Are you a property manager who sometimes gets overwhelmed by your daily responsibilities? Unfortunately, this is a common struggle among professional property managers everywhere.
Whether it’s collecting rent, handling maintenance issues or sorting out the financial side of things, being a property manager can often feel like handling an endless to-do list every day.
While you may think that this is just an aspect of your job that you will have to put up with forever, you may be relieved to find out that this is simply not the case. Luckily, there are ways to make your day-to-day operations significantly easier. But what exactly are they?
If you’re a property manager looking to make your job a little easier, our top recommendation is to incorporate automation into your everyday life.
By automating your more repetitive tasks, you will be able to save tons of time and energy, all while making your workflow go a whole lot smoother. In the end, this can be crucial for your business, as it allows you to focus on providing high-quality services to your clients and growing your company’s reach.
In this blog post, we will go through a few different property management tasks you can automate to simplify your next work day. From responding to emails to answering tenant and client questions, these automations are sure to boost your productivity and save time all at once.
So, are you ready to learn more about how automation can give your property management company the boost it needs by streamlining your operations and setting you up for long-term success? If so, we’ve got you covered, so keep reading!
Automating Property Management: 6 Places to Optimize Your Workflow
1. Rent Collection
As a property manager, collecting rent can be quite a hassle if you don’t have a system that is streamlined and easy for both you and your tenants to use. Luckily, this task is one of the easiest ones for you to automate!
If you haven’t already, we recommend implementing an online rent collection system that can not only make your job easier, but it can also make paying rent more convenient for your tenants.
Since online banking is the most popular method of handling finances these days, we are confident that your tenants will appreciate the ease of being able to pay their rent quickly from anywhere. Most tenants prefer to make online rent payments, as they are relatively hassle-free.
Say goodbye to chasing after rent and knocking on doors! In the end, your clients will appreciate this streamlined approach to collecting their income as well.
The best way to implement online payments for rent collection is to use property management software. Most software options will offer online rent payment systems in addition to allowing you to communicate easily with your tenants.
Many of these platforms also have a feature that allows you to remind your residents when their next rent due date is coming up, reducing the likelihood of unexpected issues.
Overall, automating your rent collection not only saves you time, it also makes rent-related tenant disputes less likely. After all, making it easier for tenants to pay their rent also means that it is easier for both you and your clients to get paid. This makes it a win-win-win solution!
2. Communicating with Tenants and Owners
Being a property manager involves a lot of communication with your clients and tenants. You might already be using a CRM for your company, but odds are you still have to set up a lot of calls and appointments with your clients.
This can often feel tiring, as it usually involves a lot of emailing back and forth to find a time and day that works for both you and your client or tenant. This process can be unproductive on both ends. Luckily, this is another process that you can easily automate.
By using scheduling software, you will be able to automate all of your meetings easily and conveniently. For example, if you were to use the software Calendly, you could simply provide your availability and share a link with anyone you want to book a meeting with.
They can then choose a time and date that works best for them, and your meeting will show up directly in your calendar. Not only will you have an easier time booking your meetings, but your clients and tenants will appreciate the convenience of being able to simply book an appointment with you.
3. Showing Vacant Rental Properties
One of the most time-consuming tasks that a property manager has to do is showing vacant properties to new prospective tenants. Luckily, you can automate this by implementing self-showings.
Switching over to self-showings for your vacant rental units can help you make the process of finding a new tenant quicker, easier, and less costly.
In recent years, this method of showing properties to potential applicants has become more popular, and many property management companies still find it to be the most convenient way to show vacant homes to new residents.
This method of showing properties is more convenient for tenants as well. We recommend using a self-touring software such as Rently or Tenant Turner.
4. Replying to Emails
If you regularly find yourself having trouble keeping up with a constant stream of incoming emails, you wouldn’t be alone. Many property managers and business professionals across all industries have this problem.
Fortunately, an autoresponder is a great way to help you stay up to date on your emails while giving your clients, tenants, and colleagues the attention they need.
But how exactly does an autoresponder work? Trust us, it is easier than you think! Using an automated email response system (we recommend HubSpot, GetResponse, Aweber, or MailChimp) allows you to send out an automatic email whenever a client or tenant sends you a question or signs up for your company’s email list.
We recommend using something like this:
“Thank you for reaching out! We are working to respond to your email in detail within the day. While you wait, please feel free to check out our website’s FAQ section for more information about us and our work.”
By implementing this automation, you can help ensure that no one feels ignored or left behind, all while allowing you to avoid feeling like you are drowning in emails.
5. Including an FAQ on Your Website
One of the easiest ways that you can save time and energy using automation is by including an FAQ page on your property management company’s website. This can also help you streamline your lead generation system.
In order to make your FAQ page as effective as possible, you will need to be able to accurately anticipate prospective clients’ future questions and provide in-depth, helpful answers that they can refer back to on your website before directly asking you.
In fact, you can take this technique a step further by featuring a programmed chatbot on your company’s website. This chatbot would be available to anyone at any time should they have a question regarding your company or your services.
All you will have to do is take the time to provide the system with answers to your most commonly asked questions. This works similarly to a standard FAQ page, but it is more interactive and engaging for your prospective client.
It provides a more personalized approach than a simple FAQ page. Once you have it all set up, you can sit back and let your chatbot handle the client queries! Taking the time to set up a quick and easy way for clients to have their questions answered will ultimately save you time in the long run.
6. Handling the Financial Side of Your Business
When it comes to running any business, handling the bookkeeping and financial side can be a hassle. This is especially true for property management companies. That’s why we love using automation to help us sort out our daily, monthly, and annual finances.
Many companies don’t realize how easy it is to automate their finances. By investing in a high-quality property management software system, you can streamline the process of collecting and interpreting your financial data, save time, and see more accurate results.
Through your software system, you will be able to automatically keep track of your company’s expenses and income. You can even use this software to collect your rent payments online, as we mentioned earlier in this blog post. This system will save you endless amounts of time, in addition to saving you headaches come tax season!
Property Management Workflow Automation: Bottom Line
Being a property manager often involves taking on a long to-do list each and every day. It’s simply an unavoidable part of the job. However, there are ways to make your daily tasks easier and more productive on a day-to-day basis.
By automating just some of the responsibilities that we listed above, we are confident that you will experience a more productive workflow that helps you focus less on repetitive tasks and more on growing your business and providing high-quality property management services.
If you have any further questions about how to enhance your property management company by using automation, or anything else regarding your real estate journey, contact our team at Blanket today!
