Apartment Resident

Resident Social Media meets Outreach Marketing

Pick a box…Do you like me? Yes, No or Maybe.  Remember when getting important information was as easy as passing a note in gym class, checking a box and passing it back?  It still is!  The beauty of the internet and social media (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) allows us to find out all kinds of pertinent information on our current residents and potential new residents too!  This is a perfect marketing marriage!  This strategy, much like this post, is quick and easy to apply.

What can you do to show you appreciate someone, your residents, your family, your friends, or the person on the street you just passed?  As we learn and use the wonderful features of technology and social media, we tend to not interrelate like we once did.  We have all emailed the person in the next cubicle or office, and texted someone when we could have called them. What three things can you do on a daily basis that makes a difference in how people connect and react to you?

Everyone has three things they can do to let others know they matter.  I recently sent an email about this to my fellow teams. Incidentally, I received more replies than normal and I would like to share some of the unedited feedback.

1. Smile and compliment them.
2. Make them feel welcome; tell them they have been approved for their new home.
3. Ask them “How can we help”?
4. Tell them you appreciate them, maybe bring them a coffee and tell them one nice thing! Or just give them a big hug.
5.  Listen, people want to be heard and know that what they have to say matters, and it shows you value them, as well as what they have to say.
6.  Speak directly to them, look in their eyes, and be attentive.
7.  Use their name when you talk to them, it makes them feel important and gets their  attention.
8.  A simple acknowledgement, “Great Job”.
9.  To a stranger driving and trying to get in your lane, “Just wave and let them in”.
10.  Stand up and greet them when someone walks into your office. Tell them how special they are every time you see them. 

This is timeless and relevant in this exciting and incredibly busy life we share.  Our lives are increasingly demanding, and the technology creates more texting, emailing, posting, tweeting, and less opportunities for those random meetings.

Hola! Aquí estamos. Are you ready, or not?

As property owners, managers or leasing agents, you understand the need to conserve energy at your apartment community.  By installing energy-efficient appliances and windows and using eco-friendly alternatives for floors, countertops and paint, you are not only significantly reducing your carbon footprint, but also banking significant savings on energy costs.  If 10,000 owners of large apartment communities change to Energy-Star appliances, the energy saved could power each of your TVs for 1,640,625 years!  While the people on the property level are doing their part to protect the environment, we want to provide you with four sustainable tips you can share with your environmentally-friendly residents—leading up to Earth Day on April 22^nd—that they can put into practice today.

1. Be a Savvy Shopper

By Linda Day Harrison, theBrokerList, Chicago, IL

In the history of property ownership and property management, as far back as the Stone Age (maybe not that far back), we have always called our customers “tenants” and for some reason it just stuck like glue. We can try to shake the term, but no matter how we spin it, turn it, or twist it the relationship comes back full circle to calling them “tenants” and not customers. It is rather maddening to say the least. Even though I preach this and believe it, I catch myself using the term because nobody understands who I am speaking about when I say “customer!”

What drives me batty is that when you consider all of the blood, sweat, and tears we put into marketing, promotions, “tenant” retention, newsletters, “tenant” parties, and “tenant” appreciation, why do we not refer to our “tenants” as customers? It just does not make logical sense.

Is that you…2123 C??

After a couple dozen years in the apartment industry…(yes, I started when I was 2!) I’ve seen many changes.  Pencil logged ledgers have been traded in for debit machines, hand written phone logs have mostly been replaced with savvy systems such as Onesite, Yardi and the likes.  But, one sad trend that seems to still exist and is even perhaps growing, is knowing residents simply by their address and forgetting who they are by name.

Before you start sending emails…this of course is not at EVERY property.  There are exceptions to every observation.   However, I do spend a lot of time on site leasing and training; at everything from A to C properties and this is a very common practice I see regularly.  Especially the first through the fifth of the month – rent time - everyone becomes an address.  What happened?

The courtship of our prospects seems to end once they become residents.  Like dating, in the beginning, it’s all about charming and captivating them, speaking their name over and over to create the relationship. “I can’t wait to tour you at 3:00 Mr. Jones!”  and “Mr. Jones, you will love living at Wonderworld Apartments!”  “Mr. Jones, have a seat while I get you the application!”   The relationship usually progresses with personal thank you notes, follow up calls, emails and ultimately the much anticipated, “Mr. Jones, you’re approved! We have the perfect apartment for you – 2123 C!   When would you like to move in Mr. Jones?”  And last but certainly not least, “Welcome to Wonderworld Apartments Mr. Jones!” 

