Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
welcome to the multifamily womenpodcast where trailblazing women
of the multifamily industrygather to share their insights,
experiences, and wisdom fromproperty management to marketing
strategies, resident experienceto vendor relations.
Our conversations aim to coverevery facet of multifamily
living and the unique challengesand opportunities it presents.
(00:22):
Make sure you head over tomultifamilywomen.
com to grab your ticket for theupcoming multifamily women's
summit today.
And if you're enjoying theseepisodes, please subscribe,
rate, and review.
This helps others in ourindustry find the show.
And it lets us know how totailor our content.
Today will be a really fun showbecause I have a very happy
guest with an MBA under her beltand a career that has seen her
(00:44):
through some diverse roles.
Jennifer Carter's journey is atestament to adaptability.
Leadership and strategic acumen.
Jennifer's current position isthe customer advocacy manager at
HappyCo.
And I'm excited to dive into herinsights on reviews, reputation
management, and the delicatebalance of vendor and property
management relations.
(01:05):
So whether you're a seasonedprofessional in the industry,
just starting out or somewherein between, grab your
headphones, settle in and let'sget started.
Jennifer, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
I am so excited to be here.
I'm glad you're looking forwardto it.
Yeah, that's great.
So just starting off you were aproperty manager.
You've had various roles withinthe multifamily industry.
(01:28):
Can you give us a brief overviewof the evolution of your career
journey?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I think I stopped counting,but I think about 15 years ago I
did start as a property manager.
I started in a unique role,which was a traveling property
manager.
So it really allowed me to jumpon properties, assist from
(01:50):
marketing to leasing to even alittle bit of an assistant role
back in the day.
And yeah.
That started my journey ofreally learning from the ground
up and my feet on the ground,which I will say coming almost
full circle has been one of mygreatest strengths, which I
absolutely love.
And then from there, I actuallyworked for apartment guide which
(02:11):
is now rent for about five yearsassisting sales reps.
So shifting to the vendor side.
And then I work for two propertymanagement companies as a
director of marketing andtraining.
So I went back to the otherside.
And as they all say, I did takea short stint outside, but I
came back and I've not leftsince.
But yeah I've done a coupleother vendor roles with Satisfax
(02:31):
SmartRent, Fetch Package, andobviously currently with HappyCo
as the customer advocacymanager.
So as you had mentioned, I'vehad my feet on, on all sides of
our industry.
Yeah, that's great.
That gives you a reallyinteresting perspective.
I would imagine on all sides.
Everyone involved in decisionmaking.
Yeah, absolutely.
(02:52):
I, I.
Look at it as a little bit of asuperpower, right?
Like understanding what happenson sites even down to get into
the property manager to aregional level, to the training
and really being able toempathize and understand what
they're actually going throughon a day to day basis now being
on the vendor side.
It's been a great experience,really, honestly what I've
(03:15):
learned along the way up until,so my current position.
So I'm wondering how reviews andreputation management has
changed in importance over theyears since you've been in this
a while, I would imagine whenyou first started, it was a lot
different than it is today.
How has that changed?
It's interesting as it's beenevolving.
(03:35):
So one of my long opportunitiesthat I've had was a director of
client performance.
position with Satisfax.
And I had the opportunity towork with multiple management
companies on their residentreviews and resident
satisfaction looking at ways toincrease that.
And I think that it's onlyevolved to become more and more
(03:56):
important, right?
Like I feel like we do a lot of.
Searching for other people'sopinions whether it's on a site
or in a small group of networkof folks or people.
But I think that's really becomesuper important.
Honestly, like from the vendorside, as well as the onsite team
from residents, right?
It's the same story that, folksare looking for.
(04:19):
Testimonials or what folksreally like about where they
live.
And it's just really importantto make sure that you are
putting your best foot forwardright in every aspect of what
you do, whether that's toresidents, whether that's to
vendors, whether that's to justfriends in the industry, right?
I think that It's become moreand more important.
(04:39):
People trust what other peopleare saying.
And they rate that in their ownmind, probably higher than
anything else, of, of looking atthat.
And ultimately most people canbleed through the negativity and
really read what is the truthbehind it.
