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The Psychology of Apartment Leasing – Is Selling Sleazy? (+ 10 Tips to Emphasize Your Genuineness)

Apr 18th, 2011
by jameswb.
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I have been surprised lately by how many people react negatively to using psychology in selling situations.  In fact, many site managers have turned up their nose and commented, “We don’t sell.  Selling is beneath us.”  Well, vacancy loss is beneath me.

A friend and I were chatting about this when she commented:  “When a kid wants to get something in the store and the parents are not convinced they need it…. here is born our first concept of sales.  ‘I will die if we do not get a box of Cap’n Crunch cereal!’”

The reality is that all of us are selling all of the time.  Common non-selling selling situations include:  asking your boss for a raise, presenting a budget to an owner, going on a job interview, proposing marriage, trying to get your partner to go to a football game instead of the latest Jennifer Anniston flick, a meeting with your parole board or negotiating the bigger slice of the pie.

Is understanding human behavior and why we do what we do sleazy?  Is understanding how to motivate your child to study sleazy?  Is understanding when the best time to bring an idea to your partner’s attention (vacation spot, home addition, mother-in-law visit) sleazy?  There is a time and a place and a way for everything.

Everyone has to find a technique that is genuine to them.  If you are real you will not come across as contrived.  It is when we try to be someone we are not or we put on a mask of who we think we are supposed to be that we come across as fake.

Solution selling

Hate selling?  Try “Solution Selling”. This is a buzz phrase in our industry today—and it has a nice warm glow to it.  We are selling solutions to our customers’ problems—and that cannot be bad, can it?  When a customer walks into your office, instead of thinking of yourself as a sales person ask, “What can I do to help this customer solve her problems today?”  Frankly, all it takes is a few easy ingredients:

  1. A caring, helpful attitude (This is a basic first step; make sure you really care about your job, your product and your customers.  If you do not, ask yourself why?)
  2. An understanding of your product and how it can benefit your customers.
  3. A ready smile
  4. An ability to listen, answer questions and ask for the sale.

However, if we knowingly sell someone something that we know they do not want or cannot afford, that is sleazy.

Manipulative?

In our firm, we have spent a lot of time training clients on understanding personality profiles and how different personality types behave, interact and prefer to communicate (in both sales and management).  This helps us gain a deeper psychological understanding of our customers (and they could be internal—your boss—or external). For example, I once had a boss who preferred e-mail. He also hated information overload—so I learned to condense and bullet point everything.  If he wanted more information, he would ask.  If I left a voice mail it would likely be deleted unheard.  Is my attempt to communicate in a way he could best receive the information manipulative?  This same approach to our customers is really just good customer service.

Emphasizing Your Genuineness

Here are a few tips on creating positive nonverbals to emphasize your genuineness:

  • Smile (a real smile includes the eyes)
  • Start by being genuine. (Leave ‘masks’ at home.)
  • Speak your customers’ language in a respectful way; don’t talk down to them.
  • Take the time to listen to your customer.
  • Don’t cross your arms (indicates defensiveness)
  • Lean forward slightly (indicates interest)
  • Don’t sit across a desk from your customer—this creates a barrier. Try and find a position that indicates that you are on their team.
  • Maintain good eye contact (unless it is offensive in their culture to do so).
  • Don’t speak too quickly.
  • Laughter is good:  it is a sign that you are relaxed and at ease with your customer.
  • Don’t rub your nose or cover your mouth.  (Benjamin Franklin said:  “Look at someone’s mouth while they’re talking, and at their eyes while you’re talking.”)

Don’t be afraid to show the positive aspects of your personality at work.  It is when we put on masks that people get confused.  Your customers will positively respond to who you genuinely are.

I think I’ll go have that bowl of Cap’n Crunch now!

Cheers! 

Jim Baumgartner

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The Psychology of Apartment Leasing – Are you a Process or Procedural Buyer?

Mar 8th, 2011
by jameswb.
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When making the decision to buy, we make decisions in one of two ways.  As an apartment leasing professional it is important to understand these two styles and what makes them tick.  These styles are Process Buyers or Procedural Buyers. 

