I remember hearing a story of a man who, after hearing his wife complain that she didn’t feel he loved her anymore, replied, “Honey, I said ‘I love you’ on our wedding day. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.”
You know that relationships are not only built on the big occasions such as a wedding day, anniversaries, birthdays, special events etc. Relationships are built on the little things that we do day in and day out. For example you may:
- Bring home flowers “just because” to help her feel special.
- Meet up at your boyfriend’s favorite coffee shop today, even though you’d rather grab a kombucha.
- Sit through a three-hour long soccer game (and you don’t even like soccer!) because your wife is a huge fan.
- Put the toilet paper roll on a certain way because that’s the way your husband prefers it.
- Allow your friend to dominate a conversation today because she’s had a tough day.
Whatever it is you do, you know that the little things are actually big deals, especially over the timeframe of a relationship. The same thing is true in your relationships with your customers!
Think “Little”
So, what are the “little” things you can do everyday to create amazing customer experiences for your residents? Well, think about it. What are the opportunities that you have everyday to interact with them? Make the most of those opportunities! Simple right?
Let me give you some examples:
- Actually SMILE and GREET your residents when they walk into the office
- When you see Harold out on the community wave and say, ‘”Hi!” at him (even if you don’t really like Harold)
- When a resident complains that USPS didn’t deliver their mail, instead of getting mad at them, offer to call USPS and find out what’s going on
- Before entering a resident’s home to do a service request, tuck in your shirt and wipe the sweat off of your face. (Check the deodorant level too, if you know what I mean.)
- Follow up with residents about their service requests
- Call back when you say you’re going to call back
- Apologize when things go wrong … even if you don’t think you need to apologize
- Be nice when you answer the phone
It seems too simple!
Friends, it kind of is “too simple.” I know you know all of these things I just mentioned above. If you’ve been in this industry a while you could probably add to the things someone “should do.” The question though is, “When I don’t do the things I know I should do, why am I not doing it? What gets in the way?”
What gets in your way when you don’t stand and greet; when you don’t wave at a customer; when you let the phone ring and go to voice mail even though your office doesn’t close for another ten minutes?
When you choose not to do the things you know you should it’s often because you feel it’s “worth it” not to answer the phone; worth it to tell the resident you think she is being entitled; worth it to cut a corner because you’ve got so much to do, you’re just trying to stay above water. If this is you, I get it. I really do.
But let me end with this…how much time do you have to spend when a resident is unhappy, irritated, frustrated or dissatisfied with their experience? Think about it!
