We’ve all seen one of one of those How’s My Driving stickers on the back of a truck.

They seem to care but do they really?

My boyfriend recently ordered my birthday present online from a popular home and garden store. I won’t disclose the name, but let’s just say it rhymes with Shmowe’s.  Anyway, he ordered it through their In-Store Pick-Up service so that he could pick it up from a store near me while he was visiting for my birthday, but when he went to pick it up, it wasn’t there. He was told that someone was supposed to be in charge of calling him to let him know it hadn’t arrived yet, but apparently they forgot, and they would have to call him back Monday. When they didn’t call, he called them, only to continue to get the run around. Almost a week later, the item showed up at his home (in a completely different state than where he had requested to pick it up). The only solution customer service would offer was for him to return it to the nearest store (40 minutes from his house) and have me re-buy it from the store where it was originally supposed to go. Only when he went to the store to return it, they couldn’t access his order in their system and refused to give him his money back. After spending almost an hour in the store dealing with several different store associates and managers, and becoming infuriated, he was given his money back.  Needless to say, after their complete lack of help and horrible customer service in dealing with his issue, he would not be re-buying anything from any other ‘Schmowes’ store.

No matter how bad his issue became, not one person was willing to become solely responsible to insure he received call backs and verify that the matter was corrected and the customer was satisfied. Instead, he was given different answers from several different people and given the run around to the point where it ended up losing them two customers (both him and myself), and potentially more because apparently he was not the only person in their customer service line who had issues with their online in-store pick-up program (and of course all of you reading this who don’t want to take the chance of this happening to you).

The point of all this is that I work for Mills, a fairly large company that relies mostly on our site teams to handle property specific customer service issues. However, we recently added a resident relations position to our portfolio for those times when an issue reaches the level that the above mentioned story reached. This person is specifically responsible for getting to the bottom of such issues and working directly with the resident until the issue is resolved. This has become a great asset to our company and I believe that no matter how big or small the company, there should be some type of position similar to this available for customers.

Do you have a program in place to insure that customer issues never get out of control? Any tips on what has been most effective?

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is hard work. Enthusiasm doesn’t scream out once your alarm clock goes off in the morning. It doesn’t just happen the second you put your feet on the floor. It doesn’t happen with the first cup of coffee or the first splash of water from the warm shower you hop into.

Not unlike most things, you have to get yourself pumped each day. How do you do that? Some read the bible or other inspirational literature, some listen to music and some meditate. I like to read Tom Peter’s or James Allen to get my day going. Whatever the case – find what it is that gets you pumped in the morning. And, promise me this – you are not getting amp’d because you can’t wait to get to work in the morning but rather because you want to be the best possible you in light of serving others. As nothing gives charge to enthusiasm as much as helping the next guy/gal get charged up.

Energy

Energy is born out of activity. I think we get this one backwards sometimes. I see energy as being manufactured out of activities such as exercise. It comes from motion. It takes energy to get out of bed in the morning. It takes energy to walk down stairs to make the coffee. It takes energy to get the dog fed. It takes energy to get your running shoes on. And, it takes energy to pound out a couple of miles before breakfast. But you know what happens when you are disciplined enough to do this daily – you are gifted more energy. You have to spend it to make it.

Authenticity

I really think that authenticity is born out of enthusiasm and energy. When you exude enthusiasm in what you do – no matter the art – you are perceived as being passionate, full of life and authentic. Now you could debate the merits of real enthusiasm and faked or forced enthusiasm but for the purpose of this discussion, let us assume we are talking about the real stuff. And, once you have enthusiasm, energy has no choice but to tag along. You getting pumped about your art and the energy to get it done will follow. And, with these two things working in tandem – your authenticity can’t be contained.

What do you do to get yourself fired up on a Monday morning after a crazy fun off the charts weekend?

Your – going for enthusiasm, energy and authenticity – multifamily maniac,

M

Understand People and Their Behavior

Why would you want to understand people and their behaviors? The only way you change how people feel, think and behave is to understand them in a very authentic way? Only then will they respond to the power of your creative apartment marketing. Or, conversation and content marketing.

What can you do to understand people and their behaviors? First, you create an authentic and ceaseless urge to know more. You make it your daily quest to always know more about people. Always take notes. Take pictures. Record thoughts. Write a blog post or two or three to flesh out your thoughts. Make it your mission to understand what they think. What they prefer. What they dream. What they desire. And, what they need.

One item on note on understanding – what makes people people is always changing. And, if you are not leading that change in an authentic way then someone else will.

Your, highly interested in anthropology, multifamily maniac,

M

Get to The Point

When communicating information, we often think that backdrop or off topic analogies are going to really bring our point home. Not so much. Especially in an attention deficit economy. Few listen/hear anymore and often draw conclusions well before you have reached your second sentence. So start with the punch line and follow with the build up. Hit the crescendo and follow with the introduction.

Tell Them What You are About to Tell Them

There is a truism in public speaking that makes sense here; it goes something like this, tell them what you are about to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you just told them. It’s a frame of reference so that the audience knows what they are about to learn. It helps them track the broad topic as the stories unfold. The key being that they know what the punch line is well before it is communicated in length.

Take away: Keeping it simple starts with giving away the punch line…

Your, practicing brevity and clarity, multifamily maniac,

M

“Make the Customer the Hero” – Ann Handley

Finding ways to make the Customer the Hero never was and still is not difficult. It is not some over the top mysterious ‘wish we could figure that out’ chaos math problem. No – it is much easier.

