I’ve had lots of wonderful tenants. And my fair share of awful ones / entertaining stories too (some of them might pop up in another blog in the future). The best tenants though, are those that push you in some way to improve your product or service (no matter how much they might frustrate you at the time).
One of these ‘best’ tenants left feeling pretty disgruntled at the end of his tenancy. Since I pride myself on delivering a genuine and considered customer service, I do take it quite personally if someone feels they have had a bad experience.
This was his first time living away from the family home and moving to the big old smoke, so I can imagine he wasn’t quite prepared for just how expensive London is. With one wall of his room needing a repaint due to excessive wear, and a pot of paint costing £25 at B&Q, he expected that would be the cost of the redecoration. Unfortunately, since the walls couldn’t magically paint themselves, I had to pay for someone to do it. He was peeved about the cost.
This was after I had introduced Check-In reports and I was pretty happy with myself at the time. Since I wasn’t footing the bill anymore for previously overlooked or un-measureable damages, or for the End of Tenancy cleaning costs, my bottom-line profits were increasing. And I felt I was delivering an overall more professional and organised experience for the tenants. Double bonus!
But the case of Mr ‘Best Tenant’ highlighted a gap in my process, and presented an opportunity to demonstrate some more of the company’s values to our future tenants.
And so the idea was born to create a form detailing all the potential costs that a tenant might encounter at some point, during their tenancy. We now ask the tenants to read and sign the form before they move in. I want our tenants to know in advance what the typical issues are that can occur, what our expectations are, and what the consequences of their actions (or inactions) might be. No more nasty surprises at the end of the tenancy.
Of course it’s important for any business to be profitable, but it’s also important to do it in a way that is fair and transparent to the customers. Help your customers to see what lays ahead of them, so they go away at the end feeling they have had an open, honest, and enjoyable experience with you.