At Your Service Potvin Makes Residents Her Top Priority Service is our specialty. Those are the words you’ll hear every time you call Dunwoody Place Apartments, a Lane Co. managed community. It’s the property’s motto, and it’s upheld every day by Shannon Potvin, the property manager, as well as the rest of her team. Potvin […]
Knowledge Equals Retention Cotten Provides Services Residents Want To be successful at property management, you really need to know and understand the wants and needs of your customers. But, with 2,000 residents, some might think Terry Cotten, a property management master at Southern Management Corp., has a tough job. But Cotten relies on an old […]
Showcase Scrapbook Theme: Showcase your community Visuals: Display an oversized scrapbook with pictures of Resident Functions, Chamber Functions, Resident Activities, Contest Winners, Staff, Community Pets and Owners, Community Outreach…anything that demonstrates the sense of community that your apartment homes create among residents. Media: Scrapbooking stores are everywhere and supplies are available in office supply stores […]
Lending Library Providing residents with an extra perk or service doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. In fact, sometimes all it takes is a little organization. Try putting together a magazine, book, video, and DVD exchange for residents. Residents bring in their old items and can pick up something that another resident left. […]
Reserved Parking for Expectant Mothers Grocery stores were on the right path when they started reserving spaces for expecting mothers. So, why not do it for your residents? Two weeks before her expected due date reserve a parking space for an expectant mother. The new mother receives a sign that reserves a parking place near […]
Saying Sorry When something goes wrong with a move in, I get a cookie cake from Kroger [supermarket] with a personalized message on it. You would be amazed at how quickly an apology on a $6 cookie cake calms someone. The result: a happy resident who knows you care because you took the time to […]
Wednesday Night Live Our office stays open until 7pm on Wednesday to service our residents that work all day. Visuals: Posters and Flyers at move-in Media: It is advertised in all our ads and on our website Implementation: It was rolled out at our annual meeting. Cost: $500 Results: The residents loved the fact that […]
Voter Registration Drive Theme: Drucker & Falk LLC — VOTE Used on Section 8, tax credit and elderly. Many have not registered to vote. Our offices decorate for election once per month, have the registration forms, fill it out for them if they cannot, offer food, and mail it off for them. Once election time […]
Holiday Raffles Tammy Jackson Theme: RAFFLES are held at different times during the year. For example: At Valentines Day – “Enter our Romantic Raffle!!!!” Visuals: We sent an entry form during the last week of January. This form was to be completed and dropped off in the entry box (at the clubhouse) by February 5th. […]
SIT BACK AND RELAX THANK YOU GIFT Melissa Rebori Theme: As a perk for leasing at your community, the day after the client moves in (or the date of their choice) send a Masseuse to their new apartment to give a free 30-minute massage for each adult on the lease. Visuals: Sign in the Leasing […]
name: Tina Garfield Theme: Customer Service and Customer Retention with our Customer Service Management Program. (CRMP) Visuals: We use a flyer describing the CRM program and every resident is given a CRMP card that is the size of a business card with 15 boxes on it and some pictures, it is titled “Resident’s First!”. This […]
By Brenda Hays (McClain) Don’t give in to the first excuse given by residents for moving to their “new” single-family home for the purposes of moving out. Fight back! Use the source of the newspaper to assist you with questionable articles that suggest the validity of homeownership. For example, listed in the Atlanta Journal […]
The “Fall and Winter Activities Pack.” It is a collection of ideas, party themes, seminars, and everyday events to promote resident relations and retention. The pack is sent out to every property quarterly to reflect each season. To expedite and facilitate the process of planning the events we have also included sample invites, gift basket […]
name: Kevin Levy Theme: Retention/Marketing: Weekly, we will send a nice batch of Otis Spunkmeyer cookies to a resident’s place of work, thanking them for residing with us. The resident appreciates the gesture and his/her co-workers think it’s kind of nice to be getting cookies from from their landlord. This activity has brought us many […]
name: Melissa Smith Theme: B-I-N-G-O To encourage resident retention and participation on a property (Hunters Trace, Memphis, TN) that wasn’t achieving strong attendance at community functions. Visuals: Distributed BINGO cards to all residents. Had BINGO display in the office and at mailbox centers. Implementation: Played community BINGO for multiple days. Pulled one # per day. […]
name: Kate Lewis Theme: Monthly Phone Calls and Anniversary Cards for Resident Retention Visuals: I just use spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel to keep track of my phone calls, and when the anniversaries are. Implementation: Once a month I make a phone call to each resident and ask how everything is going, and if there is […]
name: Jennifer Witzel Theme: Send beautiful balcony cards to those residents who nicely decorate and maintain their balconies with flowers and plants. Compliment and thank them for their green thumb from their neighbors and the staff. Visuals: handwritten thank you note Media: company notecard or fine stationery or note cards. Implementation: Walk around the community […]
name: Mandy Theme: We have the Early Bird Winner for each month. This is when a resident pays rent before the first of the month. They are entered into a drawing to win $50.00 cash in hand. We feel it’s better this way, instead of $50.00 off their rent. Now they can do what they […]
name: Dana Behar Theme: Organic Pea Patch Implementation: Offered free membership in an organic pea patch on our property and provided free seeds and tools. Cost: 50 Results: People who got involved in growing things and maintaining the pea patch together formed a community and were less likely to leave for another property.
Orientation Dinner Melinda Graham, Camden Host a regularly scheduled orientation dinner or Saturday brunch for new move-ins. To invite new residents, place an invitation on the refrigerator prior to move-in with a magnet. Follow-up one week prior to the scheduled date to find out if they plan to attend. You can use this gathering to […]
name: Deborah Huff Theme: We Care About You! Implementation: We wanted to know if our Residents were happy and to create a vehicle where we were in constant contact with the Residents of our community. Each time a resident calls into our leasing centers for a service repair, we give them a confirmation number for […]
And The Survey Says… Results From A Resident SatisFaction Telesurvey: “They Said A Mouthful – Time To Listen” By Doug Miller and SatisFacts Research When reviewing the comments made by residents in a recent Resident SatisFaction Telesurvey, the following comments really caught our attention. We’ve written before that gift-wrapped rolls of toilet paper are not the […]
name: Donna Hickey Theme: Move-in and Move-out Report Cards. Visuals: Do you remember when… we received our report cards from grade school? Folded heavier bond paper with printed information on the cover and on the inside small boxes that need grades and check marks? Same principle. Remember!!! Develop the report card just like they were […]
And The Survey Says… Results From A Recent Resident SatisFaction Telesurvey: New Management Company Gets Wake-Up Call By Doug Miller Several months after taking over the management of a 250+ unit apartment community, the property management company decided to use a SatisFacts Annual Resident SatisFaction telesurvey to research what the residents’ reaction was to the […]