Inside the Funnel — Nikki Hand — Multifamily’s future depends on specialization, AI, and human-centered operations

In this episode of Multifamily Unpacked, Nikki Hand, Chief Product Officer and Chief Customer Officer at Funnel, shares how specialization, centralization, and human-centered AI are reshaping multifamily operations. Nikki reflects on Funnel’s evolution since 2020, the industry’s shift to the new operating model, and why AI works best as a teammate, not a replacement. 

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Episode transcript:

0:00 Inside the Funnel — Nikki Hand — Multifamily’s future depends on specialization, AI, and human-centered operations

Hannah O’Leary: Welcome back to Multifamily Unpacked. I’m Hannah O’Leary, producer of the show.

Before today’s Inside the Funnel conversation, let’s start with a quick tyler’s take on why multifamily keeps losing its best people.

We hire smart people, ask them to be good at everything and as a result our best performers burn out or leave.

The old operating model depends on generalists. And at today’s scale, that model breaks.

That’s why the best operators are rethinking how work gets done and how AI and humans work alongside each other.

In this clip, Tyler Christiansen, CEO of Funnel, explains why AI works best as a teammate. One that absorbs the repeatable work, preserves context, and lets people focus on the work that actually requires judgment.

Let’s take a look.

Tyler Christiansen: Our industry has a retention problem because we ask associates to do so much busy work.

And so we are absolutely committed to helping our partners improve their retention with their employees. We fundamentally believe is well at Funnel is that we are not gonna get to a world in which these large, professionally managed apartment communities, you know, most Funnel, uh, apartment communities have 300 apartment units.

We’re talking about 600 people living in these buildings, right. Most of our customers and most renters don’t want to live in a Wally world where there’s no humans assisting them. They want more hospitality level concierge service however, these age agentic workflows and con and a conversational AI will create a greater need for what we call centralization.

And what that is is that historically in the apartment industry. All of the work was done on site, right? We still think there will be, again, a hospitality level service, maintenance service on site. But most of the work that will be left over, say for instance, renewals, there will be a, a swath of renters across a portfolio that still need human engagement, that need, you know, somebody to negotiate with them across property renewal or, or some other unique scenario funnels.

Technology will allow that work to be centralized and aggregated at a portfolio level. As we work with the largest brands and multifamily folks like Greystar and Cortland and Camden, they’re very interested in automating away the conversations that we can, enabling automated agentic workflows, and then centralizing the rest of the work to provide consistency and ensure a very small lead time between AI handoff and human taking over.

Hannah O’Leary: That perspective sets up today’s conversation.

I’m joined by Nikki Hand, Chief Customer Officer at Funnel. Nikki works closely with multifamily leaders as they redesign their operating model, specialize roles, and rethink how teams support renters and residents in finding and loving their new homes. Let’s get into it.

2:41 The evolution of the Funnel product suite since 2020

Hannah O’Leary: Alright, Nikki, thank you for being here today. You are our Chief Customer Officer here at Funnel, but you started as the first remote hire in the early COVID days. That was a time when Funnel was really just starting to scale and support property management needs nationally. Can you speak to how our products developed during that time, in partnership with customers?

Nikki Hand: Yeah. COVID 2020. Trip down memory memory lane. Still a bit bummed. Never got to witness the OG Nestio Funnel NYC office, but there you go.

I’d say reflecting on the Funnel product suite and our customer projects that I was involved in supporting with Funnel five years ago relative to what it is today is a pretty fun exercise to compare and contrast.

It’s pretty incredible to think about the evolution we’ve gone through, both with our customer needs and then our ability to sprint forward with our customers to solve those through our software.

I would say, product wise when I think just kind of give a baseline, right, the Funnel CRM always had this unique differentiator. Even when I joined the company, which was since day one, it’s been blunt with this unique framework architecture that no other vendor or PMS had. 

We refer to it as Renter Management Software. Because of that, it has really set us apart over the years and allowed our customers to envision a new way to operate their business.

