Be Kind, Be Tough, Be Real

There are many reasons that I opened my own business, perhaps one of them being opportunity as opposed to any degree of well thought out 5 year plan to do so. The opportunity presented itself and I took it with both hands and ran.

As I sit in my office today, putting the final touches on the rebrand, yes we now have the stickers on the front door – so that must make it official. I’m looking around my office and the one piece of the puzzle that make me most proud is the people.

What I have come to realise as a consultant and business owner is that each and everyday people make a choice as to where they work and who they work for. Over the years many have chosen to walk through the doors of our 5A/211 Ben Boyd Rd and the doors of the offices whom we support.

In return for their time and effort, our employee’s expect and deserve and need from us than just a pay cheque. Our people’s future lays in their hands, but can be supported within our walls.

Jack Welch described it best to me in his book of the same name. he found a business that had not adequately prepared their people for their future. And in could be said, had found  a situation that had fought against it. Arriving at GE employee’s were in positions beyond their capabilities, promoted based on likeability and tenure, their associated remuneration was not reflective of market, their future, outside of the business would resemble nothing like the current reality. GE had made them redundant in the modern market.

Welch knew that when he forced them into unemployment (as he needed to do to save the company), their lives would be changed forever, they would not be rehired in their current status nor would their pay meet the current lifestyle requirements.

Imagine if you lost your current role, your earning capacity was reduced by 30%, how would your life be affected. Imagine if you awoke to discover you were three rung down the knowledge ladder and $50k short of your life budget.

I wonder if we as Directors consider with enough care, the impact we have on the lives of not just these people that populate our office, but on their significant other, the family and friends.

Employing talent comes with the responsibility to nurture it, preparing them for their next role, whilst gaining the benefits along the wat. We must ensure we provide REAL feedback (constructive and congratulatory), diverse education, and coach them to be the best version of themselves.   

Take a look around your office, and see, who can you help today.  Be kind, Be tough, Be real.

Fiona Blayney

Keep Communication Open with your Team

Have you ever found that you have a clear idea in your head, but if you try to explain it to someone else you are sometimes met with a blank expression? Being able to clearly explain your vision and how you would like a task to be completed is a skill that must be honed if you would like to have your team all running the same race.

When you are undertaking the task of training new team members and attempting to create a productive work environment it is important to establish clear lines of communication. Keeping those lines open may include having an open door policy, daily tool talks or establishing a daily wrap, where each team member would send through, in dot point format the tasks that they have completed for the day including any wins and potential jack in the boxes.

Maya Angelou was once quoted as saying, “You can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” The same could be said of your business; how you handle a lost management, an explosive situation or tech challenges will resonate with your team.

If a situation arises and you handle it in a negative light, yelling, stomping and screaming, it will only serve to encourage others to behave in the same manner. On the alternate side, if a negative situation is well managed, it will assist in building a more accepting and positive culture in your team.

Property Management is not a completely mistake free zone and it is important while building morale to encourage your team to come forward with their mistakes without fear of judgement so that potential issues will not be swept under the rug and turn into Mt Vesuvius later on. This will enable you to right the mistake and move on to the more important tasks.

Keep the lines of communication clear and open and you will find you have a happy and more productive team who are ready to tackle challenges head on.

Heidi Walkinshaw

How Clean is your House?

The end of the first quarter is upon us and now is as good a time as any to take stock of the health of your rent roll and ensure that every box is checked where it can be so that you can be on track to achieving your 2016 goals.

With that in mind, when was the last time that you cleaned house when it came to your portfolio? We spend our lives wrapped up taking care of other people’s homes and ensuring that they have a clean bill of health, however when did you last give yours a good clean?

Some areas that you might like to take a look at when it comes to your portfolio could include:

·         Rent Reviews and Lease renewals – are they all in line with the current market and tenants on fixed term leases? Especially those where their Landlord Insurance have this as a requirement of coverage.

·         Repairs and maintenance – how many outstanding work orders are currently sitting in your software? Are any of them older than 3 months or is the work still outstanding? This may need to be followed up with the tradesperson for either completion or payment of the account.

·         Routine Inspections – are there any currently outstanding and what needs to be done to get any of these up to date and inspected? It’s also a good idea to check if any properties on the rent roll do not have a date attached to them for an inspection and worst case you may discover some have not had an inspection completed in a very long time, if at all!

·         Arrears – what percentage of your tenants are in arrears, can this be improved and what percentage of those arrears are invoices outstanding?

·         Vacant properties – can any of these be marked inactive, there may also be vacated tenants and previous Owner’s that also need to be marked inactive which will assist in reflecting accurate numbers on your rent roll.

·         Files audit – compliance plays a big part in our roles as Property Managers. This compliance also comes in the forms of correctly completed documentation. Do all of your files contain a correctly completed Management Agency Agreement, Tenancy Agreement, Application Forms and a Condition Report, just to name a few.

