Blog December 30, 2015 2016 New Year’s Resolutions for Property Managers You have your personal resolutions for the New Year ready to go, but have you thought about making professional resolutions as well? Making additional goals and improvements that focus solely on your career and workplace is equally as important, and will benefit your property and business greatly. We’ve created a list of five suggestions to get you started: Time to Shine Dedicating more time and personnel to keeping your property as pristine as possible will give it a measurable makeover. Routinely increasing property cleanliness and decreasing clutter in your common areas will in turn increase happiness amongst your residents, and decrease turnover rates. Resolve to add an extra day of cleaning services, or perhaps have your janitorial staff switch over to green cleaning products, which will make your building – and the environment – a healthier place to be. More Mixing and Mingling Dedicating time to networking, both within your building and with local colleagues or business owners, has the potential to significantly improve both your professional and personal life. Acquiring new acquaintances allows the possibility for not only new business opportunities, but new friendships as well. Resolve to attend (or hold!) local meet-ups or networking events, and make an effort to invite your new acquaintances to coffee within the following weeks. You never know what could stem from a simple conversation! Step-Up Your Security Feeling safe, especially at home, has become more important than ever for Americans these days, so ensure that your property is armed with equipment and personnel to make your residents feel secure in your care. Resolve to take an extra security measure at your property this year. For instance, if you already have a gate to your property, invest in gate patrol to fully manage and monitor all of your guests and visitors. Or if you already have security guards in your lobby, consider roving patrol as well to add surveillance to your entire property, not just your building. Be a Customer Service Champion Going the extra mile to ensure your residents feel welcome and at home will make your property stand out significantly from the rest. Reinforce to your front desk staff the importance of catering to and caring for your tenants, and be sure to lead by example yourself. Resolve to enhance your customer service efforts by offering a quarterly happy hour for your tenants, or compiling a list of residents’ birthdays and sending them a greeting or small token of appreciation. Master your Maintenance Tasks Do you have outstanding maintenance tasks that still need addressing? There is no better time than the present! Perform a walkthrough of your property and make a list of all of the projects – big and small – that need attention, and assign a plan of action and completion date for each of them. Resolve to take care of all remaining maintenance issues from 2015, and create a plan to minimize these issues in 2016. Perhaps it’s time to bring on a superintendent or handy-porter to maintain your property on a daily basis; think of how great it would be this time next year to have no outstanding tasks on your list! Do you have any great resolution suggestions for fellow property managers? Please share below! ______________________________________ This article was written by Jillian O’Connor (Marketing Communications Manager) for Planned Companies, the industry leaders in janitorial, maintenance, concierge/front desk, and security services in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Catering to both residential and commercial properties, we proudly provide services throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC. For more information about our services, please visit our website at www.plannedcompanies.com or call us at 888-706-8600.