Customer Service vs. Technology Make Sure The Client Wins!

If you are asked the direct question, “How important is the customer service aspect of the community association management business?” there is no doubt that you would agree it is probably the heart of our business. The way our clients perceive that they are treated has a direct bearing on our client retention rate. However, you would probably also agree that conducting business today, in 2006, is very different from the way things were done 20, 15, or even 10 years ago.

We live and work in an age of sophisticated electronics, communication devices, and a myriad of other gadgets, all of which are useful. But, our business is service. How does that fit in? How can we use these advances to better serve our clients? And how can we make sure that the basic premise of “customer service” is not forgotten?

Point/Counterpoint

• It is extremely easy to contact people. Almost everyone in business of any type has a cell phone, voice mail, fax machine, pager, e-mail – any number of methods which can be used to communicate. This is a two-edged sword. As our clients are accessible, so are we. There is no longer any such thing as “normal” business hours. People are calling and e-mailing at all hours of the day and night, whenever it is convenient for them.

• Phone calls, although the most immediate method of communication, are also most impactful to a manager's daily plan. It is not unusual for a manager to establish an agenda for his or her day, and have it totally disrupted by a phone call about a backed-up sink, a fallen tree, or any number of issues which are of paramount importance to that particular homeowner. The manager must then re-prioritize his/her agenda to accommodate this new item.

• The advent of e-mail is both the biggest boon to effective and efficient communications and the tool that has the greatest potential to be a problem. It is not as immediate as a phone call; the recipient has the time to read the e-mail, digest its contents, and research and formulate a response to be sent at his/her convenience. However, the sender may still expect a quick reply because he/she knows it was received almost instantaneously.

• An additional e-mail tool is the pda – personal digital assistant. This device functions not only as a telephone, but now allows the user to read and reply to e-mails remotely. Further, digital photos can also be sent and received. This last enhancement has great practical potential for the community manager. One can produce, for instance, real-time photos of architectural and covenant violations, and damages sustained to individual homes and common property.

• One of the greatest electronic advances impacting any field is the power and usage of the internet. When it comes to researching an issue or topic – case law, pending legislation, existing rules and regulations – our horizons are limitless. One can tap into what is going on in other departments of the company, other communities in the surrounding jurisdictions, and how things are handled in other areas of the country. The amount of information available to us is incredible. This sharing of information is probably the most positive consequence of the technology boom. We all benefit from it, and the internet makes the research easier, faster, and more comprehensive.

Suggestions/Recommendations

Progress demands that we, as community managers, use the tools available to make our lives and our jobs easier and, hopefully, more efficient. However, as stated previously, customer service is our business. We need to make sure that that concept is not forgotten, and that it is instilled in our employees.

It seems like an easy thing to do, but in our rush to get things done, we sometimes forget to look at the big picture and remember that our responsibilities are not limited to mowing the grass, pushing the snow, and collecting assessments. A large and unspoken aspect of our business is making our communities and our boards of directors look good. And that happens in more ways than just taking care of the physical assets of the community. The management company is the “face” of the association in many ways. For some owners, we are the only contact they have with their association. If they have questions about their account, if they have a complaint about their neighbor, if they have a question about what kind of fence is permitted, they call the community manager, not the board of directors. Therefore, the way we handle those inquiries reflects directly on our company and indirectly on the board of directors that engaged us to provide these services. Some things to consider . . .

• Always maintain a professional demeanor in your communications with clients. Listen to or read the issue carefully. If it is a face-to-face discussion with a homeowner or client, check your body language. If you act like you're in a hurry, checking your watch frequently, fidgeting in your chair, you are sending the message that their concern is not important to you. Try something different – look the person in the eye, nod occasionally to show you are listening and understand what they are saying, and generally give them your attention.

• Respond to your e-mails and voice mail messages. This sounds like a “no brainer” but sometimes we will put off responding if we haven't resolved the issue or gotten an answer to the question. Respond anyway – tell the person that you are working on his concern and will get back to him soon. If a few days go by and you still don't have an answer, contact him again to let him know that he hasn't been forgotten. Of course, it goes without saying that you should always check your responses to inquiries for accuracy. It doesn't help your credibility if you give incorrect information just to provide a quick answer.

• When you are communicating in a more casual manner, such as with e-mail, there is a tendency to not be as diligent in our grammar, sentence structure, and language as we would be in a formal letter. It says something about you when you send an e-mail with all lower case letters, incomplete words such as “u” and “r” as substitutes for the entire word, and misspelled words. It says that you didn't care enough to prepare a professional response.

• There is a very simple way to establish a quick and easy rapport with your clients. SMILE!! A smile is your most powerful non-verbal tool. You can see it when you are face to face with someone, but just as importantly, you can hear it in your voice when you answer the phone. Try it. Try saying the same words with a frown and with a smile. When you speak with a smile in your voice, it sends the message that you are interested in the caller and his/her concern.

• When you have to leave a voice-mail message to a client, make sure your messages are complete. Speak clearly and slowly, especially when you are leaving a call-back number

• Treat others as you would want to be treated. Such a simple and ancient concept. But, it is the foundation of good customer service. No one likes to be put on hold for many minutes. No one likes to be put into that cycle that so many automated phone systems have, “if you want this option, push one, if you want that option, push two.” No one likes to speak with a “customer service representative” who is grumpy and disinterested. No one wants to deal with someone who has a negative or “can't do” attitude.

When someone comes to you – whether by phone, e-mail, or in person – with what you consider a trivial, unimportant request or question, remember that it is not trivial or unimportant to him. Treat it and him with respect and everybody wins – the individual, the client, and the esteem with which our business is viewed.