And Yeah, I think it continuesto be super important.
In, in what we do.
And I know in my personal life,I will look to reviews or to my
(05:01):
neighbor, right?
To get a, a vendor or, somebodyto help on my house even, right?
And so I think residents aredoing the same, right?
We want community.
We want to live and breathearound the people that we like
and trust.
And that comes through reviews.
And that's just really why Ithink it's so important.
Yeah, I agree.
And I'll take it a step furtherand also say that, I think that
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hiring talent, there's a lot ofreputation management that comes
into play with that as well,because we, we all think we're
choosing the candidate, but inlarge part, they're choosing us
right by our reputation.
Yeah.
And I think that we always saythat industry's large, but it's
small.
And so you are right.
I think that.
(05:42):
No bridge should be burned,right?
And we should always concentrateon doing our very best, no
matter where we are again, theindustry is small, and so your
reputation does stand outwhether you really want it to or
not, honestly, right?
You may say ah, it doesn'tmatter, but you just don't know,
and we are small, and we workclosely together, and Excuse me.
(06:03):
I do believe also that you'reright in looking for a new
position.
It's a two way street, right?
It's not just that companylooking for the right fit.
It is that person looking alsofor the right fit, right?
For them as well.
And you mentioned it a littlebit, but negative feedback is
inevitable.
I think how, what is yourstrategy for handling it?
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Not only just handling it, butlike transforming it if you
will.
Yeah, I think you're right.
It is inevitable.
I think that for meparticularly, I actually will
see a red flag if there is nonegative feedback, right?
Because we're all not perfect,right?
Inevitably, we're all gonna makemistakes.
We're not going to do things theway somebody really does want it
to be done, right?
(06:45):
We can't please everybody.
So ultimately, I actually thinkthat some negative is okay.
It comes back to how you handleit, right?
And so I'm really big on owningmistakes being transparent and
making sure that thecommunication is there, right?
And addressing it almost headon.
And sometimes I think people area little fearful of that because
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they're like it can cause more,moral ripple effect.
But ultimately, what I've seenfrom my experience is as long as
you are open, transparent,communicative, and really do
your best to find a resolution,then most of the time people are
happy, right?
And I think that as long as youaddress those and respond to
(07:27):
those folks that are maybe newto reading that review or that
response is going to understand.
What you said and did.
And I think that ultimately thatnew person reading that will
have some also empathy, right?
I think also we also just wantto be heard, right?
We also want to be validatedwhether that's as a resident, as
(07:47):
an employee, right?
That's one of the big things.
And so if they can feel heardand validated and what they are,
expressing, then I think thatplays a big part.
I also think that one of thethings really that I learned is
responding to reviews.
It's not responding for theperson that wrote the review.
(08:07):
It's actually responding for thefolks that are going to read the
review.
So I think if we cancontinuously think in that lens,
I think You know, I believewe'll come out a little bit more
on the positive side, right?
Because if you have some newprospect, reading a review and a
response, they're going to thinkoh, wow, management takes care
of this, right?
Management addresses this.
(08:29):
They're not leaving itunanswered and they're giving
their best attempt.
And that's really all that.
That you know that new personwants to know about.
Just a little bit of a mindshift is that yes, you're
responding to that currentreview, but really, ultimately,
it's for that new person takinga look at that review or that
response.
Yeah.
That's a really good point.
And just recently, this hasnothing to do with multifamily,
(08:50):
but recently I was searching fora new gym.
And gosh, I am one of those.
I will go down the review rabbithole and read every single one.
And this one close to my househad five, five star reviews.
And I'm like, okay, this isadorable.
They had their five employees,right?
About how amazing they are.
That was it.
And I was like, okay, swipeNext, I'm not going to even,
(09:14):
yeah, because I don't know howthe other ones that even had,
like you said, like not aperfect review, like if they
responded and we're like, oh mygosh, we hear you.
Here's how we're going to fixit.
You can see how management isgoing to handle it.
If something were to happen withyou and you were in that
situation, like it gives you anidea of what's going to happen.
Yep, exactly.
It's actually some negatives arenot bad.
