50 ways to improve your resident retention.1 Be nice to the residents. Residents pay the salaries of all onsite employees, like it or not 2 Keep the community clean. Pick up all trash or debris. Notify residents immediately when their patios or balconies are not in compliance with the policies of the community. 3 Send thank-you notes to residents who keep their balconies and patios clean and attractive. 4 Offer a variety of resident activities. Year after year, residents say they want a "sense of community" at their properties. It is up to the onsite teams to create that sense through programming at the community. 5 Have a good community newsletter or timely bulletin board. The newsletter doesn't have to be four-color and 14 pages, but it should be informative, entertaining and delivered on time. 6 Establish a resident retention program. While many communities have written marketing plans to attract new residents, most do not have written plans to determine how to keep the residents they have. 7 Offer renewal incentives. Little things like carpet cleaning, repainting and apartment home improvements go a long way. 8 Hand deliver birthday cards to residents on their birthday. It may be the only card they get that year, so let it be from the onsite team where they live. 9 Offer free light bulb changes for hard-to-reach ceiling fixtures. 10 Offer courtesy rent check pick up. 11 Create a lending library lend·ing library n. A library from which books may be borrowed or rented for a minimal fee. Also called circulating library. Noun 1. filled with books, videos and DVDs in the community room for residents to check out an the honor system honor system n. A set of procedures under which persons, especially students or prisoners, are trusted to act without direct supervision in situations that might allow for dishonest behavior. Noun 1. . 12 Have small tools on hand for residents to borrow so they can hang pictures and make small repairs to personal items. 13 In states where resident referrals are legal, remind residents how easily they can earn money by referring their friends and associates to their community. 14 Allow all residents "one free late" on their rental payment each year. The legal paperwork will still go forward if they don't pay, but waive To intentionally or voluntarily relinquish a known right or engage in conduct warranting an inference that a right has been surrendered. For example, an individual is said to waive the right to bring a tort action when he or she renounces the remedy provided by law for such the late fees one time only. The residents will appreciate the effort. 15 Explore alternative ways for the residents to pay their rent, such as with MasterCard, Visa, American Express American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as "AmEx" or "Amex", is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card and traveler's cheque businesses. or direct debit direct debit Noun an order given to a bank or other financial institution by an account holder to pay an amount of money from the account to a specified person or company at regular intervals direct debit n from their checking account. 16 Look into the legal possibilities of weekly rental payments. If the resident profile of your community lives paycheck to paycheck, this program may benefit everyone involved. 17 Have photo identification cards created for the onsite staff. Residents will feel better knowing who they let into their apartments to perform maintenance if they can see a photo identification card when the maintenance tech arrives to perform the repair. 18 Use shoe covers when entering apartments to keep the residents' carpet clean and stain free. 19 Make a call back on completed service requests at the end of the day to make sure requests were completed to residents' satisfaction. If not, make sure the service request is taken care of at once. 20 Provide services such as plant watering, fish feeding, package delivery and mail pickup for residents who are on vacation. 21 Set up a dry cleaning dry cleaning, process of cleaning fabrics without water. Special solvents and soaps are used so as not to harm fabrics and dyes that will not withstand the effects of ordinary soap and water. Dry cleaning began in France about the middle of the 19th cent. service that picks up and drops off at the community. 22 Work with local vendors and companies to offer creative services Creative Services are a subsector of the creative industries, a part of the economy that creates wealth by offering creativity for hire to other businesses. Examples include:
23 Keep change on hand for coin-operated laundry rooms A laundry room (also called a utility room) is a room where clothes are washed. In a modern home, a laundry room would be equipped with an automatic washing machine and clothes dryer,and often a large basin, called a laundry tub, for hand-washing delicate articles of clothing such . 24 Sell postage stamps This is a list of postage stamps that are especially notable in some way. The best-known stamps:
