Ever done any training on customer service?

Or maybe you’ve created a business tag-line that sounds something like this?

“We offer outstanding service standards designed to exceed expectations”

It’s easy to talk about customer service, especially in property management.

But have you ever taken the time to think about who you need to offer outstanding customer service to?

Especially if you’re focusing on rent roll growth?

The thing is, there are 2 key groups of people you need to “service the heck out of” in order to grow your rent roll.

Want to know who these 2 people are?

1. Your Professional Network

Your professional network is probably the most influential group of people you’ll ever hang out with.

Whether you’re involved in an organised networking group, like BNI, or you’re growing your own little network via Linked In, your professional network will influence the speed of your rent roll growth.

It’s easy to except the people in this network to send us referrals and leads. But we rarely focus on how we can add a layer of customer service to these people.

When I first started my own rent roll, I was brand new to the city.

I didn’t have a professional network.

I didn’t have any friends locally.

And I was completely unknown.

But I recognised the value of having a strong professional network and securing referral partners.

The trouble was, everyone I approached to set up a “referral arrangement” already had someone else that they were referring their leads to. So, I had to find a way to serve my referral partners in a way that my competitors weren’t.

And since I didn’t have an established rent roll and database of clients I could refer, I did 3 things:

1. I used their services myself.
   There was an accountant I wanted to work with, because I knew he had plenty of property investors as clients. So I got him to do my tax return. I met a financial planner, so I worked closely with him on my own superannuation.
2. I featured and tagged them.
   My social media following might have been small at the beginning. Yet, through my monthly landlord newsletter, and my social media accounts, I could give them exposure to my audience. This meant that my accountant would write articles for my landlord newsletter, and I would share and tag my referral partners on social media.
3. I became their biggest cheerleader.
   When I saw them doing something great, I liked/commented/shared it. When I heard something good about them, I messaged them to congratulate them. When I saw them running a promotion, I called and offered to promote it to my following too.

Serving your professional network of referral partners can be one of the most powerful ways to grow your rent roll.

Need more ideas for working with referral partners? Join me in my free Masterclass: 5 Ways To Grow Your Rent Roll (and tune in for the 5th way in particular for help with this).

 

2. Past Landlords

It happens to us all.

Landlords leave.

And honestly, they’ll leave you for one of three reasons:

1. They go to your competitor.
2. They move back into their investment property
3. They sell the property.

It’s easy to allow these landlords to “fall off our radar”, to delete them from our CRM and to forget about them.

But focusing your service on these people is an effective way to grow reputation, your brand and ultimately, your rent roll.

When you do lose a management, you need to move this landlord into a new communication plan. Your goal is ultimately to move the client back into your portfolio again, or to inspire them into referring their friends and family to you.

But this is where personalisation need to come in.

It’s important to pay attention to why the landlord has left your agency, because you must personalise your communication and service with each group differently.

Here’s how to serve each of these three past landlords.

1. Landlords who go to your competitors.

If a landlord leaves and appoints one of your competitors, it’s because they weren’t satisfied with your level of service. Sure, they might have been offered a cheaper fee, but they certainly didn’t feel like your service level matched your fee structure. There’s good news here though. Although you’ve lost this client, for now, there’s no reason why you can’t get them back.

Take these landlords and put them back into the same communication plan you’d use for potential landlords. Treat them as though you need to win them over again – which you do. In fact, you’ll need to work harder to win these clients back, but you must remember to continue to serve these landlords. If you don’t, these landlords will tell their friends and family about why they left your agency and why they appointed your competitor.

Serving these landlords is how you improve their impression of you, and work to win them back.

2. Landlords who move back into their investment property.

These landlords have already purchased an investment property in the past, so there’s a good chance they’ll buy again.

As you hand back the property to this landlord, ensure you find out what their 2, 5 and 10 year plans are for investing in property. This way, you can stay in touch with them and help them buy their next investment property, and then secure them as landlord clients again.

3. Landlords who sell their property.

Some of your landlords will sell their investment property as part of their final retirement plan. But for others, they’ll sell one property, and buy another. This means that when you lose a management because a landlord sells their property, you’ve got a great opportunity to continue to serve them after the sale.

Move these landlords into your communications plan, so that you continue to add value through your content and personal touches. Find opportunities to secure another property for that landlord, or their friends and family.

 

Now, if you need ideas for how to create content for your communications plan, join me in my free Masterclass: 5 Ways To Grow Your Rent Roll (and check out the 2nd and 3rd way in particular for help with this).

Here’s the thing.

Providing outstanding customer service isn’t just about people who are currently our customers. Having a bigger picture view of customer service opens the door to many more growth opportunities for your rent roll.

 

And if you haven’t read my last blog Nothing About Growing Rent Rolls be sure to check that out next.