As a business owner, the hardest part can be managing the people. Each person is very unpredictable, different and seems to be motivated by a different set of factors. If you have good hiring processes, then managing your staff might be smooth sailing, but that doesn’t mean you won’t sometimes encounter tough situations. Just like you need a commercial property management agency to help with the venue – you need a manager to deal with the staff.
Be prepared for the management situations that are most common and these are:
- Not enough time and too many people to manage
- Dealing with a variety of personalities
- Interpersonal conflicts
- An employee with a bad attitude
- Putting the balance in between
- Lengthy firing processes
- Insufficient authority
- Managing the ones in remote locations
The management challenges that you are facing with in your own business are most likely not unique (which is why tenant advocacy is important!). Like all different business owners, there are several points of friction that will be the same as others everywhere. While this may not be easy it is encouraging, and it tells you there are more resources and advice out there to guide you.
Keeping the list in mind above there will be certain situations that you will face when you are managing staff and the public.
In order to successfully manage a shopping centre, you need plenty of knowledge and that comes with time and experience. Taking on a shopping centre means you need to have the experience from the start as tenants and properties can all suffer.
Put your mind to key issues
When it comes to managing a shopping centre successfully you need to focus on the key issues and the facts.
Lease terms and conditions – Many leases are formed surrounded by the terms and conditions of a standard document, but things will need to be changed in order to reflect the certain premises and tenants.
Upcoming vacancies – Keep an eye out for vacancies that can happen in the upcoming months.
try and negotiate early with the tenants in order to solve the vacancy problems before they even occur.
Demographics and customer numbers – Each shopping centre should be tracking the foot numbers and counting the customers coming into the main doors. Car parking numbers should be tracked also. When numbers are changing then you can take action.
Maintenance – the maintenance that will occur during a shopping centre will be unexpected and ongoing. You will need to have maintenance contractors on hand that can carry out the maintenance routine that will follow the budget process.
Insurance – Risk and injury can occur from occupancy and customer movement through to the property. It is common within shopping centres to see very comprehensive insurance management along with a risk control process.
Environmental and energy matters – Energy costs are rising and the environmental problems we are facing these days occur often as long as the building is being frequently used. Shopping centres need to be assessed for energy consumption and environmental risk factors.
Expenditure budgets and income – Rental income will change during the year. The same for the expenditure in the shopping centre. The budget processes go into categories and need to be taken into account the tenancy mix, vacancy factors, property market conditions and functions of the property. The budget needs to be reviewed yearly for an opportunity in cash flow and certain changes that can occur.
While it can be hard to manage a shopping centre as long as you are doing everything you should be and seeking professional advice should something go wrong, you will still get the positives out of running a shopping centre.