Why a focus on client satisfaction – keeping clients happy – especially when it comes to maintenance in multifamily can be a key to successful and profitable management.
By Paul Bergeron
The wake-up call came when his property-management company lost two big clients, comprising about 20% of its revenue.
It was an unsteady time at Howzer Property Management. The company, which manages about 1,000 doors, was transitioning its property-management software, and its CEO, Casey Howe, said it lost a sense of purpose.
“Our staff didn’t look forward to coming to work,” Howe told an audience during a session at the MXSummit by Property Meld this month in Rapid City, S.D.
The session, “Customer-Obsessed: The Key to Thriving Property-Maintenance Operations,” spoke to why keeping clients happy is a key to successful and profitable management.
“As an industry, we are good at process, but our focus on making clients happy can be lacking,” Howe said.
Howzer received complaints, including poor communication on maintenance, clients’ inability to understand the financial statements, excessively long draws, clients’ prior notice of issues that the management company did not address, and insufficient explanation of pricing.
The company refocused, and the results were astounding. It improved its 33% CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) rating to 72% in about six months.
“We started talking directly with our clients and that immediately helped us to identify and begin resolving issues,” Howe said.
Having that open line helped to put both parties at ease.
“There aren’t many ways we can differentiate our businesses in this industry, other than price and service,” Howe said.
His company’s priorities shifted away from innovation and being an early adopter.
“For that, you can let other people fail for you, so you don’t have to,” Howe said. “We needed to have an outward focus: What are our clients asking for, and can we deliver it?”
The key to client satisfaction is to hire a client-success manager, Howe said, a position he was familiar with having previously worked in SaaS (software as a service) technology.
“There aren’t many in our industry who have them because the responsibilities are often wrapped in the property-manager position,” he said.
Another step that led to revenue-per-door increases was conducting customer success surveys. They focused on client onboarding, legal issues, client strategy and financial acumen, and tenant problem resolutions.
He also advised taking a hard look at an existing process. Howzer chose maintenance coordination.
“Look at your processes and ask yourself, ‘If I were a client, what would I do differently?’ ” Howe said, which leads to new approaches.
He shared maintenance timelines with clients, made them aware of costs up front, offered proactive updates, clarified notations on the financial statements, and involved the lead technician and supervisor when needed.
Howzer’s clients varied in the number of units they owned, which influenced some of the efforts.
“An owner who has 50 units probably doesn’t want to hear about every maintenance work-order that is conducted,” Howe said. “But one who has just three units probably does.”
Management companies have their processes, and they tend to stick to them. However, by making his clients more aware through information sharing, Howe and Howzer achieved success.
About the author:
Paul Bergeron is a freelance writer.
