Where to Start in Tech Introductions & Upgrades

I was at the Round Table event yesterday which, by the way, I was so pleased I made it down.

I tend to get overwhelmed with direction like, I need another staff member but there is so much talk of VA’s but I think I need another physical body in the office.

I need to go over to cloud-based software but who to chose.

I am small business but struggle greatly with the fees attached to all these programs.

Zoom. Trello. Slack. etc etc. Are these for the bigger offices that need to communicate more with each other?

Do I have too many questions in the one pose?

FYI Sarah Martin was excellent in her presentation of all the programs she uses.

3 Likes

Hi @Colleen I agree, it was definitely worthwhile making the trip from Queensland to the Round Table. What an amazing location as well.

I think you could certainly benefit from some of these technologies. The ones Sarah was referring to could easily be implemented in a business your size.

With your question about a VA, why do you think you need a physical body in the office? What sort of tasks would you be getting them to do? Quite often, if we can remove the admin tasks from the rest of the team, they have more capacity to be out and about.

I have an example of an office where the PM’s are able to comfortably manage around 30% more properties in their portfolio (including leasing) after the introduction of a VA and some of these technologies. This office shares 1 VA for 600 properties (no trust accounting) and there is capacity. The level of service they provide is pretty exceptional as well and nobody is having to stay back after hours.

I am happy to have a chat about this if you would like. We could always have a Zoom meeting :joy: Alternatively, if you are coming along to PMC, we could have a coffee and chat.

Also, once you get started in one thing, it becomes much easier to implement other changes. How about starting with something simple like #slack. This is just a small change in how you communicate within the team. Once this is ticking along nicely, maybe look at how the work flows within the office and perhaps introduce a product like Trello.

1 Like

It is always a difficult one on where to start. @terrihandy mentioned some great ideas above… From Sarah’s talk, we implemented several things into Wendell’s.

We started with Slack, as I immediately wanted to get them out of the habbit of emailing each other! This might not be as reliant for you, but if it is… its a great tool. Also, I recommend doing “Hay Tacco” add on, its also free and you can create goals for the taccos like… Wine… Wine… and well you know were I’m going with this! :slight_smile:

If thats not for you, then Trello would be amazing for you and your personality! heheh… my wife Natalie loves this, its such a step up from the tools were using through microsoft… Give it a go!

1 Like

I will definitely look into it more when I get time. It’s just a little overwhelming

Anyone know where I can buy time from? :wink:

1 Like

Thank you so much @Colleen. It is really daunting, personally, I had no experience in tech 13 months ago & felt pretty scared about implementing stuff.
I got a VA first to give her most of our time-consuming work so I could then spend extra time doing the implementation of tech. VAs can do anything PM that can be done from a computer & you can set your emails etc up so they come from you or the PM. I trained her through Zoom so they came hand in hand and the VA company showed me how to use it.
We introduced PropertyMe first and I had a demo with all the cloud companies, they are amazing.
You can do a demo too on your action properties and see how it works. Your also welcome to log into ours and have a play around if you like.
Trello & Slack complimented everything, Trello mainly for communication with the team and our VA.

1 Like

We use Zoom all the time.

This is our monday morning meeting, since we work all over the place. It is a simple fast goal setting meeting

FYI the link may eventually not work since we do not keep these more then 4 weeks.

Disclaimer: This will show we are far from perfect - but it is who we are.

5 Likes

This is great, thanks for sharing @glenn. I love having a sneak peak into how others run meetings - I promise I am not creepy :roll_eyes: Zoom is one of my favourite tools and I use it to sit on many team meetings with what I do.

With your team spread out, how do you communicate? Do you use a tool like Slack or Microsoft Teams, or do you rely on email?

2 Likes

I came out of the technology industry to go into property management. I am not sure why I made that career change.

We have been built around a cloud based PM software system and lots of customization in google docs, sheets, forms, and keep. We use a document management system called AODocs to improve google drive document control.

This is tied together using ASANA, Jivo chat, Zoom, Adobe and a lot of other little programs.

