The residential property management industry is one that always has us pondering – with lots of companies offering a service, how does a customer choose between them all? And where do customers find out more?
A lot of businesses look for that niche. That special and unique selling point which gives them an edge over their competitors and attracts their customers.
Front and Back Gardens
During a conversation with a very wise business inspiration recently, they described how companies always have a front garden and a back garden. The front garden is what the customer sees first – the impression that a firm wants to give. This is normally evident in that particular firms marketing and sales. They paint the picture they think the customer wants to see and granted, many firms are excellent at this. Or they have the funds to employ fabulous PR, marketing and advertising agencies. The firms back garden consists of the workings of the company, but it is only seen once the customer has passed through the front garden. This is the point where customers get to see if both gardens are tended to in the same way. Does a company put as much time and investment into their business processes, business morals and general business operations, as that of their advertising and marketing? In other words, do they do what they say they will? No doubt everyone can think of a company they have dealt with whereby their unkempt back garden doesn’t match their pretty front garden!
Many of Concordia’s competitors are evidently cultivating their front gardens furiously in the race to attract customers and clients, which is great. Some of the campaigns are wonderfully sounding, stating that the industry will be revolutionised by them. Some are stating that they are ensuring changes to leasehold property management are going to be made (obviously we don’t have knowledge of their back gardens and therefore cannot comment accordingly).
USP’s in Property Management
How about we be bold and say that one property management company cannot change the way the industry works or revolutionise it – it’s the lease, the law and the managing agent contract. Companies can however, change the way they work. This is what creates a unique pool of services for our customers. Each unique selling point (USP) will suit different customers in different ways. Some will want an automated service where technology is fully utilised to provide instant answers and 24 hour access to data (Ask Porter are doing some amazing work on this). Some customers may wish for little involvement and to be able to simply hand everything over to a property management company. However Concordia’s aim is to provide a highly ethical, high quality, good old fashioned customer service. One which gives the leaseholder confidence, satisfaction and peace of mind that their development is being managed correctly. Concordia’s back garden is well tended to and hopefully our front garden looks neat and tidy too.
Commonhold
As a side point to the above, some leaseholders may be interested in the Governments push for their new way of ownership for flats – Commonhold. The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act of 2002 brought in the notion of Commonhold to law. It allows for flat owners to own a part of the freehold of the block. This isn’t as popular as many would have hoped due to some hiccups in the way the system works. As a result, the Government has now opened a consultation on Commonhold reform which can be found here. It makes for interesting reading and we are certainly in favour of Commonhold as this is the way to revolutionise and change the way the industry works.