6 Small Things a Property Manager Can Do That Will Have a Big Impact

As a property manager, ensuring your tenants are happy should be your number one priority. Not only does such an objective create a more positive environment for everyone, but it also ensures that you’ll see increased numbers in terms of business due to referrals and repeat customers.

So to that end, it’s essential that the relationship between a property manager and the tenants of said property is positive, and that any and all concerns are responded to in full to avoid any negative stress on tenants. To help create this positive environment, here are six small things a property manager can do that will have a big impact.

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1. Create an Open Door Policy

While many of you may already have this policy in place, allowing your tenants an accepting and understanding environment in which they feel comfortable bringing forward their concerns is essential. If you are inaccessible most of the time or close yourself off to negative feedback, your tenants will be much less likely to walk away with a positive experience.

Your job, first and foremost, is in customer service, and to do that best requires an open door policy in which no tenant should feel uncomfortable bringing forth complaints or concerns.

2. Address Complaints

To that end, it’s equally important that property managers address their tenants’ complaints in a timely fashion. This means that all concerns should be taken seriously, whether you agree with them or not, and outwardly so.

As a property manager, if you are pushing aside complaints that you disagree with, you are giving off the impression that you don’t care about or appreciate customer feedback, which leaves a bad taste in a tenant’s mouth. Ensure that you not only acknowledge the complaint, but that you follow through with it as well for the biggest impact.

3. Offer a Suggestion Box

Property managers that are open to change and/or improvement are often the most successful. While an open door policy is certainly a good start in this realm, offering your tenants a suggestion box can also reiterate your appreciation for customer feedback and desire for improvement.

This offers your tenants an anonymous way to provide you real feedback that you may not otherwise have access to. Whether or not suggestions are realistic or implementable is up to your discretion, but taking that initial step in reaching out for feedback will make a big impact with your tenants as well.

4. Stay Organized

While it may not seem like your organizational abilities have any impact on your tenants, the opposite is true. In fact, the more organized you are as a property manager, the more likely your tenants are to respect and appreciate you.

Organization can mean anything from staying on top of maintenance requests and following-up with tenants to ensure everything was taken care of to simply following-up with tenant emails and phone calls in a timely manner.

The more apparent it is that you are an organized property manager, the more secure your tenants are likely to feel in their lease with you.

5. Have a Friendly Demeanor

Perhaps this point should be classified as “common sense,” but there are many occasions in which property managers exude a negative energy that can turn tenants off. Generally speaking, it’s best if you promote a positive attitude when working at your properties to provide your tenants with a more approachable vibe.

While you do want to maintain a professional relationship, you also want to give the image of approachability, as this is something that most tenants look for in their leases. Basically, they want to know that, should anything go wrong in their lease, they have someone they can talk to without feeling uncomfortable or awkward. As a general rule of thumb, positivity makes a better impact than negativity.

6. Keep it Professional

Now more than ever, individuals are on edge in terms of safety. A home should be a place in which tenants feel safe, and it falls to you as the property manager to ensure that happens, at least to the best of your ability.

For that reason, you should maintain professional boundaries at all times to avoid misunderstandings or give the impression that you are intruding on tenants’ personal lives. To that same end, should such accusations be brought to your attention regarding yourself or other staff, it’s essential that you handle those urgently and with discretion. Providing boundaries is necessary for everyone, and should those boundaries be broken, the situation should be handled with tact.

These may only be six things that property managers can do that will have a big impact, but I encourage you to look beyond this list and come up with some items that are more unique to your situation. The bottom line remains the same: tenants need to be put first. As soon as you do that, you’ll be seeing positive outcomes that will not only help your business thrive, but will also make a big impact on your tenants.