By Beth Gilbert
Are you satisfied with your association management company? As a board member, it’s your responsibility to find a management company that will provide the best service to you and your community. Which is why it’s critical your management company is meeting your needs, ensuring you are happy, and providing the tools you need to govern your community with ease.
To find out what board members look for in an association management company, reasons why they may switch management companies, and the kinds of technologies they use or expect, AppFolio partnered with HOA-USA to survey current and former HOA and COA board members. We greatly value our partnership with HOA-USA, and together we are excited to bring you this new research to the industry, so association management businesses can use the findings to better serve board members like yourself. Below I’ll provide a sneak peek of some of the findings.
Financial management is one of the top responsibilities boards expect their management company to handle
When we asked survey respondents to rank the top three responsibilities they thought were the most important for their management company to handle, 75% ranked funds management and financial reporting in the top three, with 29% ranking it as number one. Meanwhile, 54% expect their management company to provide information to keep homeowners informed, and 51% expect them to collect dues and assessments.
Most boards today would not recommend their management company
Many boards are not satisfied with their management company, as only 23% of respondents said they would recommend their current or most recent management company. Which indicates that there’s room for association management businesses to improve when it comes to serving their boards.
Unresponsiveness is the top reason why board members choose to switch management companies
The majority of board members (66%) cited unresponsiveness/long response times as the reason why they switched management companies in the past or were considering doing so now. Not surprisingly, this was followed by failure to quickly and accurately follow through on projects (65%), and overall poor customer service (61%).
Boards greatly value technology and self-service tools
Today’s board members expect to be able to carry out tasks and stay connected from anywhere, on any device. This was evidenced in the survey in that more than half (57%) of respondents said it was extremely important or very important for an association management company to use modern technology and self-service tools.
Having access to digital tools influences boards’ decision in choosing a new management company
Board members not only value technology, they use it as a benchmark in determining which management company they should partner with. In fact, according to the survey, 72% of respondents said a lack of access to online/digital tools would influence their decision when choosing a new management company.
Based on these findings, it’s critical that your management company re-evaluates their customer experience strategy to focus on the overall service they provide to your community and implements modern, mobile tools. To find out the rest of the results and how your management company can leverage the data to better your board member experience, visit AppFolio’s Industry Insights hub. We will be releasing the full report in the coming weeks.
Beth Gilbert is the Sr. Director of the Community Association market at AppFolio. Beth brings over 15 years of product experience to AppFolio and is currently responsible for developing the vision and strategy for the community association market. She is passionate about building relationships with customers to learn about new ways to partner in the success of their businesses.
