CarpetBossPro Blog — Commercial & Property Managers

Two-Way Texting With Property Managers and Leasing Offices

Property managers live on their phones. Between showings, tenant calls, maintenance requests and owner emails, a text is often the only message they will read the same hour. If your carpet company is easy to text, you are easy to work with. If every text goes to the owner's personal cell, you have a problem the first time the owner is on vacation.

Managers Text, So Your Business Should Too

Tracking the night van is covered in Crew GPS and the Time Clock on Night Office Carpet Routes. This guide covers the other side of daily communication: talking with the managers who send you the work.

CarpetBossPro includes two-way texting with customers from the office. Texts to and from your business number are kept with the client, so anyone in the office can read the conversation and reply. When a leasing manager texts about a unit, the message does not disappear into one person's phone.

Confirming Requests

Most mix-ups start with a request that was never confirmed. When a leasing manager texts “need 12 done,” a good reply turns it into something nobody can misread:

• “Got it — Building C Unit 12, move-out clean, Tuesday. Key from the leasing office?”
• “Confirmed for Thursday night: Suite 300 and the 3rd-floor hallway. Rear entrance as usual.”

Repeating the address, the service, the day and the access in one text catches wrong units, wrong dates and wrong doors before the van ever leaves. Then put the request on the Waiting List so it is on the schedule, not just in the thread. Catching requests is covered in more depth in Taking Move-Out Requests From the Leasing Office Without Losing a Unit.

Reporting Finished Work

When the tech taps Complete, the office sees the finished checklist, the before-and-after photos, the condition rating and the tech's note on the job. A short follow-up text turns that into a message the manager can act on:

• “Unit 12 is done. Dry time about the afternoon. One stain in bedroom 2 did not come out; details and photos are in your customer app.”
• “Suite 300 finished last night. Lobby mat area marked Needs attention for wear.”

Managers who get that kind of update stop calling to ask whether the work is done. The client can also see before-and-after photos and invoices in the customer app, so the text can point them there.

Automated Reminders and Alerts

Not every message needs to be typed. CarpetBossPro sends automated reminders and alerts by text and email, and clients choose their alerts in the customer app: the night before, when they are next, and when the tech arrives. For a leasing office, a night-before alert is a handy heads-up to leave the key out or tell maintenance a crew is coming.

For after-hours office work, think about who should get alerts. An office manager may not want an arrival text at 9pm; a building security contact might. Set up contacts and alert choices to match how each account works.

Handling Problems by Text

Problems are easier to handle when they are written down. If the night tech skipped a building because the lockbox was empty, the office sees the skip and the note in the morning and can text the manager: “Our tech couldn't get into Suite 300 last night — the lockbox was empty. Can we come back Thursday?” The conversation stays with the client, and the next person in the office can pick it up.

The same goes for problems the tech finds on site. A unit with a torn seam marked Repair recommended, or an office suite where furniture was blocking half the carpet, deserves a quick text the next morning so the manager can decide what to do before the next visit.

Keep the tone simple and factual. Say what happened, what you need and what you suggest. Managers appreciate vendors who bring a solution with the problem.

Texting and Your Plan's Allowance

Texts count toward the monthly text allowance on your plan: 500, 1,000 or 2,000 texts sent and received on Start, Pro or Crew, in the US and Canada. Busy commercial accounts generate a fair amount of back-and-forth, so keep an eye on usage as accounts grow, and lean on email for longer messages like estimates and statements.

Being the Easy Vendor

Managers keep the vendors who answer quickly, confirm clearly and report back without being asked. Two-way texting from the office, with every conversation kept on the client, makes that possible even when the owner is on a van. For the rest of the commercial tools, visit the CarpetBossPro commercial carpet cleaning software page.