As an extra point, you may also like to carry out a keys audit to check that we have all of those keys on file for properties managed.

Housekeeping your portfolios can assist in ensuring that you have all the necessary checks and balances in place and can assist with a smoother running rent roll reducing stress and maximising efficiency.

If you would like any assistance in your quest to achieve a clean rent roll, the team at Real+ can help with solutions to get you on track.

Heidi Walkinshaw

When you lose a landlord, don’t lose the lesson…

None of us want to receive that email or pick up the phone to hear the message that the landlord wants to leave. Whether it be to self manage, to another agent, to live in themselves or to sell the property, we can often feel frustrated at the loss, especially if we are trying to grow the rent roll.

Have you stopped to consider that it may not always be convenient for that person to manage their own property? That the other agent may not suit their needs? That they will move out again at some point, or purchase another investment in the future. That they may refer other people to us? The likelihood of this taking place will depend on how they exit the business.

How to you rate your exiting client process? It is a smooth event that leaves the client with a warm positive feeling about your business? Or is it a bit of shambles with a lack of total care and look of good riddance. What will your client be saying to others about their experience when they walk out the door?

If we can handle this process with grace, dignity and detail, we may more than just leave the client with a warm feeling about our business, but we may enable them to return one day, or perhaps tell their friends and family of our friendly professional service.

In order to ensure they leave on a good note, here are some tips to facilitate a smooth departure and leave the door open for a possible return.

·         Always call to attempt to save the management in the first instance, consider if a call from the Director may help

·         Confirm the termination of management in writing, confirming the next steps for what you will do to ensure a smooth departure

·         Notify the tenants of the upcoming changes

·         Prepare the file for handover if applicable (always keep copies)

·         Adjust the system for the departure, record notes of the reasons for departure

·         Be aware of funds available and bills/fees still owing

·         Redirect Rates/Levies if you are paying them

·         Redirect/Cancel Landlords Insurance, Smoke Alarms, Tax Depreciation notice etc

·         Arrange transfer of bond to new agent/landlord if necessary

·         Add a diary note to ensure the owner and property are archived promptly as soon as possible to ensure they do not get unnecessary statements or admin charges

·         Send a thank you letter/gift with an acknowledgement of their time as a client

·         Send an exiting client survey to see what we can do to improve and consider what can be implemented to minimise future loss. What can you learn from this experience?

·         Add a follow up to touch base with the client at 3 or 6 months

Don’t let the ball drop next time a client leaves you, handle it with care – even if they have frustrated you or things are rocky. You never know what opportunities may develop from just that one client. 

Hermione Gardiner

Real+

Control Time Before it Controls You

This week has signaled the all too familiar posts and conversations of “how is it March already?” The end of the first quarter is looming in front of us and in some cases the panic may start to set in of time getting away from us and losing that control over our workload.

How are you tracking for your first quarter? Are you on target to make a date with those goals that you set out to achieve in January, or are they at the bottom of the pile, falling away into the abyss like Alice down the rabbit hole?

Now is as good a time as any to assess your goals for the year including how you are managing your time to achieve those goals as ultimately if you let time control you, it will become more difficult to reach those targets.

Let’s look at some tips on helping you manage your time, sanity and stay in the driver’s seat.

Analyse what takes up the most hours in your day – try keeping a time log for the space of a week and analyse where most of your time is spent. It could be that you are spending a high proportion of time with a C-class client, more time on paperwork than needed or just general procrastination

A clean desk is the sign of a clean mind – or something like that. Keep your desk as clean as possible and eliminate possible distractions from your workspace. It is also great to have a tray or system where you can keep all pending work to be looked at. This one does not include that manual filing container aka bin under your desk.

Set aside blockout time – let’s face it, in property management the phone and emails will never stop and you will be waiting quite some time if you expect them too. Plan for blockout time in your week where you can spend an hour or two just to catch up on outstanding work and gain back some sanity. This will also mean no phone calls or emails. You will be amazed how much you can achieve when you have no distractions!

Planning is key – when you are scheduling how your week should look, make sure there is time in there for planning first thing in the morning and last thing in the afternoon. This will help you to get setup for the day and know what you have coming up to reduce those surprises.

Multitasking is a myth – stick to one task at a time and minimize disruptions as much as possible. It is much easier for the brain to focus on one activity at a time and you will perform more efficiently when your brain has its full focus on one task at a time.

Check those goals – take a look at the goals you wrote down in January. Are you on track to achieve them? What are your obstacles and what steps need to be implemented to help you get on track?

It is important when you are trying to stay in control to occasionally stop, take a breath and analyse the scene in front of you. You will then be better equipped to tackle those Property Management challenges head on.

Heidi Walkinshaw
Real+