HRAC’s May Morning Coffee covered a subject that should be at the forefront of every property management professional’s mind given the high speed web-based world in which we live.

Presented by Donje Putnam, Regional Manager with Signature Management, the topic of discussion this month was Reputation Management which Arboretum Place was kind enough to host with Servpro sponsoring this event. Many areas were covered but Donje focused on the fact that while everyone strives for great reviews, be prepared for the critics as well.

Do you know where reviews about your communities and management companies are being posted online?

Who is responsible for responding to these reviews and are you doing so in a timely manner?

Here are Donje’s incisive 8 Steps to Handle Bad Reviews without Kicking People:

1. Write down your ideal response.

2. Throw it away, perhaps ripping it into tiny shreds to make you feel better.

3. Walk around your property twice.

4. Apologize and own the issue. Unless it is completely false, then still apologize.

5. Tell how you will correct it. Training, process, etc.

6. Offer to contact them off line to resolve the issue.

7. Thank them for the review and mention you will go over it with your staff.

8. Have someone proof your work. Most important with your response is that you write like 1,000 people are reading it and ensure that you don’t delay (2 to 3 days max) and keep it short. Be professional at all costs and have someone else respond if it’s directed at you personally.

What Donje hoped participants would take away from this meeting is: "If there are two things that you should start working on for your Reputation Management, it's to know what people are saying about your apartments and to start asking for positive reviews. Read your reviews and treat them as starting points for things to do on your site. Ask your happy residents to spread the word about living at your awesome community. There are always unhappy people and even though there are fewer of them, they are much more likely to leave a review than the many content residents you have at your community."

Be sure to join us on June 27th from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at Commons at Princess Anne in Virginia Beach where this month’s topic will be a panel led discussion on Budgeting sponsored by Jenkins Restoration. Be sure to register at www.vamaonline.org/events. Hope to see you there!