With a 30-year track record as a leader in the multifamily sector, AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB) is continuing to transform its operating model to extend capabilities, spur innovation, support resident satisfaction, and increase efficiency. The recent opening of the REIT’s second centralized customer care center underscores that strategy, and points to additional innovation to come.
Arlington, Virginia-based AvalonBay owns a portfolio of 300 apartment communities with more than 91,000 apartment homes across 12 states and the District of Columbia.
“Our vision is to create a seamless experience for our residents, prospects, and associates,” says Michael Coyne, vice president of operations at AvalonBay. “Delivering that experience requires several components working together: a strong digital platform, an experienced centralized back-office team, and coordination on ‘front office’ customer-facing responsibilities between remote and on-site associates.”
In 2007, AvalonBay established its first customer care center in Virginia Beach, Virginia—the first centralized service center in the multifamily sector. Over the last 17 years, the customer care center has provided enhanced customer service to residents and prospects at a lower operating cost.
“When we started the customer care center during our initial wave of centralization efforts, it concerned itself primarily with back-office functions—rent payments, billing, accounting; it was those back-office functions that, in our industry, were still being performed at the property level,” says Lisa Bongardt, SVP of operations at AvalonBay. “No one else had done what we did, but we realized there was a more efficient way to operate. That was transformational for us.”
Freeing Up Resources
Through the customer care center, AvalonBay was able to offer support at a higher level to customers, while freeing up community associates to focus intently on services that made more sense to provide on-site.
“On-site associates were able to provide greater touch-point levels of service to residents in person at our communities,” Bongardt says. “It resulted in a really strong partnership between our centralized teams and our on-site teams and influenced how we collaborate in service of the customer.”
As proptech advanced and AvalonBay had more tools at its disposal, the company realized it could also move front-office activities to the centralized team and enable even higher service levels while lowering the overall cost of service.
“Initially, we were operating during bankers’ hours, and we could only give tours in those shorter, old-school windows of time. We then unlocked a new capability to allow prospects to see our product and make leasing decisions seven days a week, 10 hours a day,” Bongardt says. “By centralizing our renewal support, we allowed people to make decisions at their fingertips, when it was convenient for them, rather than having to go to the property and make an appointment. That’s really taken off and helped us expand and grow over time.”
Historically, apartment sales were done by on-site associates during face-to-face engagements. But it was still ultimately constrained by the hours when leasing associates were available.
Today, AvalonBay is focused on meeting people where they’re at, accommodating their unique schedules and touring preferences.
Full Suite of Tools
While this additional level of service would normally significantly increase costs, AvalonBay’s fully integrated approach allows the company to be more effective and efficient. For instance, it can deliver high-quality service by leveraging a full suite of digital and AI tools combined with AI-assisted remote associates at the customer care center.
“Our self-guided tours eliminate the need to coordinate scheduling with an on-site leasing associate and are supported through innovative technology tools, including smart locks, AI features that answer prospects’ most commonly asked questions, and a digital platform that delivers access details to our prospects so they can get in and navigate the building through digital maps, community details, photographs, and FAQs,” Coyne says. “And we have a single button they can press which will connect them to our remote leasing team.”
The AI assistant supporting pre-tour needs goes by the name Sidney, and repeatedly, many who come in for a tour ask to see “Sidney.”
“You know it’s working and that it feels like a seamless experience when they come asking for the AI,” Bongardt says. “It’s powerful when we hear that because we know the customer is being served well, and they’ve had a good experience while getting into and exploring the community.”
Additionally, the centralized model and digital advancements also support lease renewals, allowing all satisfied residents to re-sign or extend their lease without extra hassle. For instance, the Virginia Beach center has a team of specialists completely focused on renewal conversations, assisting those who look to renew and conducting outreach proactively.
“The renewal product we built through our portal offers a self-service renewal experience,” Bongardt says. “The resident gets a notification that their renewal is ready and then they are able to completely self-serve through the digital product to see lease term options, rate, when a notice is due, and other key data needed to make a renewal decision.”
This is all done through AI support first, and if AI can’t answer a question or finalize the ask, a centralized associate will follow up directly.
