What to Look For in a Property Management Answering Service

As a property manager, your job goes well beyond building management. Not only do you have to ensure that your property and your management company continue to increase in value, but you also need to ensure that your tenants’ needs and desires are met.

As busy as you are with tenant calls, building maintenance, showing units, collecting dues, and the flow of tenants in and out of your property, it can be difficult to take care of everything on your plate in an efficient and effective manner.

So many challenges can leave you feeling exhausted at the end of the day, not to mention incredibly short on time. However, a live answering service for your property management business can handle all of your calls for you around the clock.

What Is a Property Management Answering Service?

Some think that live answering service is no different than any other answering service, in that they can’t possibly care about the caller. This is far from the truth. In all reality, a live answering service’s only job is customer service—their only aim is to make your callers happy.

Yet another myth is that calls end up being answered by people overseas and your callers will likely encounter communication difficulties and less than desirable customer experience. However, there are plenty of USA-based answering services that refuse to outsource call handling to another country. Their local answering service agents take care of each call exactly the way you would, with friendly professionalism.

Finally, another popular myth is that people don’t like speaking to a live agent. The truth is that, in a sea of automated and web chat services, live agents are a welcomed personal touch. Unlike some services, which may simply take a message and promise to get back to a caller, a live answering service can help the customer resolve an issue right then and there, providing help and assurance along the way.

How Live Answering Services Handle Your Calls

Unlike automated systems which force callers to choose options and wait to speak with someone, a live real estate answering service allows anyone who calls your number to speak with a real person right away. The professionals who answer phones with a live answering service have been trained to handle all of the kinds of calls that residential property managers receive.

• Existing Tenants: Tenants with issues like plumbing or electrical problems will speak to a compassionate and friendly live agent. This ensures all details are accurately recorded for prompt resolution.
• Prospective Tenants: When potential tenants call for information about available units, a professional live agent provides a positive first impression. They can answer questions with detailed knowledge about your property.
• Appointment Scheduling: Live agents can schedule appointments for unit viewings or maintenance calls, ensuring efficient handling of tenant and property needs.

Benefits For Property Management

Implementing live answering services can significantly enhance the operations and reputation of property management companies.

Personal Service

Live answering services offer personal attention that automated systems can’t match, enhancing the caller experience with warmth and friendliness.

Elevated Reputation

Having a live answering service boosts your company’s reputation, allowing smaller businesses to provide the same professional service as larger companies.

Personal Attention

Each caller receives personalized attention, making them feel valued and important. Bilingual agents can also assist Spanish-speaking individuals, fostering better communication and relationships.

Increased Efficiency

A 24-hour answering service allows your staff to focus on their tasks without the distraction of answering phones, significantly improving business efficiency.

Money and Time Savings

Live answering services save money by eliminating the need for in-house staff and associated benefits. These services operate on flexible contracts, saving costs during slower periods. They also save time by handling calls and freeing you to focus on other tasks.

Overall, live answering services provide a comprehensive solution for property management companies, enhancing service quality, reputation, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

Tips for Choosing the Right Answering Service for You

There are certainly many benefits to hiring a live answering service to handle your property management calls. However, not every company is the same. There may be several different companies out there, but the right one for you will be the one that has the following characteristics.

Well-Established and Trained

The best property management answering service for your property management company should be established and experienced. They should consist of a reliable team whose top priority is ensuring each of their agents is professionally trained.

In having agents who are professionally trained, you and your callers will receive quality real estate answering service that is always consistent, regardless of the time of day that a call is placed. A company who invests in the proper training of their employees understands the benefits of this training to its customers and its own business.

Professional training should also include proper telephone etiquette, as well as knowing how to handle difficult situations and callers.

Tailored to Your Business

The trained agents who will be answering your business calls should be able to meet your specific requirements. This can be done by providing them with as much information about your business as possible so that custom scripts can be written, and a strategy developed for how calls will be directed.

Multi-Tasking Experts

In addition to being able to pick up the phone, greet callers, and take messages, your live answering service should also be able to provide general assistance and schedule maintenance and viewing appointments, as well as route calls to the appropriate department so that your callers never have to wait long to get their issues resolved.

Agents should be able to screen calls using a series of specific questions that help them determine the call’s level of severity and route only high-urgency calls to necessary personnel. They also need to be able to notify you of any non-urgent messages via SMS or email.

Simple Web Interface

A live answering service company can ensure all calls to your company are answered and dealt with in a professional manner—but what about you? In addition to providing stellar service, the residential property management answering service you’re considering should also make it easy for you.

They should offer a full web interface that allows you to update and manage all received maintenance requests, as well as allow you to pay your bill and view your account status from the same convenient location.

Get Professional Answering Services Today

As a property manager, you always have a lot to do. Why worry about how you’re going to handle calls as well? AnswerMTI can do it all, from logging maintenance requests and connecting callers with on-call staff during emergencies to assisting tenants with their rent payments and providing prospective residents with directions to your property for a showing and much more.

Call 844-798-1027, and discover the many ways that professional live property management answering services from AnswerMTI can start benefiting your property management business today.