Which Would You Rather Be?

You know what? Confident people are NOT Perfectionists. They don’t have to be. Confident people have come to terms with their shortcomings and understand there is always room for improvement. I kept wondering why one of our Leasing Consultants was so non-committal about planning Resident activities. It was really bothering me, to the point where I was actually wasting moments of my driving time pondering the “Why?” instead of singing at the top of my lungs to the radio (which is what I usually do when I am driving.)

Last Friday, at one property, the Leasing Consultant who is a real firecracker, planned a breakfast event for the Residents. I showed up a few minutes after she did and helped with pouring batter and toasting waffles. It was a lot of fun and happily, there was a steady stream of Residents coming in to enjoy a free waffle or two or four. Who’s counting, right?

I would glance periodically out the Clubhouse glass doors toward the parking lot but the other Leasing team member did not arrive until her normal hours. Eventually, I casually asked why she hadn’t arrived early to participate. Her answer? “Well, since I didn’t really plan it, I was afraid it would be a bust.”

Huh??????

I finished the sentence: “… and I don’t put my name on things I cannot control because they may not turn out perfect.”

I see.

Does your team have an individual like this? I am still debating whether or not there is value in having someone who feels unless she is in control then an event will not turn out “perfectly.” Even if no one had shown up and eaten a single waffle, would it have been the end of the world? Of course not. Life is all about taking chances and exploring why a plan is successful or a failure, and I can tell you, we learn more from our failures than we do our successes. But if one cannot even trust and let go of his fear, I think he will remain stuck. That is NOT a good place to be.

Let's Get This Party Started!

PARTY! Five simple letters thrown together creates the reason for laughter and fun. This is a pretty important part of Resident Life when living in an apartment complex, and one of the primary reasons the “complex” turns into a community. I’ve read all kinds of suggestions for the kind of events and parties apartment Community Managers should host for their residents. However, I feel it doesn’t matter what the heck kind of party you host, you should Just Do It.

From this time LAST YEAR when I arrived to take over the South Bend Region, I have looked forward to developing a team that actually enjoys hosting and planning Resident Events and Parties. In fact, this is one of the considerations I use in evaluating whether or not a potential candidate is offered a position on the team. I want the happy person who is truly a social butterfly.

I didn’t imagine though that the Leasing team would have such diverse ideas about how to go about planning a Pool Party. As it turns out, in the Student Housing market, summer is NOT the time to actually plan events. It is just too hectic and busy to spend extra moments figuring out all the little details that make for a successful event. Or, is it?

Let me tell you, a successful event can take off pretty easily as long as you have food, music, and prizes. The South Bend Region hosted its first party that only took a few days to pull off – and it was extremely successful! Although, truth be told, we had talked about this event several months ago, and when it came right down to it, with 300 move-ins in a two week period, there really wasn’t a lot of time to put in a lot of details like handmade invitations, we were able to get the word out through emails and posted flyers and little reminders taped to the apartment doors. We planned a lot of easy prepared foods rather than all the homemade fare we originally planned, plus our Maintenance Supervisor agreed to grill hot dogs (surprisingly there are a lot of people who like burnt dogs!) and no one went away hungry, not even the vegetarians. Called a friend who is a professional DJ and paid him way more than he asked for, but way under the going rate. Plus, we used ALL of our CORT Points to purchase prizes like a TV, headphones and Fitbits. We did have sandwich coupons donated from a local Penn Station to also pass out (because like kindergarteners, everyone wants to leave a party with some kind of Goodie!) Another vendor provided beach balls which we blew up in less than thirty minutes.

It was crazy – there were the early arrivals and the late arrivals; there were professors and their families, the “Cool Kids”, International student residents (some with families, too) and a lot of Singles mingling around and getting introduced. We posted pictures on Facebook and asked all in attendance to “Like” our pages, follow us on Instagram and Twitter and if they could give an honest review, please do so, too.

