To build a great company and see the highest level of property management success in your market, it's crucial to make sure you're working with the right people. As your business grows, you can't be expected to handle everything alone. Having quality people around you will make your company's future a better one.
Property managers must hire and manage a team of trusted professionals, so you can have peace of mind and reach the goals you have set for your company. However, you can't expect your employees to meet the expectations you have for them if they don't have clear goals and metrics. Here's what you need to know about setting employees up to succeed.
KPIs Matter for Your Property Management Company
KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are vital to ensuring your company's employees are performing in a way that meets your expectations. When you set KPIs for employees in your property management business, you give them specific information and detail about future goals.
Because a property management company structure can be complicated if you're operating a larger business or have a lot of clients, you want to be sure each and every employee understands what they need to do. Teamwork is extremely important, and you need everyone working on the right tasks.
As a business owner, you want to set realistic and attainable KPIs that also move your company forward. These generally include input (such as the number of customers), financial (how much profit you're making), and output (amount of product). Still, there are many options for measuring specific details within these areas.
Property management metrics can include vacancy rates, how long a property sits empty, how many new clients you're acquiring, profit margins, the number of maintenance requests, your response times, how fast rental applications are processed, and other details.
For example, you might measure how often you respond to inquiries within the first 24 hours or whether rental applications are being processed within 48 hours. You can also look at the number of doors you're managing and the percentage of lease renewals to see if your business is growing and clients are happy.
Setting the Right KPIs for Property Management Success
While setting KPIs should be one of the main focal points for anyone who owns a property management company, there's not much value in doing that if you're not also choosing the right metrics for each of your employees.
To help ensure you're tracking what really matters and making sure each employee knows what you expect of them, it can help to involve your employees in the process of setting their KPIs. If they have questions or don't understand something, you can work with them to settle issues and help everyone move forward.
KPIs must also be achievable and realistic. It's natural to want to grow your business fast, make a lot of profit, and take on plenty of new property owner clients. Sometimes, though, slower growth makes more sense and helps you keep up with the changes to your company. You might have to hire new employees, for example, or change some of your processes to make sure tenants and owners can get in touch with you at any time.
No matter the plans you have for your property management company structure or the areas you'll be measuring to track your progress, make sure the metrics you set are reachable. Not only will you feel good by meeting your goals, but your employees will enjoy working with your company and striving to meet their goals, as well.
After your KPIs are set, they should be reviewed and adjusted regularly. If you set KPIs and never adjust them as your company or team members grow, you can't tell if they're providing value to your company.
Some metrics might be hit too easily, in which case you'll want to expect more from your team. However, if the metrics are too hard to reach, or if they don't correlate to how well your property management company's actually doing, adjustments are definitely necessary.
KPIs Offer Important Benefits for Property Management Employees
Your employees can improve their productivity and performance when they know what's required of them. KPIs are a great way to show employees what you need, so they can work toward defined goals. Not only that, but KPIs help employees set professional goals that align more clearly with the overall business goals.
It's generally easier to see success when everyone's working together. Excellent employees want to accomplish tasks and advance the company's goals because that also helps them have a more secure career. When they have KPIs to work toward, they know what they should be doing and can see if they're hitting important targets.
Working with a property management expert can help you set strong KPIs for all your employees, so you can keep employees motivated and increase accountability. You want to have happy employees and a good working environment, but you also need your workers to consistently meet the goals you have for them.
Good Communication is Crucial
Additionally, communicating with them and providing feedback is important.
To communicate KPIs to your employees, make sure each KPI is clearly defined and conveyed. Keep each employee updated on how they're performing when compared to the KPIs you've set for them.
Additionally, make sure you're offering regular feedback and coaching. Employees can't make changes if they don't know there's a problem, and they may need some guidance to meet their KPIs more easily.
Set and Monitor Employee KPIs and Property Management Metrics for Success
When employees are doing well, be sure to recognize them and their achievements! Doing this can go a long way toward helping your property management employees feel valued and appreciated.
If you're not sure about the ideal KPIs for your business or for specific departments or team members, Deb Newell and Real-Time Consulting can help! Our property management consulting services can help keep your business on track for the long run. Reach out to learn more about how we help property managers put measures in place for success.
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