8.30am, arrive at work (although you could check in from your mobile if you wanted). Relax – make yourself a nice cuppa – there is no need to rush into downloading rental payments or receipts notices; someone has already done that for you. Review your electronic to-do list for the day (you have an environmentally friendly paperless office policy), which has been professionally prepared for you by your “virtual” assistant. Speak to owners and tenants with great confidence using up to the minute information regarding their property. Your focus is completely on growing a business in which you probably have an equity stake. Even if it’s end of month, you can still go out for lunch, your statements have already been printed and posted and your trust account has already been reconciled.

Welcome to the property management office of the future!

Would you like to work in or own this office? The property management office of the future sounds amazing doesn’t it? Customer focussed, technologically savvy, environmentally friendly, flexible and highly profitable. This is not so much the distant future though, this is the way that the agencies with large rent rolls are headed (if they are not already there) right now. If you are serious about achieving your property management goals and are willing to make some changes then it could be your business too.

You need to think differently!

The property management office of the future has learned to think differently. If you goal is growth (and according to Macquarie Banks last survey for more than 88% of you it is) you need an honest assessment of where your business is at right now. Using your current systems and processes, are you able to scale easily? Or are you still manually performing a multitude of tasks that will only create more work with the additional clients you take on? Whilst you are worrying about keeping your back-office best practice your competitors are probably out there out their focussing on growing their business.

Property Management Software and Technology will play a major part.

Technology, to a large degree, can automate the complex processes associated with property management and this ensures you appear competent to your customers. The property management software that you choose will dictate the types of services that you can offer to your clients and if you choose right, you can differentiate yourself from your competition easily.

These days we are all pretty impatient and again, advances in technology are to blame. Take Internet banking as an example. Nobody wants to stand in a bank queue to deposit or withdraw money or look at a statement if it can be done up to the minute, online, anywhere, anytime.

In the property management office of the future, technology will play a major part in the services able to be offered to clients. For example – if you can get your bank statements on line, why shouldn’t owners be able to check their property statements online or even get an up to the minute snapshot of their entire portfolio?

Property management systems of the future will be workflow based. A good workflow system will have mapped out what needs to be done that day in order of priority – hence my comment earlier about a “virtual” assistant mapping out your to do list for the day and making sure it gets done. This will include things like proactively minimising vacancies, better scheduling of tradespeople and creating other value-adds for owners.

Start thinking strategic sourcing

The biggest, most profitable companies in the world are among the most aggressive outsourcers, for example, GE outsource approximately 70% of their entire operation. Whether it’s some form of manufacturing or back office type tasks all the big companies use the experts and outside knowledge where they are able to and focus on their core competencies.

There are many back office type tasks that can be outsourced in property management including collecting rent payments, receipting rent payments, bank reconciliations, trust account auditing and the list goes on. With an outside “expert” performing these tasks, property managers re-direct their energy towards the personal relationships which are key to growing the business.

There are enormous benefits that can be had through strategic sourcing, and companies that do not achieve these savings in the future will be at a disadvantage to those that do. However, to achieve these efficiencies, you need to resist the urge to own and hold onto everything. Explore new business models where money can be made or saved. The goal is to create a better overall experience for customers by having best of breed front and back office.

Out of the information age and into the era of personal relationships

Thanks to technology, we will also probably get to a point where there is total transparency of data between all stakeholders. We will all have access to the same information, likely even from the same database.

In Property Management, you not only need to be accountable to your tenants, and landlords, but also to the government and regulatory bodies. The speed at which information moves today (known as “word of mouse”) can lead to very positive or negative experiences in relation to your brand.

Ultimately the primary area of differentiation will be the quality of personal relationships that you maintain with your customers. The property management office of the future needs to be customer service driven and provide amazing personal service to their clients.

To gain competitive advantage, Property Managers will need to sell their skills to the client and clearly demonstrate a value add approach to their customers.

Attracting the best people

The property management office of the future attracts the best people who want to drive the business forward. They are incentivised to achieve business related goals and are easily measured upon these through the technology deployed in the office. They are motivated by companies that are at the forefront of their profession and are not just people that want a “leg-up” into sales.

Also bear in mind that true talent wants to be personally connected to the companies they work for and the people they work with. They are interested in both personal recognition and financial rewards. I have heard of some property managers being offered an equity stake in the business and there is no better way to feel personally connected to the company that you work for.

In Conclusion

The property management office of the future is really not that far away, in some cases its already here. If your vision is growth, be prepared to let go of what does not support your ability to move towards your ultimate goal. Look for new and different business models where you can achieve revenue growth or cost savings through strategic sourcing. Use the technology available to you to your advantage. And then look forward to going out for lunch!

Samantha McLean is a sales and marketing specialist with a passion for property management. She has recently taken on the role of Sales and Marketing Manager for Agentplus ( http://www.agentplus.com.au ), a specialist provider of property management software and outsourcing services to the property management industry.