Process Buyers

Process Buyers have a need to do extensive research.  They exhaust all the possibilities.  They will use as many resources as they can find (web sites, friends, print, driving neighborhoods, etc.)  They devote substantial periods of time to the endeavor.  They are the customer who after researching your paid on-line advertising will then go in search of your Facebook page and apartment ratings to verify that you stack up.  Process Buyers have a secret fear that when they make a decision, a better deal will surface the next day! 

Procedural Buyers

The Procedural Buyer often will go through an extensive search as well; however, they want to get it done.  Therefore they do the search at lightning speed.  Their goal is to take the universe of rental options and cut it down to three or four options as quickly as possible.  They make decisions quickly and then move on with no regrets.

So how does this apply to leasing apartments?  Take the time to understand your prospect’s buying style.  Ask questions.  If your prospect responds to your question “So how many apartments have you looked at?” by saying, “We’ve been looking for two years“(this is an actual response I received) you will know they are a Process Buyer.  They are not in a hurry to be closed.  However, do not give up!  Your job is to give them the information and then reassure them that this is the best deal at the best time for them.  If they still refuse to be closed, establish a relationship and continue to feed them confidence-building information.  While this may seem time-consuming, the benefit is that once they move in it will take them another two years to give notice and find a new apartment!

Conversely, when a Procedural Buyer enters your office door, they are ready to do the deal.  Stay on point, answer their questions and ask for the sale.  If they weren’t convinced you were a viable rental option they would not have darkened your door in the first place.  At this point they are just verifying that the chemistry is there before jumping into a relationship with you and your property.

These two styles are vastly different and need a different approach.  If you overload the Procedural Buyer with too much information they will get frustrated with you.  If you go right for a direct close with a Process Buyer they will not have the confidence that this is the best option and will delay their buying decision.

Boost your closing ratio by better understanding your prospects’ style of buying and match your selling and closing techniques to it.  This will make them comfortable with you and confident in making the choice to live at your property. 

Cheers!  Jim Baumgartner | Rent Soda

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The heART of the Deal: Psychology of Apartment Leasing – the Evidence Fundamental

Mar 1st, 2011
by jameswb.
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Our customers have been trained to question claims and promises.  People expect lies.  How do we demonstrate our credibility?

Key:  I can’t deny what I see.

In a situation where we are being sold we tend to approach it from a negative perspective.  We are prepared to disagree. Our brains spend a great deal of time looking for evidence to support what we have already decided is true.  Therefore, when a sales person says something that runs counter to what we already believe, we deny it by labeling it as a mistake or an out-and-out lie.  This is why it is so important to have proof of what we say—and any proof that your customer can see with their own eyes has the most power.  The strength of this proof is that when you bring it to the attention of your customer, they have to judge it independently and cannot immediately deny it.  Some examples include:

  • A market study showing average rents or occupancies in your area - “See!  I told you that you better not wait too long to put your application in on this apartment home!”
  • Newspaper articles, journal articles or blog entries showing rental trends, the cost of home ownership, discussing the planning, development or construction of your property, etc.  Any positive PR regarding your property should be framed in your leasing center.  More topical information should be placed in a notebook within easy view of your customers.
  • Consumer report information on appliances – some customers question the quality, reliability and energy efficiency of the appliances they will be using.  Provide documentation that you are green and that the quality of the appliances will reduce their face time with your maintenance team.
  • Blueprints or architectural reports on sound attenuation, staggered stud common walls, R-factors, etc. – Often in a renovation or new construction scenario, we are selling what will be; not what is!  As such, we are selling the dream.  Provide concrete evidence whenever you possibly can.
  • Actual photographs of the available home in Craigslist ads or e-mail enquiry responses – “Jan, here is a photo of the view from the apartment we talked about on the phone…”
  • Youtube videos –  showing construction in progress or of actual available apartments.
  • A print out of your apartment ratings web pages showing actual customer comments regarding your property.
  • Meeting your residents and staff – one of the beauties of the internet is that the majority of our customers have narrowed their choice based on what they have seen on-line.  Their eventual buying decision is hinging on whether or not there is chemistry.  By taking the time to greet other residents while touring you demonstrate that you care about your customers after the sale.  In addition, when they meet other members of your team, it gives them more evidence that you are good people and will take care of them.