In 2020, we were lucky enough, and I personally was lucky enough, to be able to work with some of our early REIT partners that believed in this vision and believed in us early on.

We took a very hands-on approach with them, did a lot of co-development type partnership, which was really instrumental in getting Funnel to the platform and best-in-class CRM that we offer today. 

Through that, our product strategy has definitely evolved I would say for the first three or so years from COVID we really focused on expanding the breadth of what we offer. And then in more recent years said, let’s just go deeper into those core product suites that we’re seeing a lot of value add for our customers. 

A little bit more specifically of what I mean by that. In 2020 when we looked at the Funnel CRM, it was really built to support the sales process. The prospect side of the journey for helping teams, onsite teams, lease apartment homes. 

We just partnered with Essex, to build out an integrated contact center within the CRM, which ended up being kind of like the case study for how the industry start centralizing a sales team. And doing that in such a critical time where the majority of the workforce, regardless of what vertical you were in, had to be remote. So the success of that really grew because we started seeing Cortland and Camden and others start to embrace this functionality, and we’re like, okay, we’re on to something here. 

But as we started seeing those types of centralization features get more adoptions from our customers, we also recognize that we are doing that in and applying their own different flavor, kind of secret sauce to it, and that really drove us down this path of making functionality from this centralisation perspective very extensible to account for different operating models that our customers wanted to test and experiment with.

And we’re only really continued to go deeper and deeper over the years with the platform in this area, whether it’s, you know, the release of My Queue for curated task management or centralized availability for podded scheduling or cross selling with our AI and so forth. All of those things really try to provide our customers as much flexibility to cater towards their form of centralization. 

I would say the other kind of key thing that sticks out to me over the past five years is how much we’ve evolved those touchpoints and where Funnel comes into play in that overarching renter journey. I mentioned before that we start out really on the prospect sales side of things, and we’ve extended to close that full renter journey lifecycle. And that was the impetus for us building our online leasing product and our ResApp product. And while it was a little bit scary at first to get into that rena, it’s probably proven to be one of the best product directions we’ve made for our customers. 

Because when you think about it at the end of the day while each operator may have specific KPIs or objectives they have, it all boils down to how do I create the best renter experience and the best team experience, and you really need a unified system to support the full journey to be able to do that. 

Being able to say we can provide those workflows to support a centralized sales team or an applications team that you still maintain may be leaner, you name it, that is extremely exciting and important for them. And just being able to capture that full renter journey has also been just a huge shift that we’ve been really excited about. 

8:07 Multifamily’s centralization journey: 2020 vs. today

Hannah O’Leary: Those were the early days of centralization with our first partners like you talked about, Cortland, Camden, Essex. I know how people talk about centralization has definitely changed in five years and seems to change the flavor and word for it. How do companies in general think of it and talk about it today?

Nikki Hand: In the early days, I think honestly there was perhaps a misperception of centralization. I think it was really commonly viewed as only being one possible for owner operators and those that have a really high geo density footprint across their portfolio. And quite frankly, kind of grew to having a little bit of a negative stigma as well. Leasing teams, particularly immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was purely a means for corporate to cut costs. And it honestly made it even more challenging from my perspective to effectively implement because the teams just weren’t bought in and they actually feared for their job.

I would say the good news though, is the kind of terminology and positioning and perception, has definitely shifted from my purview over the past 24 months, specifically I’d say many don’t honestly sometimes even use the term centralize anymore and replaced it with the term specialization, and that I think is very intentional, and a good move.

Operators lead with the motivation of specializing to unlock both a better renter and team experience versus a means to cut costs. And that really resonates and sits a lot better with the leasing teams day to day. I just think in general, I see a lot more openness into how specialization is structured.

You don’t really need that super high density for it to work. You can effectively centralize at the portfolio level, the regional level, or even the local level. And also have teams that are fully remote versus co-located in an offsite office or  take even a hybrid approach. 

Probably what has evolved the most since COVID days is applying these role specialization principles throughout the renter journey, not just on the sales side of things.

