Association Management and Vendor Relationships - CINC Systems

Vendor resource management is vital for your association management company and the homeowners’ associations you serve. Creating an open line of communication and preserving healthy long-term relationships means your management company will have reliable vendors you can plan your budget around.

It takes a great deal of planning and logistics to keep communities of any size safe, clean, and secure. Selecting and maintaining the right vendors can make a huge difference in work performance, cost, and quality. Let’s look at ways to build and improve association management and  vendor relationships.

Screen and Select Your Vendors Carefully

Finding the right vendors to work with is essential for building strong partnerships. This is one of the best things you can do to add to the welfare of the community you manage. That includes:

• Performing your research
• Taking time to get referrals from homeowners or other management companies
• Selecting HOA vendors with excellent reviews and references
• Choosing your vendors based on the quality of their work and not price alone

Build Lasting Vendor Relationships

When you focus on immediate benefits or short-term costs, your company can lose in the long-run. It is vital to look at the big picture when choosing your vendors. Select a company that can scale up its operations if you need it too. This will help you and your vendor sustain a positive relationship as you both move in the same direction.

Draft a Contract That Works for Both of You

That first contract you sign with a vendor can lay the foundation for your relationship. Take time to draft a solution that is beneficial for each side. Listen to their needs and compromise on points that offer minimal risk on your end. This shows your ability to compromise for the good of building a healthy relationship.

Use CINC to Maintain Vendor Relationships

Many HOA property management companies wrestle with making sure vendors pay their IOUs. Accountants and finance staffers can feel overwhelmed with tedious tasks like manual entry or tracking. This frustration can damage vendor relations. CINC Systems bolsters association management and vendor relationships by addressing problems like:

• Accurate data entry — CINC’s automated software eliminates the need for manual data input. It syncs bank data and auto-fills vendor information into records, minimizing confusion, and reducing errors.
• Enhanced accuracy — CINC’s built-in automation and recurring payments eliminate missed deadlines and duplicate payments. This saves community association management companies late fees and improves vendor relationships.
• Improving follow-up methods — Vendor follow-up is vital to sustaining a healthy working relationship. CINC empowers vendors to establish dedicated online portals and check payment status, reducing time-wasting back-and-forth calls.
• Invoices tracking — CAM software from CINC automatically creates reports that show unpaid invoices at the close of your current accounting period. This eliminates lost invoices and the need to explain to vendors why their payment was late.
• Streamlined invoicing — Vendors each have their way of submitting invoices. CINC allows your HOA and Condo managers to receive and process every invoice format, email, text, paper, etc.

Maintaining healthy HOA vendor relationships keeps your management company and its communities at the top of their client list. Trust CINC to solidify your vendor relationships and take your association management company to the next level.