Customer Service in Property Management

If you are a landlord, you know that dealing with tenants can be a huge pain. There is a precarious balance one must reach between being too soft and too mean. First and foremost, property management is not for the faint of heart or those with thin skin. Some tenants will be utterly vicious because, unfortunately it works.

They will use everything from guilt trips, to sob stories to outright threats (they always seem to have a lawyer on retainer from the sounds of its). A property manager must be able to separate that out, stick to policy and be fair but firm. Rent is due on time, no a lightbulb going out does not necessitate an emergency call, no you cannot get your full deposit back, etc.

On the same token, good customer service is essential. For one thing, many tenants just want to vent and be listened to and empathized with. It's often petty and sometimes pathetic, but it is what it is. People want to feel that their problems mean something to you. They want to feel like you care. If they don't feel like you care, they are likely to escalate.

Many problems when it comes to tenant/landlord relations come down to a small issue being blown out of proportion because no one nipped it in the bud with a little property management psychotherapy. Yes, it's important to get maintenance issues fixed and what not, but tenants are often unrealistic about what they desire. And sometimes things go wrong. And while no one wants to get yelled at, you can usually calm such tenants down by empathizing with. Apologize to them for the inconvenience (not for your company's response mind you) and try to get it so you're both on the same side.

If you can get on the same team, then it feels like a collaborative effort. This can be true even with collections. But if we fall into the temptation of yelling back at them or writing them off because they are being ridiculous. Then they get even angrier and people move out, property's are damaged, time gets wasted and sometimes lawyers get called. 

Calling tenants out for being ridiculous may comfort our personal sense of self-righteousness, but it doesn't fix the problem. Don't fall for that trap.