25 Always have the local paper and a pot of hot coffee available in the mornings when the office opens for business. 26 Stay open late (until 8 p.m.) at least one night a week for the convenience of the residents. 27 Have the manager work one Saturday per month, again for the convenience of residents. Publicize pub·li·cize tr.v. pub·li·cized, pub·li·ciz·ing, pub·li·ciz·es To give publicity to. publicize or -cise Verb [-cizing, -cized] the date in the community newsletter or on the bulletin board. 28 Have the maintenance/building supervisor on band during renewal meetings so maintenance issues can be addressed immediately with the resident. 29 Send anniversary gifts to residents after they have been at your community for six months. 30 Make sure the resident's move-in is "absolutely perfect in every way. Stop by their apartment on the day of the move to ensure that their apartment was prepared to their satisfaction. 31 Stock the apartment home prior to move in with paper towels, toilet tissue, facial tissue, liquid soap and fresh ice. Don't forget to hang an inexpensive shower curtain in the bathroom in case they can't find theirs when unpacking. 32 Schedule a "pre move-in" meeting where all monies are paid and paperwork signed prior to move in day. Allow move-in day to be as hassle-free as possible. 33 Reserve the freight elevator for residents, as they may forget to do so when trying to coordinate their move. 34 Reserve a parking space for their moving van that is as close to their apartment as possible the evening before their move. 35 Double-check all of the keys before giving them to the new resident, including the mailbox A simulated mailbox in the computer that holds e-mail messages. Mailboxes are stored on disk as a file of messages, a database of messages or as an individual file for each message. The standard mailboxes are usually In, Out, Trash and Junk (Spam). key (if accessible) and storage room, as well as the garage door opener A garage door opener is a motorized device that opens and closes garage doors. Most are controlled by switches on the garage wall, as well as by remote controls carried in the garage owner's cars. Put fresh batteries in the opener. 36 Change the smoke detector smoke detector n. An alarm device that automatically detects the presence of smoke. Also called smoke alarm. batteries and the carbon monoxide carbon monoxide, chemical compound, CO, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, extremely poisonous gas that is less dense than air under ordinary conditions. It is very slightly soluble in water and burns in air with a characteristic blue flame, producing carbon dioxide; detector batteries (in cases where carbon monoxide detectors are required). 37 Walk the apartment before the move-in to ensure that it has been properly prepared. 38 Adjust the thermostat thermostat, automatic device that regulates temperature in an enclosed area by controlling heating or refrigerating systems. It is commonly connected to one of these systems, turning it on or off in order to maintain a predetermined temperature. to a comfortable setting a few hours before the move-in. 39 Offer to accompany new residents to the next resident function and introduce them to other residents. 40 Be professional; remember, residents view you as an expert in your field. Don't let them down. 41 Dress professionally. Residents like to feel good not only about the appearance of the grounds and the buildings of their residence, but of the staff as well. 42 Don't gossip with the residents. Nothing good will come of it. 43 Keep the office and leasing area clean. 44 Learn the residents' names and use them. 45 Arrive early for meetings and be willing to stay late if a resident needs assistance. 46 Be a good communicator. Return calls and e-mails promptly. Send handwritten hand·write tr.v. hand·wrote , hand·writ·ten , hand·writ·ing, hand·writes To write by hand. [Back-formation from handwritten.] Adj. 1. thank-you notes. 47 Remember that you are often a member of a resident's "extended family." When they need to talk, listen. When they want to visit, let them. Don't let them linger for hours, but don't shoo shoo interj. Used to frighten away animals or birds. tr.v. shooed, shoo·ing, shoos To drive or frighten away by or as if by crying "shoo. them out of the office because you have too much work to do. They are a large part of your work. Treat them respectfully. 48 Don't get personal. Socializing with residents outside of work is almost always bad business. 49 Remember that Fair Housing applies to everyone, including current residents. 50 Love what you do for living. What other career offers you a job where every single day is guaranteed to be different and you can make such a difference in people's lives? Lisa Trosien has more than 20 years of industry experience, as well as expertise on targeted uses of the Internet. She is a frequent presenter for NAA NAA Nomina Anatomica Avium. and serves on the Communication Advisory Board for UNITS. Trosien can be reached via e-mail at lisa@aptexpert.com. |
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