“We want to be treated with respect.”
That sentence is the baseline for almost all customer service encounters. When someone orders food, boards a flight, buys a car, or shops online they want to be treated with a basic level of respect.
It’s a simple concept, and yet it’s hard to get right. There’s nothing more rewarding for a brand than a great customer service experience, and nothing more damaging than a bad customer one. Plus, when your customers trust you, they’re happy to pay more. So why is customer service so behind with multifamily? We think there are a couple of reasons:
First: Moving is hard!
A resident has to be motivated to leave. In places where the supply of rental units is constrained it can be difficult to find another comparable home nearby. In effect, a lot of companies can “afford” to deliver subpar customer service because the market makes it hard for the resident to move. But, things are changing.
Second: Site staff are stretched thin.
When staff are wholly focused on putting out the figurative “fires” in the community, it can be almost impossible to deliver great customer service to each resident. If your site staff is stressed about leasing, logistic issues holding up maintenance, and structural issues with the building, how can we expect them to sit on the phone for 30 minutes while someone complains about the price of their gas bill (which our staff have zero control over)?
From the Resident perspective, these things come together to reduce the level of trust in a community.
This is where the gift of great customer service comes in. When your residents feel they can trust your company there’s a host of great benefits.
First, they’re a lot more likely to proactively report issues. Residents act like our eyes and ears onsite and are the first people to spot important issues. Things like leaks, broken locks on doors, and issues with uneven pavement, etc. If a resident trusts your company (after they’ve experienced good customer service) they’re a lot more inclined to report these issues. If a resident doesn’t trust your company, they may ask themselves “Why would I reach out? They haven’t even helped me with my own issue yet.”
Second, a resident who trusts your company is a lot more likely to accept higher rents. In our current market (and the market we’re likely to have in the next few years) we will need to work a bit harder to secure increased revenue.
Third, a resident who you have delivered good customer service is a lot more likely to submit a positive Google review. This helps speed up the leasing cycle because your community will be more attractive to potential residents.
If a resident has an issue and it’s not resolved, or at least acknowledged, they could easily post a negative review. Stopping negative reviews is as easy as letting residents know the issue they have is being handled and will be solved as soon as possible - but communicating that when staff is stretched thin can be impossible.
Here is where ResiDesk can help you deliver the gift of good customer service.
ResiDesk, through SMS, messages residents’ questions that create real conversation – automatically. Things like “How was move-in?” or “Has this community lived up to your expectation?“.
The customer service magic comes from the fact that residents are texting back with a real human being. Because we have real people on the other end of the conversation who can listen and empathize with the resident, we deliver the front-line customer service experience your residents have come to expect. We help build trust between you and residents to create stronger communities.
ResiDesk collaborates with your teams to handle common problems at the community and communicate with residents. This step alone will take a considerable amount of stress off your site teams, and increase the level of trust with residents.
When residents raise concerns outside ResiDesk’s understanding (like issues with their lease, or other important conversations) we deliver those conversations to the site staff via email to notify them there’s an important conversation with a resident. The resident has their issues handled faster, and the site staff can focus on the conversations and problems that matter.
If this is something you think you could benefit from feel free to let us know! We’re always happy to chat about how we could partner with you.