To help improve apartment communities, get residents to open up about their concerns.
In order to open communication with residents and create a better apartment community, property managers should develop a feedback system that encourages all commentary, not just the loudest or most negative. This will allow managers and staff to carefully evaluate residents’ feedback and develop solutions that improve the resident satisfaction.
Donald Davidoff recommends the following five tools to solicit constructive feedback for review:
- Stroll the community halls. By making regular treks throughout the community, apartment managers and staff can engage in casual conversations with residents and glean insights from residents’ conversations with one another to help inform operations.
- Engage through social media. Apartment community managers can use social media to monitor conversations on hot-button community issues and to update residents, making them feel more connected.
- Send periodic emails. Emails are also great vehicles for updates, as well as for “closing the loop” on growing concerns. Make sure to capture residents’ email addresses for easy distribution.
- Distribute surveys. Solicit opinions through surveys, especially if there’s a key issue that needs to be addressed. There are plenty of online tools available, including free survey sites, such as surveymonkey.com, that apartment managers can employ.
- Convene focus groups. Gather groups of residents, tenured and new, to discuss concerns and improvements that could make the apartment community an even better place to live.