Your Communications Tool Choice Speaks Volumes to Residents
It could be argued that your association management software's communication capabilities are the most important resource you have.
Informing residents and boards, drawing feedback and encouraging participation, being transparent, communicating fairness, showing caring, and more are a function of communications.
Right now is the right time to review your communications system and the impact it's having on your residents.
The ManageCasa communications tools can help you prevent conflict and complaints and encourage resident compliance. And they help you create clarity, union, and a positive community narrative and spirit. There is a dollar value to this too. After using ManageCasa for several years, that dollar value will become visible.
As we discuss here, your communications strategy and tools should be more respected given the influence they have on your future association management success.
On a Platform for Trouble-Free Communities
As you know through your experience, there are endless sources of friction, conflict, uncertainty, demands, issues, expectations, and more. Do you think they've impinged on your staff's time, energy, spirit and budget?
One of the blessings of modern HOA and community association management software (ManageCasa) is how it can make your communications strategy successful. It's in how it brings your complete business together on a friction and accident-free superhighway of association activities. It's where you safely reach your destination, under budget, with glowing reports of resident satisfaction.
This goal is the reason for a comprehensive platform with superb communications features.
ManageCasa integrates and focuses communications activity so they make sense, are efficient and effective, and build rapport and support in your community. Generate less frustration, delays and conflict in everyday association matters. Support meetings, increase voting, educate, and increase agreement among your stakeholders and constituents.
Friction-Free Associations?
ManageCasa as an example, helps you create a friction-free experience from submitting architectural requests, making payments, asking questions, increasing understanding of the rules, and voting online, to gathering feedback from residents.
Our system helps increase transparency, educate residents about the board and its goals. That's the how of communications -- that big-picture message does more to reduce friction and complaints than anything else.
If residents are still irritated by board actions, their neighbors, community rules and regulations, fines levied, and the dues they must pay, ManageCasa's association software can help you mitigate and create a more agreeable mood.
A Platform for Optimal Communications
Our HOA/Community association platform provides substantial communications tools to communicate clearly, show empathy, and guide residents to important understandings. With greater transparency, essential information, and clear presentation of facts, residents can see the board and management company are actually doing the best work possible and making sensible decisions for the sake of residents.
A streamlined, resident experience says a lot.
ManageCasa provides an array of modern features to help:
⦁ send personalized responses to individual residents
⦁ send mass emailings (via templates) via SMS, email, resident portal or paper mail
⦁ automate booking amenities and getting residents questions answered
⦁ collect survey information and vote online
⦁ create private message boards
Preventing Disputes and Misunderstandings
When disputes occur as they will, you have a 360 view of the issues to empower your responses, resolutions and actions. By applying your communications strategy, fewer complaints will happen. It's preventative communications -- so important to running a large, modern association.
Communications Strategy
A communications strategy is the first step to building rapport with residents and between residents.
Establishing a view of the neighborhood as beneficial, moral, and valued can help lower a lot of nuisance and nuisance complaints. If bad behavior and rule breaking are portrayed as eroding the quality of life in the community, fewer residents will reoffend, especially when they're reported.
Beyond that basic tactic, you might want to publish a mission statement with a theme of pleasant, cooperative community life that encourages residents to value responsible community life.
Resolving Issues/Complaints/Disputes
In the midst of a dispute, managers can clarify complaints of residents and facilitate resolutions between residents, directly with a manager or with the board if it can't be resolved easily.
Sometimes, listening with empathy, responding calmly and easing resentment is all that's needed to residents with bad attitudes, while other times the matter must be escalated to the board. With a structured process aided by your software, you can educate, collect incident info, arrange discussions, create tickets, collect information and responses, clarify requests, and arrange meetings. It can all be automated via text or in portal messaging, or emails. Residents can be issued a copy of the governing documents for their edification and meetings can be scheduled.
The transparency of the process tells residents they will be heard and are being treated professionally. It also helps with consistency in actions too since many residents may feel others are getting special treatment. If residents believe another resident did get special privileges or unfair treatment, that can be cited and investigated as part of the resolution process. Rumors by residents are a key source of friction for management.
Most Common Complaints You Can do Without
With poor, unresponsive communications, trouble easily brews:
⦁ nuisance neighbors
⦁ barking dogs
⦁ pet waste
⦁ loud, noisy machinery, vehicles
⦁ noisy parties
⦁ badly behaving teens and kids
⦁ property damage
⦁ unkempt property
⦁ parking
If your resident's issue isn't life threatening, there is no need for immediate action or phone calls. Instead the resident can calmly file a complaint via a text or email message. The message is then processed and delivered to the association manager for investigation. Violators can be notified, warned, cited or fined depending on the danger or severity. A timely response helps avoid any angry or aggressive action on the resident's part and avoid police action and lawsuits.
Clear, positive communications helps to calm agitated complainants, indicating that not all incidents are deliberate. They learn that the association is responsible for investigation, enforcement of regulations and not the resident. Communication helps to prevent accusations of discrimination, unfairness, and bad management.
Establishing boundaries and guidelines for behavior helps keep people in a rational state of mind which lends to a good resolution between parties.
Given the size of communities today and the challenges in maintaining peace and order, complaints need to be responded to properly and in a timely fashion.
With the ManageCasa system, you have a high level set of communications tools:
Here are a few tips to help make your ManageCasa communications tools even better:
- review all your complaints -- to find a common theme/issue in common with them
- conduct regular polls -- to gauge sentiment and levels of dissatisfaction and issues that drive complaints
- communicate well how issues and handled and how they are enforced -- as it immerses them into a resolution framework
- address complaints soon -- to avoid issues being escalated between complainants
- listen with an open mind at stated issues and level of anger or disappointment -- listen for the real source of disappointment
- respond to the accused/mentioned property/person -- collect info via the ManageCasa app and set an alert to respond to them
- inquire in a professional, calm and purposeful manner -- specifically to the complaint
- provide an opportunity to meet on a divisive matter -- and offer to mediate the issue if possible
- intermediate quickly and personally in strong conflicts -- especially if there's harrassment or discrimination involved
- keep your notifications/documents up to date -- consistent with your latest association rules and any applicable state or federal laws -- stay compliant and lawsuit-free
- have an association lawyer to consult with -- on recurring issues that might generate lawsuits
Efficiency, Clarity, Persuasion
The medium is the message? Yes, residents may be impacted and persuaded more by how you communicate vs what you say. In fact, old tools may contradict your messaging (e.g., you're actually not resident-friendly without the digital tools they prefer).
Your ManageCasa tools show you're on top of it and working for them and a happy community.
Definitely review your communications tools and discover current gaps, deficiencies, and resident satisfaction. This could create substantial dollar savings and help you protect your budget.
Speak with our HOA and community association sales pros. They're the best in the business.
Reach us at: 415 800 1245
