by Andrea Drennen, CMCA | Find me on: LinkedIn

If you look at the needs of the typical community association manager, one thing stands out. CAM Managers need more time. Here are a couple of time saving tips and efficiency tricks that add up to real time you can use every day.

Email

• Copy common responses you write to signature blocks in your mail program. Then you can simply drop in a beautifully written reply without having to waste time rewriting it each time, or digging through old emails to copy and paste.
• Don’t be afraid of Auto Reply in your email program. Use it when you need to go off-site, during busy season, when you’ll be in court, etc. People are very understanding of delays if they understand there is a reason for it.

Phone

• Look into a Voice Mail to Email service for your office. This can be very helpful for the manager on the go.
• Develop a hierarchy for who handles what issues. Instead of having homeowners call the manager directly, they should be directed to reception, who can route the call to accounting, or look up a quick piece of information.

Technology

• Invest in web-based management tools that allow you to access your full community data from your smart phone, laptop, or tablet, no matter where you are. Having everything possible in electronic form puts all of the info you need at your fingertips at a moment’s notice.