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Proactive Partnering

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Grace Hill

office leasing

Proactive Partnering

Your tenant is more than just a lease

 

In the commercial real estate world, numbers are always top of mind. We think in terms of numbers when calculating portfolio returns (NOI, cap rate, IRR) and also when describing individual properties (square feet, vacancy rate, lease term). But what’s really behind the numbers?  

Constructive outcomes that drive your numbers in the right direction can be traced directly to positive tenant experiences. And tenant experience in real estate can be traced directly to how well you and your employees communicate with, and listen to, your tenants.

Two-way communication leads to prescriptive solutions and happy tenants

Proactive communication shouldn’t stop when the lease is signed, or after a maintenance call. Even if the lease is by the book, it doesn’t capture all the information needed to build a relationship. In the best-case scenario, every communication is a chance to gain information and build trust. It’s important to seek out honest feedback from all of your stakeholders so you can understand what’s really going on and address it long before renewal time. Two-way communication leads to prescriptive solutions, which in turn lead to tenants who won’t look for space elsewhere.

Employees who feel heard will be more engaged and work harder for you and your tenants

What about your employees, who are a key part of the tenant experience? Management should also regularly ask for their input in a non-threatening, positive way. Engaged employees who feel heard will provide you with honest, actionable insights, and pass on their positive feelings toward your business to everyone they meet when their feedback is addressed.

Building a partnership between management, your team and your tenant starts with getting their input

There are many ways to build this partnership between management, your team, and your tenants. One way to start is with a survey. While you can do this yourself using SurveyMonkey or a similar DIY tool, you may not get the full story and you may not know what to do with the results. Bringing in the experts helps you stay objective, develop questions without bias, build trust with stakeholders, and create action plans. Using a third party will also frequently generate a better response rate.

KingsleySurveys by Grace Hill provides assessment and benchmarking services for the commercial real estate industry. Using a full-service survey provider means your constituents are more likely to respond and give candid answers. And when paired with the Kingsley Index for benchmarking, you can compare your results with similar companies to understand the competitive environment while targeting areas for improvement.

Three tools that work together to help your business run more efficiently and reduce turnover

Once you have this information, what do you do next? Survey results should inform policy and procedure development as well as your company-wide training. That’s why Grace Hill provides a full suite of digital solutions for the commercial real estate sector: PolicyPartner (policy management), Vision (learning management), and KingsleySurveys (assessment and benchmarking). These three tools work together to ensure your business runs more efficiently while reducing turnover.

Learn more about how Grace Hill’s commercial real estate solutions can open the lines of communication with all your stakeholders by visiting GraceHill.com/commercial-solutions/ or calling 866-GRACE-HILL to discuss how we can help address your specific challenges.

Grace Hill’s marketing content team aims to create informative resources that help multifamily and commercial industry professionals elevate their performance. From blog posts and ebooks to infographics, checklists and webinars, the Grace Hill team has a singular focus: creating meaningful and engaging content that resonates with real estate professionals across the industry.    However, what makes Grace Hill so unique is the range of collective experience and collaborative spirit of its marketing content team. A group of talented writers with expertise in the real estate industry, overall management effectiveness, marketing strategy, and operational efficiency, the team provides new ideas to take performance to the next level. As a thought leader, Grace Hill's content team constantly pushes the envelope, experimenting with new resources and tools to keep industry professionals ahead of the curve.  Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out in the real estate industry, the content team at Grace Hill is creating resources to help you succeed. Learn more about Grace Hill on LinkedIn.

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