Property Management
Apartment Marketing Idea: You are not Your Apartment Prospect
I think one of the easiest traps to fall into when marketing to apartment prospects or residents is to think that they want what you want and they will like what you like. It is really easy when you don’t take the time to understand who your customer is and what they value. In order to that you have to be willing to spend time asking questions, trying new things, testing new theories, crushing sacred cows and refining your successes. All in the name of your client’s changing tastes.
Always done it that way
We have all heard the statement that if you keep doing what you have always done expecting a different result – you get the definition of insanity. It’s as true in our space as it is in different industries across America. We keep at it year after year because it’s easy. It’s really hard to go against the grain. It’s really hard to convince the powers that be that giving up tried and true processes is a good thing. Problem with this is that change, if not embraced, will free up your future sooner or later.
The ABC’s of change
In selling ABC stands for Always Be Closing, in understanding that you are not your apartment customer it stands for Always Be Changing. With the advent of the internet came the rapid acceleration of change. In one fell swoop we had every piece of information we could every want at our finger tips. That is not to suggest that it has not taken time to morph our imbued information gathering habits but it is to say it’s not your older brothers world anymore. If you don’t like change you will like irrelevance even less and that is your prize for standing still today.
How do you keep up with your customer
Tom Peter’s popularized the phrase Management by Walking Around [MBWA], defined by BusinessDictionary.com this way;
Unstructured approach to hands-on, direct participation by the managers in the work-related affairs of their subordinates, in contrast to rigid and distant management. In MBWA practice, managers spend a significant amount of their time making informal visits to work area and listening to the employees. The purpose of this exercise is to collect qualitative information, listen to suggestions and complaints, and keep a finger on the pulse of the organization. Also called management by wandering around.
I think it is a fair way think about how to keep up with your customer. We should be interacting with them both on and offline. Here are just a couple of ideas on how to do that;
- Ask for their opinion any time you see them
- Hang out where they hang out
- Eat where they eat
- Read the magazines, blogs and tweets they read
- Read the books, ebooks and ezines they read
- Ask permission to enlist them on your Facebook, MySpace and Tweet pages
- Participate on their Facebook, MySpace and Tweet pages
- Shop where they shop
- Read what they review
- Ride the buses they ride
- Frequent the places they work
- Experience the products and services they like
- Work out where they work out
- Ask what keywords they used to find you
How about we call this Creating Experience by Walking Around [CEWA]. The real key to remember here is that you are not your customer and in order to understand your customer you must engage and participate with them. And, make it easy for them to do the same with you.
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Zuberance’s September 17 Webinar Features Forrester’s Josh Bernoff, Co-Author of “Groundswell”
PRLog (Press Release) – Sep 03, 2009 – The webinar, entitled “The Groundswell Power of Word of Mouth,” will be hosted by Zuberance, the leading Word of Mouth marketing company. Zuberance is turning Word of Mouth into sales now for leading B2C and B2B brands by energizing highly-satisfied customers (AKA “Advocates”) to spread Word of Mouth and generate referral leads.
Should be a good one [sign up here]
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Apartment Reviews – Reimagined
Looking back
Back in October of 2007 we wrote about participating in the conversation via rating sites and even suggested incorporating a mechanism into your property management website to make it easier. Here is a bit of a revised excerpt from that post;
“If you are still of the mind that dismisses the value of sites like apartmentratings.com, listen up. The feedback outlined in the brief above [Deloitte] should move you to action as soon as possible. I truly think we should all open up our company websites to include a consumer and resident feedback mechanism. Instead of internal score keeping, make it completely transparent. My only suggesting is that you have an editor just for the sake of carving out names and character attacks as we know they will come despite our best efforts. Even with that in mind you have to be courageous enough to leave the meat and more importantly act on it.”
Two years later
Here we are nearly two years later in the midst of the conversation marketing buzz and while a good many of us are participating there is still a hesitancy to move that conversation to our websites. Even those that have don’t really have a great deal of participation in terms of consumers reviewing them.
