According to the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), the top 50 property management
companies in the U.S. oversee anywhere from about 30,000 to nearly 200,000 units each year. That’s a lot of data to keep track of, and unless you have a few organizational tricks up your sleeve, you can wind up wasting a lot of resources.
No matter how big your property management company is, developing ways to reduce the demands on your time is an important step in controlling costs. One of the best ways to do that is by educating your tenants about your company and the property itself by providing them with a tenant management kit.
A tenant management kit can take many forms, but each kit should be designed to offer information that can answer tenant questions, including both basic and complex questions that would ordinarily result in a call to your office. By helping tenants find solutions on their own, you can dramatically decrease the amount of resources you need to expend in addressing common issues. And by offering your kit in an accordion folder that clearly defines your brand, you position yourself as an established and experienced business so your tenants view your company as being more reliable – and also less likely to put up with late payments or other tenant irregularities.
Here are couple of ways your property management company can benefit from a branded accordion folder for tenant management:
Tenant introduction kit
An accordion file helps you partition information into useful categories so tenants can find the answers they’re looking for quickly, without the need to call your offices. Some of the categories you might consider include:
- Tenant contact information with phone numbers, email addresses and hours of operation, including information about off-hours access to the company’s answering service
- Local contact information for police and other emergency responders
- Community service phone numbers including local healthcare services and businesses with which your management company may be affiliated
- How to pay rent including due dates, late fee information and options for paying by phone, online or through automatic deduction from a bank account when available
- Security-related material including information on building keys and security codes and security alarm systems
- Information on utilities and telecommunications like phone, Internet or cable access
- Guidelines for handling waste and recyclables
- Mail and package delivery services and options
- Maintenance requests including how to request a work order
- Emergency repair protocol including numbers to call when immediate repair is required and locations of any tenant-accessible water shutoff valves or other
- Information on heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems
- Locations of any tenant-accessible water shutoff valves or other
- Locations of emergency exits
- Rules for non-residency use
- Any other rules and regulations for which your office commonly receives calls
Information on services offered
Many properties offer amenities and on-site services that help them position themselves more competitively in today’s housing market. Using an accordion folder to highlight those perks can help tenants view your property much more favorably. For instance, you can use your accordion folder for information on:
- Swimming pool and fitness center
- On-site dining options including bar and lounge areas and catering services
- On-site or local retail
- Business center or services
- Game room or clubhouse facilities
- Outside tenant-accessible areas like deck or rooftop terraces
These are the types of bonuses that can help you attract and retain tenants, and providing an amenities information package lets you highlight those perks to tenants.
Attracting new properties
Marketing your management services to property owners is another important use for your branded accordion folder. Services are notoriously difficult to package effectively, primarily because they aren’t a physical item – and therefore, they don’t have a natural packaging option like a box or other container. Service providers like property management companies can provide strong branding by using an accordion folder clearly marked with the company name, logo – even a photograph of a property or your own building. Inside, potential clients will find information about your management services, from financial reports to tenant management services to property maintenance information and more.
Brand promotion through packaging is important, whether you offer a product or a service. Not only can it increase your profits by raising awareness among current and potential customers, but you can also use it to build “warm and fuzzy” feelings by tailoring your packaging to make using your product or service easier and more customer-friendly. The key is to choose a package design that manages to accommodate both. When it comes to achieving these goals, accordion folders are the cost-effective solution your property management company has been looking for.
