@mbrewer
Property Management Company: Cause
It seems to me that Property Management Companies are in essence Professional Service Firms. The chief objectives are to maximize the physical and fiscal performance of a real estate asset for institutional and or private owners. But are they really called to be and do more?
Property Management Company: Cause
I received an email not long ago asking a question along the lines of finding a cause for a firm – in an email exchange I penned the following:
I see a cause as being something bigger than self or team. To me – it’s audacious in nature. And, it has nothing to do with selling more stuff but everything to do with building individual and organizational character as a way of changing the world. I don’t use – changing the world – in jest. It is the only premise with which to build an organization. In my head organizations are built to serve the people that serve it – period. That is first and foremost. If built right all else will fall into place. An organization that focuses on building character will see that character exercised in the way of success on every level with every metric.
I think Emerson said it best when he penned the following:
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Capture that in the way of a cause that lays over your companies mission, vision, strategy and goals that help to execute as much and you have something people can believe in. You will have found something that people can get out of bed in the morning for – you can change the lives of hundreds if not thousands and as a default – you will create wealth beyond your imagination and more important – the imaginations of those that are served by the organization. They will have lived what Emerson had in mind – all because you made a decision to offer up a worthy cause.
Do you have a cause? What is it? Why do you think it is important?
Apartment Marketing: Mills Social Media Principles
Mills Properties is making a thoughtful integration of social media principles into their Get Social with Mills Initiative. And, in doing so we decided to craft a document of social media principles for our apartment management company as a whole using thoughts, ideas and original works from in and outside of the industry.
Social Media Principles for Apartments
The four companies we have elected to draw from are:
There are hundreds of examples out there to choose from if you are thinking of writing your own. I can’t tell you that we used some magic formula to pick the companies we did. That is with the exception of JC Hart – we know Mark Juleen and admire the efforts he and his team have put together in executing a great strategy. With that, we also look forward to feedback along the way as we believe that there is no perfect science to the process.
If you have a set of Social Media Principles for your organization and wish to share – link it up down in the comments. We would love to read them.
Have a great weekend –
Apartment Marketing: PSE
You likely know from your own experiences both on and off line that Emotion Sells! Excitement Sells! Cool Sells! Gossip Sells! Optimism Sells! Humor Sells! Anger Sells! iPhone 4 Sells! Well – more appropriate to this post concerning the iPhone 4 – Being Part of the Cool Kid Tribe Sells! Wit Sells! Deep thoughts by Jack Handy Sells! Heart Felt Sells! To Big to Fail Sells! And B.S. Sells – in spades! Point? It’s the stuff that hits the hardest and softest parts of that thing called heart – soul – spirit and mind! So get out your Kleenex or pick up that axe in need of a good grind – as we have absolutely nothing to tell you that you don’t already know –
Scott Stratten from the very popular UnMarketing Blog cut the idea of sharing down to its core recently –
UnMarketing » Blog Archive » Word of Mouth Has Changed, Sort Of
Look at what gets shared on Facebook, or retweeted on Twitter. Funny stuff, brilliant knowledge-filled posts, sad things, stuff that angers you.
Repeat after me: People. Spread. Emotion.
Apartment Facebook Like Page: Rules for Share
It’s kind of like Steve Leonard’s rule for customer service : Rule number one: The customer is always right. Rule number two: If the customer is wrong, see rule number one! I am adopting Scott’s mantra as it relates to sharing content on your Apartment Facebook Like Page or your Apartment Twitter Status updates: And, to distill it into a set of rules [I hate rules but for the sake of keeping] Rule number one: People. Spread. Emotion. Rule number two: If there is no spread, see rule number one!
Apartment Marketers: Afraid to Blog?
Below is a link to a story that resonated with me relative to a conversation that was broached on Mike Whaling’s: Apartment Marketing Gone Digital’s last episode. I believe it was Eric Brown that made the point about the lack of conversation about blogs as it relates to apartment marketing at NAAs 2010 convention.
Apartment Blogging: Fear
I agree to some extent with Eric that there is a dearth of examples with apartment blogging in the Apartment Space as I think the offerings are growing everyday. For example – Mills Properties – is on the verge of launching seven regional blogs in addition to revamping the Mills employee-centric blog. In addition, JC Hart, Trillium, Paragon, Village Green and PCMG have ventured down the path of blogging and from my perspective are doing a good job of it. I applaud the fact that these firms have taken the endeavor on as an in-house marketing function.
With that, I feel it necessary to make the point that I am not an advocate of ILSs that offer blogging as a part of their advertising package. And, time should be of no excuse. I would rather hear the fear stuff like; I am afraid of what others might think of my choice of topic, my grammar, my spelling or what if I can’t think of anything to write about. Not that those things are not important but – time as an excuse – save it. This is something you make time for at the expense of other things.
Apartment Non-Blogging
To the topic at hand – the following post was offered up on the Conversation Agent Blog a couple weeks ago. In it Valeria Moltoni suggests alternatives to blogging that could and are effective in building your digital footprint. If you are not into creating original and or mashed up blog content – this read is for you. The premise is that participation is an equally compelling form of content creation. She offers some real practical applications using LinkedIn, Twitter and others. So – if you just can’t bring yourself to do it and you elect not to farm it out to a third party, try this method.
Enjoy and let us know your thoughts in the comments below –
Conversation Agent: Blogging at Work if You Don’t Have a Blog
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Participation is content because it is what will activate your content in the context of the conversation. Remember when you worried about nobody coming to your blog? It’s the same with content in other places – you’ve got to interact to activate it.
Apartment Operations: Respond or go to Jail
This is one of the more extreme documented cases of neglect by a property owner that I have ever read about. By the looks of it jail might be the best place for him but what if the judge ruled instead by requiring the owner to participate in the fixes. What if he demanded 500 hours of hands on repair by the owner to include living in the building until the work is complete. His hours would have to include education as to the ill effects of turning a blind eye to the issues. Requirements might also include certification, at the owners expense, in applicable remediation measures and practices, HVAC licenses and a minimum number of operation related education from IREM or NAA. I like that option in lieu of tax paying residents paying for his incarceration –
Bronx Landlord Jailed for Continued Housing Violations – Bronx Housing Court last week ordered Sam Suzuki to be held behind bars until he corrects the nearly 700 open housing violations | Katy’s Exposure
Apartment Education – The Heat of the Moment
It’s summer time and many – if not all- of us are heavily involved in turning apartments and fielding A/C calls. It’s a busy time of the year and as a result education and safety meetings have the propensity to get put off. The idea of that brings to mind a scene from the movie Crimson Tide where Denzel Washington’s character questions Gene Hackman’s character on a decision to run a missile readiness drill all the while there was a fire going on in the galley. Hackman’s response was along the lines of – war does not stop for fire’s in the galley and Hackman’s character suggest that is the best time to run a drill.
As it relates to our own operations: I am a big believer in repetition when it comes to education and this coming week, despite the busyness, might be a good week to dust off your mold remediation policies, procedures and brief your teams. The story linked above might be a nice supplement to the training. Siting the article as a example of the use of social media to draw attention to the story might be a good preface on the power of ignorance.
Have a smashing week – and feel free to sound off in the comment section below –
