In my previous blog I noted how a Management Department successfully operates. Now, in this day in age, we’re all using social media and today more and more companies are realising social media can be a day to day working tool. Who could imagine a few years ago that we would now, in 2012 be communicating more via social media rather than e-mails, telephone calls and text messages!
The main focus of my job as a Property Manager is communication and Customer Service. On a daily basis I am in contact with tenants, landlords and contractors.
Now, every Property Manager will know it can take several conversations with all parties to confirm and arrange the likes of maintenance issues i.e.:
A tenant calls with information of an issue
The landlord is then contacted to inform and request instruction to repair. The landlord prefers a quotation first and foremost
The contractor is contacted to confirm availability to quote
The tenant is called back to confirm arrangements
The landlord is informed of the quotation and gives the go ahead
The contractor is called to confirm, the tenant is called to inform
We all lead busy lives and are not always able to answer calls, read and reply to e-mails or reply to SMS immediately. This is where social media comes into its own! With its popularity and the progression of technology we are able to log onto our social media sites anywhere, anytime, and come on…admit it, we all log on several times a day or we’re logged on continuously!
This is why the Management Department here at Concentric Lettings has taken the lead in property management using social media. Our Landlords, tenants and contractors are all sent a ‘Friend Request’ on Facebook and ‘Follower Requests’ on Twitter.
The majority of my ‘Friends’ are all of the above! This is so unbelievably beneficial to all parties; our tenants can contact me at any time to report a maintenance issue, confirm availability for a visit or ask for a call to discuss their tenancy. Landlords have availability to very useful material such as our day to day running, blogs, articles by our MD and generally information they would only get (in the olden days) by calling up and requesting or by a mass generated E-mail. I can and do contact tenants via social media knowing I am going to contact with ease and will receive a reply in the same way i.e. when a rent payment is overdue I know I can contact a tenant knowing they are online and will receive contact.
Social media is also a fantastic way to discover new contractors, landlords and tenants. We now have several contractors on our preferred supplier list who were initially sourced on Facebook!!
In my opinion, the best aspect of Social Media is the personal touch! Everyone can match a face to a name, learn a little about each other and build good relationships!
Helen Deeley has worked in the property and property maintenance capacity for over 8 years, joining the Concentric/Lawson’s team in 2009.
From a history of being responsible for organisation of contractors, projects and works on factories and commercial buildings for a large corporate maintenance holding company, and then working in partnership with local council, housing department in the regenerations of housing. Here she personally handled the refurbishment of run down vacant properties in the local borough.
Since joining the Lawson’s/Concentric team, Helen has worked her way through the ranks and now enjoys managing the HUB, a collection of property management experts, property inspectors and contractors to manage all the properties throughout the UK for both companies.
Helens organisational and teaching/management skills have allowed her to excel in this role, and is now moving into the capacity of Trainer for the group.
Her wealth of experience is a great benefit to the team and our landlords and shines through in the numerous videos, blogs and articles that she writes.
Helen Deeley
Property Management Manager-Concentric Lettings