apartment leadership
MultiFamily Blogging: Letter to The MultiFamily News Editor
Apartment Marketing: Engagement
I am sure to take a digital beating for running down the road of engagement but in the words of a big haired 80’s band; “here I go again on my own.”
The term is abused in marketing circles, from the “How To” to the “What For’s”, it seems to be the word of the day and yet I think we miss the true essence. In most cases we mistake participation for engagement. Engagement just sounds better; It just rolls off the tongue more fluently than the word participation. I think that is about to change as it seems more and more people are catching on to the deeper meanings of the word.
One of my Facebook friends forwarded an article to me today that speaks to the difference; at least in my head. I pulled the following quote out of the text as it speaks right to the point;
Develop Character – The Rest Happens by Default
I think the excerpt implies a deeper meaning to the word. It goes beyond “wants” and “needs” as to strum the cords of our souls. Hopes, fears, dreams and achievements; big words with big meaning. As it is with the word engagement.
Now I am not suggesting that engagement does not have a place in marketing. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that when we develop the context that sets engagement free; then we will have hit the mother load. We will have unleashed the deeper meaning and application of the word. Okay, a little quixotic but nonetheless, we will have tapped something very special.
How do you do it? The Harvard types call it “Listening up,” Gary V calls it “Care,” and I call it “Loving People.” Loving them where they are and in an effort to bring greatness out of them. Easy? No. Worth it? yes.
Take away: Get deep into the study of people. Know what keeps them up at night and what keeps their dreams aflight and go about bringing that out of them. Do it by listening up, caring and loving them where they are and expecting more for them than they are capable of expecting for themselves. They will appreciate you for it; I know I appreciate those people in my life.
Have a compelling weekend! M
TYE – Mr. Apartment Resident; That’s Goes Against Our Policy
TYE is is short for The Thank You Economy
No – That’s Our Policy
Gary starts the book by telling a story about a guy who comes into his father’s wine store to redeem a coupon after the fact. The manager in the story quotes a strict interpretation of the coupon policy and sends the guy away empty handed. Gary recalls feeling, in his gut, that the guy was never going to come back to the store and let’s the manager know as much. He goes on to suggest that his gut was wrong about the guy returning but right about another thing.
Apartment Company Policy
The topic has been written about over and over, many times in our business we push our prospects and residents away over policy and procedure. I don’t have enough fingers and toes [even if I count my Facebook acquaintances] to count the number of times I have witnessed it over the past fifteen or so years I have been in the business. I can’t honor that, I can’t waive this, I can’t waive that. I know it’s your first month being late after twenty-three years of living here but late is late is late [Read with a good cheer in your voice]. The really good ones displace it on corporate; it’s a corporate thing! I wish I could help but corporate won’t let us do that.
Apartment Company Policy of tomorrow [Read: Today]
Understanding that Fair Housing plays a necessary and important role in our industry; the world of business has changed. Getting back to Gary’s Gut; the guy returned to the store to let them know he would never buy another thing from them – ever! We know the rest of the story [pre-social media and smart phones]; the man likely told ten of his best friends about his experience. And, so on and so forth.
Business has changed and we not only have to adapt but rather stay ahead of the competition and the human beings we do business with. One of the ways I try and stay ahead is reading books of all kinds and participating in our industries social spaces. And, believe me; I learn something everyday. The preface of Gary’s book reminded me of how being rigid and using strict interpretation turns customers away and unlike the guy in the story, many never return. And, today they pull out the social media bullets to get you back. Trust me, many of us, sad to say, deserve it…
I can’t wait to read the rest of the book and share some more thoughts. In the mean time; what have you learned in the short year of 11′ that speaks to the point of rigid policy and or procedure that turn customers away?
Apartment Maintenance On-Call Policy
I have taken a number of questions lately on the subject of calculating compensation for on-call maintenance men and women. As such I thought I would post the important points of our policy as a way to hopefully starting some discussion.
In brief of our policy is as follows:
1. Employees are paid for one-hour minimum – if they physically leave their home to complete a call
2. They are paid at time and a half
3. They are paid mileage from their legal residence
I am curious about other nuances our there; please drop us a comment as the community is interested.
And, I do hope that you have an amazing and over the top weekend.
Property Management: Money Orders are a Necessary Evil
I am turning to our readers today for some feedback on process.
A lot of renter’s in our communities are one life circumstance away from total financial ruin up to and including losing their apartment. It has given cause for desperate behaviors such as sacrificing their electricity, gas, phone, cable etc. in order to make the rent. In other cases they use creative means such as robbing electricity via extension cords run to your common area outlets in hallways and laundry rooms. It’s amazing what you see out there anymore.
Now one could argue that life choices predicated on fulfilling wants over needs or necessities has contributed to a lot of this and in the same respect I think there an equal amount of people out there that make all the right decisions and still get hit with the downside of adversity.
Our residents are not the only ones faced with making the rent. Many of our employees are waging the same battle month after month. And, sometimes it leads to desperate actions.
That leads me to the premise for my question – money orders left blank by the prospective resident and or current residents paying rent are so very tempting in a desperate time of need. Can you share some of your processes with me as it relates to keeping good people honest. What do you do to keep integrity in the system on your bigger sites where you have six, eight or even ten people working an office and handling money. Specifically, what do you do to make sure these blank money order gems are not used as float to get by to the next pay period? How do you make sure that once an application is taken that it is processed in your property management software asap?
While they are a necessary evil – I have to believe there is a system of handling that keeps theft to a minimum.
Thank you in advance for your considerations and feedback.
Your ready for some economic prosperity friend,
M
