Brian Setencich is a general manager for a property management company First Service Residential. Before fulfilling his current role, he worked for the city council in Fresno, California. Also, he participated in the 911 Emergency Response Project for San Francisco as an operations manager.
Before entering the work industry, Brian Setencich attended California State University. After graduating summa cum laude, he ventured out to Europe in pursuit of a professional basketball career. Nowadays, he spends time volunteering for some animal rescue services that look after the defenseless animals in his area.
Can you give us a brief overview of your education?
I went to California State University in Bakersfield and majored in business. After around four years of study, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. The focus of my degree, however, revolves around management. Thus, most of my coursework aimed to prepare me for the real-world scenarios of conflict resolution and negotiation.
How do you fight off the competition and new companies in your market?
We stay up to date. Meaning, if a competitor comes up with a new feature that is popular, we start offering it too. Consider, for instance, how most residential properties shifted to online payment systems. In the past, people would have to use money orders to cover their rent. At some point, however, someone recognized that this was an old-fashioned way of operating. Soon, we and the whole industry implemented online solutions.
What type of marketing campaigns help your business the most?
Although you probably hear this a lot, we rely on word-of-mouth referrals the most. Not to say that we have no other marketing campaigns. Like most companies, we use online and paper outreach to get new clients. The word-of-mouth referrals, however, are proven to give us the highest conversion rates and a lot of hot traffic.
Can you talk about one challenge that you faced in the last 12 months?
Keeping up with our growth has probably been the hardest part of our business model. It is, after all, uncharted territory for us as we do our best to satisfy an increasing number of customers. Also, applying innovation to some fundamental concepts of this business was quite difficult.
What does the future hold for your company?
Our current mission is to expand slowly while not sacrificing the quality of service that we provide. Although we enjoy growing, it is obvious that we have to take our time doing it. Otherwise, we run the risk of biting more than we can chew. Additionally, we have a few projects in the making that are supposed to streamline customer experience even more. Depending on their outcome, we may or may not be implementing major changes to our operations soon.
Do you think you will remain in your current position for the foreseeable future?
I do. Being a general manager at First Service Residential is a great role that I enjoy. Generally speaking, I am not the type of person that moves from job to job in pursuit of new experiences. Instead, I look for something that I can do well. Once I find it, I tend to stick with it for a considerable amount of time. That approach helped me go through college with a lot of success.
What team-bonding activities does your company do?
We enjoy interacting with our residents, and that seems to bring us together. Also, it is not uncommon for us to go out together and attend company dinners. That usually gives us a perfect platform to connect without discussing work-related matters.
What are some of your day-to-day duties nowadays?
It mostly depends on our agenda. Sometimes, we have a lot of work orders that need to be closely administered. When that is the case, I can spend my entire day working remotely and going from one property to another. Then again, there are also many idle hours where I take care of logistics and handle everything from my office.
You spent most of the previous decade in California. What is it that made you stay there for an extended period?
There are multiple reasons behind it. First, I was able to find a great school that set me up for success. Also, after returning from Europe, I wanted to be involved in public service. Since I wanted to be in an area where I already know people and the neighborhood, it was an easy choice to make. I will admit.
