Property Management Priority -- Tenant Retention

Full Disclosure: Ask and Tell...   My two Dispatches on management ethics, Do the Right Thing, Please and What's Right for My Client? (July 24 and August 2), triggered these final responses.  Remember, the question: To what extent could a company encourage its employees to push the use of company-funded technology?  Oh, and by the way, will this initiative help retain my tenants?

Leanne Tobias with Riggs & Company's Multi-Employer Property Trust in Washington, DC writes, "As the representative of an institutional customer of numerous property management firms, I believe in full disclosure of any financial interest when a management firm recommends that a customer use a product or service in which the management firm has invested.  If this is not disclosed up front, the management firm has acted unethically.  This damages the credibility of the management firm and its representatives, as well as the service provider-client relationship...  Just to avoid any misunderstandings, I always ask management company reps up front if their firm has any financial interest in products and services that they are recommending."

Kent Goodwin with GIC Real Estate, which invests pension funds for the government of Singapore, gets the final word.  "Tenant retention and customer service is the name of the game these days, and I want a company that is focused on that -- to the exclusion of their other interests.   I would much rather see them provide training on customer service and strategies to retain tenants, since there is far more to be gained from an asset performance standpoint in this area than there is shaving material costs and propagating a side business.  Customer service and tenant retention is what I pay a management fee for.  Now, if they want to devote time and energy to a web-enabled customer service training program, let's talk!"

HTML E-mail Format... A slight majority (56%) of Dispatch subscribers currently subscribe in HTML format.  But this percentage continues to grow steadily every month as more and more companies allow HTML e-mail. Should be 65% by year-end. If I see a corporate domain with several HTML format subscribers, I frequently switch the balance of users to HTML.  So if I switch you and you do NOT want the HTML format, let me know.  I will put you into a special Text-only category.  Apologies for the inconvenience, but 95% of folks prefer to receive HTML e-mail.  Thanks!      

--Peter Pike / ppike@pikenet.com