Did you know that 60% of residents move out for reasons that are directly impacted by the community team? (Satisfacts) That’s right. 60%. So even though many of your vacating residents may be giving you reasons like, “moving out of the city” or “renting a home” or “needed three bedrooms” which seem like reasons you can’t do anything about; they’re often moving out for reasons you can do something about!
So, what do residents want from you? The number one thing that residents want is value. In other words, they want to feel like they are getting what they paid for in their apartment home. Be aware, value is not about “price” although it does have to do with “cost.” What do I mean by this? It doesn’t matter the price point of the apartment home, all residents, regardless of the price of the apartment, want to feel they’re receiving good value for the cost they pay.
Why do I mention this? Sometimes if you work in an apartment community with all of the “bells and whistles” you can think that the community alone is enough. It’s not. In fact, if you’re at an “A” property you need elevate your customer service/resident retention game all the time, because with the extra cost and extra services you offer, come extra expectations!
If you work at a not so luxury property you’re not the off the hook, either. If you don’t have a lot of the amenities and services that your comps offer, than you need to make sure that you’re staying competitive on the people factor. In other words, regardless of what you don’t have, you have YOU. And you are the secret weapon that can keep your customers your customers!
Keeping the Love Alive Tip One: Keep doing what you promised them you would be doing when they moved in.
I know. I know. This seems obvious. But any gap between what your residents expect and what you’re delivering (the delta) will cause dissatisfaction, which can lead to their moving out. All you need to do is one-put on your “Keep it Real” hat and visit your website, read your marketing brochures, think about what you tell residents they’ll get if they move in to your community.
Are you delivering on those promises? Like, for realz? I know you work very hard-and I also know that if you’ve been in a community, position or industry for awhile your perspective changes and you may not notice where your service is dipping below what it used to be. If this has happened to you, you are NORMAL! That being said, just because it’s normal doesn’t mean that your residents will like it, so you’ll still need to do something about it.
Again, take some time today and look at our marketing materials and be honest. Where there are gaps identify specific action items that you can do to close the gaps. If they require higher level input, schedule a time with your supervisor to discuss.
Keeping the Love Alive Tip Two: Create a Sense of Community
Residents say that the number one driver of value is “Sense of Community” which makes sense, your residents want to feel welcome at home. (Duh!) But did you know that the main driver of “sense of community” is a resident’s relationship to the community team? Yep, YOU are the community to your resident.
In future posts we’ll unpack this further, but in the meantime I want to leave you with this … every time you interact with a resident make them feel, “seen, heard, valued, cared for, welcomed and that they belong!” In other words before you say something or do something ask yourself, “Will this create connection with my resident?” If “yes” then do it…if “no” then don’t!
You got this!