Two years from now
Not only is the writing on the wall but the ink is dry and the conversation is going on with or without you. And, the benefits are immense when you bring the conversation to you;
- You have the ability to increase your credibility
- You have the ability to participate
- You have the ability to influence
- You have the ability to increase your Google Juice
- You have the ability to innovate with your consumer
- You have the ability to create evangelist
- You have the ability to generate further participation
- You have the ability to create loyalty
- You have the ability to create an environment where people feel they are part of something larger than themselves
- You have that ability to respond in lieu of react [there is a big difference]
The more important point here is: how do we increase participation to an Amazonish or iTuneish type level? Do we ask former potential, existing or former residents to review their experience relative to their specific unit such that every unit takes on its very own unique rating? Would that allow us to price higher rated homes differently than lower rated homes. I see it as a great mechanism to allow us the opportunity to really maximize our rents. Maybe the lease rent optimizers out there employee a unit rating lever into their pricing algorithms. The ideas are endless – acting is the key.
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Purchasing feedback: I will pay you vs. I will give you something free
Read the following tweet this morning [RT @[xyz] @[abc] Suggest that you give away a free Flip to every prospect/resident that creates a [management company] Experience Video, Beats free rent] – it really got me thinking.
I have read both sides of this issue and have taken the position that if you disclose that you are paying for and or giving something away in exchange for an endorsement then frankly it’s okay. It really comes down to what is in the eye of the beholder. And, I think, at the end of the day, if a person really wants a product/experience they will go and get it/have it despite the persons of influence in their lives. They may read and listen but if they want it – they want it, period.
My real point here is that the above tweet implies that it’s okay to give away a Flip in exchange for an endorsement. Moreover it specifically states that it’s better than giving away free rent. On that point I ask: What’s the difference? – give away free rent or buy 20 Flips to give away – either way you hit the bottom line. Sure buying the Flip is cheaper and brings along a novelty that escaped the free rent give away long ago but it’s still an expense. It’s just a different form of currency. Marry it with a “you get the Flip free “if” you give me an endorsement and you have really marred the picture but I will leave that for future conversation.
For now – I really wonder what the community thinks – Is the Flip, used in this sense, a form of currency that could be construed as purchasing feedback? If so, is that okay? Would it pass a Yelp sniff test? Do you think the masses really care? Would you give equal stage to people who would speak conversely about your brand experience? Is it better than free rent? If so, why?
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Is Social Media Making You Tired?
I received the following message on 4.20.9 from a person I would consider a treasured mentor in my life;
Subject: So I’m worried about you
I would like you to read “The Mindful Brain” by a guy named Siegel. I think you are dis-attuning yourself to a deeper level of awareness and consciousness with this twitter/30 second thought process/Facebook life. These are cruise ship recipes, not intimate meals where the provenance of your food is known. This must seem so contrary on my part to say and I surmise you think your are enjoying the height of a social media experience. Maybe so but I say this only with concern for you. Take stock, my friend, and when you do be sure you still have long walks and ample period for reflection. If you can do that and do this, more power to you. [End]
My instant reaction – thank the one that governs all that is and ever will be as I have never been so tired at any span of my professional career. Up at 5:00 and down at 1:00 or 2:00 every day of the week. The culprit? Social Media coupled with an addictive personality.
With some irony, the message above came to me two years to the day that I left Equity Residential. Sign? – Maybe a little far reaching but it quickly took my mind to two songs that stir my being every time that I hear them;
Down in a hole – Alice in Chains
Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
I have long considered myself a mindful person – one who takes the time to be thoughtful of the world around me. One who cares about the origin of stuff and things and the deeper thoughts and feelings of people. That is until two years ago when I put work and social media before family and just two days ago I was heavily reminded of it. Until that time I’ve been down in a hole and comfortably numb – Tired. Dis-attuned as my friend so eloquently put it.
All that being said, I am under no illusion that I will walk away from the cherished relationships I’ve developed by participating during the height of social media – I will however, with no doubt, be more mindful of the time I spend participating.
And, to my friend, thank you for being mindful of my being. I will be taking stock.
To all, thank you in advance for allowing an occasional off topic message.
Have a mindful rest of the week.
M
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