We fancy ourselves in Property Management as Salespeople.  We market, work the prospective resident, and close the deal.  Reality is we are very different from every other sales related position out there.  Regardless of what someone is selling you, once they close the deal, you are on your way to being a distant memory to them.  If you have a complaint about what you were sold, you call a customer service number, or talk to a manager, or go someplace entirely different to solve the problem.  In Property Management, we close the deal and that doesn’t mark the end of the relationship with your prospect, it’s just the beginning of what we hope to be a relationship of many, many years to come. We will see these people every single day.  They live right next door to where you spend at least 40 hours a week.  If you misrepresented the apartment home, or if they are dissatisfied, they don’t go somewhere else to complain.  They march straight into your office and complain to you.  No, we are not in sales.  We never close a deal.  We begin relationships and once both you and the resident enter into that relationship, we need to learn how to cultivate it properly.

I have often compared the Resident Relationship to a marriage.  When you start “dating” your prospect, you show the highlight reel of yourself and the property.  You point out all the good and sparkling parts of your community.  You skirt quickly past the little blemishes hoping they don’t notice them.  You call your prospect asking how their search is going.  You follow up and then follow up on the follow up.  You tell them why you are the best out there and how this is not going to just be an apartment but how this will be a home.  They fall in love and put their money down to sign that contract and agree to “make it official”.  The church bells chime and you get a commission as the rice is thrown.  Then many of us even forget about the honeymoon before we file them away and forget about them until the first anniversary. So many times, we let what every couple fights to avoid in a marriage happen almost immediately to our relationship with that resident.  We stop calling, communicating, asking what we can do to have them choose us, we basically get complacent until a year goes by and it’s renewal time.  Then, we turn on our charms and woo them all over again.  This practice will never make your residents permanent ones.  In fact, if I was in a marriage where I was only important once a year, I would be in Divorce Court as quickly as I could.  I have told my husband several times that the only way a marriage truly lasts is if both parties feel like they are lucky to have something so great and if they both feel like they couldn’t be with anyone more perfect for them.  This is how we have to approach the Resident Relationship.  We spend a lot of money in our budget every month on credit and criminal background checks.  We check references, do employment verifications, and we even talk to their “exes” to see how their relationship was.  If the prospect passes all these tests, we should feel lucky we found someone who is responsible and takes pride in their home.  We make them do all these things to prove themselves to us, and they take our word on how their life will be once they move in.  Do you make sure you have proven yourself to be as wonderful as you promised?  Or do you forget that you promised to make them feel at home and just collect their check every month?

We have to remember that our residents are still someone else’s prospects.  We need to nurture and cultivate relationships with all our residents.  We need to spend more of our time and budget thanking our current residents for choosing us and continuing to pay us on time every single month. We need to make sure that our properties look good not just to attract new residents but to make the current one proud of the home that they chose.  We need to put balloons on their door for their birthdays and their children’s birthdays.  We need to give them chocolates on Valentines Day, throw them a party in the summer time to open up the pool, hand them presents on Christmas.  We need to do little special things for no reason whatsoever but just to remind them how special they are to us.  We need to knock on their door or call them randomly just to see how they are enjoying their home and seeing if they see any room where we need to improve.  We need to be an active part of the relationship we entered into.

Just like in a real marriage or relationship, the breakup or divorce will never be an issue unless we don’t do our part in it.  People will stay in a relationship unless they feel like they are giving more than the other person. We should be shocked to see a Notice to Vacate, and it should somewhat hurt your feelings to lose a resident.  As long as we do our part, we won’t have to turn on the smiles and give out deals to make people stay at renewal time.  Retention will never be an issue as long as they feel wanted and special. 

What special things do you do to cultivate your Resident Relationships?  What do you think is the best way to show residents that they are just as important as your shiny new prospects?