In my Insider Blog post on www.multifamilyinsiders.com I mention the concept of finding the “Yes” when dealing with a challenging resident – no matter how small that yes may be. As customers, we hear an awful lot of “no’s” and they come in a variety of disguises.
“We don’t do that.”
“Sorry, it’s against our policy.”
“That’s not my job.”
Some of the “no’s” are legitimate. In the case of property management, it can be a matter of capital costs, staffing shortages, lack of corporate support, or the scariest monster of them all – Fair Housing. These are things we can’t control, but we have to manage the best we can with the resources we have. Some “no’s,” however, are based on a many things we can and do control: a lack of motivation, not knowing how to find the answer, being tired of dealing with THAT resident AGAIN, pride, or the catch-all, “it’s a matter of principle.” We can’t always say yes, but we don’t have to always say no. Most often there is a little “yes” to be found. “We can’t do this, but we can do that.” “That’s not a service we provide, but have you tried calling this vendor?” If nothing else, that yes can be, “Yes, I understand this is frustrating for you and that you are upset about it.” Yes has as many disguises as No.
Recently, on a drive home, I noticed water gushing from a manhole cover near the sidewalk of the local elementary school. The water was pouring into the street and no one was around. With an ongoing drought and mandatory water conservation, I figured I should let someone know. But who? Our town has a homeowners’ association that manages all of the city’s parks and neighborhoods, so I started with them. If they were not the right people to call, they would most likely know who to contact. It was a weekend, so I had to call the On-Call number (very similar to the after hours maintenance on-call program many of you have in place.) The woman who answered her phone had a lot of home background noise. It sounded like she was doing the dishes – no big deal. She’s on call, after all. I told her the situation and let her know I was starting with this phone number because I honestly didn’t know who to call.
“So why do you think the association would handle this?” she asked.
“I know you all manage the city common areas and parks and things, so I thought you would either want to be notified or would know who I should talk to.”
“But I thought you said it was a school.”
“Yes,” I said, “It’s in front of the elementary school, connected to the sidewalk.”
“We don’t manage the schools. I don’t know why you are calling me.”
“As I explained, I thought someone should know about the gushing water, but I don’t know who to call so I called this number because I know you manage the city’s common areas and figured your crew would want to handle it or you might know who the right person to call would be.”
“But we don’t manage the schools.”
“I understand that, now, but I’m hoping you might have a suggestion on who to call.”
She was so intent on making me feel foolish for calling her after hours, that she couldn’t or wouldn’t find the small yes. In this case, the small yes would have been to suggest I call the Water District, recognizing the fact that I was at least attempting to be helpful and not purposely trying to bug her at home on her day off. In my opinion, she got caught up in a “matter of principle:” People should not bother people on evenings or weekends for stupid things that have nothing to do with their job.
When I finally did realize I should call the Water District, the woman who answered the phone there patiently thanked me for calling and assured me they were aware of the situation and that a truck was already on its way, if not already there.
Sometimes the people who come in with complaints honestly think they are providing important and useful information. Sometimes people with requests are just tired of having to deal with the same problem over and over again and just want it to be fixed or at least have it acknowledged that there’s a problem. Sometimes people have a bad day and they take it out on you, not realizing they have just now caused you to have a bad day, too. And sometimes, people are just plain crazy and there’s no rationalization for the things they say or ask or demand.
In any one of those cases, though, the golden rule still applies, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In other words, if you were in their shoes, what response would you want? I’m guessing you’d like a ‘yes’ in any format you could get.
This month’s SatisFactoid Quick Poll: How many hours do you (if a leasing consultant) or your leasing team members individually spend per week at work communicating on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites? Submit your response at:
Just got back from a lovely vacation with my husband, celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary, and I dove into the social media metropolis to see what I’d been missing while away. I follow numerous property management companies and apartment communities, and was utterly floored when I saw the following tweet:
