Recently I reviewed several apartment communities on-line and then decided to drop into a few of these properties just to see if the advertising matched their product. I simply walked into each leasing office and asked for a tour of the community. What I saw on-line and what I experienced was really interesting and sadly not what I expected.
1. Property 1: The ad on-line read, “Great quality for a great price!” Well let’s just say they lost the “Great Quality” branding statement when I walked in the door: Handprints all over the entry door glass; resident packages tossed into the corner next to the door; poorly dressed leasing associates; no interest in me; the brochure was photocopied with pages of floor plans that were barely legible.
2. Property 2: The ad on-line read, “5 Star Service”. I was excited to visit this community. I walked in the door of this beautiful clubhouse and this is what I experienced: It took over 5 minutes to be acknowledged. Once I was acknowledged the leasing agent never got up from the desk and did not offer me a nice welcome or handshake. The agent handed me a brochure and asked if I had any questions. The agent never qualified me, never asked me my name and never asked me what was important to me in a community. I was told they had nothing to show but the ad said, “Visit our beautiful model today!” The leasing agent said it was down due to repairs.
3. Property 3: The ad on-line read, “A place to call home…..24 hour maintenance guarantee.” When I entered the office several discussions were going on with current residents. Nobody was happy and it sounded like most of the complaints surrounded around repairs not getting fixed. I was never acknowledged and from listening to all the complaining I definitely did not want to call this place home.
4. Property 4: The ad on-line read, “New carpet, light and bright interior….Free Weekly Brunch.” Obviously the new carpet was not pertaining to the office carpet as it was stained and dirty. The lights in the office were turned off as I guess they were going “Green” and saving on electric costs. I hoped the greasy plate of Otis Spunkmeyer cookies (out on the table) that had fruit flies buzzing around was nothing like the Free Weekly Brunch! Yes the show ready apartment had new carpet but the rest of the unit looked like it had not been updated since 1970. Oh ya it was light and bright because I don’t think they could have purchased a brighter white paint! Regardless of the new paint it did not cover up the smell of the cigarette smoke. I was not impressed.
5. Property 5: The ad on-line read, “Visit us today!” Guess what, I visited them just like it said and the office door was locked, they had no signage with hours, no brochure box, nothing! After the 5th property, I was so discouraged so I simply went home.
If you had me visit your community unannounced, what would I see? Does your advertising match your actual product?
No comments:
Post a Comment