On today’s Whiteboard Wednesday, Andy discusses the renewal process. Retaining clients is far easier than trying to attract new tenants to your properties, and Andy explains the aspects of the renewal process to keep in mind to keep tenants happy and leasing at your properties.
Video Transcription
Andy: Hi everyone, Andy Welkley here and it’s time for another edition of Whiteboard Wednesday. Today is the third stop in our journey through the commercial property management process. Today we’re going to be talking about the renewal process which is really critical because, as everybody knows, retaining clients is far easier and less expensive than going out to find and attract new tenants for your facilities.
There are a couple of aspects of the process that we really want to keep in mind as we kick this off. The first thing is, we need to be aware of any specifications within the lease itself. Are there early termination rights that your tenants have? Are there restrictions or obligations that have to be met in terms of gross sales numbers?
All these things can factor into the renewal negotiations and the earlier you understand these things and can proactively address them, the better position you are into negotiating an appropriate lease so that both sides are in a position to win. The next thing we want think about is the experience.
As we mentioned in the outset, the days of being an absentee landlord are truly gone. The key today is engagement and visibility. We don’t necessarily have to be our tenants friends but we do need to interact as true business partners to make the relationship as healthy and successful and productive as possible.
Some things we want to keep in mind are visibility into service requests. How are they made? Do the tenants have visibility into the resolution of those things? In addition, are they paying you in a way that makes sense for their business? Also that those payments come to you in a quick and efficient fashion.
All these things play into the overall experience that tenant has on your property and make them more likely to renew as time goes on. Again, think about the fact that you want to retain these clients, keep them happy and productive, and maintain that productive business relationship. Stay tuned, next week we’re going to kick off the second part of our six-part series where we’re going to look more at your operations as opposed to more of our tenant interactions.
Thank you very much.
