Quality Property Services
It wasn’t long ago that our economy was described in terms of goods production. GDP and business was mostly about physical products of various kinds.
It was the quality of the physical products and their packaging that generated sales and loyal customers.
Today, we’ve more of a service-oriented economy, yet the lessons of the product era shouldn’t be lost. The principles of excellence in marketing and sales are the same — delivered instead through digital channels and apps.
Learning about our service quality and how it impacts our brand and profitability is important.
For instance, the property management software you use can indicate your level of customer friendliness, professionalism, accountability and service to landlords. The most expensive software might give you the enterprise image where friendliness and customer service often take a back seat. And starter software on the other hand makes you look inexperienced, unstable, unreliable, and whose service mix is unsophisticated.
In terms of packaging your property management or property maintenance services then, a middle of the road product gives you the power but still is comfortable for most of your clients (including rental property owners).
Big Retail Lessons
A friend of mine worked in consumer products as a sales manager for many decades. There were two components of his big corporation’s product — the product itself and the packaging, which indicated the quality of the product inside. Every consumer product company today knows that packaging and branding are often more important than the product itself.
Consumers and B2B service providers formulate value received based on branding. Packaging is all about Branding which is the opportunity to tell your customer what quality of service and results they’re receiving. If you’re producing great results, then by communicating them, you’re ensuring customers (tenants and owners) know it. And you’ll then improve your company’s profit and ROI.
My friend spent a good deal of time making the cardboard package look as elegant and attractive as possible. It was as though customers were buying the packaging itself. And that’s the lesson for everyone. He moved onto anther industry and made millions in another product that had to be similarly expertly designed and packaged. That was his expertise.
The packaging of a product tells us whether it’s easy to use, powerful, or effective. You may want to examine your website and social media posts to get a feel for what it really says about your company and the property management service you provide.
Does Your Brand’s Packaging Say High Quality?
Proctor & Gamble, the monolithic home products manufacturer gained its dominance through high quality products, yet the real success is in packaging design. Their products said they were the best quality right on the store shelves. Combined with their strong advertising and marketing campaigns, they established themselves as the market leader.
Can you just copy the market leader’s branding and hope to win? Many companies do just that, but it can backfire in that you make your company or brand look like a copycat. Prospects could see your brand as fake, and pretending to deliver results you probably can’t deliver.
The right approach in contrast is to establish yourself as unique and inimitable company first, and then your marketing efforts look believable, organic, and result in lasting brand equity.
Instead of using a service quality research firm to query customers, you might want to look at the service quality characteristics yourself. With insight, you can revise your website, property management app messaging, social media posts and any other communications you put out.
What Defines Service Quality?
Everything you do as a property manager communicates the quality of your service. How you do business and what you say about your services is your packaging.
These service factors communicate a lot to your tenants and are the ones to focus on:
- responsiveness and communication
- friendly tone
- accountability and reliability
- fixing once and for all
- regular maintenance
- asking customers for opinions on service quality and outcomes after a service visit to continuously gauge their attitude about their rental experience
- asking for feedback on why the service call was needed so they’re mindful of why it happened so they might be more amenable to fulfilling their expected maintenance activities
Your Property Software Can Collect Info on Tenant Attitudes
Getting feedback from tenants (and landlords) is important in understanding their values, experience and their voice. With this understanding, you’ll know how to package your service using their language and attitudes.
Hopefully, you can convince them they’re receiving good service, that you’re concerned with their rental experience and you honestly fulfilling your duties as a property manager. It’s the same for landlords.
Please see the posts on property management brands, property management services, tenant communications, and property management marketing.
If you’re a maintenance services manager, the property maintenance services firm will help you to grow your companies.
