Topic: Surprise move-in help resident retention idea

They say that retention starts at move-in, and so here is an idea that might make a world of difference on that front! From a moving perspective, there are four stages: 1) Packing, 2) Loading into a moving truck, 3) Unloading from a moving truck, and 4) Unpacking. By the time the new resident gets to #3, they are wearing down, and each piece of furniture seems to weigh an extra 50 pounds. SO, why not offer surprise moving help as a move-in gift?

So what you do is have one of your maintenance techs double as a move-in helper during Saturday and Sunday. When there are no move-ins, they do maintenance requests like normal, but if there is a move-in, they casually drop on by and offer to help, bringing some precious bottles of Gatorade in tow!

This would do several things:

1. Send a strong message that the community cares about its residents!
2. Help the new residents get to know their maintenance pros, making them more comfortable in having them enter their apartment for maintenance issues.
3. Allow the maintenance tech to see the new apartment from the residents point of view, so that it sharpens the work they do on apartment turns.
4. Allows the resident to give any immediate maintenance requests while the maintenance tech is there, to improve new move-in service.

That's a lot of benefits, and the cost is only about $25/move-in*! By keeping it a surprise, it enhances the experience and provides residents who bond to their new community much more deeply right from the start.

What do you think?

_{*Might be slightly higher if additional insurance is needed for accidental breakage.}

I think it is a great idea. I would like to implement it with my porter position.

Cathy

Thanks, Cathy! Let us know how it turns out!

Wow, that would be really above-and-beyond service!

My maint tech doesn't get paid for weekends, so he would never go for this. My corporate office would also prohibit it due to liability. We do loan out our hand truck, and of course, we have coffee and bottled water for them in the office.

I wonder how much insurance would be in this situation. Movers have insurance to cover this type of work, so I wonder how much the premium would be. It may well be that this puts it over the top. OR, maybe there was a way to work with a moving company to subcontract it out.... Not sure.

Before insurance, at $25/move-in, I think that is an awesome expense/value ratio. But once you add in insurance, I'm not so sure...