Branding
Multifamily Monday: What do to Today
It is another Multifamily Monday! And, it will likely be a crazy mad rush to get things addressed that came in over the weekend. In that mad rush of things to-do, don’t forget to foster a new relationship.
What to do Daily
Who could you reach out to today that would help your business down the road? A local community center? A local boys/girls club? A local restaurant? Any local business owner? Think about the eco-system that exists right around your community. The eco-system that is an extension of your community. Think about how you can create real-ationships with those people. Real – built on help them with real issues and problems they may have.
Don’t Ask For Anything in Return
Call anyone of these people up today and ask them what their number one problem is. Don’t try to solve it over the phone but do try to understand what it is. And, ask if he/she minds if you take a stab at offering up some solutions. Then take time during your weekly team meeting this week to brainstorm with your team. Come up with ideas that would be valuable to that owner. Then package those solutions in a brief, call ahead and then deliver via email. No strings attached.
Tomorrow
Do it again.
Your reaching out and providing value to your extended community multifamily maniac,
M
Apartment Marketing Minute: Experiment
“Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing” – Mike Volpe
Easier said than done, right? Who has the time to set back and be creative anymore? A day in the life of a property management professional would demonstrate that it is near impossible to give time to brainstorming new ideas. Heck, it’s hard enough to execute the things that matter most like; customer service, curb appeal, leasing, retention and accounting. But, being creative is not really all that hard.
Experiment in Creativity
I think the key is to think in smaller chunks. Experimenting could be as simple as leading your Craigslist ad with the words Compelling Lifestyle as opposed to Free Rent. It could be as simple as shifting the photos on your website to lead with interior pics as opposed to exterior pics. Maybe do night pics of the exterior in lieu of day pics. It could be that you change your telephone greeting to include, “I can help you,” in lieu of “How can I help you?” No matter the topic, the key is to think smaller chunks.
The Point
Don’t think of creativity in apartment marketing as a big daunting task reserved for the select few who were gifted with the talent of pumping out cool ideas. I would posit that every one of them, at one time or another, experimented with the little things. And, at some point over a long bit of time, their portfolios of coolness grew more and more pronounced.
So do some experimenting today and don’t be afraid to start small.
Your always experimenting in creativity multifamily maniac,
M
Multifamily #Trust30: A Call to Arms
Day 24 of the #trust30 challenge – it’s a big one!
The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the “call to arms” note you’re sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board) charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see, preferably in big letters you can read from your chair…
(Author: Sasha Dichter)
I kind of feel like Jerry McGuire right about now.
I can’t help but to call upon the great Tom Peters for this exercise. Back in 2006 I drew from Tom’s: The PSF is Everything! Manifesto to re-imagine the way we did business in Portland. I had just inherited the Regional Manager role where I was responsible for managing fourteen properties consisting of over 5000 units spread over five sub-markets. It was a daunting task and I had no illusions that I could run the deal by myself. I knew it would take the collective efforts of our 100+ people as lead by eleven site managers. It was a bonus that they were the best in business.
If given the charge today to chart the course for the next 12 months and beyond; I would break it down just like we did back in 2006.
- Enhance Work & The Legacy
- Enhance Firm & The Brand
- Enhance Employee Commitments
- Enhance Resident Commitments
I would assign our top talent to each of these four over-riding areas. The task? To Develop the next generation of Mills Properties. It would be on each team [with as little guidance as possible] to come up with amazing over the top and executable strategies to create excellence.
