Published on February 27th, 2015
By Bryan Ives
Robust resident engagement strategies help property management companies streamline daily operations and manage relationships. Implementing the best technologies and processes is essential today to claim a coveted position ahead of your competition.
If you’re still not sure how to proactively manage multi-channel connections, read on.
Implement Engagement Strategy Basics
Healthcare organizations often rely on multi-channel notifications – email, texts, automated telephone calls – to remind patients about appointments and prescription refills. Multifamily professionals can take advantage of the same tools to engage residents.
Your team can use the technology you already have in place to send rent reminders, request maintenance follow-up survey participation and confirm scheduled property tours. By making simple improvements to your current processes, you can increase campaign effectiveness.
Whether you’re utilizing a text, an email or a prerecorded message as a contact tool, make sure your content is:
- Valuable: Content should provide timely, relevant information that motivates residents to take action (immediately complete the survey or schedule rent payment via the online portal).
- Easy to read (or interpret): Short concise sentences that get right to the point respect the recipients time and ensure understanding.
- Appreciated: Residents should have the ability to opt out of certain types of communication. Don’t risk alienating a resident who has a pay-per-text phone plan by sending three texts per day about upcoming community events.
Align Contact Center Objectives and Business Goals
Did you know that roughly 70% of callers hang up when they reach voicemail? It probably won’t surprise you to learn 71% of consumers who end a business relationship do so because they aren’t receiving quality customer service.
While your online portal allows residents to schedule non-emergency maintenance, your 24 hour call center team can bolster confidence and improve customer perception – both integral components that increase engagement.
Your contact center should reflect your property management company culture and commitment to service. The key to aligning goals is to make sure your call center has clear guidelines for serving your community. If deployed properly, call center agents are a seamless extension of your on-site operations.
Aim for Transparency Across All Relationships
Transparency trumps hype every time. Imagine you have an emergency in your own home. Say, your water heater springs a leak or your heating system shuts down during extremely cold weather. If your HVAC service tells you they’ll be there as soon as possible, what response time would be acceptable? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? Three hours?
Whether your on-site staff is relaying response times or your call center agent is scheduling an emergency call, you must to be forthright and accurate with your residents. Never promise beyond what you can deliver.
An emergency + unrealistic expectations = disappointment and frustration for residents
Consult with your vendors and service contractors before you establish response times. Then, make sure everyone on your team, including call center staff, vendors and employees, strive diligently to meet resident expectations on time, every time.
Create Effective Team Training Strategies
Training your staff to provide consistent, high-quality service that resonates with current and prospective residents and owners is the only way to build long-lasting relationships. Review your hiring, on-boarding and professional development programs to make sure your team has all the resources they need to succeed.
These four tips should help you improve communication and engagement efforts. Strengthening resident engagement helps you prepare today for successful relationships tomorrow. Are you doing everything you can to proactively manage multi-channels connects?
Patrick Freeze
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Great article. I think one of the most important points you made that unrealistic expectations sets your company up for a poor tenant-relationship. With technology improving so quickly, people are used to see quick results. If a maintenance fix is going to take a while, and especially if it’s going to take longer than it should, you really need to communicate that well. Mastering this is sure to help build a strong reputation for your company.