The benefits of automating your property management business operations are well worth the work to implement—but any operational change can come with plenty of challenges! One of the biggest hurdles can be overcoming the fears of something new and "automated."
Automation is the best way to increase productivity, streamline processes, and make sure nothing gets missed when managing rentals, owners, and tenants. How can business owners move past hesitations from partners or employees when considering property management automation? Geekly Media is here to address your fears and help you work smarter (not harder)!
While they may know it has advantages, you may find that some staff members are uncertain about embracing technology for different reasons. Some may fear that they will be replaced once operations are automated. Older staff might be afraid to embrace technology when "the old way works just fine." If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
Fixing something that you don't realize is broken could help you find time and resources to grow your business! Even if it didn't seem broken, outdated manual processes could be costing you new business and more income.
Business owners can mitigate this fear by sitting down with staff members and explain the benefits of using property management automation. Develop training programs and materials to help team members understand new automated processes. Listen to feedback and work with your staff on concerns as implementation begins. As employees find more time on their hands when automation ramps up, work with them on new ways to utilize their skills and develop new ones.
You might feel like automation means you lose control over operations. Some of your team members may feel this way, too.
With a successful automation plan and implementation, the opposite is true! Automation helps property managers regain control over out-of-control and unorganized processes, lost tasks, and redundant work that leaves clients unhappy. With streamlined workflows triggered by automation, your employees work more efficiently and understand their roles. Property owners and tenants receive the attention they need, and every task has a home—with a check box waiting for completion.
Property management automation also allows business owners to oversee operations and spend less time moving projects or tasks forward manually. You gain more control with a well-automated system!
"Automation" means "robots," right? Not exactly!
We get the fear that automating formerly human-driven tasks and processes can lead to a fear of losing the human touch with clients. After all, property management is a people business!
However, one of the best benefits of automation your property management systems is the time it adds back into your schedule to maintain those human connections. You and your team will benefit from fewer manual and time-consuming tasks that an automated workflow can handle. With that time back in your hands, you can book more face time with clients and focus energy on pursuing new leads to grow your business.
Automation doesn't replace phone calls, video conferences, personalized emails, and in-person meetings. You'll enjoy more time to do those things and bring the personality back into your business when an effective automation strategy.
Just like automation doesn't replace the human aspects of your business, a well-automated system doesn't often lead to downsizing or eliminating valuable team members.
Many property managers consider automation when employees have too much to do to manage properties, owners, and tenants effectively. Automation helps maximize productivity to give back the time they don't have to then do their jobs more effectively.
The right property management automation solution doesn't eliminate staff; it enhances their ability to do their jobs well! Most often, we find that property management companies enjoy better work-life balances and more productivity during the day after implementing automated workflows. When employees have a balanced workload, they're happier and do better work for your clients!
You might also find that overworked employees have kept you from growing your business. With optimized processes and automation, business owners find they already have the resources they need to add more doors—without adding additional staff to meet the demands of new clients.
"Automation" sounds fancy, so it must be expensive!
However, when you analyze the time and expense of continuing with inefficient operations and employee turnover, automation is one of the best ways to reduce operational costs and boost your business revenue! You can't afford not to automate!
It is natural to be apprehensive about new things, and we get that. Geekly Media is here to make the process less frightening and set your company up for property management automation success! If any of these fears are keeping you from automating critical workflows, let's talk about how we can help.
Where should you start? Download our free resource, "What and When Should You Automate? A Guide for Property Managers With 50/500/5,000 Doors!"