Sales
Nesting
Mike Brewer · · 1 Comment
I have a standing desk. It holds two monitors, a few pages of paper, two pens and two highlighters. That’s it – nothing more.
Aside from the health benefits of a standing desk, it does something much more important. It keeps me from nesting. Nesting to mean – sitting in a nice cozy chair for very long bits of time moving busy work around my digital or analog desktop.
When people come in to see me – we don’t sit. We use stand-up meetings that get right to the point. They last long enough to move the business forward. We don’t get comfortable to the point of spending long bits of time engaged in chit-chat. Not that chit-chat and relationship building isn’t important – it is. But over a day filled with a fair share of got-a-minutes – managing it is key.
Stand Up Desk – At the Site Level
I’m thinking deeply about the Customer Experience in our offices across Mills Portfolio and stand up desks, information/data entry ports and designated collision points are front and center to my vision.
Nesting
The traditional office is in strong need of re-imagining. The day of the big desk with cozy, comfortable nesting chairs is over. The day of a wide-open fluid office space is here.
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Another Leasing Commission Rant
Mike Brewer · · 1 Comment
I have railed about commission based sales in the multifamily space for years.
It’s a worn out model. But people keep finding premise after premise to keep it alive and kicking. It’s broken
The article below clearly demonstrates that the model is broke:
Pricing and Sales: An Interesting Interplay in Multi-family – Multifamily Blogs
That’s an “elephant in the room” that we need to talk about. Most salespeople only benefit from sales going up; but our leasing associates can sometimes feel like they’re being penalized for their own success. They lease well, so the pricing system raises rents which makes it harder to lease. This is not “normal” in most of the sales world, so we should be purposeful and address this very real situation with our leasing associates.
But to keep things alive and kicking; it goes on and on with suggestions about how to make leasing professionals feel okay about it. Here is the cold-hard truth, they feel penalized because the business model is different yet the compensation plan is the same. Let’s face it, money in the bank is the only thing that makes a sales person Phappyrrell [Read: Happy].
We need to stop and think about the compensation system that makes sense in the context of the new model. It’s that simple. It’s that clean. But it’s not that easy. Really not that easy.
Drop leasing commissions – make them a thing of the past. Raise base wages to offset lost commissions (take a two-year trailing average of all commissions paid and tally an average increase – tweak where necessary) and move on.
Your looking to push the edge with leasing commissions Multifamily Maniac,
M
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1:1 Guiding Principle for 2014
Are you looking for a guiding principle for 2014? A guiding principle that relates to marketing and leadership? I have a principle that will have a real impact on your business?
1:1
Look no further than 1:1. Stop marketing to the masses and stop leading based on mass appeal. Instead look for ways that you can market 1:1. Look for ways that you can lead people 1:1.
We have so much information at our fingertips these days. Information that helps us understand people at a deeper level. You have everything you need to make a true impact.
Social media has given us a window into people’s lives. It’s up to us as marketers to use that information in an proper way and in a way that impacts their lives.
Stop trying to get 7,000 people to like your Facebook page. Stop trying to get 25,000 people following you on Twitter. It’s ridiculous. The real value of social media is not at the massive level, It’s at the 1:1 level.
Random Rant
It’s amazing to me how much of relationship marketing gets recycled by social media pundits. Gary Vaynerchuk (mad props and much respect) can create a slide deck of the most ridiculously obvious information and people think it’s the most amazing thing ever said. If we all stopped for just a second and thought about all those very cool things that we learned in kindergarten, things like: please, thank you and excuse me; things like: waiting your turn to talk; actively listening to the other person and speaking respectfully when we disagree, we would quickly realize that one to one relationship is nothing new. In fact it’s old-school.
I bet we could sit down with a sales rep or customer service agent from 25 years ago and discern that the truisms are no different today than they were back then. The only difference now is the sheer efficiency with which we can communicate. And the forever captured record when we do.
Back to 1:1
Simple point – stop trying to scream from the giant social media megaphone. Instead – get real and get deep into 1:1.
Your getting back to 1:1 Multifamily Maniac,
M
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The Anti-Pushy Sales Approach
Today’s guest post comes to us from Crystal Gluszek over at ZenRoommate.
Be Unforgettable
In my 15 Years of Multi-Family Management I have perfected what I like to call the “Anti-Pushy” sales approach.
I tour my clients like a best friend who is visiting from out-of-state. Not only do I show features and benefits of my community I also sell “that” feeling.
The feeling that I want them to live here but I don’t need them to live here because I am cool, confident and secure that my sales approach will close the deal.
I even like to add that “we don’t use any high pressure sales techniques here, because we don’t have to” which by proxy says that communities who do…need to for some reason and it’s not good. (Insert diabolical laugh here)
I feel the bond between the client and myself being made and I know that they’ll sign the lease now or be back tomorrow. I send a quick follow-up asking about how their cat or dog feels about the apartments they have narrowed down. Maybe even say “Fido called me and wants to live here” so I add a sense of quirkiness to what can be a mundane process and this becomes my approach.
I tell my agents to stay professional and stay fun and create an experience. After all isn’t everything we do about creating an experience your clients will relate to being home.
So my message is Be Unforgettable.
Crystal Gluszek
Zenroommate.Com Co-Founder and Multi-Family Fanatic
Zenroommate
What we do is simple. We help you search for roommates using several different areas of compatibility, providing the opportunity for a more streamlined match.
We also allow Landlords and Realtors to list units that would be perfect for a roommate setting; condos, rooms for rent, house shares and more can be seen by people who may have an interest in filling that vacancy.
LIKE us at WWW.Facebook.Com/Zenroommate or Follow us at WWW.Twitter.Com/Zenroommate
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Change Your Rote
Mike Brewer · · 1 Comment
A quick shout out to all you unbelievably over-the-top amazing leasing professionals in the Multifamily world – You guys and gals rock!
I have a question for you
Are the people who take time out of their busy days to tour your respective communities getting the absolute best experience that you have to offer? Or, are they getting a rote experience? In other words is the presentation a routine fixed by habits that are in place because of repetition over time.
Be remembered
Get your personalization act together. I don’t mean that in a disrespectful sense. I mean it in the sense that you must customize your routine to create a very positive and memorable experience. You’re asking yourself, how do I do that? I have a simple one for you. Look up, smile and say hello when people walk through the front door.
I can’t tell you how many times I walk into apartment communities and get the cold shoulder. The looking down, I am busy and I don’t have time for you routine. Or the can’t you see that I’m on my device routine. Or the sign that says – out to lunch until 1:15p when in fact it’s 2:30p routine.
It’s so bad out there, that you don’t have to try really hard to come up with something amazing. You can get back to the basics of service and be in the top 5% of superstars. You know – all those things you learned in kindergarten kind of stuff. Like looking people in the eyes, saying hello and please and thank you. It’s the small things that get remembered most.
You’re getting my personalization act together Multifamily Maniac,
M