Evidence depends on its source for credibility.  For example, many customers today realize that apartment ratings sites are often used for revenge so while they may read them; they take these comments with a grain of salt.  The same is true for the photos we use in our advertising.  Our customers are used to ‘models’ (both human and structural) being airbrushed and photo-shopped.  This is one reason that videos have become increasingly effective (they demonstrate what the customer would actually see if they were in the apartment).  Look for credible evidence that supports your sale.

Evidence is especially important when we are uncertain.  Uncertain moments for most of us include when we are going through a life-change (going away to school, divorce, death of a partner, relocating to a new city, etc.).  This is when we go into a hyper-research mode looking for any evidence we can about our potential buying decision.

Take the time to pull together evidence that supports your customer’s decision to rent at your property.  Look for material that is hard to deny (and thus supports your position and gives them comfort).  Prove that you are a leasing professional with integrity!  When you add this supportive evidence to your already flawless leasing technique, you will be unstoppable!

Cheers!  Jim Baumgartner | Rent Soda

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The heART of the Deal: The Psychology of Leasing – the Exchange Fundamental

Feb 4th, 2011
by jameswb.
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In all human interactions there is a great deal going on below the surface.  This is psychology.  We all bring different understandings, intents and cultural references to relationship; however, there are some concepts that are relatively universal.  In order to be a better salesperson, it pays to understand the psychology of human interactions.

One of these key concepts is the Exchange Fundamental.  In effect, it is the Golden Rule in reverse:  When I do something for you; you are obligated to do something in return for me.  Have you ever been on the receiving end of something nice and the giver says, “Now you owe me one!”  This is an example of the Exchange Fundamental.

Back in the day you might have encountered religious folks in white robes passing out flowers in the airport.  While it appeared to be a gift, an obligation to give something back was created.  The obligation could be paid in the form of money (donation) or your time to listen to their message.

We don’t always exchange cash or concrete things.  It’s really about the perceived value.  For example, when I volunteer to teach, a note of thanks afterwards means so much—it is an acknowledgement that I have given my time and shared my knowledge. The other day, I got a call from a seminar participant thanking me for some practical applications on profiling. This helped her build a positive relationship that will mean a lot of revenue for her company. That call brightened my day.  Likewise, when I give my son a cash ‘infusion’, his hug and ‘thanks, Dad’ means the world to me.

What happens if someone violates the Exchange Fundamental?  As we learn to mimic the behaviors we see on reality television, we may be tempted to take—but not give back.  Doing this risks being rejected by your peer group.  (We subconsciously keep score.) The exception to this is if you are dealing with someone of a higher status.  However, even a higher status person will find that people are less forthcoming as they begin to learn how he or she operates—all take and no give.  At some point, without adequate rewards, the giving on the part of the subordinate will stop—or the least, the quality will drop.

Pay it forward – The Exchange Fundamental gives us confidence that if I help others today, I can count on their help when I need it in the future.  In fact, we can even help people we do not know with the understanding that in our hour of need, there will be someone there to help us.  Carol Burnett, in an interview on William Shatner’s show, Raw Nerve, described how a California businessman invested in her career.  His stipulation was that if she made it big, she had to help others.  So she has set up numerous scholarships to pay back this debt.

So how does this apply to leasing apartments?  Offer gifts just for stopping by.  When you receive a gift, you feel obligated to do something in return.  Some examples include site-monogrammed key lariats at student housing fairs, inviting senior housing prospects to ice cream or pie socials, offering a Target or IKEA gift card as a close or participation in drawings ‘just for stopping by’. 

Consider the guest card exchange:  if you do not fill it out for your prospect, hand the guest card to them and say, “Let me get you a cup of coffee or bottle of water while you fill this out.”  (It’s most positive to lead with what you will do for them.)

