Resident Retention: Talk to Me... My Way

Communication preferences are changing quickly. Very quickly. What worked best a year ago might not work best today. I'm all for best practices, please understand. There's a lot of truth to the sentiment, "We don't need to reinvent the wheel." When it comes to communicating with our prospects and residents, however, we need to be on our toes and be able to adapt to their ever-changing preferences. Why? Communication is the foundation of all service delivery. If you can't communicate effectively with your prospects or residents, you are demonstrating that you can't effectively provide good service. So, how do we know what these preferences are? Just ask! We've been asking this question for years to all residents and prospects who participate in our survey programs. Because this topic is so important, we've been keeping a close eye on what they are telling us, and here are the year-to-date results hot off the press as of September 20:



For the first time in 2 years, cell phone has bumped email out of the number one slot by a one-hundredth of a percentage point. However, these preferences are neck-and-neck, so ensure you have both of these points of contact in your property management system. (Please note, respondents could select as many preferences as they liked, not just one.)

Best practice: Every time a resident comes into the office or calls the office, pull up their file in your PM system and ask, "Is this still the best phone number to reach you? Is this still the best email address?" If one of those is missing, just ask, "I see we don't have an email address on file. What is the best email to contact you regarding your home?"

What I'm really intrigued by, however, is the appearance of "Text message" on this list of preferences. A year ago, this preference did not have a presence at all. And now, 10% of residents would prefer to communicate this way! We're not talking about 10 people. This represents well over 1000 respondents saying they prefer text messaging. No small potatoes!

In dozens of personal interviews with on site teams over the last 4 months, I have asked the staff if they are communicating with residents by text message. The response was a unanimous, "No." There were a few teams who were communicating with prospects in this way, but not residents, which I found very interesting. So my question to you - how is your team or company addressing the preference to communicate by text message? What software are you using to enable staff to send and receive text communication on their computers? How are you staying on your toes to be able to communicate.... their way?

Jen Piccotti is the VP Consulting Services for SatisFacts Research, who specializes in resident and prospect feedback.