Did you know building a successful property management business isn’t all about maintaining the physical aspects of properties? It involves creating a comfortable and supportive environment that improves tenant satisfaction. So, how can property managers enhance the tenant experience? Providing top-notch customer services.
Based on an article in Forbes, property management is customer service, and responding quickly is one of the vital steps to retain clients. With that said, are you giving your customers enough support?
Delivering excellent customer service can be daunting for property managers. Between advertising vacancies, budgeting, meeting potential tenants, and handling maintenance, property managers are not always available to respond to calls or address tenant issues quickly. That’s why outsourcing customer service, especially the contact call center, is often an effective solution. However, to maximize the benefits of outsourcing customer service, you must outsource carefully.
Here’s a guide to outsourcing customer service in property management the right way.
Set Clear Goals
According to STAFFVIRTUAL, it’s crucial to define your customer service goals and the scope of support needed. Understanding the reason your company wants to outsource is what will drive success when working with virtual teams. Plus, your outsourcing partner can easily evaluate your current customer service challenges to build an effective outsourcing strategy. Therefore, take time with your team to answer a few questions. Are you outsourcing because in-house staff cannot handle the overwhelming queries anymore? Or is it because you want to invest more time in the core aspects of the business? Answering these types of questions can help you determine the support you need.
For instance, you might require customer support to handle voice services. As a property manager, it’s obvious you have a call center where tenants can call to make inquiries, report emergencies, or request maintenance. This counts as voice support while non-voice support encompasses live chat, email, website ticketing, and social media. Your virtual assistant team will handle all these services to ensure all your tenants receive a quick response.
Besides voice and non-voice support, you can outsource other customer-related services like:
- screening tenants
- collecting rent
- issue unpaid rent balance notices
- coordinate maintenance and repair processes
Create a Reasonable Customer Service Framework
Customer service in property management doesn’t revolve around answering calls only. Your outsourced team may handle other departments like accounting, marketing, and general inquiries. To streamline processes and enhance your tenants’ satisfaction rate, you must develop a set of operational procedures for each task.
For example, let’s say you’re outsourcing customer services for general inquiries or addressing property maintenance requests. Your customer support framework should include a detailed breakdown of roles and responsibilities, processes virtual receptionists should follow, and customer service costs.
You’re probably wondering why developing a framework is essential for property management customer services. The goal is to enhance the tenants’ experience by ensuring they receive high-quality and consistent customer support when interacting with your staff.
According to Gartner, prioritizing customer experience during customer service outsourcing decisions is critical for business success. So, when creating a framework for outsourced customer support, make sure each activity influences customer experience, thus driving loyalty and increasing your company’s competitive edge.
Plan Your Budget According to Needs
Ask any business their reasons for outsourcing customer services and they’ll tell you it’s because of cost efficiency. As a property manager, cutting customer service costs can help you increase profits, right? But before settling for the first customer service outsourcing partner out there, you need to budget. List the customer service tasks you want to outsource. Then analyze the pricing of different outsourcing companies.
Doing so gives you a rough idea of how much you’ll be spending on each service. When choosing your third-party customer service provider, you can also determine if they are providing excellent services while reducing your overhead costs.
Search for the Best Outsourcing Companies
You can’t ignore the significance of research when outsourcing customer support services. During research, consider narrowing down your options based on your preferences.
For instance, are you looking to outsource customer services outside your state? If so, search for companies with outstanding reputations in countries like the Philippines, Brazil, India, South Africa, Canada, or Thailand. If working with local vendors aligns perfectly with your company’s mission, outsource within your state. Apart from locations, you need to evaluate other factors to identify your ideal outsourcing partner. These aspects include:
- language proficiency
Having customer service agents that communicate seamlessly with tenants in their local language improves the overall customer experience, fostering satisfaction and loyalty.
- experience and knowledge
Besides cutting costs, outsourcing guarantees expertise. Therefore, review the hiring process of outsourcing companies. Do they screen and train call center agents? What strategies do they implement to monitor outsourced customer services? The answers to these questions will help you decide if the vendor possesses the experience and knowledge required to ensure quality and efficiency.
- availability of systems and tools
Ask about the technologies they rely on to handle customer services. Are they capable enough to meet your needs? The right partners will discuss the technologies and customer service tactics they use and provide customizable solutions to enhance the overall customer experience.
Conclusion
Outsourcing customer services could be the solution you need to enhance tenant satisfaction in property management. But the vendor you outsource customer services to matters.
With that said, set clear goals, budget based on needs, know what you want to outsource, and settle for customer service outsourcing companies with an outstanding reputation. Experience, availability of technology, and language proficiency are also important factors to consider.
