Last modified on August 23rd, 2023
By Brittany Benz

In property management it often seems like there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. Between responding to new leads, managing vendors, and serving residents, you’ve got a lot to juggle. And with so much going on, you can get easily stressed out and things can fall through the cracks. But, when your business is running as efficiently as possible, there’s less room for error and you have more time to focus on what matters most — creating outstanding customer experiences and growing your business. Read on to discover four ways you can increase efficiency and save time for your business today.

4 Ways to Boost Efficiency For Your Property Management Business

1.) Go Fully Paperless

Manually filing paperwork and entering data can slow your team down and lead to errors, especially when it comes to your business’ accounting operations. Additionally, requiring residents to pay with paper checks slows down the payment process and leads to more frustration for both your customers and team, not to mention it can lead to more late payments. 

You can streamline processes and get work done faster by moving all of your data and key workflows — from accounting to payments to maintenance — onto a digital platform. When everything is in a single system of record you also have more visibility into how your business is performing, so you can ensure work is done correctly and information is accurate.

2.) Embrace Automation

If your team has to manually carry out tedious tasks like paying vendors and returning phone calls to leads, you’re wasting time and not working efficiently. Automation can save your team a lot of time and enable them to focus on higher level initiatives like growing your business and providing top-notch service. 

Advanced automation also prevents things from falling through the cracks and leads to a better customer experience. Some of the types of advanced automation you could consider implementing might include an AI leasing assistant that instantly responds to and schedules showings for incoming leads, an automated invoice processing system, like AppFolio’s Smart Bill Entry, or a work order management program that can automatically facilitate maintenance repairs and dispatch vendors the moment a request is made by a resident online.

3.) Prioritize User Experience & Support

If your current software is clunky and hard to use, then you’re probably wasting more time training and getting new hires up to speed. Not to mention, software that’s hard to use also slows down your daily workflows and can hinder performance across the board.

Inefficiencies can also arise if your current software provider isn’t offering the support, opportunities, and partnership you need to grow and realize your goals, all of which can hinder your business’ potential.

You can avoid these setbacks by putting ease of use and customer support first when you’re vetting potential software providers. Be steadfast in your evaluation and make sure the software is user-friendly, seamless, intuitive, and comes with detailed, custom onboarding, along with on-going support. You can also have members of your team try out the software to help narrow down the options and gather their feedback before making a final decision. 

4.) Adopt a Single Solution 

Running your business with a disconnected set of tools can be riddled with inefficiencies and even risk, like duplicate tasks, data inconsistency, and a lack of visibility into your business’ overall health. Rather than relying on multi-point systems or having to log into different systems to different parts of your business, switch to a comprehensive property management solution, like AppFolio that can handle everything under one system of record. 

When software works as it should and has everything you need under one platform, you can get work done, focus on growing your business, and have a better work-life balance. A single, unified system also lets you establish standardized processes that are optimized for efficiency.

How AppFolio Stacks Up to the Competition

From data migration to onboarding your team, switching your entire business to new software can feel overwhelming. However, the efficiency and time gains can sometimes be worth it in the long run. At AppFolio, we work tirelessly to ensure that our new customers have the smoothest transition as possible, from implementation and beyond. In fact, we recently surveyed our most satisfied AppFolio customers to see what they thought about our software, and 91% agree that implementation and data migration have been easier than other solutions. In addition, 92% prefer our software to other property management solutions.*

The majority of those who have made the leap to AppFolio have reaped the benefits overall. Take Connie Miller, President of MK Property Management for instance. She and her team manage over 267 units. Before switching to AppFolio, they had relied on another property management solution. However it wasn’t measuring up when it came to user experience. “We used Buildium property management software for about a year, but it was a tough year. We switched to AppFolio because it is much more user-friendly, and most importantly, I trust the accounting,” says Connie. 

Israel Reyes, President of Hancock Realty has also been happy with his decision to make the switch, “Choosing AppFolio as our property management software has made all the difference in the world in increasing our portfolio of managed properties. My only regret is that I didn’t go with them from day one.” 

There’s always room for more efficiency in property management. If you take an honest look at how your business is currently running and pinpoint any areas where you could improve or streamline processes and save time, you’ll reap the benefits both personally and professionally. Make the most out of the property management advice shared above, and consider switching to a purpose-built property management solution that values user experience, partnership, and customer support. *Source: April 2021 TechValidate Survey of 500+ satisfied AppFolio customers.

Download the free guide below for more ideas on how you can streamline your multifamily operations.