If, at the end of the demonstration, you are unable to close your prospect, ask if they have any friends that are looking for housing.  Turn up the heat by offering a small referral bonus.  This creates the opportunity for you to leverage that relationship into a new relationship—and thereby make it easier to close a new sale.  The majority of prospects will search their minds for referrals in an effort to ‘even the Exchange score’.

Whether we are comfortable with it or not, there is a lot going on below the surface!  Take the time to understand how the Exchange Fundamental can work for you.  You will find that it positively impacts your closing ratio—and it will increase your network of friends and supporters as well!

Cheers!  Jim Baumgartner | Rent Soda

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What’s In a Name?

Feb 1st, 2011
by jameswb.
3 comments

I just came from working out at my gym.  Although I really shouldn’t call it a gym because it’s one of those shiny places with new equipment, wallpaper, carpet and amazing equipment.   Midway through my workout, they announced a special add-on membership deal through the end of the month.  They closed with an invitation to see a Membership Engagement Associate.

Say what?

My first thought was, “Is my gym offering matchmaking services?”

Nope.  A Membership Engagement Associate is a sales person.  Their job is to sell—in an engaging way I’m sure—memberships.

That got me thinking about a discussion I had a while back with a site Leasing Consultant (aka sales person).  We had just hired a corporate leasing consultant and given her the title of “Corporate Leasing Specialist” (aka sales person).  This caused envy amongst the ranks.  In fact the site Leasing Consultant with whom I was having the conversation had just had his business cards reprinted with the title “Leasing Specialist” under his name.  He was pretty stoked about it.  It struck me at the time that this simple title change had a hugely motivating impact.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago:  During participant introductions in a training class I led, a leasing consultant proudly announced her title (it was far grander than Leasing Consultant) and her company name.  Her pride struck a chord.  I had seen similar pride in other employees from that organization in the past.  The company is a good one but in her mind it is bigger than life!  Her employer has done a great job of naming the position, training the staff that fills their sales positions and creating an amazing sense of team.  The result of this has been an ability to close more Leases (sell) at a higher rate than their competitors.

How cool is that?

I don’t think that just the title resulted in all that.  However, using a cool title as a starting point, the company has built an entire culture that values their sales people.  This sense of value and esteem is reflected in all aspects of their work.  They are able to represent themselves as elite professionals to their customers which is reflected in several ways:  1) the sales people have greater confidence in themselves, 2) the customers have greater confidence in the sales people and 3) the customers have greater confidence in the product being sold.  It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that has resulted in a greater ability to close the sale.

So from now on, please refer to me as an Organizational Behavior Modification Advisor.

Cheers!  Jim Baumgartner | Rent Soda

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The heART of the Deal | Lessons in Management: The Art of Delegating

Jan 18th, 2011
by jameswb.
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 Any time you manage other people or projects your life goes from simple to crazy!  The only way to survive is to learn to delegate.  While many joke that they have mastered the art of delegation (and now spend the majority of their time, feet on desk, surfing eBay or YouTube) most supervisors struggle with this key management technique.  Unless managers delegate some of their work, they are acting as individual contributors instead of as a leader. 

To delegate means to assign a task to another person.  This gives them the responsibility and formal authority for accomplishing that task.  One key item to remember is that while authority and responsibility are passed on to a subordinate, the buck still stops at the manager’s desk.  Therefore, monitor progress to ensure that the task is done with quality and on-time.

An added benefit of delegation is that it provides experiential learning.  This allows the entire team to develop and grow.  There will be mistakes but the educational opportunities are well worth it.  Several years ago an employee bashfully entered my office.  I could tell he felt horrible.  With prompting he relayed that he had screwed up on a project and it would cost a property a chunk of change.  I asked, “Will you ever do that again?”  He emphatically replied, “No!”  Consider this tuition for the school of life.  Today he is very successful in the multifamily industry (and he never repeated that mistake!)

There are three basic components to delegation—just think much ADO about nothing:

A – Authority:  The manager needs to pass the authority on to the person to whom the task has been assigned. 

