How Can Property Management Tools Help With Tenant Retention?

Learn How to Boost Retention:

Understand who you are serving at the property and the change in work behaviors
Understanding the unique value of your property and what amenities it can offer
Understand your competition, then differentiate
Employ comprehensive communications tool to help you reach the right people

Reaching Tenants Means Taking a Closer Look

As a property manager you need tenants, but all too often your idea of a tenant can be too limited. You might consider a tenant as being ABC Company, or as John, the CEO of ABC Company, and ultimately only trying to please a short list of people. You tend to work with the tenant company by interacting with only a select few people there, the decision makers. When you use a property management software, you want to make sure that they are on board and well-versed in its operations.

Start Engaging Your Tenants

But limiting your interactions to just the decision makers means that you might not be satisfying employees of that tenant company, and if the employees aren’t happy with a property, then you can be sure that the owners of the company are going to hear about it. That’s why you need a tenant web portal and tenant communications tools that engage not just the higher-ups in the company, but also the tenant employees that use the building each day. That’s where Property+ comes in, an app-based tenant engagement and affinity solution that boosts affinity and engagement for ALL of your tenant contacts.

What Draws Tenants to a Building?

Even if your building is in the perfect location, you still have to draw potential tenants in with amenities. Does the building have a gym, and if so does it offer space for the latest fitness craze? Is there a cafeteria, and does it offer the latest vegan and gluten-free options? These can all lead a potential tenant to choose your building.

But sometimes it needs to go past the most obvious amenities, and tenants will be looking for something called perceived value in the marketing world, small amenities that draw tenants — and their workers — in. And once your list of amenities draws them in and the lease is signed, it’s important to keep them reminded of the “little extras” so that they don’t forget about them anytime soon.

Our Property+ tenant engagement program uses a communications platform that can bring all of these together and put them in people’s hands. And because it’s an app, we mean that literally. It’s the perfect way to boost engagement with the property itself, making it a part of the tenant employees’ lives – building loyalty and ultimately retention.

Start Engaging Your Tenants

You’ve Got Competition

Owning a building and leasing space within it means that you are offering a product, and it’s important to remember that every product will have competition. But not enough property owners and managers think of their building as being in competition with others, and they all too often offer the building without marketing it.

Every building is going to have details about the square-footage and the communications infrastructure available. They’ll all detail the amenities that are available, such as courtyards and proximity to restaurants. But it’s at this point that it helps to think like a potential tenant. If Building A mentions nearby restaurants but Building B has actively sought out discounts with those restaurants, tenants will go with Building B for the simple fact that it’s more likely to make their employees happy.

ETS tenant portal and robust communications platform can do just that, and it goes well beyond restaurant discounts. Let’s take a look at how…

Tenants Themselves are Changing

We don’t have to tell you that tenants are changing as they seek out the best employees. What workers are looking for, and what they expect of their employees and the building they work in, is very different from the way it was just 15 years ago. Expectations of the millennial workforce have forced on-demand to be a regular protocol for property amenities.

Tenants Could Allow Work From Home

Decades ago the idea of work from home didn’t exist, and employees simply went to their place of work for eight hours and then headed home. When work from home became an option, technology limited how many people could take advantage of it. Today, more people than ever are allowed to work from home; cloud computing means that most jobs can be done with the most basic computer.

But the perceived advantages of working from home don’t always materialize in the way that employers were hoping. This means that many employers are looking for a way to draw employees back into the office, or to attract employees who won’t mind being told that working in the office is a necessity. One way they can make this more amenable to employees is to highlight the amenities that a building offers. A building manager who offers tenant engagement solutions like Property+ can show just why their building is the better option, enticing more clients and keeping them longer. In short, happier employees for the tenant means that the tenant will be reticent to leave even if a less expensive option comes along.

Tenants Look For Amenities To Offer Workers

Today, the new workforce is looking for amenities that go beyond the traditional employee perks. They’re looking for ways to improve their lives and create a work/life balance. This might mean wanting to work for a business that offers unlimited vacations or maternity leave. But they are also seeking companies that offer amenities while they’re in the building. Gyms, balconies, common spaces, covered parking, secure bike racks, and in-house daycare are just a few perks that can make employees happier. The more you can offer a potential tenant, the more likely they are to sign up with you. But once they’re in the building, it’s important as many people take advantage of the extras as possible so that they relay to their employer just how happy they are working there. Our tenant and property management platforms can do just that.

Show off Your Amenities

How Can Property+ Keep a Tenant’s Employees Engaged?

Property+ is a tenant engagement app that has two primary goals: inform a tenant’s employees of the amenities available at a property and keep them engaged so that they are given opportunities to use them as often as possible.

Amenities

Restaurant Rewards – Your tenants’ employees are always going to be looking for a great place to have lunch, and securing discounts with nearby restaurants will have them coming back to this tenant portal app to find the next place to eat.
Tenant Lounges and Common Spaces – Tenants need a place to relax, and you want them utilize the common spaces as much as possible. But when tenants from JBP Properties only see employees from Company PDQ using the lounge, they might think that it’s off limits. Property+ lets everyone know how and when (and by whom) the common areas should be used.
Bike Parking – An employee who enters the building from the north entrance every day may never discover that there are well-monitored bike racks on the south side. Once that employee starts biking to work, they might save money on public transportation or give up driving to work, as a perk many are looking for.
Parking Garage – In most cases, it will be obvious if your building offers a parking garage. But Property+ can fill in the details and answer questions employees might have. Where are each tenant’s employees allowed to park? During what hours is the parking garage accessible? What’s the number to call if the barrier arm isn’t lifting? Property+ can put that information at their fingertips.

Preparedness

Fire Safety Team – Each tenant will formulate their fire exit strategy with the building manager, but it’s important to keep the individual workers and the designated fire safety team informed with the building operations part of the app.
Emergency Procedures – Unfortunately, fire isn’t the only emergency that has to be dealt with. This tenant app will be able to alert people to situations that don’t have alerts that are as obvious as a fire alarm.
Procedures and Closures – Anyone who works in your building can benefit by knowing more about it. What are the operating hours of the building? Can someone get into work on a Sunday morning? What are the security measures, and how far can guests get into the building before they must be accompanied? All of these answers are customizable in this online property management software so that everyone who works there is familiar with day-to-day procedures.

Events and Clubs

Health Club – Exercise trends are changing all the time, so if your building has a gym it’s a great idea to let them know when the offered classes are. Once you get someone to use the building’s gym, they’ll never want to pay for a gym membership again…which means they’ll never want to leave as tenants!
Tenant Events – You want the tenants to feel like they’re getting the most use out of your building, and that could mean hosting their events right in the building. So if you have large meeting rooms to offer, make sure that everyone knows the procedures for securing them with the tenant reservations management tool.
Book Clubs, etc. – It’s good to use the extra space in a building to bring people from different companies together, creating a community that no one wants to give up. The more clubs your building offers, it is likely tenants will participate and engage, making it more difficult to ever leave.

Keep Tenants’ Employees Happy, Keep Tenants Happy

Getting a tenant to sign on the dotted line is just the first step. You will then need to make sure you keep them happy so that they’ll re-sign when the lease is up. Keeping the tenant’s employees happy with the building’s amenities with a tenant management app can make that happen.

Our tenant web portal and communication tools are the perfect way to help every tenant’s employees make the most of their experiences in your building, engaging them with the amenities offered. When you’re looking for the latest in property management and tenant solutions, check out Property+. Click here to get started!