for ensuring you are staying one step ahead include:
- Stay educated – Ensure you know what your clients know so that you can proactively tackle any potential issues
- Keep training – Undertake ongoing internal and external training so that skills are continually being developed to deal with ever increasing client needs/demands
- Peek at other industries – Some other industries such as retail and hospitality can bring some great communication, conflict resolution and customer service skills to the table
- Look to improve – Don’t assume that because it’s been done a certain way for a long time it’s the best way to do it
- Listen – The best advice anyone working in property management can take on board is to listen. Often we don’t actually listen and this is the root of most potential issues
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