Enhance Work & The Legacy
People want to be a part of something bigger than self. And, it all starts inside with the innate need to move character. It starts with a
company that is convinced that organizations are put in place to serve the people that serve it. It stars with mission, vision, strategy and values. As such we would take action on the following:
- Get a crystal clear point of view
- Create a dramatic difference
- Create a culture where ‘Stretch is Routine’
- Create a culture of ‘Game-Changer’ – WOW Projects
- Work only with ‘Playful Clients’ – Life and Business is Too Short to work with Jerks
- We would get obsessed with LEGACY
- We would part ways with anyone who says ‘apartments are commodities’
- We would never shy away from ‘Radical’
Enhance Firm & The Brand
- We would define what it means to make our business ‘cool’
- We would recruit the absolute best talent
- Integrity would rule the day
- Execution would rule the seconds, minutes and hours
- We would create a ‘Swarm Team’ as a way to support
- R&D would get front and center attention
- We will own the relevant Saint Louis digital frontier
- We will aim to be no less than a ‘LOVEMARK’
- Passion would be the guiding principle
Enhance Employee Commitments
- Our talent would breed talent – FANATICS
- We would hire peculiar
- We would manufacture Early Opportunities for new Talent
- They will rise up or be out
- We will make way for YOUTH
- We will get committed to Renewing our CURRENT base of Talent
- We will get obsessed with MENTORING
- Everyone is a leader
- Bring in the Best in Breed
- INTEGRITY with everyone
Enhance Resident Commitments
- We will invite our residents in as partners
- We will draw in only the best vendors to Serve our residents
- Have residents claim that working with US is THE BEST EVER
- Implement Implement Implement
- Our Chief AIM? Resident’s assist in creating CULTURE
- The measure? Did we make a Dramatic, Game-Changing Difference? Will they tell a friend, family member or co-worker about us?
That’s it! That would be my framework for the next twelve months. After that year we would go on an EXECUTION and IMPLEMENTATION QUEST! It would be a No Holds Barred Journey into Compelling, Over the Top, Amazing and downright Stunning Achievement!
Your always striving contributor,
M
Pics tip to Blogging Pro
Multifamily #Trust30: Greatness
Moving past the halfway point with day 16 of the #trust30 challenge –
Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trusting intuition and making decisions based on it is the most important activity of the creative artist and entrepreneur. If you are facing (and fearing) a difficult life decision, ask yourself these three questions:
1) “What are the costs of inaction?”….
2) “What kind of person do I want to be?”
3) “In the event of failure, could I generate an alternative positive outcome?”
Multifamily greatness
We recently purchased a property from a lending institution who had in turn taken it back from a previous ownership interest. When completing the due
diligence phase of our process we discovered roughly 40 units in various stages of disrepair. Units we classify as down. Down to mean not habitable absent some major rehab.
It spoke loudly to the point of the first question – inaction. Banks are not property managers. And, in lieu of spending $25 to $30k to replace the roofs, they left them alone. Result of that inaction? Several hundred thousands of value wiped away.
Greatness starts with forecasting the consequence of in-actions. In this case, it would suffice to say that some back of the napkin math would have yielded an ROI that would have driven a decision to replace the roofs.
What kind of company do we want to be
At Mills Properties, we ask that question a lot. As of late it has been in the area of branding, marketing, digital footprint and the such. We have been slow in moving toward what we want to achieve part and parcel because of near 50% growth in community and unit count over the past four years. And, in part not having a real plan.
Fast forward to today. We have taken the time to craft a 40+ page branding/marketing plan that includes everything from font types and size for all thing forward facing to big ticket strategies to dominate the St. Louis Apartments on and off-line space. It lays it all out and captures how everything from curb appeal to lease contract signing ladders up into an overarching message for the neighborhoods and communities we serve. And, in advance our striving to make a splash nationally at some point.
It all starts with asking the right questions.
Multifamily failure
I think the best way to overcome failure is understand that it going to happen from time to time. In fact, I like what Tom Peters has to say about it, “reward
failure.” If you are not failing, you are not trying, you are not learning and thus you are not growing. Equity Residential cements this in their 10 ways to be a winner – one being ‘take educated risks.’ The expectation is that you gather every piece of information you can to include the counsel of others before you pull the trigger. And, if you fail, you simply have a group postmortem where you examine the facts and the various action points to see what could have been done better.
Off for a float trip
It’s Saturday, it’s raining and we are headed out for camping and a float trip. Should be loads of fun. I say that with lots of hope in mind.
Your hoping you have an amazing weekend contributor,
M
