It’s kind of a given in the multifamily industry: to win and retain residents, you have to be the best. But as new builds come online, and the competitive slope grows all the steeper, providing great customer service doesn’t quite cut it. It’s not enough to meet expectations – you have to exceed them. And when exceeding expectations becomes the norm, we’re all left wondering: What more can I do to serve the customers of my community/company?
One day this little old man pushed his walker over to my desk, turned around to sit down and made himself comfortable. He said “life goes by in a blink of an eye, look at me stuck in this walker—the love of my life for 70 years is gone…just like that…I have nothing now.” Right then, I knew it was my duty to make a difference and bring purpose back to his life. The event planner’s social calendar sometimes can make a big difference and it can be the one factor that sways the decision when it comes to selecting an apartment, especially when it comes to selling to “active” seniors! Here are some out of the box ideas that you can dress up or dress down depending on the wants and needs of your community.
Customer service and customer experience is a topic of much discussion in today’s marketplace. As our marketplaces become more competitive and our rents continue to increase, the expectations from our residents – both current and future – continue to go up. Residents want their interactions with property management to be simple and easy. No one wants to do business with a “hassle brand”. From your website, to communication from and to the office, and even encounters on the community grounds, your residents want less
“friction” in their encounters with you.
A number of years ago my staff was leasing up a brand new 256-unit apartment community in suburban Dayton, Ohio. Included in the unit mix were 60 very small one-bedroom-one-bath floor plans that had less than 450 square feet of space. We called them “one-one-juniors.” When we sat down to strategize about how best to market those small apartments we decided that the most likely resident would be a first time renter — probably a young person straight out of college starting their first job, without a lot of furniture or other household items. So we set up mini-models with bar stools at the kitchen counter, place mats and silverware, shower curtains and matching bath towels. We did outreach in areas frequented by young professionals and even sponsored a happy hour at a local night spot. Several months later we had leased just over twenty of the 60 apartments and then our leasing momentum came to a grinding halt. While we were doing well on the other floor plans at the property, we just couldn’t move anymore of the one-one-juniors.
Don’t you wish that more of your residents complained? Seriously??? The most important thing that we can do to help with resident retention is to encourage our residents to let us know when something is wrong so that we can make it right! We have to find ways to encourage our residents to give us feedback and let us know when they are unhappy. It’s the only way that we can correct problems and resolve issues for our valued customers.
It is often easiest to plan activities that revolve around holidays from October through December. It can be a lot of fun, and obviously provides easy themes. However, not everything has to be holiday focused. When people get busy, often times a home-cooked meal is the last thing they have time to make. So if you want to help your residents in the busyness of the season, I suggest trying a meal event.
Feed them AND have some fun! I am becoming well known for this saying, “If you feed them, they will come. If you feed them well, they’ll come again. If you feed them well and introduce them to a friend, they will keep coming.” Remember: The end goal is to get your residents interacting.
The make-ready process is usually pretty straight forward. But, if it is so easy to figure out, why do some of our apartments sit not ready and unrented for so long? More often than not, it is because our make-ready plan is either flawed, or the flow of work gets disrupted. A lot of time can be saved by having a strong and consistent approach to make-ready planning. One way to get a head start on that make-ready is by conducting a pre-move out inspection of the apartment. By walking the apartment with a member of the service team you can get an even bigger jump on it. A comprehensive inspection can set the stage for a more efficient make ready process. Here is how you can maximize the information that you will get from the inspection:
This quarter, more than any other time of the year, is a breeding ground for stress, and when you work in a customer service role, as all employees in the property management industry do, you’re bound to be on the receiving end of someone’s meltdown. Research conducted by Customer Care Measurement & Consulting of Alexandria, VA says that 70% of customers who have problems with a product or service are in a rage by the time they talk with the front line customer service staff.
There are many reasons why people choose to stay with you once they’ve rented, but what’s at the top of the list? A sense of community! You cannot package a sense of community, but you can certainly create an environment that exudes that special feeling where, all of the sudden, your residents will feel it and think, “I’ve found a special place to be.” Key ingredients for this recipe? Friends and tradition.
Only 30 percent of residents expect their apartment community to have a Facebook page, according to a study conducted by Kingsley Associates for the National Multihousing Council. If you do have a community Facebook page, get more involvement by hosting Trivia Sweepstakes.