10:20 What is next for centralization?

Hannah O’Leary: Yeah, that’s a lot of change in a short period of time. Not even just for the Funnel product suite, but for the industry as a whole, so I feel like that was a good, multifamily where centralization has gone and where it started 101. 

You just talked about some of the early adopters with Cortland, Camden, Essex, all help to define what centralization could look like. And you talked about a bit of this, but today every operator also still has a slightly different flavor to it. What do you see as the next frontier of what operators are starting to explore and centralization seems to be a journey for even our early partners who centralized back in 2020. They’re still thinking through what the next iteration could look like. So what are they talking about now?

Nikki Hand: Great question. First of, I would say there’s no silver bullet answer of this is the way to centralize. So to your point, I think there’s lots of customers that are still iterating, experimenting, figuring it out. And having a software to complement that type of piloting, experimenting is really important.

But I would say more broadly, I do think, in the next couple years, one of the big changes that we’re gonna see, industrywide, putting aside centralization, is just how operators primarily like market their communities and listings. I think it’s gonna have to be flipped on its head. We’ve already started to see it in the data and where marketing teams are investing their dollars less and less investment on the just traditional ILS side, and I think this is really driven or accelerated by consumer adoption of AI-based search platforms that become now the norm of where consumers just go to. There’s always this saying of like, oh, just Google it to get your latest and greatest information.

And I think that’s gonna have less and less meaning over time. It’s gonna be, it already is being replaced by ChatGPT and the other AI search platforms available. And I think the leading pmcs are really now starting to take a look at that and start thinking and preparing and experimenting and figuring out how do they embrace this new dynamic early on, ditching the reliance on just ILSS to really own their market footprint and presence. I think that’s gonna be really important. 

The other area that I start to see get more traction is just continue to brainstorm innovative ways to drive that longer term resident loyalty. Brand loyalty is hard to come by in multifamily. Consumers are price sensitive and they move around a lot. I don’t know if we’ll ever get quite to the same level of loyalty that they say the travel industry has with hotels, but I think there’s a lot more opportunity than what’s happening today that can be done. 

It’s only natural, I would say for the operators who have particularly, really leaned in on elevating the renter experience through centralization to explore other ways to further promote their network of communities and keep that renter within their ecosystem. You ultimately want them to stay with your brand for as long as they rent until they decide to maybe one day buy a house. 

And so what I think operators are gonna start thinking about what are those right incentives to encourage them to stay within their network. How that flushes out I think is to be determined, but I think there’s gonna be a lot more focus put into what does that renewal experience look like and how do you incentivize folks to stay within your network and brand.

14:02 How has centralization changed the renter experience?

Hannah O’Leary: I love that. And we recently had Jay Parsons on the pod, and he said something along the lines of, I’m paraphrasing, but just because somebody can’t buy a house doesn’t mean they’re going to renew with you. 

And so if they are renewing you’re definitely doing something right. So I think renewals are really top of mind for most of our clients. 

Thanks so much for talking that through. We often talk about centralization. We have been talking about it from the operator’s perspective, which I think is natural. That’s who Funnel interfaces most with most closely. But what about renters? From your view, working closely with our partners, how has centralization shifted the renter experience? How does being centralized really enhance the ability to move the needle on those things?

Nikki Hand: Yeah, great question. Taking a step back from multifamily for a second, every single one of us are consumers across many, many different products and services.

I’ll be the first to admit, let’s be honest, we are demanding.

When you apply this type of expectation and dynamic to multifamily and look at centralization’s impact specifically, I’d honestly say centralization has raised the bar even further on consumer expectations.

At the end of the day, as a consumer, I want a brand that meets me where I’m at at that given time. That means both providing optionality in how I can engage with your brand, and also creating differentiated, personalized services that make me think, okay, I’m getting a unique experience here that would make me want to stay long term.

I think you want to create those personalized services with both knowledge and empathy.

When it comes to optionality, I’d say the majority of our next generation cohort of renters are going to continue to want self-serve. That’s probably no surprise.