“Residents have the potential to execute a lease agreement without talking to anyone if they so choose,” Bongardt says. “If someone is more detail-oriented and prefers human interaction, someone will follow up and they can get that level of service though the lease-management product.”
This centralized approach also provides significant support during emergencies, including extreme weather events, power outages and fires, as the team can deliver critical safety information when on-site associates are busy attending to the issue at hand.
“Residents can also enter their maintenance service requests in real time and get updates on the project while they are out or at work,” Bongardt says. “As our residents adjust to this new way of communicating with us, they are appreciating the opportunity to get more information faster, as well as more peace of mind. The biggest benefit is accessibility.”
A Second Center Opens
This spring, the company opened its second customer care center in San Antonio, Texas.
“As we continue to prioritize innovation that strengthens service, we’ve decided to invest in a second location in San Antonio to reinforce our Virginia Beach capacity and further advance our responsiveness and accessibility for those living in or interested in our communities,” Bongardt says.
San Antonio will ultimately employ 100 associates, and AvalonBay is building momentum on its customer care there, providing even more front-office support, dealing in leasing, renewals, and everyday service.
“We are now going beyond our own residents and starting to provide those services for other companies in the industry,” Coyne says. Last year, AvalonBay entered a partnership with Atlanta-based Gables Residential to provide back-office financial administrative support services for Gables’ 25,000 units.
“It’s an exciting growth path when we can find and execute these ‘win-win scenarios,’ where we create strong efficiencies, lower our operating costs, and also provide more consistent service and broader access for residents,” Coyne says. “This intersection of strong digital tools and a strong partnership between our centralized and on-site teams has created that win-win.”
The city of San Antonio location was chosen for several reasons, one being that the different time zone helps expand hours for AvalonBay’s communities on the West Coast.
“Business continuity is our largest consideration,” says Steve Fabian, senior vice president, customer care center. “As our centralized processes support more front-end functions such as touring, leasing, and renewals, we want to ensure we have uninterrupted service. This also applies to our third-party platform, where industry standard calls for a second site as a backup.”
The city also has an existing vibrant call center community. “We will be able to source talent very easily,” Fabian says. “Also, it is an area that, while not immune to extreme weather or natural disasters, is pretty sheltered.”
Staffing and Training
Since the first customer care center opened in 2007, AvalonBay has deployed a robust training schedule, with a multi-week on-boarding process where employees learn about the tools they will utilize, the culture of AvalonBay and its customer philosophy. From there, they go through a shadowing program and gain intensive experience using the system.
“Our expansive training program benefits both our residents and our associates,” Fabian says. “Our residents, in most cases, can get the answers they need the first time they contact us, and our associates feel well equipped and confident to handle whatever may come their way.”
“There’s a continuous quality control and feedback loop that happens and we have a rigorous program of monitoring the calls and then reviewing those calls with our associates and going through a quality review board session as well, so associates receive valuable feedback on how their call interaction went,” Bongardt says. “It’s focused on the quality, the speed, the content, the sale emphasis—there’s a whole matrix of what we look at to ensure there’s a good experience happening.”
While AvalonBay recruits externally for these jobs, many Customer Care Center associates have been with AvalonBay for years, coming from community roles.
“Bongardt says. “This was a win for many associates, who maybe were in on-site roles initially and for life reasons wanted a change in their work, schedule, or responsibility. We like to have a blend of bringing in new talent and growing existing talent.”
A Look Ahead
As it plans for the future, AvalonBay continues to prioritize innovation.
“It’s hard not to talk about AI when we talk about innovation,” Coyne says. “It’s been exciting to see how quickly the capabilities have grown over the last couple months and years. We are exploring opportunities to embed AI in new areas where we are confident that it can enhance the quality of direct responses to a customer or enable our associates to give more accurate or quicker responses.”
For AvalonBay, the future of centralization is one where AI is a major tool in its toolbox.
“When it comes to our operations strategy, the ultimate goal is not to have everything be centralized, but for all the pieces to work together in service of our guiding principle: delivering a great customer experience,” Bongardt says. “We want to centralize strategically and make tasks more efficient, while creating the best experience for residents, prospects, and associates alike.”