Technology exists for one reason only — to make life easier and more enjoyable for humans!

When considering how technology can be used to help create an extraordinary customer experience, it’s helpful to map out the entire customer journey, carefully considering the various touch points where technology can be used to better serve their needs.

Research and Consideration

In the initial research and consideration phase, it is essential to meet the needs of today’s constantly connected customer and give them a positive preview of what it will be like to do business with you — for what hopefully will be a very long time.

Start by making it easy for them to find out about what you are offering, whether it’s a single unit available to rent, or the property management services of your company for an individual investor, or an entire condominium corporation. This means having a professional website that is easy to navigate and provides all the information they need for consideration.

Make sure that finding out more about your offerings is a pleasant experience. Appeal to the senses and emotions of your target audience with a website that is visually engaging and delivers messages that they want to hear. Ensure that it is easy for people to get in touch with a “human” for more information, either by email or by phone. And be sure that someone is available outside of regular business hours to receive any phone inquiries.

Finally, make it easy for people to do business with you. Respond promptly and pleasantly to all inquiries and provide convenient online access to documents such as application forms and lease agreements.

Take your customer service to the next level with the Property Manager’s Guide to Creating an Extraordinary Customer Experience.

The Ongoing Relationship

In property management, once you have converted a prospect to a customer, it’s only the beginning of the relationship, and the beginning of your dedicated efforts to deliver an extraordinary customer experience.

The two most critical components in delivering such an experience are people and technology — and they must work in tandem. Tools like property management software and portal websites, empower and assist your staff to more effectively meet the needs of customers.

Not all property management software is created equal. Choosing the wrong solution will undoubtedly end up costing you in both the short and long term. Selecting the right product on the other hand will greatly reduce demand on your staff, increase profit margins on existing business and will significantly increase customer satisfaction.

Here are just some of the ways that Property Management Software can help to better meet the needs of customers:

Tenants / Residents / Owners / Investors

• Payments can be both made and received via EFT/ACH and pre-authorized payment, eliminating the need to deal with cash or checks each month — it just automatically happens.

• Frontline staff can instantly access accurate real-time customer-related data from anywhere at any time, satisfying customer inquiries on the first call. No one gets the run-around, and no one is forced to explain their whole history to multiple people!

• Maintenance is tracked and managed more effectively with a proactive approach to recognizing any issues and resolving them. The result is that maintenance issues are likely to occur less frequently, and when they do, the response times are quicker. As maintenance is the #1 factor influencing tenant retention, this is a huge step in the right direction.

Property Managers / The Board / Other Stakeholders

• Any report that a stakeholder may need can be generated with the click of one button. No more struggling with Excel spreadsheets or duplicating data entry.

• Fully automated functions mean that property managers spend less time on menial and repetitive tasks, and more time effectively addressing the needs of customers and growing the business.

Portal websites that are fully integrated with the property management software platform reach even further to deliver an extraordinary customer experience with the following features:

• Tenants/Owners/Investors can self-serve by viewing their current account balances online and drilling down to any details needed.

• Residents have the convenience of making online payments for arrears, parking passes, facility bookings and other services.

• Upon log-in, residents instantly receive important notifications like package delivery, or the response to a maintenance request.

• Residents can report incidents and make maintenance requests online, plus receive corresponding status updates online.

• Online access to enhanced services like community classifieds, local deals, directory of local services (e.g. house keepers, dog-walkers, painters, etc.)

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