I lack a solid CRM system that integrates nicely and struggle with picking the correct system for trickle email campaigns. I also am blind to things I am missing since I have a lot going on :nerd_face:.

2 Likes

I like the theme “We are all over the place” @glenn Technology is allowing us to give our team much more flexibility on where and how they work. This type of flexibility will ultimately make us more efficient and help us to maintain great team members.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a CRM system?

1 Like

Hi @glenn as you can imagine CRM’s are not just CRM’s. What are your requirements for one?

I would like to integrate with constant contact - optional
Trickle campaign co contacts.
I would like reminders placed on google calendar.
I would like automatic email grabs from gmail.
Track lead source
Track stages
Good analysis tools.
Track follow up on lost items
Collect client info (dog name, favorite ice cream if they are willing to fly me to Australia for a conference)

Oh an I would like to be able to use the same system for leads for Prospective tenants
I would like to be able to publish statics about this database to my website in real time so potential owners can see how many rental leads we handle a day,

@terrihandy So I am installing Slack at the domain level this weekend and introducing it to the team Monday. I have already connected it with google drive and zoom. Connecting asana is next week - once people start to use this.

What other apps do you recommend connecting?

What Channels do you set up?

Hi @glenn

Great to hear you are going to be using Slack - as soon as the team downloads the app onto their phone, you will have great engagement.

I work with lots of different agencies, so it will depend upon their needs as to what I recommend. Quite often, they are not using any real technology when they first speak with me so we start off slow.

I really like using Trello so I like to integrate this with Slack, however, you mentioned Asana so it sounds like this is your workflow tool.

Channels - I keep it really simple. Sometimes when there are too many choices, individuals will accidentally use the wrong channel and you then get information in the wrong place.

It will all depend upon how tasks are distributed now and what the team’s style of communication is.

I have one agency who works incredibly well with #sales, #general, #pm #bdm eg everyone in the PM team, including the VA, sees what is going on in the #pm channel. They use direct messaging quite a bit too. We have just introduced #trainingideas as part of a project we have on at the moment.

Another agency, has a separate channel for #maintenance, #leasing, #vacating, etc.

General - for all things that relate to everyone in the office ie Cake in the kitchen, Who needs stationery?, the Parking Inspector is out and about.

Leasing - applications, price adjustments, links to new properties advertised, etc

What I hate seeing is #random. So much stuff gets added to this channel that should be thought about a little more closely.

Finally, I suggest creating a simple document that outlines your expectations on how this tool is utilised. I know of some offices where the banter between team members became a bit over the top and some people were offended and it caused all sorts of problems. Here is an example to help get you started:

Let us know how the roll out goes :grinning:

Thanks for the protocol. Modified it slightly (Had to change morning :tea:to :doughnut:).

How do you limit people to giving only 5 :taco:?

1 Like

Thanks Glenn, Slack does this for you via “Hey Tacco” its a great rewards add on, I highly recommend it. Be sure to take the time to set up your “Rewards” for staff, we have quite a bit in there, everything from Movie tickets etc that can be redeemed with the collected Tacco’s from your team. We also have some group ones, (like a team lunch, or pizza night) and other ones like VIP parking spaces etc. (oddly enough no-one has cashed in a Hug from me yet…) :rofl:

Its a very fun way to keep your team involved, and to allow them to be the cheerleaders in your business. It has a great positive effect on culture, and the team love how chatty it all is.

Next: Office Vibe would be my recommendation for you.

Good luck!

1 Like

We installed officevibe two weeks ago. I am doing a briefing for the office this AM with our initial results. If I do well maybe I will get a :taco:.

PS - The webinar video said the price for that was 200 :taco:. I see you lowered the price.

1 Like

Haha… and still no takers even with the lower tacco value! What can you do… :rofl:

This is what we have … I think everyone had fun with Tacos today.

We will see how it goes.

3 Likes

Very cool @glenn, love to hear how it goes! I think it has been a huge success in our Business, and I know that @terrihandy raves about it with the offices she goes into.

Loop back and let us know how the team have gone this week!