What do you consider the essence of your job as a property manager? What defines you? How do you spend your time? What activities take up most of your day? And to which tasks do you give the most priority?
When your business requires you to wear different hats while doing your work, it is sometimes hard to figure out your real job. Even though you know this on a mental level, it may not reflect in the way you direct your daily choices.
Who is a property manager’s number 1 client?
According to First & Main Property Management, every property manager (PM) serves three main persons. Each of them has different expectations of the manager.
- To the owner of the homes they manage, the PM has the responsibility to protect the physical structures of the building, maintain the owner’s income by managing rent and expenditure, and shield the owner from lawsuits and other threats.
- To the tenants in the property, the PM is the go-to person for all issues relating to the function and appearance of the building. The PM ensures tenants get the full worth of their rent.
- Last and most importantly, the PM serves themselves. A property manager is in business primarily to meet their personal, business, and financial goals. Although a PM works for the landlord, they are not employees of the owner. Instead, the PM is an entrepreneur.
This last point is vital because when your job is so multi-faceted, it can take time to define your core responsibilities and determine where your best interests lie. Your goals may become diffused, and you could forget the real reason why you are in business.
When this happens, you will start acting as an employee rather than treating property management as a business. You will need to catch up on the things that differentiate between someone who works as an employee and an entrepreneur.
What are the things that define an entrepreneur or a business? A business is distinguished by the following:
- They have well-defined objectives and strive to keep those at the forefront.
- Their objectives define their critical roles.
- To focus on their roles and businesses, hire employees, and create systems.
- Those systems and employees let business owners delegate responsibility.
- Delegation gives room for sustained excellence while also creating growth.
Ensuring success as a property manager
Based on these, your success as a PM is not determined by how well-managed your properties are. That is something you do as a stepping stone to true success. The number and quality of properties under your care determine your success as a PM. And you will only achieve this success when you do not expend time and energy on things that can be done quicker, cheaper, and better by others. In other words, tasks like keeping your rental properties clean and sanitary should be done by someone other than you.
To keep yourself on the cutting edge of your profession, stay ahead of your competitors, be quick to adopt innovations in your industry, and attract the highest caliber of property owners, you must free your time from cleaning and give it to things that directly impact your competence.
Reasons why you need a professional cleaning company right now!
1. They do a better job
Professional cleaners are trained to clean. Cleaning a home or office properly requires a systematic approach that lets you know how to:
- Find and clean those hard-to-reach areas where dirt, bacteria, and odors lurk
- Match your cleaning methods to the surfaces or materials you are handling
- Thoroughly disinfect the home to rid it of toxins, allergens, viruses, and bacteria
Just as you need training and constant retraining to stay on top of your property management profession, you need the training to clean any space effectively. Professional cleaners have that training.
2. They save you more than just money
The price you pay when you clean your properties yourself or hire amateur cleaners to do it cannot be quantified in actual dollar amounts. Most times, when you hire amateurs, you cannot leave them all to themselves to do the job; you pay them for their work but also invest your time to make sure the work is done.
What you give in time to or take time away from, either grows stronger or it suffers and dies. Hiring a professional cleaner lets you give time to the things you want to improve, such as marketing, networking, and your systems.
3. Professional cleaning is an excellent marketing tool
In the eyes of prospective tenants and potential clients (owners), a professionally cleaned home is a huge statement of your professionalism as a property manager. It says that you do your work to the highest standards possible. And that is what every landlord wants from the property manager they hire to manage their assets.
Where other property managers lug brooms and buckets around, you can single yourself out by reaching a service agreement with a professional cleaning company.
Hiring a professional cleaning company sets your property management business apart. But if you don’t do it, you give your rivals the chance to get ahead.
