5 Signs Your Tenant Communication Process Could Use Improvement
Do you find yourself frustrated by the lack of communication or even toxic communication with your tenants? If you’re struggling, then your tenants are probably struggling too. Lack of or frustrating communication can lead to unhappy tenants, which has a negative impact on tenant retention. Look out for these signs that your tenant communication strategy could use improvement.
1. You Don’t Have a Set Strategy
If you haven’t established a communication strategy and schedule, it’s time to sit down and do so. There are four elements to your strategy.
- Daily communications
- Scheduled messages
- Feedback
- Crisis communication
For each of these four sections, decide what you will communicate, who you will communicate it to, and how you will communicate it. For example, your daily communications are good for community building or notices. It could include things like welcome messages, birthday wishes, or events. You could communicate with them through text messages or social media.
2. You Aren’t Setting Expectations
Set the tenants’ expectations early, so they know what to expect from you and what is expected from them. Be clear and honest about what they can expect from you. Encourage feedback and questions. Doing this establishes a baseline, so tenants don’t expect something different and get disappointed.
3. There Isn’t a Dedicated Person
Establish early on who will do the communication. This applies to the tenant and the landlord. You could prefer that tenants communicate directly and only with you. Or you could hire a property manager who handles the day-to-day services. For the tenants, it’s helpful to have a single person that is the named person for communication. Reducing the number of people that you deliver communications to minimizes the opportunity for misunderstandings, miscommunications, and confusion.
4. You Aren’t Offering Options
Not everyone communicates the same way, so not all of your tenants will want to communicate with you through the same methods. As the landlord, you need to provide multiple communication channels to give everyone a method that they are most comfortable with. This will encourage your tenants to communicate with you, which increases their communication and satisfaction with your services as a landlord.
Additionally, sending the same information through multiple communication channels ensures that it reaches everyone. Take a lesson from professionals in marketing. Sometimes it takes communicating a single message multiple times before people absorb and retain it.
These are common communication methods that you will see landlords offering their tenants. While you don’t have to offer all of them, try offering a mix of options. For example, phone calls would allow for voice communication, text or email allows for digital communication, and mailed letters give people something physical to hold.
- Phone call
- Text message
- Social apps
- In-Person
- Mailed letter
5. You Aren’t Listening
Great communicators are skilled listeners. If you want to better communicate with your tenants, you need to listen more than you talk. This means doing more than just hearing your tenants speak or reading their communications. Look beyond the words to figure out what your tenants are communicating to you. This allows you to address their needs and keep them happy. If you find yourself doing more talking than not, it’s time to make some changes.
Improve Your Tenant Communication Strategy
If you find that you’re struggling to communicate with your tenants, then you may need to overhaul your communication strategy. Start by creating a set standard and setting expectations with your tenants. Then, dedicate one person for communications and offer a variety of communication channels for tenants to use.
Work with our skilled property managers and improve communications with your tenants.
