Property management virtual assistants, better known as remote team members, can single-handedly save your business tens of thousands of dollars a year. That’s more than enough to put your business miles ahead of the competition—an advantage that you can’t afford to pass up in the current market conditions.
RTM Direct is one of the fastest and most reliable ways of hiring the remote employee you need.
Why You Need Property Management Virtual Assistants
Increased Profits
Remote team members often live in countries where the cost of living is considerably lower than The US. Hiring them leads to a win-win situation where they’re making much more than what local companies are offering, and you get a talented team member for less than what you’d pay for local employees.
Also, remote team members have their own workstation and internet connection. You could have tens or hundreds of employees without worrying about office rent or the cost of utilities.
The property management companies that we work with save $25,000 on average by hiring virtual assistants. Imagine what you could do for your clients with that additional cash!
More Talent
Imagine if your business refused to hire people who lived outside a 5-mile radius around your office building. You’d be seriously limiting your company’s potential.
When you hire globally, you’re far more likely to acquire employees who share your vision for the future and fit in your company’s culture. A property management remote team comes with numerous benefits that you just can’t ignore.
What Property Management Virtual Assistants Can Do for Your PM Company
We’ve helped companies hire talent for every job that a property management company needs, ranging from bookkeepers, to copywriters, to client success managers, and everything in between.
There’s a common misconception that virtual assistants are only good for simple tasks and customer support. In truth, there are thousands of remote workers out there who can fill any role in your company and make it more profitable.
How to Prepare Your Business For A Property Management Virtual Assistant
Understand the Role that You Are Hiring for
Every role has different requirements and responsibilities. It’s a good idea to have a management structure in place before you hire a remote employee so they can be an effective part of your team.
Knowing exactly what your expectations are from your new hire is paramount to their success in your company, so go ahead and list down the key requirements and responsibilities that your new remote hire should take on before you start searching. This step will help you clarify what you’re searching for, and increase your chances of finding the right fit.
Have your Remote Team Tech Stack in Place
1. Time Tracking Tools
Tools like Time Doctor or Clockify make it easy for remote team members to log in the hours that they’ve worked. Additionally, you can also keep track of the progress your team is making with the help of periodic screenshots that these tools automatically take.
2. Communication & Collaboration Platforms
This platform fills the role of a virtual office with multiple channels for varying activities and discussions. Slack is one of the most popular platforms out there, while many teams prefer ClickUp, Microsoft Teams, or even Skype.
3. Web Conferencing Platforms
Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Skype or Zoom are all great platforms which let you hold meetings with your entire remote team and let your employees collaborate with each other in real time.
4. VOIP Systems (for sales & ops teams)
Your property management remote staff members won’t have access to US-based phone numbers. Thankfully, VOIP systems can provide them with virtual phone numbers which they can use via the internet to communicate with you or your clients. RingCentral and JustCall are just two of the many VOIPs out there.
5. Guidelines & Processes
Having a set of instructions makes the day-to-day on goings of your company much more predictable and reliable. If you don’t have them set up already, our OptimizLER program will help you understand how to streamline your company processes for better efficiency and productivity. One of the main benefits of guidelines and processes is that they reduce the management overhead you have to face—employees can easily get their answers and instructions from previously prepared manuals.
6. Property Management Software & CRM
Ideally, you should already have property management and customer relationship management software in use. However, if you don’t, some highly recommended property management softwares are AppFolio, TurboTenant, and Yardi Breeze.
As for CRMs, HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Zoho CRM are some of the more popular tools. For smaller property management companies where the digital marketing needs are less intense, LeadSimple can come in real handy as well. Using any one of these softwares if far superior to relying on Excel or Google sheets. They will save you tons of time and effort by automating and streamlining your communications and portfolio management.
7. Ticketing Software
Set Up An Onboarding Process
Unless you’ve already paid a property management staffing agency or recruitment specialist to train your new hire, you’ll have to arrange the training yourself.
Note: BetterWho’s QuickStart program provides your new hires with a 4-day training session to bring them up to speed with their new responsibilities in your property management company. This program is designed to get remote property management workers on their feet as quickly as possible.
All you will need to get your remote team member up and ready is a series of introductory videos that familiarizes them with how your company works, who their main points of contact are, what software and accounts they’ll need to set up, and and what they should acquaint themselves with so they’re ready to work.
It’s always a good idea to have your new remote team member introduce themselves on your collaboration platform so they’re welcomed by the rest of the team.
Have Actionable KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential if you want your property management remote team members to bring consistent results.
KPIs will differ depending on the role that they’re meant for. For example, a KPI for a member of the sales team could be to make a certain number of cold calls per week and to close a minimum number of deals per month.
Alternatively, marketing virtual assistants could be required to bring in a certain amount of leads per week. The specifics of your KPIs depend solely on your management style—just be mindful to set realistic targets so your team stays productive and happy.
