Property Managers: Tips for Improving Your After-Hours Maintenance HotlinePosted by Vedel Pagh on June 11th, 2021 While it is all to easy to make contact with a property management answering service or answering services company and set up an after-hours maintenance hotline, making sure that it really works well for you personally and your tenants uses a extra effort. Below are some suggestions you'll be able to follow to ensure that you are performing everything you'll be able to to find the most out of the service and make your tenants happy. 1. Personalize the service up to possible The default property management script that your call center provider has on file will get the task done, but it's always preferable to personalize it to fit your business. For example, the default method that operators answer the phone might be "Thank you for calling, may I enable you to?" Instead of leaving this the way it is, modify it to incorporate the category of your house as well as the purpose of the queue, including "Thank you for calling Forest Pines Condominiums after-hours maintenance hotline, may I assist you to?" It's a minor change, nonetheless it makes people more at ease realizing that they're calling your dedicated line. Or, for example, when the hotline will likely be used for apartments that are all within the same building and enjoy the same address, make certain operators only request the apartment number. It's annoying needing to provide your entire address when all that's needed the number. This goes for properties inside the same City and State, as well. No need to seek advice that you simply know already the answer to. 2. Clearly communicate to tenants what constitutes an emergency Your tenants should be aware of what's considered an emergency from your company and what isn't. Unfortunately, property managers often give criteria on their live answering services company but not tenants, resulting in a great deal of heated conversations. Instead of just giving your tenants several to call after office hours, provide them with the identical report on emergencies that you give your call center and make sure they know what's going to bring about an after-hours maintenance visit and what will hold for the office. Alternatively, it is possible to scrap the list of emergencies altogether, instead relying on a matter that asks the tenant if they feel their situation is urgent and needs attention before regular office hours. The potential for abuse this is obvious, but it's definitely an even more customer friendly approach. Ultimately, only you'll be able to decide what is great for your circumstances, but either approach works well if everyone is properly educated. 3. Stick to your office hours or prepare your call center to field additional types of calls Understandably, getting the capability to forward your lines to the after-hours service whenever you want is oftentimes too alluring to pass up. If you're planning to leave work or stop taking calls within your regular business hours, be sure that your particular answering services company is prepared to handle the different kinds of calls that they will likely be receiving. It's harmful to business to force callers into a call center that can't a single thing for the kids and possesses no info on what's going on inside office. By communicating with your answering services company and telling them what your schedule is when you will be out, they will have more details to offer callers and stay more confident handling your calls. In addition, the scripting and instructions they follow must be befitting type of calls they're taking and what they are telling callers. As a good example, while it's perfectly acceptable after-hours to tell a caller with a non-urgent concern to call back the next business day, it's ineffective and confusing to be told that at 1 inside the afternoon on the Thursday. Call centers can simply create variable scripting, so make certain that you ask them to achieve this. " site is going to lunch at this time, but I can ask you to definitely return your call when they reunite this afternoon" is a bit more appropriate. 4. Take advantage of any additional services, functionality, and technology your call center has available Today's telemarketer firms tend to be advanced compared to the simple message taking services that came before them. Sometimes just choosing a message and delivering it properly is perhaps all that you need, however, you should look to the characteristics and technology that your particular call center has obtainable in order to determine if there's more they are often doing in your case. If so, there's a good chance any additional service will enhance the effectiveness of your answering services company and increase the level of customer service they're able to offer. Examples of additional services include payment processing, scheduling showings in your stead, and integrating using your CRM or database so that you can look-up tenant information easier and automatically create work tickets in your system. Whether these facilities sound right to suit your needs often rely on your size and also the investment necessary to hold the technology configured. When deciding whether to spend the excess money, make sure to factor inside time it requires that you perform certain tasks, whether the changes will reduce or increase your payment (by increasing or reducing call times), and whether having an even more advanced call center will allow you to decrease vacancies and help the relationship you have with existing tenants. I hope the following tips help make your answering services company experiences more prosperous. If you're working having a reputable live answering services company and they're doing everything they are able to on their own end, after this list ought to be all you have to make the relationship successful. If you've got any feedback on having an answering service /live answering services company with your home management operation, I'd want to know what you think. Whether your relationship was profitable or possibly a complete disaster, I always think it is advantageous to talk to people and find out more about precisely what is working and what isn't.Like it? Share it! More by this author |