3 Best Practices for Communicating with Residents
Here are 3 best practices for communicating with residents to make them feel safe and secure in your rental properties.
In every relationship, effective communication is critical to a positive experience. This remains true when it comes to a property manager’s relationship with their residents.
We provide exceptional places that feel like home where people can feel safe and secure to enjoy time with their loved ones at Mark-Taylor. Thoughtful communication with our residents has proven to make an incredible impact in creating that feeling of home.
Here are three of our best practices for communicating with residents:
The simpler, the better
Strive to save residents’ valuable time by making living simple. To respect their busy schedules, the simpler we can make communications for them, the better. Therefore, before we press “send” on a communication to our residents, we thoroughly consider our residents’ perspective, keeping in mind that simplicity is always key.
It helps to put ourselves in a new resident’s shoes. Without context, would a new resident understand what is being communicated? If it is an action-oriented communication, could a new resident read it and walk away knowing exactly what they need to do?
This exercise is guaranteed to generate enhancements, every time. After considering the new-resident perspective, we revisit the communication to ensure the information included has the simplicity and clarity it needs to answer any potential questions.
Transparency creates trust
From our residents and guests to our team members and business partners, we are committed to creating trusting relationships. An essential part of inspiring and building trust is through transparent communication over time.
That is why we approach resident communications with as much transparency as possible. At times, there may be an occurrence, such as a building repair, that is inconvenient for your residents. It is far better to acknowledge the inconvenience and communicate openly about why it is happening, rather than to brush over it. Not only does this show that you are proactively fixing the situation, it also shows that you respect our residents, building upon that trusting relationship.
People first, business second
Everything we do, we do with a people-first mindset. It is who we are as a company and brand, and it is important to us to show that in every communication.
In resident communications, our people-first approach is of utmost importance. People choose to live at our communities because of many factors: our modern luxury designs, high-quality standards, but most importantly, because we put them first. Our home-like atmosphere can only be created when we stay true to that approach in the way we communicate.
As an example, when navigating the change management of a community project, lead and focus communication on how it benefits the resident. Because our business decisions keep people first, it is a genuine and important reminder, especially in times of change.
Seemingly simple day-to-day exchanges of communications between property teams and residents may seem small but they add up to shape a resident’s living experience. Approaching communication in an intentional way for every email, phone and in-person conversation combines to create the exceptional living experience that residents deserve.
Source: Rental Housing Journal
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