AppFolio is an IREM President Level Industry Partner. This article is published on the IREM Blog as part of that partnership.
The property management industry is incredibly competitive. However, far too often property management companies become stuck in old patterns that are no longer as effective in a technology-driven world. Whether you spend valuable time and resources trying to train new employees or consistently lose your top talent to other firms, it’s not too late to partner up with innovative solutions to keep your team—and your business—overperforming. Here’s how the latest innovations in real estate technology can solve some of the biggest employee challenges property managers face today and keep your team at the top of their game.
The Employee Training Challenge
According to a recent real estate study AppFolio conducted with John Burns Real Estate Consulting, five of the top factors that limit property management business growth are related to employee training and workflows. The latter challenges are especially prevalent in property management companies who have teams dispersed across various geographic regions and suffer from a lack of standardized processes. In the same study, 90 percent of business leaders polled admitted that standardizing business processes is important, but only 44 percent of teams are efficiently following company protocol. The good news is that the right technology tools can help streamline workflows and keep your teams in sync, which also helps ramp up new hires faster. Technology can guide employees through processes to ensure that each phase of the workflow is properly executed and that you have:
- Confidence that your teams are maximizing the value of the software
- Clarity on the performance of individuals and teams
- Assurance that standard business practices are being followed and that your team delivers a consistent customer experience
How to Create Exceptional Experiences
If you want to boost the performance of your teams, you need to create exceptional experiences every time. Smart, automation-driven workflows improve efficiency and encourage consistency. Intuitive technology provides a step-by-step task management plan to keep teams on target, ensuring that deadlines are met and handoffs are seamless—creating standardized, predictable practices throughout the company. In this vein, you can use these types of automated workflow options to free up valuable time, and thus give your employees the chance to focus on ROI-increasing tasks. With technology-assisted workflows, management gains greater visibility into employee performance as well as confidence that the service experience for residents, owners and vendors is amazing at every stage in the customer journey
The Right Technology Helps Retain Top Talent
Did you know that the turnover rate within the property management industry is approximately 33 percent? Did you also know that it is incredibly expensive to lose employees? When you lose an employee, not only do you have to spend valuable resources finding a replacement, but you also have to take the time needed to train your new hire. With this in mind, intuitive technology not only helps you retain your top talent, because they can consistently over-perform, but it also helps you create an experience-oriented culture that employees desire for continued engagement and connection. Technology will also help your employees deliver quick communication, access the data they need to interact effectively with clients, and build stronger partnerships within the local community.
The Bottom Line: Technology Leads To Better Results
If you want to get the most out of your employees and your processes, then you need modern technology tools—because today’s workforce expects modern experiences. From helping your company overcome the employee training challenge, to creating exceptional employee and customer experiences, to retaining the top talent, proven technology tools can help your property management company reach new heights.
About the Author
Nat Kunes is the senior vice president of real estate investment management for AppFolio.