Hi, I’m Craig and I am the Client Success Manager here at Resident
Hopefully; unlike when I wrote My first 30 days, this might not be the first time you’ve heard of me!
In this blog, I am going to try my best to cast my mind back over my first full year at Resident and all that has happened along the way. Now, it was a challenge remembering 30 days worth, so this truly is an undertaking.
Alas, the slightly stronger coffee than usual sat upon my desk next to me, shall do its best to keep me on track… so, let’s dig in.
Firstly, who & what ‘is’ Resident
Well, I covered this in my previous post, but for all those reading this who may be using another provider, or are curious to know… here it is, in a nutshell, ofcourse.
Resident offers cloud based Block Management software, built by block managers, for block managers. Essentially, offering a ‘single view’ for all block management needs.
It was set up by our Founder, Kate Boyes – and for more information on how it all began, be sure to check out this lovely article for more of an insight: RESIDENT – simple answer to complex challenges in block management
Life after onboarding
In the days leading up to the end of the onboarding process, it’s fair to say that I was expecting everything to change. I don’t know why, but it was almost like I would wake up, find myself alone, nobody would be there and I would all of a sudden be in front of clients with only what I picked up in my first month, to go on.
Now, I am all or nothing in business. So perhaps this is why my irrational part of my brain assumed this would be the case. Onboarding done, now off you fly… alone.
I wish at that point I could have spoken to my future self and settled my anxieties around this, because it couldn’t have been further from the truth. For the most part, absolutely nothing has changed, whatsoever. I still have everyone around me, I still feel supported at every turn and I still ask questions. The major difference is that I am now fully part of the team and I am just as likely to be answering someone else’s question, too.
It is safe to say that going through onboarding to work at Resident, gave me the clearest opportunity to appreciate the anxiety, nervousness and excitement that switching software offers to our new clients when they join. So, from that perspective – I am so pleased that I got to feel exactly the same, so that I can appease those concerns ahead of them bubbling up, when onboarding new clients with us.
Finally, nerves are a good thing. It shows that you care and Resident really does; hugely in fact, on making sure we are doing all we can to set you up for success!
Biggest achievement
Let’s be honest, making wholesale changes when you are still quite new, isn’t always the norm.
But then Resident, isn’t like most other places that you could work. It is purposefully a small team, where your voice really does get heard!
So, having been onboarded myself, I used all of the resources that were on offer for new clients who were joining us. Aside from the 1-2-1 time with my colleagues doing screen shares etc (in the very same way that we continue to offer clients today), this meant predominantly utilising the amazing Resident Knowledge Base. I say amazing, because it is… it has 8 years worth of articles answering pretty much everything you could ever need to know, and there is no ‘chaos’ in finding what you need either. It’s quick to filter out the ‘other stuff’; like, super quick!
That said, it allowed me to look back at what I had studied; across live sessions with colleagues and from articles, and question what had ‘stuck’ in my mind the most. In other words, how do I best learn new information?
Truthfully, I had always known I was a visual learner and for me being shown how to do something – just sunk in so much easier and I found I didn’t need to ‘follow up’ on that topic again.
So, the subject of this portion is ‘Biggest achievement’, right?
I took to creating our; now, fully fledged Resident Video Library.
Essentially, a library dedicated to all of the various ‘How To’ videos, covering the widest of spectrums. All the way from the basics such as how to add a new leaseholder – all the way through to editing arrears processes, templates and how to use dynamic fields in emails!
Our 37 videos have now been watched in excess of 800 times. To put this into perspective, just one of our 4 minute videos has prevented our small team from being in 26 hours of 1-2-1 live meetings. More importantly, this enables us to help clients faster, more on demand and also for us to be more available for 1-2-1 training that clients really need (outside of what is covered by the Library). Plus, clients can ‘pause, play and replay’ me talking them through something, something not so easily mastered in ‘real time’ calls.
We also now provide accompanying videos to our major releases on the software. Showing you exactly where and what said release effects in your everyday life and show you what benefits you can expect to experience.
If you are currently a user of Resident and want to know more about the Resident Video Library, then use the contact button at the bottom of this blog!
Working from home
I feel like not addressing what it’s like to be ‘Remote First’, when working for a remote first business – would be a missed opportunity. So here it is in a nutshell, from my experience.
Personally, my average week spans circa 8 hours of live 1-2-1 sessions via Google Meet etc, so I haven’t really noticed any difference in ‘working alone’. Other than that I am adding more coffee to my weekly supermarket trip… but other than that is all positives over here.
I don’t think working full-time from home is for everyone, in just the same way as it isn’t for all businesses. For Resident it continually pushes us to develop training, onboarding and resources that are ‘rich’ and can be delivered with the same impact required, but ‘virtually’. So for us, it’s actually really important to live and breathe that mentality every day ourselves, so that it stays front and centre with all that we create.
What's next?
This is a hard one to be ‘restrained’ on, because there are so many great things happening already and even more that we could easily get excited over and push to the top of the list, but restraint is and must be observed!
Alas, lets whet the appetite a little for what’s in our future:
Over this past year we have been working on a brand new version of Resident – which is quite honestly, more than exciting and we cannot wait to continue working on this next year too.
I have plans to entirely change the way in which we bring people onboard to Resident. Now having tested the waters with video content for learning, I want to look at how we can enhance the overall experience.
Think more of a ‘Pack’ that you get sent after signing up with us – a ‘what to do before you start’, ‘what to expect’ and ‘what to learn from where’… all the links and all of the reassurance we all need when starting something new!
Newsletters! Yes, that’s right… sounds old school, but don’t worry, it won’t be making its way through your letterbox. We want to share what’s working well for other clients, what is new and what is coming up to get excited about!
So, that’s My first year all wrapped up! I hope you found it interesting, if nothing else I hope it helped to get to know me a bit better or just a simple ‘peep behind the curtain’, whilst enjoying that well earned cup of tea!
It has honestly been a pleasure getting to know so many of you over the last year, all whilst working with a team I am so blessed to call my colleagues.
Until next time, keep on keeping on and I look forward to catching up with you all again soon!
Jump onboard?
If you are like I was, looking for a company that is really answering a problem, really has a vision and knows how to get there – then feel free to connect with me! We’re always open to hearing from like minded people.
