Strata services

A mid-sized Sydney agency received a formal complaint about not holding an AGM on time and asked us to help with a response. One of their managers was falling behind in their work and this wasn’t the only case where an AGM had been missed. We worked with the manager to prioritise calling the AGMs that had been missed and helped develop AGM templates for their strata software which they weren’t using properly. We estimate this will save at least two hours on the preparation of notices and minutes for every AGM. That’s at least a working week a year for the strata manager. We spoke with the principal about supervision and found that while the firm had bought an off the shelf supervision guidelines kit, the system wasn’t being used. We have an ongoing role for one year to monitor and report quarterly on how the guidelines are being implemented. We have broken the implementation program down to achievable monthly tasks.

Concerned by recent press and regulatory investigations in New South Wales, a medium sized Sydney based firm asked us to review their industry standard client agreement and pricing schedules. Our brief was to ensure they had been correctly completed and complied with current laws about insurance disclosure. Working remotely with access to their software (having signed a confidentiality agreement), we found that some agreements had expired and although resolutions has been passed for their renewal, new agreements had not been prepared and signed. They are now working on these as a priority to bring the agency in line with the statutory requirement to always have a current executed written agreement. We also pointed out the problems we see with industry standard agreement and provided an example of a fairer, less complex agreement for their lawyer to review.

Our client, a Queensland strata management agency, asked us to write a standard form proposal to help them win new business. We reviewed their website and existing marketing material and concluded that they had no discernible point of difference. We conducted an online workshop with their principal and senior manager and identified they preferred a particular sized scheme which suited their existing operating style and systems. We developed a powerful positioning statement for them and critiqued their website. We wrote a new standard proposal that highlights their specialist status and makes them stand out from their competitors.