D – Duty:  Assigned the project or task to the person on your team most well-suited to the work.  Make sure you are clear as to what the desired results are.

O – Obligation:  Create a sense of responsibility on the part of the employee—ensure that they will do the work.

The process of delegating by a manager can be done in three steps:

  1.  Make the decision to delegate and ask four questions: 
    1. What are the objectives—what do we need to accomplish?
    2. When does it need to get done?  Is it urgent?
    3. Does the employee have the right resources to get the job done?
    4. Who has the talent best-suited to the task?  (To do this you need to know your team.)
    5. Clearly communicate to the employee:  what is the task, what resources are available to the employee to complete the task and what are the benchmarks to measure progress.
    6. Evaluate how the process went (after the task has been completed):
      1. Were the original objectives met?
      2. Did the employee grow?
      3. Was it done efficiently?
      4. Was the delegation effective?

So why don’t more managers delegate?  When I was a newbie manager, there were quite a few reasons why I stumbled:

  1. No training—I did not know how.
  2. A belief that I could do it better than anyone else.
  3. I came up through the ranks and knew only one way!
  4. No system to measure and assess.
  5. It took too much time (when I am struggling to keep up, it is hard to conceive of the idea that delegating can actually—eventually—save me time!)
  6. Fear of having the subordinate outshine me.
  7. The corporate culture was filled with insecurity and instability.
  8. I didn’t trust my employees—or know them.
  9. The employee rejected taking on additional duties.

So I learned a few things!  I learned that when I delegated to my employees they grew and became stronger contributors to the organization.  The amazing thing was that this enabled me to grow too!  I found that as I hired a team that balanced out my weaknesses, we became a powerhouse!  I got credit for their strengths.  Then I learned to pass the credit for a job well done on to the employee—but if it was a flop, I took the hit.  I avoided the temptation to torpedo the employee who screwed up.  If I did, none of my team would want to take on anything different or new.

I also learned that as an employee, a great way to win the respect of my boss was to take the initiative to take on additional tasks.

So delegate!  You will find that you have more time to manage for the future (because you are taking less time to react).  You will discover jewels in the rough on your team—and with your delegation and accompanying counseling they will turn into highly polished and valuable jewels.  Lastly, it will help you grow to the next level.  And that’s the heart of the deal!

Cheers!  Jim Baumgartner | Rent Soda

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The heART of the Deal | Lessons in Management: The Dynamics of Relationship

Jan 11th, 2011
by jameswb.
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Life has a way of dropping needed messages in our laps that, when pieced together, bring new insight. The news of another shooting spree came after I had finished teaching a management class where we had discussed Transactional Analysis (basically the study of interactions—or ‘transactions’—between people) and its impact on our relationships with internal and external customers. 

Transactional Analysis is a method of understanding human behavior and interactions—a concept discovered and popularized by Dr. Eric Berne in his book The Games People Play.  His work was carried forward by one of his students, Dr. Thomas Harris (the author of I’m Okay – You’re Okay).  Dr. Harris outlines four positions of ‘Okayness’.  The shooter in Tucson was a classic example of “I’m not okay – you’re not okay”.

Before delving into ‘Okayness’ and its impact on our internal and external customers, we need a firmer understanding of the background of Transactional Analysis.

Ego States:  The Foundations of Transactional Analysis

Dr. Berne theorized that there are three ego states: child, parent and adult.  These are based on the belief that our life experiences impact the way we look at the world.  We learn the first two ego states from our parents and authority figures.  In fact, he believed that we literally record every event in our brains—to be relived, remembered or replayed later.  We drift in and out of ego states within seconds; however, we have a tendency to spend more time in one.

Child Ego State – When we are children, we record the internal events that are associated with external events we witness.  Basically these are the emotions or feelings that are tied to those events.  This ego state typically exhibits childlike behavior such as tantrums, selfishness, a desire for immediate gratification and raw emotions.  It is referred to as the ego state of “I Want”.  In an appropriate setting (out on the town, a party, at a football game, etc.) it is a wonderfully fun and releasing place to be.