Where to Hire Property Management Virtual Assistants
Freelance Platforms
It’s possible to find high-quality employees from freelance platforms like Upwork, PeoplePerHour, or We Work Remotely. These are just some examples out of many to choose from. You can also post jobs on platforms that specialize in a particular industry, such as freelance writers on ProBlogger.
Your costs here are minimal, but you’ll have to screen applicants yourself, and that’s time-consuming and stressful. Plus, the chances of finding the right person are slim.
Hire through a Job Board
VPM Solutions and similar companies are easy, DIY hiring solutions for property managers. Once you sign up, you get access to their database of remote workers who are interested in working for your industry and you can immediately start your search from there, interview candidates, and make your final hire.
The main advantage of the job boards for property managers is that the service is completely free of charge for companies seeking to employ. However, their earning model is that they charge your VA a fee from the salary you send them.
The downside to such a solution is that your virtual assistant earns in fact less than what you send. This, in turn, makes VAs ask for a larger price/hr in order to counterbalance the fees, and you may end up paying more per hour than by using hiring solutions that do not charge your VAs. Moreover, the VA won’t be a part of your company, but rather an employee of their platform and will simply carry out tasks for you.
Use a Traditional Property Management Staffing Agency
Staffing agencies such as Virtual Latinos and Anequim connect you with virtual assistants who are able to perform a wide variety of jobs. Additionally, they also assist you in fixing a salary package for the remote team members for property management that you end up selecting.
This is advantageous because these staff members are ready for remote work and need minimal vetting because these agencies pre-screen VAs. It’s also a time saver since you can quickly browse through the available VAs and see which one has a preferable work history, among other qualifications.
However, this can be a downside for businesses who want to directly negotiate salaries with their new employees.
Hire Directly through a Property Management Recruitment Agency
Property management recruitment specialists such as Betterwho specialize in providing full-time remote team members to property management companies. They go beyond simply sourcing and connecting you with an employee and train them according to the job you need and find talent that matches your requirements.
On the flip side, property management recruitment agencies provide you with a full-time employee who is a part of your company. That means that you will have to handle payment procedures and infrastructure by yourself.
Our RTM Direct package is specifically designed for property managers, as are all our other services. It’s the perfect way to find the remote talent that you’re searching for.
That’s not all. We also make sure that the employee we introduce to your team matches your company culture so that they’re a perfect, long-term fit who is ready to start working from day 1 without any training required from your side.
Managing a Property Management Virtual Assistant
Common Mistakes to Avoid when Working with RTMs
- Underestimating Their Abilities:
remote team workers can do pretty much anything a local employee can do in the office, and often at a very high level. Underestimating them leads to under utilizing them. They’re more than just box-checkers. You can hire remotely for just about any position you need, as long as it doesn’t require the employee being available physically. - Overestimating Their Limits:
don’t make a single remote employee work for positions that they weren’t hired for. It leads to burnout and dissatisfaction on their part. - Having Poor Job Descriptions:
doing so attracts the wrong crowd. Be as descriptive as possible and come up with a series of tests that help to distinguish remote workers who are actually able to fit into your company. - Not Vetting Them Thoroughly: video recordings are a great way of gauging an applicant’s fluency in English. Other than that, make sure that the remote worker is able to work in US timings (if required) and also has a proper workstation with a good internet connection.
- Hiring Too Quickly: The first applicant that reaches out will likely not be the best fit for you. It’s a good idea to wait a few days or weeks and let the applicant pool saturate before you start narrowing it down.
- Miscalculating Their Pay:
always make sure you check the local salaries of the remote worker you’re planning to hire and offer a competitive payment package that incentivizes them and raises their standard of living. - Not Onboarding Them Properly: many property management companies end up having a bad experience with virtual assistants because they don’t establish a proper system for managing expectations with their employees, or skip steps in the training and onboarding of remote employees.
How to Manage Expectations
It’s all about effective collaboration.
- Regularly communicate with remote team members about project goals, deadlines, and desired outcomes.
- Provide clear instructions and define specific deliverables to avoid any misunderstandings.
- Set clear expectations regarding availability and response times, so everyone understands when and how to reach each other.
- Promote transparency and encourage remote team members to communicate any challenges or potential delays promptly.
- Regular check-ins and progress updates are valuable for keeping everyone on the same page.
- Makeuse of the software and platforms we mentioned above to make sure that you and your property management virtual assistants are constantly synchronized and headed in the same direction.
Establish Your Company Culture
Establishing a robust company culture holds immense significance for remote teams. The nature of remote work often leads to a sense of disconnection among team members, making a strong culture all the more essential.
It’s up to you to decide what your company culture will be like and what your core values are, but remember that OptimizLER or one of our consulting packages can help you redraw your company culture in an inviting way for remote team members.
Every company has a different culture, which is why it’s necessary to hire remote employees after assessing if they fit into your team spirit. Otherwise, a single hire that goes against your company’s flow can be a severe blow to your team’s overall morale, hurting your bottom line.
