The best way to ensure high occupancy rates is to house happy tenants. As simple as this notion is, executing it is a completely different ballgame. In light of the well-played Patriots game last Sunday (Patriots vs Cincinnati), which allowed all us New Englanders a sigh of relief, let’s relate this back to the rough game of football.

1. Preparedness: Brady’s Patriots spent the last week reworking plays, restructuring the offensive line and determining a well-laid out plan of defense. Without this focus on preparedness, we’d have had a replay of the Patriots vs. Chiefs in week 4. In Property Management, preparedness can also go a long way. Emergencies happen. Tenants, as well as anyone else, can understand this. What’s not understandable is a delayed response in these situations. Be prepared; ensure that you have a plan of communication and set procedures to follow in case of all emergencies. Your most loyal clients are those who have been in bad situations and your team has stepped up.
2.  Support: After Brady’s less than stellar performance vs. the Chiefs last week, which left doubt in the minds of fans and critics, Rob Gronkowski still showed support for his QB. Quoted by ESPN, “I told my brother before we came to the game, ‘I’m going to make 12 look like Tom Brady again today, baby!’” Offering a well-rounded support system builds trust in your tenants. When rolling out a new process for work order submission, preventive maintenance, etc., it’s important to provide as much support as possible. Training guides and one-on-one support shows your gratefulness for their willingness to adapt to the change in the process. Provide tenants with these resources and they’ll feel secure abiding by your procedures in return.
3. Communication: Our New England Champs were on fire Sunday night. So much so that they barely needed to huddle up. This is a sign of strong communication; hopefully we see it next week too! Getting your management team on the same page is a huge step towards ensuring tenant satisfaction. This is harder than it sounds, but technology is the key here; messages can be delivered quickly, accurately and reliably. It becomes easy to pinpoint any disconnect when communication is tracked. Communication is an important part of tenant retention – both internally and externally. A solution may lie in your property management software. Can you communicate directly with tenants through your software? Can they reply to you? And what about internal? Are you able to talk amongst yourself? And then link all of this communication to electronic record of the specific item it relates to? These are functions that your property management software should encompass in order to provide nearly transparent and controlled communication.

The Patriot’s theme this week – Trust in the playbook

The Patriots entered Gillette Stadium trusting in the game plan they spent all week fine-tuning. They were prepared to depend on each other and follow through. If you’ve established a solid workflow, that encompasses the above aspects of tenant retention, then you can depend on the system. Depending on the system is especially easy when you’ve selected a reliable Property Management Software (…like Building Engines!) to assist you in the struggle towards high tenant retention. Preparedness, support and communication can produce a reliable system that results in tenant retention.