Property Management in Residential communities is a booming business vertical of FM Services in India. Over the past decade, the industry has been taking baby steps towards becoming organized. When we talk about customers in Residential Property Management Industry in a gated community, it is the Residents of that community who
individually contribute to the collective Maintenance expenses of the community depending on size of their apartment. The thought of shelling out money every month towards maintenance of property’s common assets is generally considered taxing on the investors, leave alone the yearly escalations. This signifies the importance of Customer Expectations!
Customers and Needs:
Customer Satisfaction is possible only when the Customer’s Expectation are known. In this Industry we have two categories of customers – Elected Body and Residents.
Elected Body comprises of Office bearers of the Association registered under Societies Act, holding honorary positions assuming roles & responsibilities as necessitated for directing the Office Functions both Technically and Financially in the common interest of the Community. They are accountable to all the residents for carrying out the everyday operation and maintenance of the community’s assets. Hence any decisions outside the regular activities calls for consensus of these members based on the criticality.
Every Resident paying the maintenance fees in a community is a customer to the Service Provider. Hence equal amount of importance and attention is the fundamental expectation of every Resident (Customer). A first-time entrant is largely unaware of the assets, Guidelines of the society, Scope of Work and functional Mechanisms of their Associations and Property Management Team which is generally viewed by many Residents as the extended arm of the builder. So, it is common to hear Construction related complaints like seepage and leakage issues escalated to the Service Provider. The needs of both type of customers may not be alike.
Challenges faced by Customers:
It is important to recall that unlike corporate customers, the engineering facility of a residential complex is not decided and consumed by the developer. The developer builds such facilities and hands it over to the Association by bringing together a group of unknown people. Thus, the decision on CAPEX towards design, brand, quality, technology, installation, and commissioning of the assets are controlled by the developer only. The association shall maintain such assets taken over from the developer. Thus, the primary objective of the association is to look out for various means of reducing the OPEX of the community. This contradiction of business modality underlines the challenges associated with it !!!
Key Customer Expectations:
Cost Optimization / Reduced
Spare & Inventory Costs
Energy Conservation
Value Additions
Smooth / Zero breakdown Operations
Hygienic Maintenance
Green Environment Maintenance
Better Practices
Challenges faced by Service Provider:
Acquiring the Right Skills in the Salary Budget
Retention of Talent
Lack of Nodal Point
Multiple Customer Instructions
Training and Motivating the Site Staffs
Lack of Governance (As the positions are Honorary)
Preferential Treatment Expectations
Key Ingredients of customer relationship:
Honoring Commitments
Admit Mistakes , learn from them and Build Confidence
Knowledge and Expertise
Adding Value to the Community
Imparting Knowledge to Customers
Generating and Maintaining Trust
Professionalism & Transparency
Systematic Approach & Process driven
Demonstrating the differentiation
Conclusion:
As is with every business, the needs of the customers and their priorities are constantly changing, and it is incredibly important to understand these dynamics in order to align our business delivery. Customer Relationship can only be achieved by sheer performance and offering customer delight, at-least one step ahead of Customer Expectation.
