By Robert Patino/CEO, Steadfast Security Inc., Anaheim Hills, CA.
Property management has never been an easy job. Demands on Managers come from landlords, tenants, residents, visitors, customers, even vendors can be challenging to manage. And all of these community members have expectations of fast, immediate response to their needs. All of them feel their needs are unique and that their Property Manager should make them top priority.
This article will discuss how a security guard company team can be a Property Manager’s best ally to provide fast responses to these demands, leading to a more satisfied community and less professional stress for Property Managers and their Assistants.
- Security guard companies have different contact methods to report situations – Encourage landlords, tenants, and their employees to use them.
A solid security guard provider must have a mobile communication device and a digital solution to allow all members of the communities they serve to contact them quickly, report incidents, and get an appropriate response quickly.
Wise Property Managers encourage their security guard company to establish a strong bond of confidence between guards and users of commercial or residential sites. Sharing the security company’s contact methods is in the Property Manager’s best interest, as it will oftentimes provide an immediate solution to problems. That immediate and professional interaction with the guard is what makes communities happier.
- Create forums in which landlords, tenants, and their employees can voice their concerns directly to your security guard company – people love to be heard.
The more your community knows about how your security company works and about the guards that service their location, the more likely they will be to contact them when a problem arises. A better informed guard will prevent and respond to the community’s safety/security issues more effectively.
Ask your security company to co-host periodic community safety meetings. Let guards deliver leaflets, postcards, or other educational material during those meetings. This activity will lead to an increase in the community use of the security guard company’s contact methods. This delegation of the first response to your security company’s guards will lead to more time available for you to service some of the other core needs of the community. The security company’s direct contact with the community can be construed as an extension of your service and attention to the community you are responsible for.
- You can use security guards’ reports to know about maintenance or compliance issues before tenants or landlords notice them – decreasing your reporting workload
Security guards use technology to photograph, locate, and measure any maintenance problem, or document any violations to your use of shared space policies. That data gets automatically integrated into digital reports that you can share with tenants, landlords, or even repair vendors.
Learn about your security guard company’s reporting capabilities, discuss with them what are the issues your community is most sensitive about, and use those reports to have a more accurate view of the property you are managing.
I hope this article widens your awareness of how a stronger bond between your security company and your property’s community can lead to higher satisfaction of landlords, tenants, and all the people that depend on the property.