4 Must Do's for your Client Services Team

The client service team is at the heart of your HOA, condo, or rental management company’s operations. They are busy at work carrying out the many responsibilities designated to them by community associations and delivering the promised services to help run communities well. For the client services team’s efforts to be cohesive, they need to be given the motivation, resources, and outlets they need to succeed. Since the community management industry is heavily centered on community building, nurturing your client service team needs to have a “people-first” approach too. In this blog post, we emphasize on four ways to power your client services team using this approach.

1) Communicate your expectations

-Educate employees about the HOA or condo management company’s mission, values, goals, and any new or existing procedures.

-Define goals for the team individually and collectively.

-Engage your client services team in tasks and projects that contribute to “bigger picture” goals. These goals may include happier boards and residents, saving time internally, and increasing profit.

-Communicate regularly with employees to reduce confusion.

-Meet with your team at least once a month to keep them abreast of anything new. 

-When you introduce new processes or fundamental changes, provide adequate training to employees.

2) Motivate your employees

Studies have constantly shown that motivation is key to your employee’s productivity, achievements, and enjoyment of the job duties they are performing. Harvard Business Review emphasizes that to motivate employees, a company must excel in 3 main behaviors: inspiration, kindness, and self-care. These three behaviors couldn’t be more vital in a management company’s fast-paced environment.

Inspire your client services team by giving meaning to the role they play in enriching the resident experience. Next, show kindness in the workplace. Showing consideration, empathy, and respect is essential to building a good rapport with and among team members. Self-care is about ensuring that you take care of your client service personnel while they’re in your employment. Ways community managers/directors can engage in self-care for their employees are by actively seeking their input, assisting them in the personal development of different job skills, and helping them achieve a work/life balance. Make sure to have enough client service personnel to designate a different on-call person each weekend and circulate that responsibility among the team.

3) Manage knowledge internally

With knowledge abound in every management company, there are so many benefits in effectively managing that wealth of information. A knowledge management system such as an FAQ section serves as a great tool to train employees and board members, keep knowledge within the company or community as an employee or board member leaves and can be referred to during any resident interaction to keep oneself knowledgeable. Additionally, it’s a powerful way to keep track of different kinds of information throughout all of the communities your staff works with every day (because every community is different and unique!) ranging from community contact information to maintenance responsibility charts to guest and pet policies. A FAQs section when built to answer commonly asked questions by internal staff, boards, and residents and nurtured over time as the company or community evolves increases staff productivity and client satisfaction. 

4) Actively seek suggestions from your client services team

We briefly mentioned that actively seeking input from your client services team can boost employee creativity. Furthermore, it gives more meaning to the work they perform. The influx of fresh ideas you can gain from your team helps to stay relevant in a competitive market and improve the quality service you deliver to your clients. Additionally, set expectations for the input you seek from employees. Inform your employees of how the feedback collection process will work. Then, give your team a platform to share their concerns and suggestions for improvement. Such platforms may include group brainstorming or one-on-one meetings, surveys, or your annual review with the employee.

When your client service staff provides valuable input, make it a point to recognize the quality of their idea. Furthermore, if you have implemented an employee’s idea, let them know about the positive impact it will have. 

Empowering your team

An HOA or condo management company leader can better position themselves to empower client service team members when they set expectations accordingly and communicate it with the team, inspire them, nurture knowledge throughout the company, and actively seek for suggestions from the team. Therefore, management can deliver services that not only meets but exceeds the client’s expectations. Internally, the manager’s and client service team’s goals will be better aligned to help their clients achieve exceptionally managed communities.