Multifamily leaders understand the challenge of dollars spent turning leads into leases, only to have those precious leases turn over in 12 months.
On how to overcome this, panelists Kainoa Clark, CMO at The Wasatch Group; Stacy Stemen, SVP of Corporate Marketing at Passco Companies; and Travis Block, Vice President of Marketing & Branding at Golub & Company; spoke with moderator Mike Wolber, CRO at Rent Dynamics, at the Apartment Innovation and Marketing Conference in Huntington Beach, Calif.
The panel embraces lifecycle marketing, technology and proper amenities to create value through resident retention.
The lifecycle of a renter journey begins when the resident first finds you online until the time they move out. It’s paying attention to all of the communities’ outreach via email, text, phone and the residents’ behaviors such as visiting the property’s portal, etc. Appropriate outreach and tracking of the resulting behavior are highly valuable.
Stemen offered a tip of caution about adding amenities. “When we look at potential amenities or technologies to bring to a property, we have to determine if it will bring long-term financial gain and increase the property’s value.”
Block said that “the rental experience” creates “belief” in the community and the belief leads to retention and to create the “wow” factor for residents, “you have to show them how great it is to live at your property so that they schedule a tour.”
Clark said the property must sell the resident on the idea of what it’s like to live there, “and you’ve gotta make good on that idea.”
Stemen said it starts with beautiful curb appeal: “the paint and landscaping should be perfect, make sure you show the pool, the cabanas, the BBQ; because if the curb appeal is sub-par, they will keep on driving by.”
Here are more strong comments from the session:
- Clark recently instituted a three-hour resident service guarantee – much more ambition than even a 24-hour service promise.
- Stemen is earning ancillary income by renting her pool’s cabanas. “It got to the point where residents were fighting over them, so we started charging them $25 per day. It’s not much, but it adds up.”
- Stemen’s company offered a financial aid program during the pandemic called “Coron-aid,” which is not government-based. The apartment company helped needy residents with financial assistance to keep them in their apartments. “When it comes time for them to renew, you know they are going to remember that,” she said.
- The panel stressed the importance of having onsite staff members who show they were excited about working at the community because that mood can transfer to the residents, as well.
- Block said that marketing can’t be done behind a computer screen, “You have to visit the property, the neighborhood, the submarket to see what’s there and what’s working.”
- Knowing how important pets and pet care is, Clark added a dog-poop station on every floor so that residents don’t always have to go down the elevator and walk around outdoors if they don’t want to.
- Stemen said popular amenities today are the three Cs: Canines, Coffee, and Computers.
Click here to watch the replay.
Replays are $49 each or $399 for all of them.
They are complimentary for AIM attendees for the thirty days following AIM.
Click here for the slides.
%20(1).png){kind=logo}