(09:36):
I will say there's a littlethere's a little kind of formula
if you wish.
We always said one negativereview to every three positives.
We can't be perfect, but ideallyit's throwing in some it's okay,
to have some not perfect scores,right?
So think about it from thatperspective.
Yeah, it's real, right?
It's reality.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Made up things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(09:56):
So with with your experience onGo I hate saying both sides,
like one side against the other,we're all companies are a
collection of people, but withyour various experience in, it
was being a vendor supplierpartner and also on the
management side, what has beenwith, what were the challenges
between transitioning?
Do you think between thoseroles?
(10:20):
I got it.
I got to flip it first because Ithink that one of the biggest
things that's been Grateful.
I'm grateful for is that I'vehad the opportunity to learn and
understand, right?
I think that maybe the challengeis that things continuously
change, right?
And so trying to keep in the inknow or understand of what is
(10:43):
changing, right?
Because back in the day I wason.
On site, when social media wasjust becoming something right
and it was like, okay, how doyou handle this?
Now I and I only can empathizeto that knowledge that there's
twice as many things, right?
The leasing agent is being askedto do right like not just social
media on top of leasing.
So I think that sometimes Youknow, the challenges can be the
(11:06):
unknown of like, how do youreally manage that relationship
or maybe what you thought, thevendor wanted when you were on
property management side is notAlways the case when you're on
the vendor because you'redealing with many different, as
you said, personalities orpeople, right?
It's not just a one size fitsall kind of opportunity.
(11:27):
I also think that, going fromthe PMC side to the vendor side
one of the things as you go tothe vendors is being
inquisitive, right?
Be understanding, be, curiousI'm the type of person that I
love to build relationships.
And I love to somebody called methe other day connecting
(11:48):
creator.
I was like, Oh, that's fancy.
But I think that's ultimatelywhat it's about, is building
trust and transparency andauthentic being authentic.
And really for me, I'm all abouthaving the.
The PMC is best interest atheart.
And, in this industry, that'sreally, what everybody wants, I
don't really want to sell youanything.
(12:10):
I just, I want to see yousucceed.
And no matter what that is, I'ma true person of saying, you
know what, however that looks,there's.
There's something for everybody,right?
And that's not just in ourindustry.
We, you look at any industry,right?
There's a ton of options.
There's a ton of offerings.
And so I love being, that typeof person coming to the vendor
side where I can say, Hey, ifit's not me, or I can lead you
(12:33):
to something that might besuitable for you.
And that builds that, that trustwith them and that, Hey,
they're, they want what's bestfor me and what works for me.
I love creating conversation.
I was just doing a happy hourlast week, and I just love
talking to on site folks.
I love talking to regionals.
I love hearing how theirstruggles are and maybe what
(12:53):
opportunities, even not justHappyCo, but as an industry we
can solve, right?
Because there is so manyopportunities that are out there
that, we might have the chanceto be able to solve for them and
make their job a little biteasier.
So I don't know if that's anopportunity, but.
Absolutely.
No, I love that.
I love how you reframed that.
That's perfect.
You had mentioned to me prior tothis about being customer and
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resident obsessed.
I'm wondering if you want totalk about that and how that
perspective, we talked about youhaving an interesting
perspective because you've doneso many things.
Does that give you an edge?
Interestingly enough, I willhave to say specifically for
HappyCo, so they actually soughtme out to come to HappyCo
(13:37):
because one of our values iscustomer obsessed, and I am, I
truly care about the customerand what is going to benefit
them and, how can they be thespotlight, how can they actually
be the win, how can they get thewin, how can they, you.
Had the spotlight on thembecause ultimately we as vendors
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and suppliers, we're doing agreat job, but let's be honest,
these teams are truly managingmultimillion dollar assets,
right?
Like they're doing a lot of bigthings, a lot of big work.
And so I am just.
All about, helping other people.
That's just my nature, right?
Like my nature is to help otherpeople.
I always want to people seepeople succeed on my personal
(14:18):
time.
I love to volunteer, right?
So I'm always about others.
And and I think also have being,or have been on the PNC side.
