Horizon Realty’s blunder!

Marketing & Sales — By Vik Duggal on July 29, 2009 at 2:10 am

While Chicago-based Horizon Realty Group isn’t the first company to err big time in a newly forming business environment, it may the first old school real estate industry-based company to do so. While many news articles and blog posts you will read on the popular topic are discussing the “social media”, or “twitter” blunder the company made, this is a bigger issue; a customer relationship issue; a business issue.

The fact of the matter is someone upstairs at Horizon Realty is simply out of touch. This goes back to the basics of taking care of your customer, really loving what you do, and using the same tools that could hurt your organization, to help! (Side note: Who goes after someone who made a twitter post that only 20 people would have caught?? I mean really.) But let’s get the to the issue.

Background:
Amanda Bonnen, a tenant in an apartment rented from Horizon Realty, posted a note on popular social network site Twitter. At the time of her post, only 20 people were following, or subscribed to her Twitter content. The post, or tweet, stated:

“Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment is bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.”

This didn’t rub Horizon Realty the right way and Jeffrey Michaels, who’s family has owned the company for 25 years, came out with a statement:

“The statements are obviously false, and it’s our intention to prove that.” He said that while she moved out recently, the company never had a conversation about the post and never asked her to take it down.
“We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.”

As of this Monday, July 27, 2009, Horizon is suing Amanda for libel, looking for $50,000 in damages to their reputation. By Tuesday, the Internet was abuzz with discussion over how ridiculous this whole thing has gotten - yes, things move that quickly online too - and by the end of the day Horizon Realty had becoming a trending topic on Twitter.

What does all this mean?
First of all it means that Horizon Realty reputation is in the dumps. The fact that they took a comment on twitter, processed it, and the output was a lawsuit is just crazy. In the world of the web, the appropriate word here would be: FAIL. The fact that they released a press release and deny the mold issue, but never use any of the relevant tools of today (digital still or video camera), or even discuss how they sent someone to look at the issue immediately doesn’t help their cause.

Unless they are miraculously able to figure out they are going down the wrong road, correct course, and fix their tarnished reputation with the public while people still remember who they are, it’s all over. Horizon Realty as it stands today will now and forever be a case study folks will look to as what not to do - EVER - when someone says something nasty about you.

By the way, if you think about it, it wasn’t the post on twitter that created this mess for Horizon; it was filing the lawsuit.

What can we learn from this?
As a consumer you have a voice and what you think, write, or say matters. Amanda had 20 followers and now everyone has read her post. For businesseses out there, the real lesson is to engage with your customer. All Horizon Realty should have done with figure out how to contact Amanda, deal with her problem one-on-one, fix the issue and move on; instead they’ve tarnished what quite possibly probably was a great reputation for their company.

This isn’t a company that doesn’t understand “social media” or “twitter”. Horizon Realty sounds like a company that just doesn’t understand business. My question is, I wonder how many other tenants will now feel free to complain about Horizon Realty?

I’ll see you in the comments.

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  • Vik -
    As with almost anything, people see events through their particular prism and from their particular perspective. Which is only human nature. I call it the "Specialist Effect" - just because I thought I had to give it a name.

    For example, if you have an ailment, let's say something simple like a headache. Go see an Dietician. He'll tell you the ailment is tied to food and food allergies. Stop by the Chiropractor on the way home, and she'll tell you a few adjustments will cure the headache. The Opthamologist will tell you it's your eyes, and you need new glasses. Your Dentist will tie it all into TMJ. And your Physician? Well, he'll prescribe something, of course! LOL You get my point....

    A business person - in this case, in the real estate industry - might focus on the customer relationship issue, the business issue.
    A community organizer might focus on class and power issues that could be at play.
    A healthcare worker might use the (alleged) mold and it's possible effects as the justification for the tenant's action.
    A social media specialist might focus on the avenue (Twitter) through which the communication began.
    What would Ghandi do? : )

    But here's the prescription-du-jour:
    1. Focus on the landlord (vs. the tweet or tweeter).
    2. Minimize the initial impact of a tweet by a tweeter that "only" had 20-or-so followers.
    3. Point out that only through the business's bad decision to sue did the story gain any traction.
    4. Advise the lawsuit be dropped.
    5. Advise the business get into social media...and fast.
    6. Advise the business to plunk someone down on twitter 24/7 to monitor their brand and respond pronto to every little tweet that mentions them.

    OK, I exaggerate a little there.

    But is there a different way to look at the situation and it's resolution? I don't know, I'm just asking, really. For example, could anyone have imagined that a President of the United States would invite a policeman and a professor to have a beer with him to diffuse some hostility, attempt to treat each other as adults and with respect, and have a little humility, too?

    Thanks for your perspective from the real estate side of things. : ) And thanks for checking out my social media perspective, in my post "If I Had A Social Media Hammer" at http://bit.ly/TOegB.
  • Nice work Vik. I had similar thoughts yesterday. How would you advise Horizon now if they contacted you to fix their little PR problem?
  • First piece of advice - drop the lawsuit!
  • Vik, btw, the image isn't loading up for this article. Check the URL! Also, you might want to consider NOT using their logo on this post for legal reasons.

    Remember, Horizon is a "sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization"
  • Sam - Thanks. Fixed the URL; changed the logo to something a bit more appropriate!
  • I am so stoked to see this post here! These guys screwed up big time. I couldn't believe that they didn't even bother contacting the poster and asking them to redact their comments -- and make things right.

    Property managers cannot afford to be idiots right now. Rental occupancy is down 9% nationwide and people are moving out left and right all over the place for better deals!

    How much you want to bet that Horizon pays some company to get them caught up to speed or atleast half-way to speed on social media to try and repair their reputation.
  • jamesbedell
    Nice post! I think people's gut feeling about facebook and twitter (see: your fave social media site) is a sense of communal ownership. They realize their content is part of what makes the site worth visiting and so more so that even the basic web, corporate use/engagement in the social web needs to be carefully calibrated. This smacks of big corporate attacking one of US. Who hasn't, on twitter especially, passed a comment about some product or service? It's exactly that kind of commentary that marketers are vying for. Yet some genuine negative feedback sent these guys looking for their legal team. EPIC FAIL
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