It is the please, the thank you and the “I don’t know but I will get back to you” follow through. It is the pausing long enough to assist with heavy bags, taking time to clean cigarette butts off of their sidewalk and taking time to make sure the bathrooms in your clubhouse are clean throughout the day and not just at the beginning. It is keeping your word when you tell someone you will do something. It is remembering to say a kind word or send a nice gift on a birthday, anniversary or holiday. It is remember to ask about their children’s activities, struggles and successes. It is majoring in the minors for people without losing site of the bigger picture. It is taking – Time.

The trouble most of the time is understanding origin. That is, where does that ‘making the customer the hero’ mentality come from?

The Hero Lies in You

I think the late great Whitney Houston said it best in the song There’s a Hero – in the song there is a lyric that sings like this  …and, the Hero Lies in You. There is a hero that lives in all of us and he/she is right at home helping everyone around them feel like a Hero too… And, guess what – 100 times out of 100 times when you make someone feel like a hero – you feel like one yourself….

Your, remembering the hero inside becomes the hero outside – multifamily maniac,

M

Very quick note this morning.

We could get really deep into the art of body language as it relates to listening. Speaking to things like bending your brow as a show of concern, thinning your lip to show you understand the anger , leaning in, unfolding arms and the king of them all – eye contact. While not exhaustive, all good topics and in the same respect not possible without the nugget we will put out there today.

The Most Meaningful Body Language – Listen Technique I Know

Front and center to the person you are talking with – Pick up your phone and turn it OFF. Not silence, not vibrate – OFF. Or, don’t bring it along at all. Put your what if’s to rest as we could debate that to death. If you want meaningful conversation – demonstrate willingness through action – the action of turning off and tuning in.

Your – working on listening through meaningful body language – multifamily maniac,

M

That means that if your organization has a stall, deny and avoid policy when it comes to customer interaction, you will almost certainly be defeated if a competitor comes up with a scalable way to delight.

Front Door 

As marketers, we have an innate need to drive traffic. We are called on by legions of apartment property managers and C-level executives who are more times than not shouting the mantra – “We need more traffic.” “What are you doing to drive more traffic?”

Back Door

My new (but not really new) mantra back – “What are you doing to serve the people who live in your community today?” “When is the last time you talked to someone who toured your apartment community or lives in your community today?” “Have you taken time to define the interests of the people who live in your community?”

Action Item

Make it an absolute never dying over the top habit of calling one person who has any association with your community(ies) every single day of the work week. Or, for you one-hundred and ten-percenter(s) out there – call them on the weekend. Do it without fail.

One Question

Ask them one question – Would you refer us to your friends? And, let the conversation flow from there…

Your – kill them with kindness – mulifamily manic,

M

Today, we are doing a down and dirty lesson on empathetic listening or a fancy way of saying – pay attention. Empathetic listen is active listening or seeking first to understand and then to be understood. The goal being two-fold – listen on an emotional level as well as a cognitive level. In other words you aim to get a sense of how they feel and what they are thinking. And, remember empathy is not sympathy. Empathy speaks from experience; sympathy is there in support of.

Two Questions – Going Deep

When communicating with any one of your apartment residents over any issue, good or bad, use the following two questions to go deeper. If they are in your office complaining about a leaky faucet for the third time this week [and, presupposing you have experienced a persistent leaking faucet in your lifetime], stop and listen. Once they are done talking ask, “how does that make you feel. Or, suggest, “I can imagine that makes feel very frustrated or angry.

It seems obvious but many times, in our haste to get the cranky people out of our office, we don’t take time to validate their feelings. Guess what, that makes a person even more frustrated or angry. All that most people are after is an outlet to vent their anger, frustration or the such and they want the problem fixed. That is where the second question comes in. It is more cognitive in nature.

At the end of understanding their emotion; repeat the reason for the anger or frustration; “I see Mr. Ineedamyfaucetfixed; this is the third time this week you have been in to report your leaky faucet. Our service person has been over two times and still you have a leaky faucet. It bugs you because you are a light sleeper and the persistent drip against the aluminum sink keeps you up. And, you don’t think you should have to put a cup or a rag under the drip to soften the sound. You just want it fixed.”

Your – seeking first to understand – multifamily maniac,

M

Empathy – Care

Empathy can be defined as having the ability to relate. For example, if you are speaking to someone who lives in your apartment community about their son’s soccer game over the weekend and you have a son that plays soccer – you can empathize. And, empathy is the perfect foundation for caring.

If you can empathize – you can care. And, when you care people will respond.

Take the time today to reach out and initiate some conversation. Be it with people you work with and for or with the people who you serve and that serve you in return.

Don’t accept the canned answers and don’t ask canned questions. Let the weather take care of itself. That is the easy stuff.

Ask deeper questions and if your weekend sucked – say so. Don’t be surprised if your audience can relate.

Your – caring to empathize – multifamily maniac,

M

You may want to read and reread that last line a couple of times. [It's okay - I'll wait.....]

I think for many of us, me included, it’s usually more along the lines of what do we do next? What is the next thing to tweet? What is the next platform to try? What is the next marketing idea stone that needs to be turned over? How do we differentiate? How do we compete?

All good questions and likely good stimulates for conversation. But, what we leave out is equally if not more advantageous in forming an effective strategy.

What are you choosing not to do this year?

Related material: Two Lists You Should Look at Every Morning

Pic Props: TSLBO