I know what it's like, so I canempathize and I want to make
their job easier and let themkind of shine, from testimonials
to white papers to, awards orwhatever that is.
I just think that they're doingsuch great work.
(14:40):
And when I can leverage that forthem, through even happy code,
like I love being able to dothat.
I'm just really all aboutserving them to make, a better.
A better opportunity for them.
And so I think part of thatcomes from my innate of who I am
of like just loving to helpothers and pour out to others.
(15:01):
And Bringing people togetherwhether that's even on like
focus groups, right?
Or at an event, right?
At one of our conferences,right?
Being able to bring a lot ofpeople in the room and be able
to learn from each other.
So it was a great fit beingreally obsessed with the
customer.
And then, finding ways to drivepersonally happy cause, customer
(15:22):
advocacy aspect.
So I think that's likereferrals, or an advisory board
or, other ways to do that, tolet them shine.
Yeah, that's where it all stemsfrom.
Yeah, so how do you balancemarketing strategies with
delivering a genuine andvaluable resident experience?
(15:43):
I think the other part of me,the other side of my brain I am
very numbers driven, right?
So I love to be able to tell astory where the numbers make
sense.
So I think that's where mymarketing aspect of that
delicate balance of looking forand talking to those customers
where, their story is verytelling right?
From the marketing aspect, fromthe marketing side, right?
(16:05):
So it's like taking those twosides of The customer obsessed
piece, but saying, Hey, how dowe tell that story from a
marketing lens?
Whether that's, videos orcollateral or, a webinar or
whatever that is, but I am verynumbers driven.
And as long as the story is agreat story, I want to be able
to showcase that story.
So a little bit of the creativeside with a little bit of the
(16:28):
number side meshed together, ismaking sure that balance is
there.
Yeah, that sounds like a perfectmix there.
Yeah.
So I'm wondering in, in theyears that you've been in
multifamily.
Just personally speaking, anychat, like big challenges you've
faced that you've overcome orbig accomplishments where you
think back and you're like, man,I just, I can't believe I did
(16:49):
that.
That was awesome.
Personally, one of the biggestaccomplishments for me, and I
never really was like, yes, thisis what I have to do, but I
guess two maybe come to mind.
One is having the opportunityand I think, maybe some people
can relate.
I'm probably sure you can, butas being able to speak on stage.
So I've had the opportunity tospeak at like NAA and BAMA and,
(17:11):
I submitted for 2024.
I continue to hone those skillsand I have done in the past and
that was probably one reallygreat accomplishment.
I think.
The other great accomplishmentwas being able to stand at the
New York Stock Exchange withSmart Rent and go public.
I don't have it on my desk here,but it is upstairs.
I have my badge that says NewYork Stock Exchange.
And so I just, I'm really to saythat I'm proud to be able to do
(17:32):
that right and help that ventureat that point in my career from
that perspective.
So I would say those probablyare So you And I don't take this
one lightly as probably thethird, but honestly, like just
the friends, and the networkingand, we're all very respectful
of each other and we all knowthat we have something else to
(17:52):
something to bring, to thismarket.
And so I.
I do love this industry for thatmatter.
You just can't get any better ofthe people in our industry, no
matter where they're they sit,whether that's, property
managers, regionals, executives,suppliers, anything like that.
But yeah, I would say like thosetwo are probably my biggest
accomplishments from thatperspective that I can look back
(18:14):
on from the last, like 15 years.
I remember watching that on theNew York stock exchange.
I always try to watch when it'sa company I, I know, or have any
kind of connection with, andthat was very exciting.
It was very exciting for sure.
For sure.
So looking into the future, howdo you anticipate the evolution
of resident experience andreputation management within
(18:34):
multifamily?
This one I love.
This is great.
Okay, great.
And I actually blogged a littlebit about this on MFI, but I am
a, and you may not find thisshocking, but I am a true
believer that regardless of AI,regardless of technology, We
need to still have humaninteraction, right?
Like I if I could shout anythingfrom the roof shop from any to
(18:59):
any company, whether it's vendoror PM seaside, it's don't lose
the fact that we have to have ablend, right?
We need to figure out what thatbalance is.
