Communication Strategies from Denver’s Most Innovative Apartment Company

RedPeak is Denver’s best in class developer, owner and manager that understands the value of relationships. What separates them from others is a resident-centric culture driven by an efficient team of the best local talent from neighborhoods their residents call home. “It’s our focus to not just lead in our market, but in the industry as well,” says company COO Jared Miller. We sat down with Jared to get an inside look at how RedPeak delivers world-class service by constantly innovating around the resident experience.

What change have you seen in the way that you are engaging with residents?

“There’s a big shift happening with the way customers are communicating with the multifamily industry,” Miller says. “Today’s renter doesn’t always want to pick up the phone to talk to us. They want to send a text message and get a quick response to their questions.” Miller’s comments reflect a bigger trend with millennials and their preference in texting over other forms of communication because it’s less invasive, more personal and makes them feel valued. 

“The RedPeak name has become synonymous with superior customer service and frictionless communication is a key part of this,” Miller says.

What strategies have you taken to build better relationships with prospects and residents?

With more than 90% of renters turning to online reviews when selecting their next home, online reputation has become a central focus for the multifamily industry. Online reviews are a reflection of how well an asset is managed and the manner by which property teams foster relationships with residents. Thus, it’s no surprise that relationships are the new currency for the multifamily industry to drive optimal operational performance and positive reputations.

“Our on-site team probably gets somewhere around 150 to 200 emails a day per person” says Miller. Buried in these cluttered inboxes is priceless information about residents and prospect to help strengthen relationships and provide personalized service. Unfortunately, traditional email clients aren’t designed to identify important information, organize and easily share it across property teams.

Each interaction is an opportunity to create memorable resident experiences that add up to a connected customer conversation. RedPeak is moving away from episodic resident interactions to a continuous personalized conversation between customer and property staff, no matter whom they speak with. To make this goal a reality, RedPeak had to look beyond their property management software for a place to manage their relationship. “Property management software thinks in terms of units and lease agreements,” says Miller. “We needed to empower our team with an intelligent record of every touchpoint with customers, so we can personalize our conversations and deliver superior service,” he says.

“The RedPeak name has become synonymous with superior customer service and frictionless communication is a key part of this,” Miller says.

How does customer satisfaction factor into your key operating metrics?

“Most multifamily companies have a dated strategy when it comes to measuring customer satisfaction,” Miller says. “In the past, what we know about our residents comes from the data they provided on move-in and periodic surveys,” he says. RedPeak needed a more real-time understanding of residents preferences and feelings about living at their communities. “I go back to my prior life in student housing. We were constantly surveying residents to benchmark our performance and gather relevant data we could use to personalize the resident experience.”

Miller has brought this mentality to RedPeak where they are looking to continually engage residents to understand their preferences. “We’re taking a more granular look at satisfaction, with the goal of personalizing each resident’s experience to what they want. If a resident has a pet, for instance, property managers can proactively engage them about dog parks on or near the community.”

RedPeak is installing new processes and technology to achieve this personalization with the additional intent of reducing the burden on their onsite employees. Miller was drawn to Aptly for the ability to survey residents in real-time after any conversation and a simple shared location to collect customer preferences. “We live in an era where consumers expect brands to know more about their preferences and listen to their feedback,” says Miller. By partnering with Aptly, Miller wants to give residents the ultimate amenity: personal relationships with a property team that understands their preferences and utilizes that information to provide a curated living experience.

What is an important element of the resident experience?

Organizations with great customer service prioritize a simple concept that can be hard to get right: respond quickly and delight your customers. In an era filled with long wait times and impersonal service, the art of getting back to people quickly, with the information they actually seek and customized based on the preferences of that resident can make a huge difference. “Customers are more intolerant of a poor customer experience than ever before, ” says Miller. “Our demographic knows they have other options and will move on to the next one if we aren’t responsive to their requests,” he says.

RedPeak positions itself to address this need by hiring a team that embraces the same mindset of their customers, while also living in the same neighborhoods. “Property teams are incentivized to offer great service. A key component of delivering exceptional service is response times,” says Miller. A recent study by Forrester Research highlights that 73% of consumers cite valuing their time as the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good customer service.

RedPeak turned to Aptly to help track and measure their response times to both prospect and resident conversations in an effort to ensure the company is delivering on our high customer service expectations.

RedPeak has a simple principle: Happy employees provide great service that results in happy residents.

Any tips on building a resident experience focused team?

RedPeak has a simple principle: Happy employees provide great service that results in happy residents. That’s why RedPeak has made culture a key component of their resident experience strategy. Rated one of Denver’s Top Workplaces by the Denver Post for six consecutive years, RedPeak cares about happy employees, offering perks like free healthcare, health club memberships and bike sharing for starters. “I would put RedPeak’s team up against any of the big players in our industry. The level of talent here is industry-leading.” says Miller.

How does technology fit into your resident experience strategy?

‘Technology plays a big part in RedPeak’s resident experience strategy. The company has experimented with innovative ideas like auctions and was an early adopter of online leasing and self-service kiosks. “It’s about responding to how the consumer wants to interact with us, listening to their needs, and adapting to the feedback,” says Miller.

Technology like Aptly is another example of RedPeak’s culture for embracing new concepts ahead of the multifamily industry. RedPeak constantly pilots technology that makes their teams more efficient and doing business with them easier. Miller is looking to simplify the process for visiting their available apartments with self-guided touring technology in the months to come. “Nobody wants to walk into a department store and have a salesperson follow them around when they shop. It’s annoying. Some of our apartment shoppers have the same mentality.” says Miller.

Property management owners won’t know what technology will work for their company unless they get out and see what’s on the market and learn what has and hasn’t worked for other companies. This is why Miller looks forward to Apartmentalize every year (particularly in 2019, when the conference takes place on RedPeak’s home turf in Denver).

Not using Aptly?

Aptly is a task management tool specifically designed for property teams. We integrate task boards with your inbox, phone, and property management software (PMS) giving teams a single place to collaborate and manage all work.

Contact us to get a free trial of Aptly and learn more about the future of work for property teams.