Don't Let Your Residents Ghost You
There is a lot of talk about ghosting when it comes to dating, but not about ghosting when it comes to our customers. If you’re one of the lucky few who doesn’t know what ghosting is, let us break it down for you:
According to Urban Dictionary ghosting is defined as “When a person cuts off all communication with their friends or the person they're dating, with zero warning or notice before hand. You'll mostly see them avoiding friend's phone calls, social media, and avoiding them in public.”
As our society gets more and more comfortable with what we will call “non-human communication” the risk of getting ghosted only increases. Things that don’t have a personality or that we don’t connect with are easily disposable in this Amazon, instant-satisfaction economy.
If your prospects and residents don’t have an emotional connection with your team or apartment, then any slight discomfort will send them to your competition before you can even blink. They won’t even complain and give you a chance to redeem yourself, they will just ghost you.
That’s why it’s so important to continually create and maintain personal relationships at your apartment community from your apartment marketing, resident events, and overall resident appreciation. We at Sprout Marketing want to share our tips so you can avoid ghosting at all costs and create a personalized marketing and retention strategy that is easy to implement. Let’s jump in!
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BE MORE THAN JUST A NAME ON A SCREEN
If you want to build a personal connection with your residents then you need to more than just a name on a screen. The more distant you are from them, the easier it will be for your residents to send a rude email, talk negative about your online, and eventually just leave.
We are so used to communicating digitally, that we forget who is on the other side of the screen. Sometimes we believe there is actually no real person on the other side so it’s a free for all. This is why proving that there is so valuable. It makes people think twice before doing some rash in the moment. Then it makes the connection between you and your customers even more powerful.
You need to get out in front of them so they can put a face to the name. Here area few ways on how to do that:
Real Life:
Regular resident events or small appreciation gifts
Saying hello while passing by
Writing them a personalized physical note
Virtual:
Posting photos of your team on social media
Giving them a call to check in
Adding your photo in your email signature
CREATE A REGULAR stream of positive momentS AT YOUR APARTMENT COMMUNITY
In the multifamily industry we sometime put so much of our energy into marketing that we forget that the easiest way to reach our goals is to keep the people we already have.
No one wants to be in fire-drill leasing mode where you have to constantly be searching for new residents. Not only is that expensive but it’s exhausting.
The key to resident retention is creating a consistent stream of positive moments at your apartment. One positive resident event isn’t going to get someone to stay. It’s about infiltrating their routine so that your community is a bright spot in it, which means you have to do a combination of efforts continually:
Resident Events: It’s not a go-big-or-go-home mentality. Not every resident event needs to be a big thing, some can be a simple grab-and-go treat. Basically mix and match to meet you where you are at. If you have the budget, go for it. But if you don’t, even something like a hydration station with some fancy water is enough to build that connection.
Open Communication: Just being available to your community creates positive moments. There is nothing worse than continually calling or emailing someone with no response. Now we aren’t saying always be available, but communicating when the best time is to reach you is key.
Find Moments To Connect: There are so many times you see your residents out and about at the community, use those moments to connect! It’s easy to just hide in your office, but the real action that will make a difference is outside it. When you are walking the community, don’t forget to smile, wave, and even chat with residents. For example, maybe take a quick walk to the dog park when you see residents out there with their pets. It’s the perfect time to get to know them.
Be Memorable: Look at when you naturally communicate with residents and ask yourself how you can make that experience more positive. It’s not enough to do the bare minimum and think you will get a raving review. You need to find small ways to exceed their expectations.
After a maintenance request is completed you leave a little candy behind to let them know it’s done.
After a stressful move-in you can give your new resident a discount code or gift card to a local pizza place for dinner.
When someone has a lot of packages you can ask if they want some help bringing them upstairs.
You can know their dogs name when you see them in the hallway.
SUPPORT YOUR TEAM SO THEY CAN BE THEIR BEST SELVES
Multifamily professionals are some of the most underutilized resources your apartment has. They are the heart of your community and their energy will affect the success your entire community. The question becomes…what energy are you cultivating?
There is an element of negative complaints that come along with this industry and really any service industry. However, the communities that have culture of support are able to navigate those waters more quickly and can sometimes even avoid them completely.
You can’t do anything we said above if your team is miserable. If they are feeling stressed and that no one supports them, then they are going to put out that energy into your residents so that your residents feel not taken care of and that no one cares. That is the quickest way to be ghosted.
You need to continually give your team the support they need so that they can give your residents that same support:
Set standards early and communicate them often: Give your team a common goal to rally behind in a way that makes it less personal when they do make a mistake.
Give them the tools they need to thrive: You have so much going on, make it easy to accomplish it all with the right tools whether that’s training, apartment templates or scripts, etc.
Leave mistakes in the past: Mistakes are a learning lesson and the key mistake that people focusing so much on the mistake instead of teaching peopl how to avoid it in future. You can’t turn back the clock, but you can train for the future.
Give them something to look forward to: Make sure that every person has a task that excites them. Not everything we do can be exciting all the time, but we all should have one thing that we are excited to work on. That one thing can make all the other stuff worth it.
BECOME A SPROUT MEMBER
Sprout breathes life into your apartment with a toolbox of customizable ideas and resources to reach your marketing, retention, and social media goals.
EVERY MONTH YOU GET:
🌟 Planning Calendars & Dates
🌟 Two Months Worth of Resident Event Ideas
🌟 Easy Marketing, Referral, & Follow-Up Ideas
🌟 Resident Retention & Notices
🌟 Social Media Plan with Captions & Graphics Anyone Can Do
🌟 Professional Development Training
★★★★★
I'M IN LOVE WITH MY SPROUT MEMBERSHIP. I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH IT'S GOTTEN THE WHOLE TEAM EXCITED. YOU'VE MADE IT SO EASY, FUN, AND EXCITING.
IT'S OLD-SCHOOL RESIDENT RETENTION MIXED WITH NEW METHODS TO EXCITE TODAY'S RESIDENTS!
Rupert-Anthony Ortiz, Community Manager at South Meadows