Thirteen years and four million phone calls (not counting the emails and chats)- is obviously something to write home about. Home Properties Inc.’s contact center, open seven days a week, 365 days a year, reached this significant milestone in great style.
The contact center currently serves Home Properties' 119 apartment communities containing over 40,000 apartment units, and is staffed by a team of 21 employees who work at the Rochester headquarters.
"Our Contact Center is vital to Home Properties' success, as we are driven by the goal of providing exemplary customer service at all times," said Bernie Quinn, senior vice president of property management operations.
There are not many in-house contact centers for apartment residents and prospective residents, but they certainly do have advantages. Apart from cost of maintaining an internal contact center being about 40 percent lower than it would be when it is outsourced, the level of service is much higher.
Dedicated employees make the difference in ensuring a customer or prospect doesn’t go away disappointed. Having said that, it’s not possible for a team member to be available always; in such cases, calls are automatically forwarded to the contact center. In addition, the teams out there patiently listen to frustrated callers and try to resolve issues satisfactorily.
There’s also a host of other things that the contact center takes care of. It responds to emails requesting leasing information and handles 24-hour emergency maintenance service. It provides support for Spanish-speaking residents and prospects and supports the live “Web Chat” feature through the company website, hosting up to 70 chats daily.
“Home Properties makes it as easy as possible for residents and prospects to get a professional and consistent response from us, using whatever method works best for them," said John Ridge, director of the contact center.
Thus, the Contact Center reportedly provides Home Properties’ residents with an invaluable service—the ability to reach out to a helpful team member at any time and for any reason.
Clearly the contact center has been the focal point of a lot of activity. Of the four million calls answered since November 2001, Home Properties has processed 1.3 million resident service requests, scheduled almost 95,000 appointments for prospective residents to tour communities, while securing just under 30,000 leases. Home Properties certainly has good reason to be proud.