Operations manager Veronica Maddox stepped into Reserve at Canyon Creek last September, facing one of the biggest challenges of her Connor Group career thus far.
“We had more than 600 work orders that were never written up. We were behind on 40 turns, and the residents didn’t trust us. We had a big customer service problem,” Veronica said.
Over the last six months, the Reserve at Canyon Creek team dug in, working to repair the residents’ trust and deliver exceptional customer service. In March, their hard work paid off with record-setting results. The team closed 44 approved rentals, the highest amount we’ve ever closed since we purchased the property in May of 2021.
“The reality is that we have the right people with the right mindset, who really made the difference,” partner and regional head Brad Dykes said. “On the sales side, our closing percentage was the material change. We closed 36.65-percent of our traffic. We’ve never had a closing percentage that high.”
The shift in momentum came at a critical time for the property. After falling off track in 2022, they needed to properly position the property to achieve a June $580,000 revenue target and potentially launch it for sale later this fall.
The solution started when Veronica and her team took extreme ownership of their problems at the property.
“It was painful. I had to own those problems. Brad told me to ‘eat the elephant one bite at a time.’ That’s what we did. I sent out a newsletter letting residents know when our customer service hours were, and it took months before I saw any happy faces,” Veronica said.
With the assistance of senior sales executive Joseph Bangert, sales associate Jazmine Beninate and manager in training Christie Vowell, the team turned the corner. They exceeded every goal in March and even came in under budget on delinquency. Their “nothing is impossible” mindset and mantra are driving customer service in the right direction.
“I’ve listened to the move-in calls, and so far, we’ve done a great job with move-ins. We made sure the apartments were ready. The residents have been very positive and appreciative,” Brad said.
On the service front, senior lead tech David Watson and lead tech Manny Melchor tag-teamed work orders and turns. And although the job was overwhelming, they considered the results rather rewarding.
“It was a little stressful, I’m not going to lie,” Manny said. “But when you have that grit and relentlessness, and a team that you work well with, you’re unstoppable.”
Under David’s leadership, Reserve’s customer survey score for work orders fixed in a timely manner and fixed right the first time went from a 2.1 in December to a 3.1 in March.
“David thinks like an owner every day when he comes into that property, and we couldn’t have done it without Manny too. Manny took the time to make sure we weren’t just turning apartments, but that they were turned at an 8.5 standard,” Veronica said.
Now, they’ve got their sights fixed on delivering back-to-back months of results while executing our systems.
“March was extremely rewarding. We were all ecstatic, but we know there’s more work to do,” Veronica said. “And I know we have the right team to make it happen.”