Renters expect the ability to research information about a community and get their questions answered through digital channels. That is going to require operators to have intuitive, engaging websites and marketing channels with the latest and greatest information at all times.

Prospective renters also commonly do their research online beyond the traditional nine-to-five property office hours. So giving them the flexibility to place a call to a property or engage with a chatbot late at night will be really important.

When that prospect gets to the point of applying, offering them a modernized approach that is simple and easy, and reduces the laborious manual paperwork to go through that application process, ultimately will help our operators get more heads on beds. That’s the shared objective.

Imagine a world where I can research an apartment online, go on a self-guided tour, apply through a digital experience, and submit my move-in information without ever needing to engage with a sales agent.

That’s super appealing for a certain type of consumer. We’re operating in a time where the technology is there to create that experience.

Now with that said, I still think there’s a certain subset of consumers who prefer that more personal touch through the process as well.

You need to be able to cater toward both segments of the market.

There is nothing more frustrating than working with a brand that has tons of information about you because of your prior purchase history or information you shared with them in the past, and when you start engaging with a new staff member, they have zero context on who you are.

These experiences happen far too commonly across many verticals, and it’s still happening in multifamily as well.

It really deteriorates that first impression, or it deteriorates the confidence and relationship you’re trying to build with that consumer to earn their business.

This applies to the rental world.

I expect to be able to engage with a brand where they recognize my full history with them. I want them to be knowledgeable not just about their products or services, like the community, but about me as the consumer who may have reached out to other properties, toured other communities, and already shared my preferences and interests.

That needs to start at the very onset of the renter journey — from the initial touchpoint when I first inquire about a community, and extend through my residency when I’m considering whether I should renew or not renew.

When brands recognize the importance of that, it goes a really long way in creating a differentiated experience for renters.

19:06 Building and maintaining relationships with multifamily customers

Hannah O’Leary: So Nikki, as Chief Customer Officer, you’re responsible for our relationships with our clients as a big part of, what you do, what’s one principle that you always return to when navigating tough conversations with our customers?

Nikki Hand: I would say the term that immediately comes to mind for me is partnership. Owning the Funnel. Customer experience is. Extremely rewarding and challenging. I think anyone in customer service, regardless of company, can appreciate the realities of the highs when you make a customer’s dreams come true, and the lows when you need to have those really tough conversations that involve delivering, disappointing news.

The principle of genuinely viewing each customer from a partnership mentality really helps make those moments easier to navigate. One of the things I’d say I’m most proud of through my tenure at Funnel is not just that we have a kick-ass product. That as we have grown as a company, we’ve done a pretty good job all things considering at differentiating ourselves through our people who are so passionate and committed to servicing our customers.

And this is a result from my perspective of our ethos of approaching new customer relationships as we’re not just another vendor for the operator, but we really are an actual partner that cares about your business. Our CX teams and even our product teams really pour themselves into becoming an extension of our customer teams. I see it every day. I think the majority of our customers would vouch for that as well. They care about our customer goals, the pain points, the growth plans, and are always problem solvers. Really trying to think about innovative ways to address their needs. 

And this gives our customers that confidence and trust that ultimately we want to establish that we’re their ally in this journey. So even in the instances where you mentioned, you have to have those tough conversations, it’s always handled on both sides with the utmost empathy and respect.

21:21 Leaning into AI + humans with Camden Property Trust

Hannah O’Leary: I love that partnership first approach, speaking of that and speaking of things that you’re proud of in your time here at Funnel, can you talk about a real customer story that makes you proud of your work here at Funnel and what wild property management company’s dream you made happen as a part of your work or as a part of your team’s work?

Nikki Hand: Absolutely, I’m gonna give some kudos to the team at Camden Property Trust for this one. So this was like, I don’t know, day three of me joining Funnel. I was tasked with helping the Camden team specifically implement pilot and rollout Funnel’s CRM, they had a bunch of centralization goals, which was super exciting.