It wasn’t a lot of work and the pay-off was big. We had way more people show up than we expected (I was hoping for a mere 10, but there were many, many, many more than that. I had said if we got at least 50, then I would consider it a coup. Afterwards I considered it wildly successful.) When your result is so fantastic, it definitely motivates you to plan more events!

So sometimes you just have to throw your idea of perfection out the window and open the door to RELAXED expectations. To top it off, I received several Thank You emails from those who attended. Worth every minute spent putting it together.

So, You Wanna Renew Your Lease, or What?

The past year had already been filled with enough drama, and now that treatments were scheduled, she really wanted nothing more than to get settled somewhere she could recover and be at peace. Not inexperienced in apartment hunting, she knew the area well though she had not lived in an apartment in the area before. She began her search for a rental house but when the one she wanted “got away” she narrowed her search to only one Management Company she had heard nothing terrible about, and whose communities included heat in the rental price. (She had a feeling it would be a bad winter. As it turns out, she was very right!)

Her daughter accompanied her when she decided that Saturday to visit. She and Lauren had been having a late lunch that day and headed over to the leasing office. The person working that Saturday was really the “business assistant manager” who rarely handled leasing duties but it was his weekend to work. She explained what she was looking for so he had her follow in her car to the apartment. Knowing there would always be stairs involved at this property was a consideration but would not prevent her from choosing to live there if she liked the unit.

As soon as she and Lauren entered, they noticed the new carpet, white walls, the new gas stove and new dishwasher, plus new washer and dryer. The closets were exactly perfect. The rent was a bit higher but considering the gas heat was included it would probably be worth it. She and Lauren discussed painting the walls (he said it was permitted) and were happy that there was light filtering in. A tree right off the balcony pretty much sealed the deal when the business manager/leasing rep said, “Take your time, I only have a few minutes until my appointment comes.”

“Oh, well, we can leave now, that’s okay,” she said. After all, they had shown up without an appointment. However, she did kind of wonder if his sarcasm was meant as that or was just for informational purposes and not intended as sarcasm, and it left her feeling a bit embarrassed. They went back to the office and she asked for an application. He again explained he had someone coming in and asked her to take it with her should she decide to fill it out. Once she submitted the application, with little fanfare, she was unceremoniously “passed on” to a leasing consultant and never actually talked to him again.

Fast forward through the year of her residency at XYZ Apartments. Having moved in, finding through her term that the air conditioning did not work, was not fixed at move in, and finding it needed further work orders once the weather became hot again (she gave up after three tries that fall), finding that the furnace also did not work and required three trips for servicing (but kept her warm throughout the awful winter once fixed!) and having a problem with the refrigerator and garbage disposal, she was not unhappy. After all, maintenance responded and eventually things were fixed. She was a very patient person anyway.

She noticed that she never saw the actual Manager and had never had any contact with him. Was he a “he?” She really wasn’t sure. She placed her rent checks through the Rent Drop Slot at the office and only had reason to stop in to pick up an occasional package. Normally, she had her packages shipped to her office. She received only two newsletters and neither contained ANY personalized community information or articles. They were simply generic recipes and seasonal articles she could have read or not read as they had no impact on her life one way or the other. (A waste of money on the part of the Management Company, she thought.) Even when there was something Management needed to let residents know, they simply posted a bland “DON’T DO THIS” type of flyer at the bank of mailboxes in each building’s entry area. On one occasion, she did receive a telephone call asking if things were okay in her apartment, but the call was made during working hours and she was not able to talk to the person. But she called back to assure the Office person that things were fine.

In the back of her mind, it occurred to her that her lease was expiring within three months, so perhaps this was their attempt at “resident retention.” Hummm. She had however, received two increases to the Amenity Fees already, thus increasing her monthly costs. They weren’t extreme, but it was annoying. All in all, her experience with the Office and Maintenance teams was not bad … with one exception. Noise from the adjoining apartment.