The Parent Ego State – Also learned in childhood, we modeled this ego state on our parents’ (or others in a parent-like role) values and prejudices.  It is thought that there is a massive collection of external events that were perceived during the first five years of life.  These might include: “never take candy from a stranger”, “look both ways before you cross the street” or “always chew with your mouth closed”.  During the first five years of life, the child receiving these messages and events has no way of filtering the information.  Have you ever watched children play and heard your words (and tone) come out of their mouths?  I will never forget my shock the first time I opened my mouth to reprimand my son and my father’s words came flooding out.  I had sworn I would never say that—and yet I spoke it as if on ‘auto pilot’! This is the ego state of “I Should”.   

The Adult Ego State – the final state, this is what we perceived to be different from felt (Child) or observed (Parent).  At around one year of age, we are able to exhibit gross motor activity:  grabbing a toy, playing peek-a-boo, etc. We converted the information gathered from these situations into information. According to Berne, the Adult ego state is “principally concerned with transforming stimuli into pieces of information, and processing and filing that information on the basis of previous experience.”  It acts as a referee between the emotional pinings of the ‘Child’ and the biased ‘Parent’ to sift out the facts and draw a satisfactory conclusion or compromise.  It is the ego state of “I Will”.

(While Berne was influenced by Freud, do not confuse his three ego states with Freud’s Id, Ego and Superego.  It was Berne’s belief that instead of finding ourselves in a stage, human personality is multi-faceted.  Each of us contains personality factions that collide with each other.  These interactions and collisions between our factions result in our thoughts, feelings and behaviors.)

 A researcher who greatly influenced Berne’s study of Transactional Analysis was Dr. Wilder Penfield. Using electric currents Penfield discovered some amazing things about our brains.  Some of Penfield’s findings that most influenced Berne were:

  • Our brains record events like a camcorder.  You may not be able to access the information at a conscious level; however, it is always in your brain.
  • The event, as well as the feelings that were experienced during the event, is stored in your brain.  As such, they are entwined and neither can be recalled without the other.
  • When recalling a past event, they will be so vivid that the same emotions will be felt.

Is it any wonder that we have ‘hot buttons’ that cause us to feel extreme emotions? 

The goal of understanding that we all wander in and out of one of three ego states is to enable us to better gauge our customer’s point of reference.  If your customer is yelling at you for towing their car for snow removal (Child ego state) you probably will not have great success if you respond by saying, “Well, you know you shouldn’t have parked it there!” (Parent ego state.)  This transaction is known as a crossed ego state.  Your goal is to get them into a complementary or parallel ego state so a constructive discussion (transaction) can take place.

Fast-forward to Dr. Thomas Harris.  A student of Berne’s, he took the study of Transactional Analysis to a new level.  In his book I’m Okay – You’re Okay he relays that as babies, we learned that we are completely dependent upon ‘big people’ and therefore not okay.   As we grow, we can become more accepting (and therefore move towards a sense of okayness) as a result of positive input and reactions from others or we get stuck in a very negative self-concept.  (Negative inputs would include comments like: ‘why can’t you be more like your father?’, ‘don’t be such a baby’ or ‘you’ll never amount to anything’.) Therefore, we start out ‘bad’ and need to be talked out of it.

There are four positions or attitudes of Okayness:

  1. I’m Okay – You’re Okay:  This is expressed by self-confidence, relates well, accepts people at face value and respects opinions.
  2. I’m Okay – You’re NOT Okay:  People holding this perspective are self-righteous and domineering.
  3. I’m NOT Okay – You’re Okay:  These people see the world from their insufficiency and insecurity.
  4. I’m NOT Okay – You’re NOT Okay:  These people exhibit depression and despondence; nothing in life is good.

