More than any other industry, or even other sectors of real estate, residential property management requires a human-to-human connection. Having a real live person to resolve issues, answer questions, and provide customer service at and beyond resident expectations is critical. People hate chatbots, which is something very important to think about when you’re considering investing in services to automate your workflow.
As you grow and improve your processes, you’re going to have to make hard choices about what you automate and how far removed a real human should be from some of those processes. If we could hire a dedicated team member for each resident we would, but we also know that’s not realistic. However, having people too far removed from a process can create issues as well.
If your answer to customer service is an automated chatbot, your residents may feel alienated and unheard. They may even be less likely to reach out if they need help. This could lead to a resident making a maintenance situation worse or even holding a grudge against your community.
If your answer to better understanding your residents is a single email survey sent once a year, your residents may feel that the information they give is purely one-way. They may not give their honest opinion and why would they? What do they really gain from a once-a-year survey?
When you consider where to automate, you have to consider your residents. For most of your residents, rent is their largest expense category. So think to yourself, “Am I providing the level of service that justifies that sort of expense?” If in the pursuit of automating processes we alienate residents, then all we’ve done is ruin the experience your resident has in their home.
To have a real, human conversation with your resident, we’ve learned that open-ended questions are best. By asking “How was move in?“, “Has this community lived up to your expectations?” you can make residents feel heard, respected, and valued. This isn’t a survey, this is a real and honest conversation.
If we only relied on AI to reach out to residents, they would know immediately. AI and technology may be incredibly intelligent at times, but it cannot replace the wisdom a real person has. Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom is knowing not to put that tomato in a fruit salad.
We gather best-in-class data about why your residents choose your communities and why they choose to renew or move to your competition. We help automate simple questions your residents may encounter like “how do I submit a work order?” so your site teams can focus on more important tasks.
Ready to set up a demo and keep your residents from talking to robots? Get in touch with ResiDesk today.
