resident retention

We are starting a program to call residents:

New Move-ins
New Notices
Maintenance requests,

any suggestions on applicable questions to ask these folks regarding their satisfaction?

thanks,

On new move ins I would call them to see how the move went and if there is any local information they may need.

As a company we require the manager to meet with the resident in their home if possible when a notice is given. Sometime there are things leading to their move that we are not aware of and this give us a chance to see if we can do anything to sway their decissions.

I call back residents at random when I am clearing out work orders. Just to insure they are satisfied with the work and to let them know I am here if they need anything.

hope this helps...

Congratulations on being proactive and starting a follow-up program! For each of these calls, your team should be approaching it from a service perspective with a goal of making it "easy" to be a resident. The best question you can ask during any of these calls is, "Are there any issues in your home that we can take care of for you?" You might find out about a major issue, such as serious water intrusion, or a minor (but very annoying) issue, such as a kitchen drawer that continues to stick when trying to open. By making it easy to get maintenance issues resolved, you've gone a long way in creating value for your community.

Instead of calling we send over a brief email to the residents (unless they don't have email and then we call) after they move in or after a work order. I normally wait 2-3 days after a move in to email or call so they have had enough time to actually become comfortable with their new home. I send over the email reminding them to make sure that if they found anything that they did not write on their move in check list that they need to notify me as soon as possible. I also remind them of any other news since they moved in. I briefly ask them how the apartment is? Were they able to figure out where to put their furniture and I always tell them I am excited to see their new place when it is ready... Make them feel that we are just as excited as they are for them to be here.

In regards to maintenance... as soon as that ticket is in my hand from the maintenance person I send out a thank you email to them. Your thinking what.. a thank you email?!? But yes! I thank them for allowing us to go in and do their repair and for notifying me of the repair! I also tell them how great of a resident they are by being proactive with maintenance concerns. I make sure that maintenance checks the smoke detector as well as the a/c filters and I advise them of his findings. Then I tell them, "I have left you a survey on your door and I hope you take the time to fill it out. This is our way of making sure we are meeting your expectations each and everytime!" Then I leave the door hanger on their door that I got from peachtree item ftea-252.

Works every time... and even if something comes up and the maintenance goofed up and his repair doesn't work after a few days (which rarely happens) the resident never has attitude about it!

Hope this helps!

Efforts at customer retention are multifaceted. Here's a couple:

1. We provide 24/7/365 on-call service; i.e., we'll replace a light bulb on Christmas Day.

2. Each encounter with a customer is finished with the question: "Is there anything we can take care of for you in your apartment?" In other words, we ask for service. That's why our service requests are more numerous at the beginning of the month, when customers are paying rent.

3. We assign a full-time maintenance person whose near sole task is responding to SRs each business day. That's why most of our service is performed same-day and why we are often able to respond within 15-30 minutes of request.

4. We foster a "customer/business" environment rather than a "tenant/landlord" or "resident/landlord relationship. Expunging the terms "tenant" and "resident" from our rhetoric and replacing them with the "customer" concept literally changes everyone's outlook.

5. Successful customer retention begins at the time of applicant approval. Desperation leasing inevitably leads to higher turnover. I would rather have an apartment stay empty than fill it with someone who is marginally qualified - we're not helping them or us.

With 346 apartments we generate about 2,500 SRs a year, which equals 2,500 opportunities to show our customers that we're worth what they are paying - or to screw up. Do we spoil our customers? Of course. But, our ten-year average for annual turnover is about 28%, far less than the 60% national average.

And, last year 2% of our vacancy rate was from customers who died.

Rick Hevier
Richard Hevier
Richard S. Hevier
[email protected]

Retaining good residends is an art form and soo much less expensive that marketing for new residents. We offer resident appreication days for our residents and the office staff goes out on property with some maintenance staff with small items (screws,light bulbs,9 v batteries and small gift items).
We also have regular meet the management staff days property manager,regional and executice staff are available to meet and discuss anything. These usually end up being times where we all learn about each other (non work related things).