Commercial Real Estate Tenant Requests and Needs
Photo via Dell, Inc./Flickr

Location, Location, Location. And Price. We all know these are the primary drivers when customers are choosing a property. But how do you get them to choose your property over the competition across the street? Focus on the one thing completely under your control: service.

In the latest issue of Buildings magazine, chief content director Chris Olson addresses this exact topic. He said the results of the 2013 Global Tenant Survey – discussed at last month’s BOMA 2013 conference – revealed, “to no one’s surprise,” that high degrees of service and communication have a high correlation with tenant satisfaction.

And when it comes to managing a successful commercial real estate property, tenant satisfaction is crucial to keeping peak occupancy. After all, it costs property owners and managers a lot more to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones. How can you ensure happy, committed tenants? It’s simple: superior customer service.

But, what does “superior customer service” entail? The three key elements are:

• Communication

  1. Offer tenants a variety of ways to communicate with you: email, text message, phone, or even social media. Make them feel connected and their voices heard.
  2. Keep tenants aware of any maintenance or construction in the building that will affect their daily life – and remind them how they will benefit from the end result.
  3. Be sure your staff is courteous and responsive.

• Action

  1. Always provide quick responses to work orders. Even if you have to tell them you can’t resolve an issue immediately, at least they will know it’s important to you.
  2. Stay up-to-date with preventive maintenance and inspections to keep your building is in top shape.
  3. Conduct customer surveys and use feedback to guide your operational decisions.

• Technology

  1. Have an easily accessible building website and online tenant handbook which offers tenants a variety of tools, including resource scheduling, work orders and visitor lists.
  2. Make those tools available on mobile devices and tablets.
  3. Give your staff the ability to work remotely – this will deliver faster response times and more opportunities for personal interactions with tenants.

According to Defaqto Research, 55 percent of customers are willing to pay extra to guarantee a better service. Wouldn’t you like that to be in your pocket?

For more insight into your tenants’ minds, click here.