Lately, I've noticed that on-site teams I've interacted with for work have been missing some of must-haves of training that were very common in the 90's and early 00's when I was on-site. There's a few reasons I think this is happening:

1. Turnover: Regionals and Property Managers have been dealing with a revolving door of Leasing Consultants, along with other positions, and that's made getting people trained (or even getting them to work) challenging.  We're sometimes just looking for a warm body.  More and more regionals are working on their properties while waiting to hire team members.  

Sidebar: My friends at Swiftbunny completed a poll recently which indicated that there is unprecedented  thoughts of turnover in Regional Managers. More Regionals are thinking about leaving than ever. This is related, y'all. A Regional cannot work on site and support their team and ownership appropriately because there's not enough time in the day.  Here's a quick statistic from their 2022 findings:  Employees are experiencing the strain of increased workload and decreased staffing with 12% reporting they are unable to complete their work in the time allowed. Regional Operations employees are the most affected, with 28% listing this as a top concern. 

2. COVID: Covid put more of an emphasis on tech, with many operators moving functions previously done in person to online.  Our offices might have been closed and interactions were very limited.  I think we see this in every industry. We got out of the habit of peopling.

3. Casual Environments: Our society has moved toward a more casual environment and we interact with people as if we know them upon first meeting, or if we meet them online, we feel comfortable diving right in when we see them IRL.

The combination of these three things can leave your onsite teams on the back foot when it comes to real life, in person interactions, or phone conversations. And lest you say, no, not MY people - I work in the industry as a vendor now and I call your sites. Prior to this job, I have secret shopped all my comps within the past 12 months, and my fellow industry professionals and I are talking about this. Not everyone is struggling, but some properties are. Occasionally, people are flat out rude, but most of the time, it's just a lack of polish.

Therefore, I've dug deep into my vault of training to bring you. (da-da-da-da)

6 Easy Rules of Old-Fashioned-Let's-Bring-It-Back Service

1. Say please and thank you. And I'm doubling down - say please and thank you when people do what you think they should have done anyway. Say please when asking a team member to do their work. Thank your co-workers, residents and vendors for showing up for your community. Say thank you when people renew.  Thank a resident when they pick up dog poo! It makes people feel good when you thank them.  If you are a leader, it's crucial you thank people . . . but that's another blog.

2. Stand up when someone comes in your office. I LOVE it when I'm met at the door at a community. It makes me feel welcome and important, and it keeps you healthier! I stood up for my FedEx UPS guy, my residents and prospects, my vendors, and I trained my team to say "it's me" so I didn't have to pop up for them. Also, don't sit when your resident or prospect is standing if you can possibly avoid it. I know sometimes you have to sit to use the computer but invite them to sit with you. If they don't, then move on, but please make that effort to have them take a seat.

3. Speak slightly slower than normal on the phone when answering and my perhaps boomer-like tendency is to want you to tell me your name. Some places just shout the name of the property to me. I like to know who I'm talking to. Speak clearly and don't use slang. When placing on a hold or transferring, ask, don't tell, and see number 1. "May I please place you on hold? Thank you for holding." There's a lot of opportunity to take back the phone. I understand the need to use auto-attendants and people not onsite answering the phones because they are busy, but I never get called back. Exception: I left a message for a property manager for a business situation, and the leasing team called me back 2 weeks later to try to rent me an apartment. 2 weeks later.  Prospects and residents usually call when they've exhausted other options. This means they are ready to do business. There's money to be made on that phone, y'all, and there's a layer of better service that can help your team decrease resident turnover.

4. Don't answer the phone when you are talking to someone in person. I always feel that 3 & 4 are conflicting advice. Please answer your phone if you are able, but not when you have a resident/prospect in front of you. It makes them feel like they aren't important, no matter how polite you are about it. The only exception might be if they are just casually hanging out and talking and know you have to work. This goes even deeper with our personal connections. Do you ever talk on the phone or read your texts or emails when your friend is talking to you in person? As your friend, this makes it awkward to converse with you when you clearly want to do other things. I know it's very common and I know I've done it. I'm trying to stop. Join me in the fight for single channel, focused conversations with our fellow humans!

5. Don't point at anyone. It raises the hackles and makes people defensive, and your resident/vendor/ will start fighting back. I even try to do the two-finger Disney point when giving directions. Or better yet, walk the person to what you are directing them to.  This makes me feel so taken care of, and recently happened at a community when I asked where the restroom is.

6. If someone is rude to you, in that they are calling you names and swearing, don't participate in that conversation. I failed completely at this recently. We were in Covid lock-down and an angry resident was screaming at us and trying to rip open our locked door and banging on it like the police because his sink was clogged. My adrenaline kicked in and I started yelling back. "I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU, DUDE. What is your apartment number?" Not sure why I called him dude. Very unprofessional. I'm usually pretty calm and I've learned to let folks get it all out and then try to help, but he scared me with his persistence and banging. My co-worker's cooler head prevailed and we paused that conversation. She told him he needed to go. He persisted for another moment and then he gave up and went home and my co-worker called him and in the sweetest, calmest voice asked him to behave professionally in this place of business. I love that phrase and took it with me. Your office is a place of business, and though it is tempting for you to escalate to the ire of your resident, just keep that "this is a business" mentality. It really helped me and although residents will sometimes ignore you, an argument cannot occur with just one participant. If you exit the conversation, then usually the resident will de-escalate or leave.

There's an art to customer service, and I'm not saying there aren't talented teams out there rockin' the CS, but we have been through a lot in this service industry - our focus has been on surviving.  It's time to take a look at your training programs, policy and expectations and make sure to follow these 6 Easy Rules of Old-Fashioned-Let's-Bring-It-Back Service.  Let me know what you might add to the list!