And it may look different forevery management company, right?
Rightfully but I We just need todo that because we as humans
want human to human connection,right?
(19:20):
We want that.
We just have to figure out atwhat point is that in their
journey, right?
And what can we do to help withthe technology to meet, in the
middle, so to say.
So I think that as the future,I'm all about embracing
technology.
I don't ever want to say liketechnology is no good, but.
You needed to be at the rightplace at the right time and
(19:42):
still interject a human, right?
That's what I say we, we hear ahappy co we don't we love AI,
but we are very H I, which ishuman intelligence, right?
We want humans to still be partof the equation.
And yeah, I'm, I am.
All for wanting to be able tomaybe make a splash and have a
say in making sure that webalance that right.
(20:04):
In whether it's leasing, whetherit's maintenance, whether it's.
It's it's renewal, whatever itis, we really need to find that
balance because again, I thinkwe all need that and want and
crave that human interaction.
It's just got to be at the righttime for that particular journey
for that resident or for thatbuyer in general.
What lessons or strategies fromother sectors do you believe
(20:26):
that multifamily could benefitfrom?
I wouldn't have normally saidthis, but I'll tell you a real
quick story about what justhappened.
So I've been looking for a newcar right at very beginning
stages and believe it or not.
I, this is crazy because I wouldhave never thought this would
have happened to me.
So I was looking for the newcar.
I had been texting them, believeit or not.
(20:48):
And it was a person.
He literally was like, Hey, I'mnot going to be in tomorrow.
I'm going to give you to thisnew guy.
That's going to help you.
And I was like, great.
The new guy actually texted meand said, Hey, so and so let me
know that, you'll be intomorrow.
He got there.
He took his time with me.
I let him know I was runninglate.
He was like, no problem.
And then ultimately it was likethe follow up was great.
(21:08):
I didn't buy, but it was, thetiming and it wasn't pushy and
he answered my questions exactlyas I had, had facilitated.
It wasn't over the top.
It wasn't, extra.
And honestly, like to thismoment, like I would go back and
buy a car from him from myexperience.
And it was great.
It was a little bit of both.
I started online, right?
Like I inquired, I preferredtext.
(21:31):
And so he met me at that momentof where I had asked for, and
how I wanted to becommunicative.
And although it didn't lead to asale, if, Okay.
Something were to happen.
I would absolutely go back tothere and find him and be like,
Hey, can you help me?
There was just an opportunity toconnect and meet me where I was
at.
(21:52):
And he did that.
And so I wouldn't have thoughtthat would happen in car sales,
quite frankly, but I did getthat experience.
Yeah, that was pretty pretty newfor me, which I was pretty
ecstatic about.
I will say as we all do in thisindustry, hospitality is one,
right?
Like hotels just have that nextlevel experience from check in
(22:12):
to, while you're there.
I think the last hotel I stayedat was a Hyatt or a Hilton.
I can't remember which one, butyou can select your room like
before you get there.
And I'm like, this is the greatexperience ever.
So I just think that, we couldlook outward to, still
hospitality from a bigperspective on, on that one.
That's the first one that kindof Comes to mind, right?
(22:35):
Because it is most similar.
Airbnb is another 1, right?
Their homeowners are availablewhen you need them, right?
But everything else isrelatively on your own, right?
But it's like meeting thatperson where they're at when
they have a question, right?
And being available.
That is another 1 that kind ofcomes to mind.
Although I am probably the mostfrequent shopper is Amazon.
(22:56):
So same.
Oh my goodness.
I can't even talk about that.
Especially not in a recording asthe Amazon driver is like at my
door.
I have an order coming todaytoo.
It's okay.
No, the car dealership though,that's a perfect example because
like you said, they made it easyfor you to get the answers you
(23:17):
needed when you needed themthrough text, right?
Like right away.
You're not even on the phone.
You're just texting, which isgreat.
And then through the humaninteraction, the great customer
service that they provided toyou, that brought you in.
Person to the dealership.
And now you have a relationship,like you said with that.
I think the other thing toalways remember, and it's hard,
(23:38):
is think about what we're doingthat we may not get the lease or
we may not get somethingimmediately, but it's the long
term let's call it strategy.
