One commonality in “office-life” is that we all have too much to do; at least from observation it appears this way.  Property management is riddled with this sentiment, and if you are in the industry you know what we mean:  There are 1000 things you should do, on top of 100 things you need to do, on top of 10 emergencies that need attention today… who has time for anything else? 

We propose that on top of your busy schedule, it is worth making time for one more thing:  Follow-Up 

What do we mean by follow-up?  Follow-up means checking in with someone after a job or service was scheduled in order to ensure the job was completed and/or that they are satisfied with what was done. 

As property managers, we are continually solving problems and moving on to the next thing.  Often, we assume that if the service was scheduled and we haven’t heard anything that all must be good; we should know better than anyone that this is not the case! 

So why make time to follow-up? 

• It is what great companies do to ensure what they have done was completed and completed adequately 
• It shows the other party that you care; and reminds you that you do too 
• It feels really good!  It is surprising how good it feels to have gone the extra step! 
• By going above beyond we are reminded to think proactively; not simply responding to problems as they occur. 

Practice:  At least once a week, go out of your way to follow-up with someone to make sure their problems were sorted out and they are happy with the result.  It doesn’t matter if you think you already know the answer, or that they would have informed you if there was a problem. 

The surprising truth:  If you commit to periodically following–up with people and engrain this habit into your work-week, you will find it actually takes no time at all.  When you remove the mental and emotional drag of deliberation, it is amazing the time you can save and what you can accomplish.