HOW DO YOUR RESIDENTS FEEL Urbane Lab Project #020809

February 8, 2009
By

DOING A GOOD JOB IS NO LONGER GOOD ENOUGH
We jabber so very often in our circles about Resident Retention, and what that means. We yak about do we send a letter, an email a phone call to reach out to our residents about renewing their lease. Hey, lets send them a gift too. Does any of this non-sense work?

YOU ARE GRADED ON HOW YOUR RESIDENT FEEL
What if you were measured on how your Residents Feel About You and How Your Residents Feel About Your Company, would you act and react differently? Would you even stay with the company you are working for? This is a fundamental change in thinking and requires a paradigm shift. All the things you are doing or not doing suddenly don’t really matter all that much, because you don’t get to choose, Your Resident Chooses. They always have actually.

THINKING LIKE A GENUINE BRAND
Our Brand tells our Resident whether something will make them feel better or make life easier, better or solve a problem, or fulfill a desire. Wikipedia describes a Brand “A brand is a collection of symbols, experiences and associations connected with a product, a service, a person or any other artifact or entity. Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as “cultural accessories and personal philosophies.”

ARE YOU DELIGHTING YOUR RESIDENTS
Satisfied Residents are important. However, Delighted Residents become your Primary Influencers and will help you self-rent apartments. Satisfied Residents may or may not renew with you. They are content, but their loyalty to you is suspect. Delighted Residents are committed to future purchases with your company or organization.

We welcome your feedback on things you or your community are doing to Delight the Resident. Are you gauging your success or failure on How Your Residents Feels? Perhaps you should be,

Eric Brown

Eric’s background is rooted in the rental and real estate industries. He founded metro Detroit’s Urbane Apartments in 2003, after serving as senior vice president for a major Midwest apartment developer. He established a proven track record of effectively repositioning existing rental properties in a way that added value for investors while enhancing the resident experience. He also established Urbane Media, a social media marketing and PR laboratory, where innovative marketing ideas are tested. Eric has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine and Business Week Magazine. You can connect with Urbane_Media on Twitter. Eric also writes regular articles for the following publications;  Multi Housing News Social Media Examiner Search Engine Guide

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  • Eric Wu

    Good points Eric and I agree about the value of influencers. Conversely, superior (or even perceived) customer support is sometimes enough to defuse your critics from causing future damage to your brand. Though I no longer actively manage my properties, I think a couple of things that might help. One, a bi-weekly email to residents just asking how things are, any maintenance issues, and any suggestions. Two, a fast response time to any questions (2 hours or less). Three, and this is really easy, set up a wiki for Q&A about the property for residents to edit. They will feel more attached to any changes that may occur in the building. Attachment is key to WOM, "I helped convince the property to ____."Just ideas, and I'm sure people are already doing a combo of them.

  • Eric Brown

    @Eric Wu, Good Morning Eric, Thank you for the comments, much appreciated.I think your suggestions are right on track. There is more and more evidence that shoppers believe other shoppers, way, way before they ever believe the marketer. I think the underscoring issue here too is this, shoppers don’t expect always perfect or great reviews. no one is perfect, and I don’t think that is expected, particularly in apartments. What I think IS paramount is for shoppers to see a collective interaction in teh conversation, That, in my opinion is Where We Transition Customers into Evangelists,

  • mbrewer

    E, We gauge the success of our conversations on one question – “Based on your experience would you refer us to your friends or family?” I would contend that the stuff you mention in the first paragraph matters as long as it matters to one person – to even one prospect, resident, vendor, employee, etc… We can’t just simply write it off as hooey. I think you have to be careful sending out blanket statements like that. Urbane serves a far far different clientele than the bulk of apartment operators across the country. Even so – you may house one person that appreciates that sort of conversation. Just my opinion.