By Tyler Christiansen, Cooker CEO, on what it takes to create a consistent tenant experience in today’s multifamily market.
Today’s multi-family market is forcing many operators into new ways to generate revenue and profit margins. Many operators are considering more efficient business models to reduce costs and/or increase efficiency through variations in role specialization, centralization or shared services.
One thing most operators (even the contrarians) I’ve talked to agree on is that the main goal is to create a consistent, error-free tenant experience as a way to ensure future success.
Consumers of any product or service today demand a self-service, responsive shopping experience. Renting an apartment is no exception. In fact, I believe renters are only inquiring because of the poor rental experience we’ve created as an industry.
Do not you believe me? Think Airbnb: there’s no “call now” button or AI chatbot in the app. The founders of Airbnb are designers and are passionate about creating a hassle-free booking experience.
The two fundamental differences between multifamily housing and Airbnb are length of stay (although this line is becoming increasingly blurred) and the separation of marketplace (ILS, or internet listing service) and transaction (property management company) platforms. The transfer from ILS to individual ownership transactions creates friction that AI and humans need to jump into.
Since consistency at scale is the core objective of the transition from the ILS to the property management business, there are two possible business practices to help achieve this.
The first is to deploy a high-quality AI tool that can handle the sheer volume of potential tenants and ensure that every request is responded to quickly and their questions can be answered effectively. While AI is not an absolute requirement for creating a consistent tenant experience, it is a best practice as it will never “go off script”.
However, if AI isn’t something you think is relevant to your business, or if it conjures up images of a doomsday scenario, there’s an alternative that we’ve seen work. The solution: Increase your staff (and train them properly) to ensure your company can provide 24/7 coverage on all the channels your prospect wants to use to interact with your office.
There are obvious reasons why a multi-family operator prefers one solution over the other, but there are also downsides to either option.
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The downside of increasing human capital and staff
The workforce is remarkably volatile in a multi-family home, and going all-in on this option presents a clear challenge for operators. Moreover, having a full roster of leasing professionals is not enough; it also includes training these large, high-turnover teams to ensure they are able to deliver consistent, high-quality tenant experiences.
Going down this road is an investment. With some property management companies reaching up to 70% turnover among lease professionalsit is also never ending.
We all have bad experiences with automated tools, but we all have bad experiences with a customer service representative as well. Of course, by ensuring your teams are fully staffed, you can ensure that the phone is answered when a tenant gets in touch. But if your team is burned out, you can’t guarantee what an individual team member will say to the potential hire.
The pitfalls of AI
It’s true, some AI solutions just create a bad status quo customer experience, but digitally. I believe AI will meet consumer expectations if done right.
For example, if it’s clear that a consumer is trying to reach a human team member when they’re on the phone with a community, either by pressing zero over and over or by saying “representative” out loud all the time, the AI ​​solution should pick up on the clear signals and quickly hand the call over to a human team member.
AI solutions must make all the information they collect readily available to human team members. If a tenant tells the AI ​​solution they’re looking for a two-bedroom apartment, the leasing professional taking over that conversation should know that information without asking. Otherwise, the experience feels disjointed and frustrating for the renter.
Not all or nothing
While most of this article has pitted these two options against each other, this isn’t an all-or-nothing divide. The best solution gives the tenant optionality. There will always be a human element to renting apartments. The key is to meet the customer, or in this case the tenant, where they are, and leverage the solutions you think will work best for your business to answer their questions quickly.
Whichever of the above options you choose for your business, there are three best practices to keep in mind when building a consistent tenant experience.
• Make sure each survey gets fast, accurate information that satisfactorily answers their questions.
• No more information silos: The information collected along the journey, whether through AI solutions or team members, is accessible and used by all stakeholders who interact with the potential tenant.
• Develop clear handover practices between AI solutions and teams.
Humans and AI exist in harmony
Finding an apartment is an emotionally and financially difficult decision. While self-service is a desirable part of the apartment shopping experience, renters also demand impeccable customer service that aligns with the importance of this decision. Teams cannot provide this if they are overwhelmed.
The unintended benefit of automating initial inquiry follow-up is that it helps your existing staff by taking easily repeatable tasks off their hands. No more copying and pasting the pet policy or sending a link to a prospect to schedule a tour: the AI ​​solution did it all. Now your team members can focus on the valuable interactions that matter most.
Then, when your team takes over the call, they have the bandwidth to provide the friendly, empathetic customer service tenants want when finding their next home.
Renters demand perfection from every customer service interaction. There is no room for shoddy, sluggish tenant experiences that tell tenants to move elsewhere. Selecting the solutions and workflows that make sense for your business to create a consistent tenant experience helps operators differentiate themselves (in a good way).
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