November 16, 2017
By Guy Lyman
Until as recently as a decade ago, growing your business was mostly about dedication: attention to detail, responsiveness, market knowledge and people skills.
But these days, a new “growth factor” has become just as important as any of these qualities: the software you use to run your business. Good software boosts customer service while drastically reducing time spent on day to day paperwork, inspections, marketing and other responsibilities – allowing you to effectively compete for new business and easily manage more doors with fewer people.
Of course, you’re already using software of some sort in your business. The question is: are you exploiting it in all the areas where it could be helping you grow larger and more profitable without adding lots of expensive new bodies?
Here are some of the areas where the right software is acting as a powerful catalyst for growth:
A hard-working website
Old-fashioned websites just don’t cut it anymore. Not when your competition is using experts to engineer theirs with the latest design and conversion techniques to drive leads, and using SEO and PPC to lure apartment hunters from Internet searches. If you want to grow, your website has to perform like a champ.
Ad posting made painless
If you’re still managing and posting ads manually, you’re wasting lots of time that could be spent more effectively – and it’s only going to get worse as you get bigger. Today’s software automatically keeps your listings up-to-date and posts them to Craigslist, Internet Listing Services and other places you market your properties.
Staying on top of leads
You can’t afford to let good prospects fall through the cracks, and modern software tracks them from the time they first come in by email, phone or office visit all the way through to a signed lease. It also helps you calculate the ROI for all your advertising venues, so you can put your money where it’s working hardest.
Reducing risk through superior screening
If you’re not already using an online screening service to vet applicants, you should be: references just aren’t enough. And when it comes to choosing a service, know that they’re not all created equal. Be sure that in addition to competitive pricing, yours offers the most comprehensive check of databases, as well as rental payment history.
Saving time (lots of it)
Among the top benefits of good software is the countless hours it can save your staff by automating and streamlining their day-to-day tasks and paperwork, freeing them for more important duties. These days, it’s hard to find a single area of the property management business that hasn’t spawned software to speed things up.
Keeping owners and tenants happy
Today’s tenants should be able to access a dedicated portal to submit service requests, pay their rent and other fees, and communicate with your staff. Owner portals give owners access to comprehensive information about their investments, while also letting them handle payments and deposits online. The more tenants and owners do online, the more time your staff has for other things.
Going mobile with inspections
Mobile inspection apps let your people record all information and photos on their mobile devices while at the properties. This data goes right into your home office system, so there’s no need for entering it back at the office.
Seeing the big picture
A quality reporting solution can extract from your system everything you and your owners want to see regarding things like maintenance costs and needs, vacancies, receivables and payables, marketing expenditures and more. This deep visibility into your business enables more profitable decision-making. A dashboard should be included for high-level reporting, with drill-down abilities for a closer look.
That’s a quick tour of some of the ways good software can help you manage more efficiently and profitably, clearing the way to grow your business without being overwhelmed. If your software isn’t delivering in all these areas, it might be time for a change!
Based in New Orleans, Guy Lyman is a professional writer with over 25 years' experience writing about multifamily and commercial real estate. Lyman is a frequent contributor and writer for the Propertyware blog.
