Communication of the Vacate Process

Across all of the agencies we work with, this is one area of property management that whilst a company might have a great internal system, the system fails when it’s not communicated to the tenant or landlord thoroughly.

As a result, much time is spend toing and froing between the landlord and tenant arranging the vacate inspection, finalising payments, reporting on the inspection and finalising the bond.  A lot of client frustration and misunderstanding, and hence conflict, comes from a lack of communication of the process. Often we know that things are under control, or what the next steps are but we are not communicating this to our tenants and landlords.

We don’t make the invisible, visible.

Clients are more likely to get frustrated with us when they feel like they don’t know what is going on or when delivery expectations haven’t been set. We know from our end that things are being taken care of and a system is being followed.  However, from the outside looking in, the clients don’t know what we do every day that makes up the process and may feel that areas that have not been communicated to them are areas that are not in control. Cue instant relationship breakdown.

 To lift your success and avoid stress in the vacate process:

• Automate – automate how your vacate process is communicated. Instead of just sending a letter confirmation, give the tenant a step-by-step guide of how the vacate process will run. Can you send an automated reminder a few days before their vacate using “delay send” in outlook?

• Systemise – firm up your internal procedures for the vacate, when was the last time you had a review and you looked at how you can streamline the process?

• Over-communicate – Quick messages to the landlord and the tenant to tell them where things are up to, even if you know they are under control, will stop them chasing you for an update on things, saving you time and stress.

How can you improve your vacate process?

Hermione Gardiner 

Real+

When was the last time you upsold you?

Recently I had an experience in a café that made me stop and think about how often the upsell happens in the current market. In this case, the café assistant while making conversation about the weather, the town we were in and their brilliant new app, managed to sell a side of avocado with my classic blt without me even thinking too much about it, but the resulting bill rocketing my sandwich cost from $8 to $12. In just a few moments she had managed to successfully upsell one of their delicious products and increase cash flow into the business, all through simple conversation.

This had me thinking about our very own market and made me wonder, how often in Property Management do we ever stop to consider how much we are worth and actually upsell ourselves and the services that we offer?

Do you offer your customers the opportunity to purchase additional items to benefit, enhance, supplement or otherwise improve upon their current purchase or the experience with your office? If not, why not?

In a market where the consumer wants everything yesterday and options that they can design wouldn’t it make sense to offer a product where they could choose what they want? And, if this is something that you already have in place, when was the last time that you actually upsold the services that you have?

Have a think about what you could be upselling? Maybe it’s a base management fee with add on’s. You might have the option for premium advertising, professional photography, and arrangement of renovations, online access, and additional inspections in the base package, while offering a package that is inclusive of all or some of these items for higher or more premium packages.

In the process of selling the services of your company, don’t forget how much your time is worth, the time it takes you to visit the property, meet with the Owner, market, lease and manage the property. Consider your hourly rate and calculate how much you are worth in time to both yourself and your company and then consider how much you are discounting your worth in dropping those fees.

The next time that you have the sticky question of discounting fees, consider instead turning it around and have a think about what’s your avocado?

Winning New Business Through Scripts and Dialogue

What are the most successful rising New Business stars in Australian property management doing to improve their results? How do they manage to sign so many new clients and deal with any objections with ease, even if they don’t have the strongest communication skills?

Well there is no other way about it, these people are undergoing regular, ongoing coaching or training, including practicing their “Scripts & Dialogue” and role plays.

Ongoing training and practicing prepares you for any conversational situation that may arise in property management or new business, and ensures that you are prepared and poised with whatever is thrown at you (which is getting tricker the more educated our clients become).

Continual practice allows you to fine tune your conversational and practical skills before taking it out on the road. It is vital to the success of not only new players in the new business world, but even the most experienced professionals, to be constantly re-training and continually developing their skills in this ever-changing property market.

If you’ve been to any of our training sessions you’ll know we don’t believe in set “scripts” but we love the concept of dialogue, that is, knowing what to say, but putting it into your own words or dialogue.

Often one person’s method of selling something will not feel natural to another. You need to find what works for you. Through undergoing training, coaching and role plays you are given the opportunity to develop your dialogue and turn the “scripts” into your own words in a way that not only conveys the service you are selling, but highlights your belief and passion in it.

If you would like a free copy of our New Business Dialogue Cheat Sheet, please click here to request a copy, or get some complimentary coaching on your new business dialogue. 

Hermione Gardiner 

Real+

Never Stop Learning

Bill Gates was recently quoted as saying, “Every now and then I like to pick up a copy of Time magazine and read every article from beginning to end, not just the articles that interest me most, that way you can be certain to learn something you didn’t know previously.”     

From the moment we are forming in-utero, the brain starts to develop and does so at a rate much faster in the first two years or our existence than any other time in life. Our learning begins from the moment we are born and it’s up to you and your surroundings to feed that brain, give it juice as it may be to power it through.

No matter what stage at life you are at, it’s a great idea to enrich your mind and enhance your knowledge through learning. You possibly don’t realise it, but there will usually be something new that you may learn every day. It could be something as simple as how to use an appliance, complete a task or something more complex.

Property Management is a constantly evolving space and one of the things that I love about this industry is that no two days are the same, you are constantly learning, whether it is something that may be rewarding or something that may be a lesson on what not to do next time. Sometimes we learn by falling down, and picking ourselves back up and dusting off again.

Learning isn’t always easy and can provide some challenges along the way, however it can be incredibly fulfilling. Never stop at an opportunity to learn, read all that you can, stretch that brain to its capacity and fill it with knowledge, even if it is something completely random.

So what are you going to learn this week? 

Heidi Walkinshaw

Real +