What Peter, Paul and Mary can teach property managers about quality control

Over 20 years ago I went to a concert with our family to listen to Peter, Paul and Mary. The concert was at the Paramount theater Portland, OR. We wanted to go because we knew that we were at the end of their careers and this should probably be the last opportunity to see them.

You would think that a group with their level of professionalism and longevity would just go and play and not really worry about a thing. But in fact, we found out that was not true. My daughter had to use the restroom, and I went with her to the facilities at the back of the auditorium. There we ran into Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary, who asked me if I could hear it well and how the acoustics were. Of course, I was smitten meeting this worldwide star but more importantly I was surprised that he was actually checking to make sure that the audio was perfect for the audience to enjoy.

This brings me back to the topic of this article which is all about branding and quality control. Every company builds a culture and brand and uses it to sell its products. Property managers do that as well and but unfortunately often forget to build a quality control function into their system. Most owners are fairly removed from the front lines, I don’t really know how their tenants, vendors and clients are being treated.

An owner should, at least on an annual basis, survey a portion of their client base and potential tenant base to assess if in fact the company is doing their job. Most important is consistency and empathy to build trust with all of the players that interact with company.

It is this trust that allows a company to grow and develop its brand.

When you take care of your clients, tenants and your vendors, they will be the ones to send you additional business and help create the environment for you to grow.

How to survey your business sphere of influence

Unfortunately, it’s a huge job to survey all of your stakeholders. We chose to annually take a 25% sample of the stakeholders to figure out what the key challenges were. What better way to evaluate your employees (and hold them accountable) than to send out independent surveys to the tenants and the clients to establish whether they’re being taken care of. You may be surprised by what you find. Employees tend to dread these surveys because they show where they might not be following up on details.

It is the details that these surveys uncover.

I typically assign a task to an assistant, who correlates all the survey information into large spreadsheets for me to review and then share with all the department heads that reported to me. If you have a smaller company, then the information is shared with the property managers and the whole staff so they can get a sense of where you are doing great job and where you are not.

It doesn’t take a lot of questions to establish satisfaction with the services being rendered.

Since you are targeting a group of people you know who are sending a survey.

With new computer software you can send emails to tenants and clients about four main questions.

1. Are you happy with our service

2. How would you rank it from 1 to 10.

3. If something needs to be done, please summarize those issues.

4. Is there someone you want to recognize for doing a great job please tell us who you think should be recognized and why.

The results of these surveys will help you figure out if your company and your employees are doing the job that you expect to deliver.

For example, we learned that in one of our departments people were unhappy because there weren’t enough people to answer the phones and issues were not being resolved.

As a result of the survey, we realized that we needed to improve satisfaction with our service.

We ended up hiring remote client representatives too sort and solve issues, it made a huge difference, the clients were much happier. As a result, the department grew 100% in the following five years.

Summary

Just as Peter wanted to make sure that his audience would be satisfied with their sound, it is up to you to establish quality control procedures to maintain the quality of the services. As a result of the surveys you benefit with both quality and branding control and allows to adjust company policies to improve your operations.

It’s lonely at the top, we can give you confidential advice to help your business grow. Visit our Success Stories to see how we have helped other clients.

Clifford A. Hockley is Principal Broker at SVN | Bluestone, as well as the managing member of Cliff Hockley Real Estate Consulting, LLC.  As a Certified Property Manager & Designated Managing Broker, Cliff has 42 years of experience in the brokerage and management of Real Estate companies. Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services managed condominium associations, multi-family, and commercial properties in the greater Portland area. He was focused on running the company and involved with investment property brokerage. He worked with financial institutions, governmental agencies, private investors, and not for profit organizations. He also has vast knowledge in budgeting, organizational management, and building structures. His previous experience includes over five years in accounting, production supervision for a manufacturing company, and work for state agencies in California. 

Cliff grew Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services into a 100 employee company that managed over 2 billion dollars of real estate assets before he sold the company in 2021. He also supervised a sales team of over 15 real estate brokers for over 39 years. His monthly newsletter, QuickFacts has over 2,300 subscribers. He has been involved in numerous real estate transactions that include industrial, retail, office, and multifamily properties. Cliff has also written a book called “Successful Real Estate Investing; Invest Wisely, Avoid Costly Mistakes and Make Money” published by Morgan James Publishing in 2019.

Cliff has successfully coached real estate investors and CEOs located throughout the United States since 2015. He has acted as a sounding board to help untangle knotty issues that need an experienced outside opinion. He guides leaders who find it is “lonely at the top” and need an experienced hand to help set a strategic direction, sort out operational problems and want to talk through challenging business decisions.

He has served as an adjunct professor at Portland State University from 2028 – 2021, teaching classes in: Intro to Real Estate, Basic Real Estate Finance, Property Management as well as Real Estate Investment Fundamentals. He has instructed hundreds of students and believes that substantial preparation and active student engagement are crucial for learning and appreciating the field of real estate. Students appreciate his candor and real-world experience.

Among his many civic activities, Cliff served on the Board of Directors for the Portland Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) and the Rental Housing Alliance of Oregon. In 2014 he was recognized by IREM as board member of the year, and in 2015 he earned an achievement award in brokerage from SVN International. In the years 2000 & 2003, he was recognized by IREM as Certified Property Manager of the Year.