Darrenhunter.com recently administered a valuable PM discussion on why it is crucial that PM staff not take any work related calls after hours. Find Darren’s full article HERE.
Here are some of his findings:
Ditching cell phones after hours…
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Improves Team Morale.
Turning work phones off after hours and on weekends allows your team to come back to work refreshed and ready to handle their work with a positive attitude. The result is you are getting your staff at their optimal best.
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Sets a Standard.
Darren quotes discussion participant, Leeanne Barker,“Why are tenants requiring your action outside of hours? Do you expect your accountant, lawyer or doctor to answer your calls after 5pm when they are at home? I believe that most of us are professionals and that we should expect that we be respected for the hard work that we do. If we set the standard then the clients will adhere. I’ve found proper tenant/leaser inductions with proper systems in place for foreseeable emergencies eliminated the need for calls, especially the unnecessary one after hours”
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Prevents Burnout.
Another discussion participant states “My phone goes off as soon as I leave the office. After 25 years I agree that after hour’s calls, bad time management and no office procedures are huge contributors to burnout. With good systems in place there is no need to take after hour calls.”
You may be thinking…
“What about calls from Prospective Tenants and PM Leads?”
No one wants to miss out on the calls that result in growth.
Participant, Tracy N Mike Bold, made an excellent point in saying:
“My phone is on 24/7 and I must say I don’t get many after hour calls except for prospective tenants in which we price our business model to be available after hours so we can rent properties to working tenants who aren’t allowed to view properties between 9-5pm”
Which brings us to the question:
“How do I achieve this without taking all of the calls myself?”
Many owners are now using a service that handles leasing calls and PM leads for them. The service is available after hours, on weekends, and even during business hours.
“The increase in efficiency to my entire team has been incredible. We are no longer constantly interrupted by the non-stop leasing line calls. Instead we are able to focus on other income generating tasks. The immediate benefit is real. We went from answering fewer than 25% of the 800+ leasing line calls we receive per month, to answering 98% of those same calls. The result is a dramatic decrease in days on market, increase in available man-hours, a quieter office and a happier team. In our case the service literally pays for itself.”
– -Marcus Phillips
Read more of our happy leasing line clients testimonials and learn more about our property management call center.