Good Vibrations... Satisfied tenants are 12-20% more likely to renew their leases. That's according to John Falco at Kingsley Associates, which provides customized research and consulting services, including tenant surveys.

Last week I met with Kingsley's staff in San Francisco and Atlanta (via conference call). Kingsley represents investors (5 of the top 10 REITs), service providers and corporate users. What these clients share in common is a desire to know exactly what their tenants, customers and employees, respectively, are thinking about their services.

Falco likes to say (facetiously), "There are no new tenants." So it's especially important to try to predict the actions of existing tenants. Renewing an existing tenant is much easier than finding a replacement tenant. And, according to Falco, "A good survey is a highly accurate predictive tool."

Likewise, if you're a property manager, it's a lot more difficult to land a new portfolio than to retain an existing client. So service providers also benefit by having a third party develop accurate feedback on their performance.

So how do you keep customers happy? Respond quickly. Resolve the problem. Communicate the solution. Doesn't sound like rocket science. Then why is it so difficult?

--Peter Pike