New Year’s Resolution – Create More Professional Relationships

Written by Apartment Management Magazine on . Posted in Blog

new-yearDid you know that 80% of people who make a New Year’s Resolution give up it within the first 30 days? If you read on, I’ll explain why this is important to you as a property manager in just a couple of minutes.

A quick Google search of the phrase “property management pain points (or problems)” inevitably leads to a massive number of sites that list common resident problems: slow pay/no pay, damage to the property, excessive noise and more, along with suggestions to overcome them. Surprisingly few, however, offer insight into the array of common problems that most property managers encounter when dealing with contractors or vendors.

But, here’s the thing…

While most of us already have a pretty good handle on the things that make life difficult for a property manager, the advice of the “experts” tends to focus almost exclusively on a tactical approach to resolving them, rather than a strategic plan of action. In other words, they offer short-term solutions to long-term problems, missing the mark entirely.

Resolve to focus on strategic relationships

This emphasis on the immediate (temporary) resolution of ongoing resident and vendor problems ensures that they will continue to plague you while taking a longer view will eventually eliminate these types of issues.

OK, here’s why I included that statistic in the opening…

If you’d like to be one of the 1 in 5 who will successfully achieve their resolution this year, and eliminate most of your problems into the bargain, you need to develop a relationship-building strategy – with your residents and your vendors. This does not mean that you need to be “best friends” with them, but that you will want to foster professional relationships with them; associations and alliances that are based on mutual respect, expectations of acceptable performance, and that benefits both parties involved.

Thinking of your residents and vendors as partners in your properties will enable you to manage them more efficiently and effectively, with far less stress and confrontation. Plus, if and when they let you down, whether by repeatedly failing to meet their commitments to you, you’ll feel no remorse at ending the relationship. Just think of the peace of mind you’ll enjoy!

In my experience, property managers who place a priority on building relationships with their residents and vendors have fewer problems, in both the short- and long-term. To me, that’s a great reason to make your New Year’s resolution all about creating more professional relationships.

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MultifamilyZone.com provides a listing of products, services and industry-related companies, technology tools, marketing trends and is a resource for information and news. Our goal is to assist individual owners, as well as fee and national management firms in the operations of their assets by connecting them with professional vendor partners.