In the world of property management, customer service is essential for ensuring tenant satisfaction, retention, and profitability. A centralized customer service or call center agent plays a crucial role in facilitating communication between tenants and property management companies. They are responsible for handling inbound calls from prospective and existing tenants, routing calls to leasing agents, guiding prospective tenants through the property touring process, and being the first point of contact from existing tenants when there are maintenance issues, rent payment issues, or property issues.

In this blog, we will discuss the role of a centralized customer service or call center agent for residential property management companies, why consolidating the function into one location is beneficial, the pay, job duties, and qualifications for the position.

Why Consolidate the Function into One Location

Consolidating the customer service or call center function into one location has several advantages. Firstly, it allows for tighter controls of processes, ensuring that calls are handled consistently and efficiently. Secondly, round the clock coverage can be achieved, providing tenants with 24/7 access to customer service. Thirdly, it streamlines efficiencies and saves costs, reducing the need for local coordinators scattered across the country in different markets.

Consolidating the function into one location also allows property management companies to provide a better customer experience. Having a centralized team dedicated to handling customer inquiries and concerns ensures that tenants receive timely and accurate responses, improving tenant satisfaction and retention rates.

Pay

The pay for a centralized customer service or call center agent varies depending on experience, qualifications, and location. According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a customer service representative in the property management industry is $36,000 per year, with a range of $27,000 to $49,000 per year.

Job Duties

The job duties of a centralized customer service or call center agent for residential property management companies are diverse and demanding. They are responsible for providing quality and accurate responses to inbound customer service inquiries via phone and email. Here are some of the essential job duties of a centralized customer service or call center agent:

1. Answer inbound phone inquiries from customers providing quality and accurate responses managing and resolving customer complaints
2. Respond to incoming emails using standard scripts and methodologies
3. Research required information using multiple systems and resources
4. Analytical and critical thinking for incoming inquiries to help develop future scripts, processes, and structures to streamline and grow customer service process and model
5. Route calls, emails, and tickets to appropriate back office individuals and groups as needed
6. Accurately complete and document information in the system and ticket to ensure the inquiry is captured correctly
7. Identify and escalate priority issues
8. Proactively identify root causes of issues and make recommendations for process improvements future state

In addition to the above duties, a centralized customer service or call center agent must also be patient, organized, and good with computer software, multitasking between various platforms simultaneously.

Qualifications

The qualifications for a centralized customer service or call center agent for residential property management companies are as follows:

1. High school diploma or equivalent required
2. 2-3 years of inbound call center experience in a fast-paced environment
3. Familiar with call center metrics, reporting, and call monitoring
4. Experience responding to customer emails
5. Excellent verbal and written communication skills
6. Experience with property management and lease review a plus
7. Experience working with Yardi and Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM)
8. Proficient with MS Office, Outlook, and Internet applications
9. Bi-lingual Spanish a plus
10. Superb accuracy and attention to detail
11. Ability to prioritize and multi-task in a fast-paced environment
12. Adaptable to feedback and

Additional Resources

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also provides information on customer service representatives and call center agents:

1. “Customer Service Representatives” by Bureau of Labor Statistics: 
2. “Call Center Representatives” by Bureau of Labor Statistics: