The Power of the 3 C's: Communication builds Connection and Community!

The Three C's are the fundamental pillars which are intertwined and crucial for building strong networks. According to Lia Nicole Smith of Satisfacts Research, the 2023 Biennial Online Renters Study showcased effective communication and inclusivity matters in creating a sense of community. She shares, “If Renters feel that information is not transparent or inclusive, or they perceptive a lack of effort to involve residents, it can negatively impact their sense of community. ”

Despite having a variety of technological options available for communication with residents, it seems that technology alone is not sufficient. While software that enables staff to email and text, and AI that can assist in communication content, nothing can replace human to human communication. Only onsite team members possess the necessary knowledge about what is happening on the property. Therefore, as an industry, we must focus not only on how and what we are communicating, but also why we are saying it. It's important for everyone to understand the reasoning behind the message when speaking with residents, prospects, and colleagues. Understanding the "why" in communication is crucial for providing context, inspiring action, building comprehension, and cultivating positive relationships. It contributes to effective and meaningful communication.

• Communication: Is the foundation

• It involves sharing information, thoughts, ideas, and feelings clearly and openly. Good communication skills help in conveying messages accurately, avoiding misunderstandings, and promoting understanding between individuals or groups. Effective communication isn't merely about transmitting words; it's about ensuring that the intended message is understood. Whether verbal or non-verbal, clear communication is essential for building trust, resolving conflicts, and fostering healthy relationships.

• When it comes to Onsite team members and residents, open and honest communication forms the basis of trust. Statistics from 2023 Satisfacts Biennial Online Renter Study shows 71.1% of residents prefer text message, 72% overall prefer Email, and 60.8% prefer a phone call. Truly there is not a reason you can be over communicating with residents. We should be focused on sharing more than “rent is due” to our residents. Other opportunities to build communication updates and progress on capital ex projects, monthly aspects which Maintenance is focused on, landscaping maintenance & improvements, amenity updates. Look for the projects or investments being made around the community in which are not usually communicated.

• Connection: The Thread That Unites

• Communication lays the groundwork, but connection is the emotional bond that emerges from it. Communication leads to connection. It's the bridge that links individuals. A genuine connection transcends mere acquaintance; it's about truly engaging with others, listening attentively, and empathizing with their experiences. It cultivates a sense of belonging and support, enriching our lives with companionship, emotional sustenance, and shared experiences.

• What does connection look like for a community? Onsite team members should be focused on creating experiences, not events.,“WOW” moments even on a one to one bases not just for the entire community at once. This can be accomplished by getting to know each resident and celebrating the moments. Things like: et’s birthday, residents birthday, celebrating a monumental moment for a resident, or even doing something unexpected.

• Community: The Tapestry of Togetherness

• As connections solidify, residents form the intricate threads of a community. A community is a group of people who share common goals, interests, or values. Effective communication and strong connections among its members are vital for the community to thrive. A healthy community provides support, collaboration, and a sense of belonging for its residents.

• Do your residents feel their home is a community? The data speaks loudly. From SatisFacts & ApartmentRatings most recent Biennial Online Renter Study shows residents expectations are not being met. Sense of community remains the #1 driver for perception of value in our latest. The gap between expectation (3.93) and reality (3.34) highlights an area for improvement within the multifamily industry. We must go beyond what "we" feel creates a sense of community, and look to what the residents want and need. We are in the business of hospitality and we must focus on serving the resident.

The interplay between these three elements forms the backbone of society. A breakdown in communication disrupts connection; severed connections weaken communities. Conversely, strengthening communication fosters deeper connections, which in turn fortify communities. In our pursuit of a harmonious and thriving community, recognizing the importance of the 3 C's is paramount. So let's embrace the power of Communication, foster meaningful Connections, and contribute positively to our Communities, weaving a vibrant tapestry of understanding, support, and togetherness.

Are we falling short when it comes to Maintenance for Residents

Over the last several years, our industry has become aware of the prospect expectations when it comes to the leasing experience. We have heard loud and clear their desire for flexibility, exceptional user technology experience and access at their fingertips to a subject expert when it comes to having questions. Not only have we become aware, but many Management Companies are realizing they must take action and implement new technology to meet the prospects expectations is necessary, to which many have already implemented technology. 

On the other hand, when you look at the residents' experience with maintenance, we are a bit behind. Through the last 3 or so years we have focused heavily on the experience of how we are attracting and winning a prospect, but now it is time to catch up and look at the residents' experience specifically with maintenance. The industry's staggering stat these days is 92% of residents have not had a positive experience with maintenance. That means, only 1 out of every 10 residents have had a positive experience when it comes to their service requests. That number alone should really light a fire for us to dig deep and look at the needs and desires of a resident. 

Most recently I was reviewing the 2022 vs 2023 Work Order Survey from Satisfacts (Stats Jan through Oct, both years) and was saddened by the year over year scores. All 8 of the questions are important, no doubt, however what is even more astonishing is these are controllable areas the onsite team can correct. You may be saying, sure we onsite can do better, but how do we do better with so many tasks, work orders alone and of course the never ending employee struggle. This is where we must look to be able to optimize our team with technology. As an industry we are starting to see many teams focus on specialization by trade or skill and add in a layer of technology (service or product) to move these industry statistics in the right direction. 

We have continuously heard residents want to be able to self-serve as much as possible, this really goes for multiple generations. 

Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964): Baby Boomers may have grown up in an era where DIY home maintenance and repairs were more common, and as a result, some members of this generation may still be willing and capable of handling minor repairs themselves. 

Generation X (born 1965-1980): Gen Xers are often more self-reliant and resourceful, and many of them are comfortable with basic DIY tasks. They might be willing to handle minor repairs but could also value their time and prefer to hire professionals for more complex jobs.

Millennials (born 1981-1996): Millennials tend to have a mixed relationship with DIY maintenance. Some are quite capable and prefer to use online resources to learn how to perform repairs, while others may have grown up in urban environments with less exposure to DIY skills and are more likely to hire professionals.

Generation Z (born 1997-2012): Generation Z is a tech-savvy generation, and they may be more inclined to use online tutorials and resources to tackle DIY projects. They are known for their resourcefulness and might be willing to learn how to do basic maintenance and repairs.

Looking at each of the generations there is a subset that are willing to DIY with the help of a maintenance tech with years of experience via text or facetime. Regardless of the generation they want the ease and simplicity of digital services and self service. They like how it makes them feel connected, informed and in control of their experience.  What might this look like when it comes to maintenance? Two key areas we must deeply reflect on: 

Self Service: Residents expect prompt response and resolution of maintenance requests. Offering the option for residents to be able to fix the small easy service requests, allows them to complete it when they are available. Not to have to lock up a pet, clean up their home, wait for a specific time or have to re-arrange their schedule.  A great analogy outside of our industry is Grocery Shopping: We as a consumer have options, right? We can pick up our order, shop our order in story or have them delivered. We are able to choose what works for us when it works for us. One week I may want to go to the store and later that same week, I might be busy and need them delivered. We have the freedom and flexibility to meet our needs.  When it comes to maintenance, self service is no different. What we learned several years ago is residents are eager and willing (80% of residents actually) to walk through how to fix a GFI, a toilet flapper, a garbage disposal etc, via text or a facetime call. Again this option meets them on how they currently experience services in their everyday life. 

Effective Communication: Clear and open communication with property management is vital. Residents want to know the status of their maintenance requests, including when and how the issue will be resolved. Leaning into technology and automation is going to be the winning solution. A quick analogy, Amazon is amazing at effective communication, we always know where our package is. technology has allowed us to transparently know when our package will be delivered. 

Not only is the self service option creating an outstanding customer experience, but with a shortage of maintenance tech's (and the gap becoming larger) focusing on and investing the technicians which are currently employed can have room to advance in their career. The average age of a maintenance tech is 48 years old, and most retire around 55 to 60. When we look at that number, that leaves us with on average 10 years left where the gap may not get smaller if the younger generation doesn't enter the field. We must look at opportunities to invest in our current and new maintenance techs, create ways again with technology services to be able to not burn our maintenance techs out. They should not be working 24/7, on call and weekends. 

If we can focus on optimizing our team, creating opportunities for the resident to receive self service and of course focus on optimizing our communication with the residents we can see our resident satisfaction scores increase which will lead to resident retention and renewals. 

Without the Right Communication, Maintenance Will Suffer

Most people think communication is about what they are saying, however exceptional communication isn’t about what you said, it is about what the other person heard. Every single individual involved in a maintenance request should know what is happening at every step in the process and can get engaged if they need to. Should the resident call to ask what the status of their request, no matter who picks up the phone, that employee should know. 

Personally, my biggest pet peeve is calling customer service and having to be transferred or put on hold because the support contact couldn’t answer my question or needed to talk to someone else on their team.

I always say, effective communication is when everyone who is involved understands the exact details. Now, my analogy may be a bit odd, but follow me. When communication is not just shared, but documented, that is effective communication. If a person onsite happened to be out unexpectedly (I have always said in the hospital and you didn’t know when they would return) would another person know exactly what to do and pick up where they left off? Would the resident need to re-explain the issue or would the new technician have to ask the resident for what is happening?

Years ago, I always trained my Property Managers to know the full position of Maintenance Tech’s, now I don’t mean how to actually fix a flapper (although, that one is a pretty easy fix) but does the property manager understand “how” things work which will lead to asking the right questions. There must be effective communication between all three parties; “Front of House” that includes Property Managers, Leasing Agents and Assistant Managers and the “Back of the House” Maintenance, which includes, Tech’s Managers, Groundskeepers. 

Have the Property Manager work with the maintenance team for a solid 5 days, not just a few hours. Have them understand all aspects from work orders, to make readies etc. 

Now I am not saying this is just a one way street where the “Front of the House” should be the only one responsible for understanding other positions, I fully believe that the “Back of the House” should also understand what the Front of the House is doing. Once again, I don’t think Maintenance should necessarily be able to fully jump in and post something on social media or even apply someone’s rent money, but how awesome would it be if Maintenance knew and understood how to answer the phone if they were in the office and be able to answer a prospects questions. Better yet, what if Maintenance teams were part of the Leasing Team when it comes to meetings? Why do we separate our maintenance teams for training and our leasing teams for training? Sure we can look at training from in depth to a higher level however, in order to communicate well we need to row in the same direction for the same goal. As a resident or even a prospect, fully seeing the entire team working together I would instantly feel the sense that everyone has my best interest at heart. 

What if you're short staffed? We all keep hearing about short staffed communities. (It is even more imperative to have effective communication when there is less people as there is more multi-tasking happening) Believe it or not, HappyCo offers a service where multifamily maintenance tech’s with up to 25 years experience are available to answer and communicate (effectively) with your residents on each and every service request. Due to the extensive experience our tech’s have, they know the right questions to ask, to be able to work with the residents on gathering the information in detail that is needed for onsite maintenance tech’s to be able to optimize their time and quickly complete the work orders. Plus, we all know residents want to be heard when it comes to something that is needed to be fixed in their home. They want to talk to someone immediately. 

The bottom line is effective communication only works when there are no corners, a complete circle, where the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. We as an industry must do better.. Without maintenance tech’s we would not have residents wanting to renew and without leasing staff we would not have created an exceptional customer experience. We need each other more than ever in 2023 and into the future! Let’s work together. 

High Tech and Higher Maintenance: The Evolution of Maintenance

April 22, 2019, 1,418 days ago I published a blog called High Tech and Higher Touch: The Evolution of Leasing. Much as happened in the last 1,418 days. We have had the world shut down, human interaction has changed, expectations of consumer habits have evolved, but one thing has stayed the same: the need for exceptional customer experience.  

Our industry has made great strides around leasing centralization, where many have realized that technology like self guided tours was not created to replace human interaction, but the right technology must enhance the customer's experience. 

In my previous blog, I mentioned from SatisFacts 2019 Online Renter Study, the perception of quality customer service is ranked #2 in importance regarding the leasing decision, which lets us know elimination of leasing jobs will not be a thing of the future. Self-guided tours allow us to better customize a prospects experience, ultimately complimenting the onsite team’s quality customer service. This has not changed in the last 5 years, customer service is still just as important. 

Moving forward, the evolution of Maintenance; now that residents have had to deal with many changes over the last years, what is their expectation?  We continue to hear about maintenance centralization; will that become equally as important as leasing in the next 5 years?  The need for exceptional customer service still stands as important if not more important. With instant gratification, DIY and such flexible schedules where residents continue to balance all that is thrown their way, how can the onsite teams handle the expectations? Better yet, how can they handle the needs from residents with an astounding increase in open maintenance positions, current employees are looking for more work life balance and much more. Is “centralization maintenance” the answer? What does the term even mean? 

When we think about “centralizing" anything, it doesn’t mean just removing current people from their positions, perhaps we can look at this opportunity to focus more on the quality of our current employees and invest in those and allow companies to help improve the customer experience through customer satisfaction. Currently in our industry we continue to see the average response time to a service request to be a standard 24/48 hour or even 72 hour time frame. Most residents' service requests are those easy ones to fix, garbage disposal, microwave filter, the switch in the electrical box or even a blind slat replacement. In order to increase or even maintain our residents expectations we must look to innovative solutions that will allow our residents to be heard as well as meet the residents preferences. 

Understanding the residents' expectations around maintenance including  DIY and instant gratification and putting together the struggle of so many open employee positions, innovative solutions like Happy Force leads to increased residents satisfaction, which ultimately leads to a lease renewal. What we can be confident in remembering; when a resident is deciding about renewing their lease, what impacts their decision? The  #2 impact, "quality of maintenance service provided scored a 4.61 out of 5, on the SatisFacts Biennial Online Survey. This lets us know that just like leasing and the options to tour in person, virtual or self guided,  there needs to be an option to be able to exceed residents expectations around maintenance service. DIY, Facetime service calls and optimizing current maintenance techs time on each service request must become part of the future in multifamily. According to a 2020 Survey from Kingsely, “The requirement for social distance, as well as continued focus on worker health and safety, will remain yet for some time. To help in communication and improving work, virtual technology should be a more widely used method of performing maintenance diagnostics and troubleshooting.”

When a resident reaches out for assistance within their home, we must look for opportunities to increase resident satisfaction, reduce the response time and be accepting of the new options such as video tutorial, FAQ guides, remote technicians and still the option for a tech to enter the home. It comes down to optimizing the team while giving the options the resident would like to have available at their fingertips. 

My opinion 1,418 days ago still stands true, we must look at the traditional role of maintenance and view new solutions as an evolution not as an elimination to keep up with the changing preferences of renters.