Incentives - Do They Make a Difference

Motivation can be a tricky thing – and sometimes hard to figure out. Yet, when an incentive is involved, it’s very easy to realize why a person is compelled, one way or another, to make a decision.

See if this resonates with something you’ve experienced. Jim is a 35-year-old architect who has lived in the same apartment for four years. You’ve never had any indication that he was unhappy, yet when your staff contacted him to come in and discuss his lease that’s up next month, you received no response.

Without knowing it, Jim’s been dating Rachel. Together, they’ve decided to share an apartment. And while Jim could ask if a larger unit is available, Rachel is in the same boat and has already taken the initiative to ask if she could move into a larger apartment.

You seemingly find all this out when you see Jim at the mailbox – and once you know his story, you suggest, once again, that you meet so he can look at his options. Sounds good, but there’s one wrinkle: Rachel’s manager offered her a signing bonus of one-month’s rent to motivate her to stay with the community.

You neither have the authority to come up with an immediate reward, nor can you match or exceed the amount of Rachel’s incentive without going through a bit of red tape with your community’s owner.

Bottom line: unless you offer Jim some kind of benefit, you’ve lost him as a resident and now have to work way harder to replace him with another resident.

Are people totally motivated because of a reward? That’s hard to say, but according to DCR strategies, companies using incentive programs reported a 79% success rate in achieving their established goals when the correct reward was offered.

And here’s the kicker: offering incentives to your residents is obviously good for lease renewals, but also great because you can control their actions by incentivizing them with something special. Think about it. How about providing incentives to do the following:

• Provide warm referrals to friends and family, a much better marketing strategy than advertising online or even working with local realtors.
• Participating in community events, such as a holiday window decorating contest or Halloween trick or treat program for local, disadvantaged children.
• Hosting an open house in their unit for friends to check out your community. You buy the refreshments and your residents supply the prospects.

You’ll work less hard by letting an incentive help make a decision – and when your time isn’t taken up by these kinds of matters, you can spend more time connecting with your residents, and solidifying relationships in your community and elsewhere.

Consider the Incentives Program
We’ve come up with a solution that is free to you – and best of all, available right away. Through Community Rewards powered by RealPage, you can opt into the Custom Incentives program and deliver to your residents virtual Amazon or MasterCard rewards cards to any resident in denominations as low as $5 to as high as $4,999. Rewards can be delivered instantly online or sent by regular mail. You’ll also have the opportunity to monitor the status of any resident incentive. We encourage you to review the Incentives program to find out how it can benefit you and your community.