If you wish, of like the longterm.
What we're going to get rightnow.
I think that's part of why I'mcustomer obsessed is I'm not
there to get you tomorrow or in30 days, but I want to build a
(24:01):
relationship with you so that ifyou do need something, I'm there
for you in the end.
And that's when it's actuallygoing to come back.
I might not buy a car from himtoday, but you know what his.
The way he went about it isactually going to be lasting
where I would go back and Imight ping him in another 60
days and say, Hey, my criteriahas changed.
Like you are great.
(24:22):
Do you have anything else?
So I think it's trying to beless about ourselves and more
outwardly about others.
And that in the long term,that's what's actually going to
be most beneficial to allparties, and to both as we said
sides, but to, to both peoplethat are, looking in, in the
part of the business.
Yeah, I'm just such a, such anoutwardly obsessed person of
(24:45):
others.
I love that.
That's a great quality to have.
And going off of that for thoseeither.
Just entering multifamily or,aspiring to be where you are
wanting to grow, what would you,what advice would you have for
them?
I honestly, like I would stay inthe know, meaning read as much
(25:09):
as you can read, right?
Find somebody.
That you might be interested in.
Don't be afraid to ask ask thatperson to be a mentor, ask that
person to grab coffee, right?
Even if it's virtual, right?
One of the things most recentlyI did, I'm in Atlanta and I was
like, Hey, everybody who's inAtlanta, doesn't matter what you
do.
Come have coffee, right?
(25:29):
Like we can learn from eachother.
And I think that this industryis very open to that.
So anybody, no matter where youare, be curious, ask questions
read about, our industry fromarticles, listen to podcasts,
but ultimately.
Don't be afraid to speak up andstep out.
No question is a stupidquestion.
(25:50):
No question is a bad question, Ithink.
And I believe that everybody inour industry is willing to share
information, right?
And wants to help other peoplegrow.
And I'm just that way.
I'm more than happy to helpsomebody find a job or answer
questions or, just.
Make some, connect some dotsshould they need to be, with our
industry.
(26:11):
So yeah, I'm all for maybesomebody making sure that they
make it a goal to maybe ask twoor three questions or link up
with two or three people amonth.
So you can, learn more.
I love that, at the summits thatwe produce, the multifamily
women's summit, I always try tobring in experience from.
Other industries as well, likeyou said, because I think it's
so important to get thedifferent perspectives.
(26:33):
There's a conference.
I attend every year.
That's for female entrepreneursof any industry.
It's just entrepreneurs.
So it's everything under thesun.
And I think those differentperspectives and having.
People you can go to and justsay, Hey, I need help here.
Or what would you do in thissituation?
All of that.
I think everything you said isgreat.
(26:54):
And I think that, I love doingthat because I've had a few
folks for me that have done thatfor me.
And so being able to offer thatto others is really key.
And I think that's what keeps,our industry great, is being
able to give back and helpothers so that they can be
successful too.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
Now, is there anything that Ididn't ask you that I should
have or that you want to leaveour listeners with?
(27:16):
I guess after all this talk, ifyou do want to reach out, you're
totally welcome to you can findme.
I'm pretty active on LinkedIn.
You can find me there justJennifer Carter and I'll be
happy to connect, ask questionsgrab a cup of coffee on Zoom, or
even at a, an event.
I'm happy to do that as well.
Yeah that's me.
Okay.
That's great.
(27:36):
And we will link to you in ourshow notes as well.
So anyone listening, you'll beable to find Jennifer really
easily and she's very responsiveand very friendly, obviously,
and knowledgeable.
Jennifer, thank you so much fortaking the time and joining me
today.
Absolutely.
It's been a pleasure.
I've had fun.
Oh, good.
Listen to to our listeners, as Isaid, make sure you check out
(27:57):
the show notes for a recap alongwith other resources mentioned
during this episode.
Like I said, we'll link toJennifer on LinkedIn so you can
connect with her there.
This has been another episode ofthe multifamily women podcast,
and I thank you for joining ustoday.
Stay tuned for more episodes andwe'll see you in the next show.