ARTICLE
Effectively responding to reviews means detaching your emotions from your response. Here are some techniques to achieve that. When you get a bad review it’s easy to take things personally and try to respond point by point. Lia Nichole Smith, the Vice President of Education and Marketing for SatisFacts Research and ApartmentRatings.com, can feel your pain. As she says in an article for Multifamilyinsiders.com, she used to respond “point by point” to every resident grievance. But Smith realized that was not the best use of her time or energy. Instead, she developed techniques for what she called “the bad and ugly.” Here are three of her tips: The first technique, called In Case You Missed It, informs residents about lease terms they may have missed. Responding to reviews about unreturned security deposits or additional fees are good ways to clarify policies. The second strategy, called Read Between the Lines, addresses long reviews that cover every slight a resident has encountered in his or her stay. Smith contends the response should acknowledge that the resident didn’t enjoy his or her tenure, apologize and move on. A third tactic, called Point of View, writes the review from the perspective of the resident and emphasizes an empathetic, thoughtful response. It acknowledges that residents write reviews based on their experience, not necessarily management’s performance. By: Lia Nichole Smith Via Multifamilyinsiders.com