Nightmare with Grandma

We talk , talk, talk so much about customer service, that I just had to share this experience.  Over the weekend, I shopped a competitor.  I didn't make an appointment, just walked in.  I should also note that I took my 4 year old twins with me.  With a large piece of sticky candy in each hand.

And the SNAFU started from there.  When we entered the property's office, we weren't greeted.  A voice from an inner office told us to "hang in there a minute".  I love moments like this in life, where you can just see the badness that will be play out in your mind...

As soon as the leasing individual stepped out to us, she said first to one of my daughter s "You'll haven to finish that up, honey before we talk our walk..."  Awesome.  On a positive note, however, she did recognize my daughter...

She was dressed in jeans and a button-down underneathe a sweatshirt that identified her as a grandmother.  I never even got her name.  She never got mine either though.

We walked the property with a tour that told us where the kitchen was and which bedroom was bigger. She noted to us that they don't typically provide lightbulbs at move-in in their fixtures.  She did highlight the swingset and pool, but referenced that there weren't too many chlidren on the property and that this summer might be the last for the playground area.  This was also the moment that she chose to qualify us for pets by asking "How many other little things you have running around your place?"  This woman definitely ate her children as cubs.

When one of my daughters, 2/3's  into the tour, announced it was time for a potty break, the woman looked distastefully at her options, and offered us usage of a nearby vacant apt. as long as I had "TP in [my] purse".  The nearby vacant turned out to be  a unit mid-flip with all the maintenance tools, products, and wreckage laying throughout.  No thank you.

The event ended by the woman winding her walk back to the office parking lot and telling us that after we looked around, we could call to make an appointment to come back if we "needed to".  Awesome.  She got in her car before we did, announcing that she had something to get at a nearby drug store.  And left.

The end.

So scroll with me here... No personalization.  No creativity, no nothing. If anything, the woman did almost everything she could to sell us out of her property!  The worst part - her property is gorgeous.

So remember all of you out there feeling like your properties aren't the top dog - people will rent your product, sure, but mostly, they're leasing YOU.  Offer an experience that is similar to getting back in touch with an old friend - the first half of it is information seeking and "catching up" while the back half is inviting them back closer to you.

And as for grandma - Thank you.  I was reminded of something I wish someone had taught you.