Feedback Management – Peaceably Profitable

Many tenants communicate with their property management of their own accord. This voluntary information is valuable to the housing provider in assessing the quality and efficiency of its business processes. However, beyond dealing with damage reports, housing companies often lack predefined procedures for adequately handling praise, complaints or other concerns. Some messages thus aren’t registered properly, which can leave the respective tenant feeling powerless – especially after contacting the management multiple times about a particular matter.

Other tenants are much more hesitant to communicate, due to a lack of time or numerous other factors. Whatever the reason, unexpressed discontent eventually leads to frustration and growing resentment. In some circumstances, this can have unwanted consequences for the property management.

The same applies when communication between the housing company and its service providers is lacking. Without an exact specification of services, there isn’t a fair basis for commissioning contractors. And without regular feedback on their execution, the quality of these services will tend to fall short.

It’s better to act before things heat up. Presence and the willingness to communicate keep matters from escalating. Dialog results when an initial statement is followed by reciprocal feedback. Translated for the housing industry: successful communication between a housing provider and its tenants on the one hand, or its service contractors on the other, requires a balanced exchange between partners – that is, efficient feedback management. Only when the housing provider supplies its clients and partners with relevant information can it demonstrate that it takes them seriously.

When these requirements are met, all parties in the housing industry triangle – tenants, management and contracting partners – can benefit from timely, constructive mutual communication. Targeted IT support can bring decisive benefits to this information exchange via all channels: telephone, internet, written correspondence (including email) and face to face.

The structured, partly automated processing of all types of concerns and feedback allows not only gapless documentation in the ERP system, but also convenient analysis – which in turn indicates where and how internal and external company processes can be improved.

Even a simple question can deliver important information. Do you have to field lots of questions from tenants about their utility bill? This effort could be saved in the next billing period if the accounting department reconfigured the statement for greater clarity. Has a tenant called to ask when the clutter in the stairway will be removed? This calls for urgent action to prevent accidents and exposure to liability claims.

With the appropriate forum, employees are well-equipped to register all types of tenant messages in a time-saving manner: while positive incoming statements show that management is doing a good job, there is also an open channel for negative criticism to be voiced personally – not anonymously on the internet or expensively in court. This lets the housing company evaluate it with reference to the given party and take action accordingly. Future measures, too, can be planned more effectively when past communication about similar events is analyzed.

The Datatrain applications Customer Center and Praise and Complaint Management and mobile app My Ticket Center comprise a complete system of solutions for the rapid processing and documentation of tenant concerns. This ensemble is rounded out by a web application that is available around the clock: Tenant Services Online allows the housing company to better serve those who, due to lack of time, for example, don’t initiate communication by traditional channels – such as working people and tenants who prefer to convey their concerns via the internet.

Even otherwise reticent tenants will often speak their mind when invited to do so. Any contact between the tenant and property management is at once a chance for targeted inquiry, offering an ideal starting point for a review of specific internal or external services.

The beginning of the tenancy presents the first such opportunity: during the apartment walkthrough with the incoming resident, the employee responsible for the turnover can record answers to important questions. The process is supported by Datatrain’s My Inspections and Turnovers. This mobile app also simplifies the inspection at the end of the tenancy, which offers a further chance to query the tenant. Even if such an on-site opportunity goes unutilized, when the given inspection is concluded, an email to the tenant can be prompted, inviting them to take an online survey and referring them to Tenant Survey Online, a webform containing questions on the process and/or other matters of interest to the housing provider.

My Inspections and Turnovers can also be used in any further tenant contact, even in connection with simple damage reports, to ensure a steady, cost-effective information flow from the client to the housing company. Whatever the tenant’s concern and chosen means of communication, if at the point of initial contact he has given his consent, he can be invited upon the conclusion of processing of his concern to provide feedback. Tenant Survey Online enables simple, effective collection of client data that can inform the company about the quality of its business processes and how they are perceived from outside.

All communication from tenants can be taken as feedback on the housing provider’s services. When the management responds appropriately, this interaction is reciprocal and therefore successful. For this purpose, Datatrain has developed a Ticket Tracking application that responds to a tenant message by automatically informing the sender about important processing steps, thus demonstrating that the concern is being taken seriously and acted on.

Where needed, service providers, too, can be integrated in the bidirectional communication process. This makes sense especially in the case of damage reports and can be achieved through the Datatrain Partner/Supplier Portal. In the course of important processing steps, a contractor commissioned via the portal can initiate status feedback to the housing provider. Not only is this useful to the housing company, but it also activates a corresponding status report to the tenant via Ticket Tracking.

Datatrain’s SLA Monitoring (SLA: service level agreement) in turn delivers important information to contracting partners. It makes services verifiable with regard to agreed reaction or processing times: in the case of a deviation, the external contractor receives a response from the housing company and can optimize or adapt their processes accordingly.

If the housing company has invited the tenant to provide feedback with regard to their concern, for example via Tenant Survey Online, it will receive a qualitative evaluation of its internal or external services. Ideally, the company will also respond – in the form of a tenant-oriented adjustment of the business processes that show potential for optimization.

In a time- and money-saving manner, Datatrain’s solutions for feedback management generate decisive information for a housing company’s present and future corporate strategy. Through the consideration and analysis of tenant concerns, survey results and services, a housing provider positions itself close to the client. At the same time, the quality and efficiency of the company’s business processes – both internal and external – are enhanced. This makes for a positive image, increases tenant as well as employee loyalty, and leads to a well-functioning relationship with service partners.