Dear Property Management Company-Your Awesome Leasing Professional is a True Gem

The following letter was from a resident to one of our clients.  This letter was a must share and there is an interesting lesson to learn from it.  I removed the names for privacy purposes and I really appreciate our client forwarding this to us.  This is a huge testimony to what an overall company culture can do for an organization and how effective training in skills such as customer service really pays off. 

"Dear Management Company: 

I am writing this letter to Thank Awesome Leasing Professional, one of your leasing agents for her professionalism and hospitality.

On May 28, 2010, I arrived an hour before closing at Community Awesome in a frantic panic. I had just left a neighboring apartment complex where I was to move into one of the units on that very day; but to my dismay, the apartment that was discussed was not presented. In fact, the unit was located in an area that I clearly stated was not going to be comfortable or even safe enough for me to reside in. At that point management proceeded to show me another unit that was 4 flights up and to add insult to injury, at a higher rate.

Well, you can imagine, I had a lot of emotions come over me all at one time. I was hurt, angry, disappointed, and scared about where I was going to live. I had a time frame to be out of my current home and had reserved a moving truck, turned on my electricity, moved my phone and internet service along with getting all of the monies together to move into this apartment the following day.  When I asked management about what we had discussed, they simply said “Well, this is all we have available, think it over and get back to me later this evening, take care”. I was floored! Here I am, scheduled to move in the next day and there was absolutely no concern about my well being or about what was discussed in regards to the living space. I got in my car and drove directly into the parking lot of Community Awesome.

Thank God for Awesome Leasing Professional! I had met her previously before when I initially was looking for a place to live. As I quickly walked into the office, her face was the first thing I saw. I immediately started rambling about my situation and how I needed to move in ASAP! In fact, if it was possible the next day. She was so kind and accommodating as she pulled up my information and calmly took charge of my chaos.  She explained to me exactly what I needed to do so that she could get the ball rolling for me. At this time, it is just a little after 5pm as she handed me the application to complete and gave me instructions on the next course of action.  I still needed to go to the bank and get my monies redistributed to bring back the money orders to finalize my application.

Awesome Leasing Professional, waited patiently for me to complete my transactions as I returned just a couple of minutes before closing time. She assured me that everything was going to be okay, in fact she stated that she was going to come in the next day, which just so happened to be her day off, to ensure that my paperwork was done for me to move in by June 1, 2010.

To say Thank you just isn’t enough. I was moved to tears, and grateful that she took it upon herself to not just get another tenant, but she showed heart felt compassion and empathy for my situation. As a consumer, it is refreshing to have people really listening to you and taking the time to resolve your issues.

I want you to know that Awesome Leasing Professional is a true Gem. She represents your organization to the highest levels of integrity. I personally wanted to thank her for being here for me in my moment of despair. She brought the sunshine into a cloudy day.

I am now a resident and this has been a wonderful beginning. I am happy and excited about living here.  Your whole staff has been amazing! Please continue to support them, because it is “rare” to get great service and it has been impeccable! Thank you again."

Did you notice that this resident initially had made a decision to move into another community?  Can you imagine the situation if the Awesome Leasing Professional did not create a memorable experience when the potential resident first met her?  There are some amazing lessons to be learned by this situation.  You never know how you are going to close a lease.  Even if it seems that you may not get the sale, can you not see how important it is to maintain a full force customer service demeanor right down to the end.  Awesome Leasing Professional did and the results speak for themselves. 

What are your thoughts on this letter?  How do you maintain that full force customer service demeanor through the entire process of dealing with potential residents?  

Written by Jonathan Saar- Director of Marketing and Providing Solutions - The Training Factor.