I remember once living in an apartment community where my unit had a view of the pool right outside of my window. I loved it. It was one of the things that aided me in making my decision to rent there.
I’d sit out on my deck often times and listen to the waterfall that was attached; it gave me feelings of peace and serenity.
I’ll never forget the night I happened to take a glimpse out my window and the pool surprisingly looked like a Miami resort! They had completely redone it and it was absolutely beautiful! I instantly wanted to grab a date and go hang out in it, and yes it had to be at night! I’d never gone out there at night and probably never would have desired to had they not added such amazing flashing light work that literally lit up the sky above. Between me and you it was a very sexy scene. I said to myself, “No kids allowed after 8 p.m.” Lol!
A few weeks later I got a notice on my door that said Pool Party. I immediately thought great, they are showing off the nifty new night features in the pool and I can finally go down and hang out with some of my neighbors. Boy was I wrong! I kept reading and realized they were hosting a two hour “pizza party” down at the pool in the middle of the day. It did not take me long to realize that they were once again wasting time, energy and money. This is one of many of the times that I thought to myself if only I could get my hands on their retention plan somehow, I could truly help them turn some things around; hence the creation of Resident Keepers.
Here’s my synopsis of where they went wrong and why as well as how they could have maximized the opportunity and made it work tremendously for their retention goals!
Where they succeeded: They updated the pool. It was fabulous! Awesome! Beautiful! Sexy! I could go on and on!
Where opportunities were missed: There was no announcement made. This could have been done free of charge with the use of My Virtual Neighbor or even with a Mail Chimp e-mail announcement. Most of the residents there never knew that the night features even existed. Remember the only reason I saw it was because it was within my view outside of my window.
Where they succeeded: They hosted a social event that had free food. Everybody loves free and everybody loves food. Good initiative.
Where opportunities were missed: Brace yourself; they missed opportunities in several areas. First of all they hosted a pool party in their updated, night fancy pool during the middle of the DAY! Nothing about this made any sense; this was a total flop in scheduling. Second, they placed one notice on my door a week in advance that could have blown away with the wind, been taken down by kids or even tossed to the side never to be seen again. We’ve got to remember that people are inundated with information in this day and age. Flyers on doors are like junk mail, they are the last thing on most people’s priority list. People need reminders and they need them frequently. This is why connecting with your residents on-line is essential. Thirdly, they were out there from noon until two p.m. This was a measly two hours! This did not allot enough time for residents to work the event into their schedules. Most traditional events such as pool party or pizza party should last a minimum of four hours or you’re wasting your efforts. Lastly and don’t get me wrong I could go on and on….they gave absolutely no incentive for anyone to want to go out of their way to come. Not a single raffle, contest, feature or objective was listed on the flyer. We here at Resident Keepers pride ourselves in consistently creating and advertising additional reasons for residents to come out, enjoy themselves and meet their neighbors.
The moral of this story is…”If you got it, flaunt it!” It’s not just enough to do or have features and benefits available. You’ve got to seize the moment for all it’s worth. Take full advantage of any and everything that you have access to and ALWAYS make EVERYTHING a major big deal.
This practice will guarantee you a boost in resident retention initiatives. Now go figure out what you’ve got to work with and make it work for you!
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