Resident Retention: Low Cost No Cost Strategies

I talk a lot about retention. A Lot. And sometimes I am a little dismissive of the leasing activities that must take place to fill vacant apartments, due to my obsession with retention. However, I think it's terribly important to note that retention begins with the prospect's first impression. Whether with the property, the leasing agent, the toured units, there are some great first impression opportunities. If these opportunities are done well, the prospect won't forget (Yes!). And if it's done poorly, they really won't forget (Oh no!).

I know I'm dipping my toes into dangerous waters here, but I think it's time we take a good, hard look at the data surrounding social media and the hype associated with it. I fear I may be taking my life into my hands, but we've got some new data to work with that may start some very valuable conversation - so to me, it's worth the risk!

The industry marketplace is filled with seminars, tutorials, podcasts, chat rooms and articles on how to get the most out of your social media marketing strategy. There is no denying that our culture is embracing social media in a variety of aspects of life, however, the data is currently showing it has not gained enough of a foothold in the rental housing market to be an effective leasing or community-building strategy. Based on data from SatisFacts’ 4^th Quarter 2009 Annual Resident Satisfaction Surveys, when asked “When you rented at this community, what sources of information did you use to find out about the community?” only 1.24% of residents identified social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace…and Twitter was not identified by any respondents.

It's exciting to see so many property management companies and individual communities devote more time and attention to retention efforts. In a recent MFI blog post,  the question was raised regarding the claim that the average resident turnover across the nation is at 60%. While turnover has hovered around 60% for the past several years, according to the annual NAA Income and Expense Survey, we are seeing some bright spots. 

For those organizations who are focusing on the key areas affecting service delivery, it is indeed paying off. According to the new SatisFacts Index that was just released this month, the percentage of residents who say they are "Very Likely to Renew" actually increased over the prior year!

I happened to be in town visiting some relatives when I was invited to go along while my cousin picked up some paperwork for her new apartment. With me, her mom, and an additional aunt in tow, we all trooped into the leasing office of a sizeable community, where a very friendly leasing agent helped us.

I come from an extremely conservative family, so imagine my magnified horror when two of the other leasing agents gabbed at a nearby desk with one telling the other, "It's not really 'stripping.' It takes some serious skill. Besides, I've always been comfortable with my body, and I know my parents would support the idea of me using my dance training. Plus, I can get some fat cash in just one or two nights a week!"

You know the one. Maybe even "The Ones." Those residents who can cause an entire staff to inwardly groan upon their entrance to the leasing office. Suddenly everyone is incredibly busy. It's the be-all-end-all game of musical chairs, with the last one standing having the "deal with" said resident.

Let's be honest. Not everyone is going to like us, and we're not going to like every single person we meet. However, part of being a professional is acting professionally - which infers the ability to handle all situations in a professional manner. And professionals are always prepared. (As are Boy Scouts, but I digress.)

 This resident called at 9:13 a.m. this morning telling the Leasing Manager that her Master bedroom toilet was running. The Leasing Manager took down all her information, entered a detailed service request into the PM system. The Maintenance Supervisor assigned this service request, among others, to the maintenance team. A Maintenance Tech arrived at the resident's home and fixed the constant water running by 1:57 p.m.  The resident was not home at the time, but the Maintenance Tech left a note behind letting her know what had been done, that the work was complete, and to please call the office if she had any questions. When the resident arrived home from work, she found that her toilet would now only run occasionally if she forgot to jiggle the handle, and she also found this:

Service requests, maintenance requests, work orders, maintenance work orders, MSR's - whatever you call them, they arrive in abundance each and every day on site. It's one of the benefits our residents have: to not worry about repairs and maintenance. That's our job. However, a slow or ineffective service request process can have one of the greatest negative impacts on a resident's experience at our community. It may be time to step back and take a look at what we do and how we do it when it comes to service request resolution.

I hope this comes as no surprise, but based on the productivity studies I've conducted with nationally acclaimed property management organizations, at least 50% of a leasing agent's time is spent with existing residents. One-half. That  ain't no small potatoes.

So, if that much of our leasing team's time is spent on basic customer service, and if resident retention is the key to increasing, or at least maintaining our property's cash flow and net operating income, it's time we all face the facts and accept the New World Order. Our prioritization deck has just been shuffled. 

What is it with doctor's offices?  Why is it acceptable to both provider and patient to expect a delay of a half hour, an hour, or more?

I set up my annual eye exam last week specifically with Dr. D. I arrived 5 minutes before my appointment time and waited about 15 minutes before being ushered into exam room #1 where they take initial readings. I was then ushered into exam room #2 and instructed to remove my contacts and the doctor would be right in. Out came the contacts, and I sat blindly for 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes. No doctor. I felt my way to the door and let the office manager know it was over 1 hour past my appointment time, and I needed to leave soon to pick up my daughter from daycare. The response, "Yeah, well she's still in with the a patient." 

Can we take a step back from social media for a second and focus on the 'social' aspect of the concept? As we all know, providing excellent service to our residents involves communicating with them and being 'social' to some extent. And yet, if we truly examine our ability to reach out to our residents with any hope of success, we have to be able to make contact with them, call them, email them.

Problem #1: On average, property management systems only have 50% of current resident phone numbers.