It was unfortunate that the living room wall adjoins the Master Bedroom wall. She had been awakened frequently throughout her tenure by conversations late at night, most often after 2:00 am. The worst was the music the neighbor played beginning at 10:00 pm or at 4:30 am. She had no choice other than to call the Office to ask for help in resolving the issue. She felt she had no other way to explain the issue other than to reinforce the fact that she was sick and undergoing treatments. She was often in pain and frequently sick after treatments. The last thing she needed was to be awakened at 4:30 am (multiple times, in fact) when many times, she had only just fallen asleep because pain was keeping her awake. On these nights when she was awakened, she had to leave her bed and go to the couch or the Guest Room to lie on the twin bed. The twin bed, although very comfy, was positioned in front of the window, which unfortunately leaked massive amounts of cold air.

The Office was sympathetic but other than sending the offender a note or on one occasion the on-call Maintenance person (which was their policy to send), there wasn’t much they could do. When the woman observed several people moving each weekend that spring, she couldn’t help but pray that one of them be the noisy neighbor who apparently couldn’t care less about her neighbor losing sleep.

Now, I ask you, when she receives the obligatory letter in her mailbox asking her to renew, what do you think her answer will be? “Hi, Mrs. Fill-in-the-Blank,” she imagines the voice on the phone saying brightly, “You wanna renew your lease? If so, please come to the Office before 6:00 tonight and sign your new lease!”

All the conversations in the world about customer service and resident retention are lost on Management Companies who allow their onsite teams to remain passive in their interactions with Residents. There are so many ways to improve their level of service, but when it falls on deaf ears, and no one wants to learn sign language, how do you get the teams communicating with the very people who are the reason they are in business?

Of course it starts at the first Showing and Tour, continues through the lease signing, and keeps on going throughout maintenance requests and rent payments. But what do you do in between those things? Resident retention has to mean more than an occasional once-a-year pool party. It should be a personalized goal of every onsite team member to say hello, to reach out, to be visible to our Residents. It should not matter that you have 900 units. In each of those 900 units are 900 families/individuals with their own stories. Is it too much to ask for a newsletter (if you do one) that includes property specific information? Is it too much to expect that the Community Manager actually introduce himself to the Residents? Or, does the onsite team change so often there is no continuity?

It is my belief that what Residents really want and would deeply appreciate is service. They would love help installing drapery rods, hanging shelves, painting an Accent Wall, replacing crappy switch plate covers and closet knobs with updated ones, help carrying packages back to their apartments every once in a while. They might like having lunch sent to them at home on a weekend or to their offices. They would appreciate replacement windows that don’t leak air every winter! They might really love to have a new refrigerator (after all, should you only replace appliances in the vacant units?) Maybe a little sound-proofing would be the perfect solution. Maybe a nice gift would be the use of a carpet for one year free of charge for someone who has lived with your community for several years, their own parking spot, special Honorary Plaque with their name on it in the Clubhouse. How about bringing in a picnic to newlyweds on a Friday evening, or to the new parents who might be a bit overwhelmed? How about installing new light fixtures, microwave over the stove, ceiling fan in the bedroom, extending the patio area, garden plots nearby? Why not have “white noise machines” available and loan them out to those residents who are complaining about noisy neighbors (especially during those questionable hours like afternoon and early morning)?

There are so many ideas for Resident Parties ideas out there. For those communities that plan events, try thinking about pleasing your demographic, instead of doing the same things over again because they are “easy” or have “always done them” or worrying that people expect a Holiday Party? Plan midnight pool parties, Late Night Study Break parties, outdoor Movie Nights, bus trips to outlet malls, Casino Nights with Lottery Ticket Give-Aways.

Residents may not even know what they are missing because I believe it is up to us to lead the way and educate them! Money spent on retention is money well-spent and maybe it is time to educate our Management Companies, too.