Sarah Dawson of Rockend shares her ideas on teamwork and ensuring your team’s success.
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT teams come in a variety of sizes and with a diverse range of rent rolls. While all these teams operate differently, there are some common strategies and practices that successful teams use to operate more effectively. It’s important to remember that your rent roll can provide a huge profit for your real estate business. This article will give you a few simple ideas you can implement to ensure your team’s success.
ALIGNED TEAM GOALS
Making sure you all have the same goals is one of the simplest things to implement, but it can still be overlooked. A clear direction and set of shared goals for the property management team is vitally important, as sometimes property managers’ ideas may differ and teams can become ineffective. Take the time to have a regular meeting to share plans and activities. You can use feedback from these meetings to establish ways to improve processes and ultimately work towards – and achieve – the end goal.
STREAMLINE PROCESSES
After evaluating your processes, it is important to see whether there are any systems you can automate and streamline to help save time and create a more efficient work environment. Automating everyday processes can save each individual a few extra hours per week, so as a team that can be an entire day’s worth of work!
Investigate the tools and features available in your property management software; these can help eliminate mundane manual tasks and provide you with time to focus on other aspects of your business. For example, if you can use your software to automate the low-value interactions with clients, such as emailing an invoice, your team can focus on delivering the best experience for the high-value interactions.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
It is important that your whole team is aware of your competitive advantage so they can promote this and use it to win business. An example of a unique competitive advantage could be using your management reports to show a low arrears and vacancy rate. Prospective landlords would feel confident in an agent who can show proof that their rent is received on time and their property rented quickly.
All your team should be on the same page in regards to the processes and procedures that contribute to your agency’s point of difference. This means that every client interaction must be of the same standard across your business. A competitive advantage assists your team in justifying the set fees and charges. If you or your team don’t know what your competitive advantage is, make sure you analyse your strengths to isolate your unique selling proposition.
QUALITY STAFF
Employing and retaining high-quality staff makes a huge difference to the overall success of your property management team. Finding quality staff is no easy task; it will take time and energy, but overall it will make a huge difference to your business. So how do you go about recruiting the best staff for your team?
When hiring staff it’s important to look beyond their resume. Instead, you need to identify people who are also compatible with your team. Will this person fit your company culture and work well with existing staff and clients? If the answer is no, it is likely that they would not be the best fit for the position. Taking the time to find high-quality employees will make a huge difference to the success of your business.
STAFF TRAINING
Staff training can ensure your entire team is on the same page and keeping to the same universal standards. Working with like-minded, successful and motivated people is a sure way to have a highly productive team.
One of the most common reasons people give for being dissatisfied with their role is that they don’t feel challenged. They don’t sense they are experiencing personal growth. Providing and encouraging learning is important, and not only for the success of your business, staff retention and employees. Investing in your staff is crucial to the overall success of your team.