And while that alone was awesome, what really stood out to me in that partnership was Camden’s prediction of the role AI would actually play in multifamily industry. And this was way before the AI hype cycle began. Through that partnership Funnel decided to make a big bet and that bet was finally even again, against some of our board members’ advisement.

But we set up a team to develop an in-house AI solution and really went all in. And taking risks like this is what I love about the Funnel Pink culture in general. The Camden team, to their credit, was instrumental in helping set the vision, define the key use cases that would both move the needle for their operational teams, while still providing a renter-first customer experience, which I loved, and it’s just so aligned with how we view AI as well and the interplay that has with humans. 

When I think about that journey, the initial bill was not easy at all. I remember, like there weren’t LLMs to just plug into. We were really defining the rules of the road for multifamily specifically as we went along, which was scary, but exciting too.

But like the concept that agents could essentially have this sidekick working alongside them at key points of the renter journey and allowing them to elevate their own time to spend on activities that drive more conversion, longer term resident retention was just undeniably appealing, the journey of building something from the ground up through this dev partnership was extremely memorable for me. I recall that once we actually launched it, it just felt so real and organic to consumers that prospects would literally show up to Camden properties asking for Birdie, because that was the name of Camden’s AI assistant, which was just cracked us up.

And then when you also looked at the data and the ROI side of it, you saw that this VLA, this virtual leasing assistant, this sidekick, was able to send just hundreds of thousands of messages all within seconds to thousands of renters. And the ability for Birdie to be able to provide that type of engagement 24/7, it was just, Camden’s dream of scaling their operational teams through technology and still meeting the customer where they’re at, just started really quickly becoming a reality, which was just, amazing, amazing to see. So super, super grateful for that project. And, it basically was the infant child of what now has become our AI suite today.

Hannah O’Leary: And kind of the precursor for how we think about AI in general. I think that we learned a lot from our partners there. Where we really see this blend of humans, like the teams plus AI, really providing the best experience for renters and the biggest impact for our partners as well. So I think it’s cool to see it play out over five years.

25:00 

Hannah O’Leary: We’re gonna switch gears here and talk about Nikki outside of work. So what’s something that you love to do outside of work and how does it bleed over. Blend in to how you show up here day to day.

Nikki Hand: I love this question and get excited when I get to speak to it. No questions asked. Nikki after hours, just absolutely loves being a mom. It’s this wild blend of joy, exhaustion, love, resilience, patience, sacrifice, all the things. And I’d say to probably no one’s surprised who knows me decently well.

I’m one of those over subscribe your children to way too many activities and packed weekends with some new adventure, always. I’m always on the go, never sitting still, wanting to, you ultimately give my children opportunities to explore the world, meet new people, get out of their comfort zone.

And I’ll be honest, there was a time when I first transitioned to motherhood where it was hard to grapple in my head, worried if I had to choose between being a good mother or a driven professional, candidly. But with time I came to really realize that, I feel like my ambition is not a distraction from being a good mother, but part of my wholeness that my kids can then witness firsthand. 

And so in terms of how I take my role as a mom and apply that to, my experience and, my career and time at Funnel. It definitely significantly impacted just how I show up each day. I have, I feel like this new discovered tool set of communicating and listening and guiding others with both empathy and directness, that’s important. I have this appreciation that no two individuals are the same. Each have different skill sets and passions.

Unlocking someone’s potential is really recognizing those and aligning them to things where they can be really impactful and find both joy and challenge. 

I think I offer a different perspective, recognizing more than ever that it is totally okay to fail forward and make those moments not just a step back but an opportunity to see that bigger picture.

And, I try to do my best with leading, not, and not letting stress, worry, or doubt consume me or my teams. I encourage all to, life’s hard throw, take the punches, take the curve balls, and use that really as those learning opportunities to give you those growth opportunities.

I’ve heard, some women, even my friends, share the perspective that working makes them a better mom. And for me personally, I think it’s a bit of a reverse where I feel like motherhood truly is my superpower at work.

Hannah O’Leary: I appreciate you sharing that, and I think we see that here at Funnel.