Stephanie - what are the specs to your guarantee? Money back?, etc?... THe only issue I have with an apartment warranty and satisfaction guarantee is them timeframe... 30 days into an apt. barely gives a prospect a good feel for their house, neighbors, utility bills, and the surrounding area itself. But that's just my take... what are the reasons you guys are looking at it as an option>?

Some random thoughts about a 30 day satisfaction guarantee (in a nutshell, I'm opposed):

1. I worry it may come across as gimmicky, even though it is becoming trendy in the business. I think Tara is correct that, in the real world, 30 days is insufficient to fully experience whether a person has made a good decision. It's also gimmicky because in the real world, moving is a real pain in the rear-end. I don't know anyone who enjoys it! It can be costly to move (some dissatisfied people may be tempted to argue that the property should pay their moving costs). Therefore, is it really a choice?

2. I worry about that the inevitable fine-print and caveats will cause even more dissatisfaction if a person doesn't qualify, after arguing strenuously. Then, dissatisfaction becomes multiplied.

3. I wouldn't launch such a program unless I had in place mature systems necessary to make is less likely that customers will demand its use. The property should have the utmost confidence that its service infrastructure and "make-ready" quality can meet the kind of expectations it will create. There is nothing more disappointing to a customer than being sold pie-in-the-sky.

Great discussion point, Stephanie! First of all, being from a Quality Management background, I love that you you have implemented your own TQM Move In Process with an expectation of 0 Failures. And I especially love that you see that relationship between Move-In experience and Renewal Intention.

I've had experience with some 30-Day guarantees, and from what I have seen, if the reason for the guarantee is because you believe in your product and service, then go for it with no strings attached. Moving IS a HUGE pain, and if a resident is so dissatisfied within that time frame it is likely that releasing them with no penalty is the best option for everyone. The more strings attached, however, the less value the program really offers - and what was originally billed as a benefit can turn into a greater dissatisfier, to Rick's point above.

Jen's point that "if a resident is so dissatisfied within that time frame it is likely that releasing them with no penalty is the best option for everyone" is so true. As a believer in Murphy's Law, occasionally there are times when it seems like we can't walk and chew gum at the same time; then, it's good business to recognize the reality of the situation and part ways.

But, I'm not sure that I'd want to codify such an approach in the form of the 30-day guarantee. It seems a mixed message of a positive statement wrapped in a negative statement, i.e., if you've had a bad experience you can leave.

We've competed against Home Properties and, in our market at least, their 30-day guarantee was essentially a non-starter, having little, if any, effect from a competitive standpoint. I'm not sure if it would be that high on the list of items that affect the consumer's decision, such as first impression of our staff, location, curb appeal, design, amenities, etc.

Just an opinion.

Focusing on service to current customers may pay greater dividends. About 10% of our leads come from referral traffic (current customers, previous customers, friends, relatives, Realtors), yet, referral traffic generates almost 25% of our leasing (to which we say "Thank you" and give a $36 coupon for dinner for two/movie for two). Jen has a very informative link to Doug Miller's (SatisFacts Research) recent NAA blog post: [url]http://bit.ly/16WGtB[/url].

Our service expectations are "same-day" service and we do not differentiate between emergency and non-emergency service after business hours - if a customer needs a light bulb changed on Christmas Day, we will do so.

I'm convinced that we need to recognize that everything in the apartment business is marketing - mowing the lawn, maintaining the pool, plowing and shoveling 18 feet of snow. Once we view the maintenance person as essentially a leasing person and part of our advertising, it can transform our outlook.

Increase the pay of maintenance staff (and find people that can fit the pay), create a sense of professionalism. Train maintenance staff for success in providing service to customers. View each customer service request as an opportunity to prove to our customers that we are worth what they are paying.

Be a visionary and sell the staff on the vision, and put into place the systems to accomplish that vision, always looking towards continuous improvement.

Our Vision is to build customer-for-life relationships. We accomplish our Vision through our Mission, which is to so overwhelm our customers with service that they will tell everyone they know. Finally, the Values that will guide us can be summed up by the Golden Rule, we want to treat our customers in the way that we would want to be treated.

I think a 30 day guarantee is a great idea If we are doing our jobs the right way we should have nothing to fear. I bet you would be surprised at how few people would take advantage of this.

Great posts everyone!

From our research we know that problems at move-in mean the resident will already have one foot out the door in the first two weeks after moving in. This is why striving for perfection at move-in is so critical - a bad experience at move reduces the new resident's likelihood to renew by more than a quarter! Mess up on day 1 and you will be working to turn things around for the next 364 days.

As others have pointed out, guarantee programs are only good if:

- Problems are the exception.
- If there is a feedback loop with the resident to make sure everything is OK
- That you have a sound move-in process and quality assurance program that everyone buys into (from leasing to maintenance).
- That everyone on staff walks the walk (talking the talk 'aint enough!), actually striving for excellence every day, every work order, every move-in.
- And superior service delivery requires the missing link totally buying in - having leasing teams recognize that residents must always take priority over prospects.

On Rick's points above, I agree that we must take better care of the techs. This starts with more education for leasing teams that broken toilets, detailed work orders immediately entered into the system, advising residents of service delays and following up on 100% of work orders are priority one - no business can survive and thrive if part of the staff is more focused on potential residents rather than the rent-paying residents.

@Doug: I think the importance of your blog posting on the NAA site that I linked to in my comment above (through Jen: [url]http://bit.ly/16WGtB[/url]), was to remind that customer satisfaction is the critical part of any "marketing" plan.

@Stephanie: your company's approach to TQM, total quality management, is exciting, because it is not often that apartment properties make the effort to incorporate TQM principles. Dr. Deming was instrumental in the rise of Japan, Inc. following WWII (google "toyota" and "deming"). I would recommend that anyone who would like to gain a deeper understanding of these principles delve into the 14 obligations of management and the 7 deadly diseases described by Dr. Deming (deming.org).

@Jen: You have a special expertise in TQM principles that few people in our business have. I've found some of the discussions on the W. Edwards Deming LinkedIn group to be fascinating. There needs to be a greater awareness that Deming's philosophy is as relevant to service businesses, such as ours, as it is to manufacturers like Toyota. Companies that ignore these principles do so at their own peril and are destined to repeat the mistakes of the General Motors of the world.