Shortly thereafter on their monthly visits to pay rent, (you know… the money that pays the salaries) the name seems to fade into a distant memory.  You see them coming and know that resident looks familiar, but what was their name?  Quick!  Look at the check and hope their name is there!  If you’re not the one taking the payment, you ask, “Who was that?? I think I leased to them..!”  “Was that 2123 C?” 

What happened? All the days, weeks, sometimes months of charming them to get the lease is gone!  Now they’re just a number, an address that pays rent.  At a time when people want to be valued more than ever, I encourage you to start dating you residents again.  No, no, no…not in the violating company policy dating way, but keep the spark alive!  Especially the first through the fifth!!  Know their name, remember it and use it.  Ask something about themselves, their dog, their family, their job.  There’s few things more aggravating to a resident than giving their hard earned money to someone who doesn’t even know their name anymore…they’re just 2123 C.

They always say that the “proof is in the pudding”, and if that’s the case, then this blog should just be one big picture of Bill Cosby with a Jello pudding pop!  When we started Share This Status, our general idea was that we could use our knowledge of social media to help apartment communities find interesting content to share with their residents.  But you never really know whether something will work until… well… it works!  The service is still a little new, so we don’t have all the data we want, but here’s a quick snapshot:

So let me take a second to “translate” what this means, and let’s actually put this into the context of if this was an apartment community – in other words, if an apartment community had done exactly what we had done, what would that mean?  First of all, the “apartment community” had a “reach” of 539 people, which means that 539 people saw our posts during the past week.  But what is amazing is that we only now have 146 official fans!  This means that 393 people who are not even our fans have seen our posts!  In other words, we just got 393 “resident referrals” over the past week!  That 393 people represents the friends of our fans, and because we were able to create really interesting and engaging posts, our fans liked it and passed it along to their friends and family. 

By Colin McCarthy, J.D., Robinson & Wood, San Jose, CA

Even after our little spigot fiasco, my father and I are speaking again. In fact, it did not take long. We both bonded over the fact that later that night, my wife and I walked out of the George Clooney movie, the Descendants. My wife and I both were bored out of our minds and had little empathy for a guy who owned all of Hawaii. I mean, really? I'm supposed to feel sorry for this guy!? Dad, being generally anti-Hollywood applauded our decision to vacate the movie theater in favor of the bar next door.

We got to talking, and we agreed that in the future, it would be best if I not ask him to do repairs on our house. It's not really something I should delegate to him. We decided on the McCarthy "non-delegable duty of repairs” rule - I must do my own repairs.

By Salvatore Friscia, San Diego Premier Property Management, San Diego, CA

It was just a few months ago when the tenants were in the office signing the one year lease agreement. The leasing agent followed the office procedures and made sure to review the lease terms and obligations prior to asking for binding signatures. Then with the swipe of a pen the property was considered off the market and occupied for the year.

Keys to the communication kingdom are sometimes hard to grasp.  Nothing in business is more important than communication.  You can have the best plans, the greatest ideas, but if you don’t have effective communication, your results won’t be stellar. 

I recently received an email from a property manager sharing with me her response to a resident about an issue where the resident wasn’t clearly informed, and I quote, “I let her know (the resident) that we have a web site and a face book fan page, I also let her know we send out newsletters every month on top of crime watch meetings. She does not want a computer at home, she said that the newsletters are a waste of good paper and she doesn’t have time to attend any kind of meeting. Aside from staying after work and waiting for her to get home, I do not know how she would like us to communicate with her”.

This is definitely a tough nut to crack, so, how is a property manager supposed to communicate with someone who doesn’t utilize technology? How about going low tech, a notice laminated and posted at the mail box kiosk, everyone gets mail and has to pick it up at some point, and of course there is the laundry area, there is usually always a bulletin board for postings there.  Did we ever ask the resident how she would like to be communicated with? I think in this age of new technology, we forget about talking with one other, it’s important to speak to your residents each time you engage with them. Know your audience, understand how they listen, and remember, not everyone has a Face Book page, email, or smart phone, nor do they want them.  Do you know anyone over 65 or 70 that doesn’t have a smart phone?  I do, and we have to find ways to communicate that doesn’t involve technology.