Jared Loughner, the shooter last weekend, is probably operating out of a position of “I’m NOT Okay – You’re NOT Okay”.  While it is unlikely that we have people waiting to shoot us with real bullets, there are a lot of folks out there with emotional bullets aimed at us.  It is helpful to understand that this condition exists and is not personal.  There are a few steps we can take to counter it:

  1. Take the time to listen; don’t try to shove negative behavior or comments under the carpet.
  2. Make eye contact and smile.  Establish a positive and personal connection.
  3. Understand that you are powerless to bring this person to a place of Okayness.  (Don’t try to rescue.)
  4. Ask about her/his feelings.
  5. Don’t make excuses for behavior lapses—hold her/him responsible.
  6. Be honest about what you need from her/him.
  7. Be empathetic.

We spend the majority of our time communicating and interacting with others; you have the power to make it positive!  Understanding how others can push your ‘buttons’, how you can slide into a less-than-healthy-ego state for the situation or how your sense of self impacts communication will make you a better leader, a better salesperson, a better employee and a better friend.  And that’s the heart of the deal!

Cheers!  Jim Baumgartner | Rent Soda

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Praise For RENT SODA’s Nov 12th Profiling Your Way to MORE Leases!

Nov 29th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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Building on Your Strengths: Build Success

Nov 16th, 2010
by jameswb.
1 comment

I have learned to hate reviews.  Not so much the receiving of them (although I have had some surprises in my time—and there really should be no surprises in a good review) but the preparing and reviewing of them.  All too often all of the energy is devoted towards highlighting weaknesses—or in an effort to warm things up a bit: “Areas for Improvement”.  There may be 17 ‘Excellents’ out of 20 categories but the majority of space will be devoted to the three categories that are not excellent.

Why can’t we be more like pro-football?

Why can’t we focus and further develop our strengths?  If you have someone naturally gifted in marketing, why would you ask them to devote their time to budgeting?  If you have an administrative guru, why would you be upset that their closing ratio is below the company average?  (Here I have to confess that the idea for this blog came while listening to my co-instructor, Michael Monroe Kiefer (www.powermindtraining.com), teaching a segment on Personality Styles, a profile assessment tool.  But more on that later.) 

Now I realize that we don’t have NFL-sized budgets; however, does it make sense to hire the right strength for the job, and then find other ‘right’ strengths for the jobs around them?

Often when we talk about someone’s strengths, they may look surprised and think, “Well, everyone does that.”  We tend to minimize the things that we love to do or find easy.  And yet, wouldn’t we be happier if we could spend all of our time doing the things we love?

How do you assess your strengths?

  1. Send an e-mail to your family, friends and coworkers asking what they perceive to be your strengths.  People tend to be more ‘real’ when they cannot see your reaction.  The benefit of asking people from different areas of your life is that they will give you a broader perspective on how you are perceived. When you get their responses you can take this information and cut and paste it into a single action plan. 
  2. Review your review.  Is there anything your supervisors have consistently said?  Do you see a pattern of strengths and weaknesses?  (Have you noticed that it is much easier to see other people’s strengths and weaknesses?)
  3. Take a personality profile assessment.  DiSC is one assessment that is inexpensive and can be done on-line in twenty minutes or so.  As I mentioned earlier, Michael Monroe Kiefer is a huge proponent of focusing on your strengths and offers a profiling analysis geared towards a better understanding of your customers and co-workers and is geared towards understanding how best to communicate with them.  You will discover that we have a lot of subconscious preferences. The results will help you understand your behavior as well as appreciate your coworkers’ differences.
  4. What activities entice you to come back?  Generally our strengths include those things that we are drawn to, get lost in or make you feel good.  (Conversely, your weaknesses are things that leave you feeling small and depleted.)   Think about the days when you come home charged up and excited.  What tasks were you performing that day?  Conversely, think about the days when you have come home wiped out and drained.

Play to your strengths | Compensate for weaknesses

If you find yourself in a situation where your job requires you to devote time to an area of weakness, create a personal development plan to improve these areas.  (How do you determine if something is an area of weakness?  Tasks that you ignore, delay, procrastinate, try to hide or are uncomfortable discussing are areas of weakness.)  Where possible, delegate any areas of weakness (e.g. budgeting, scheduling, ordering or reviewing financial line items) to someone on your team better suited to the task.  Bring your team in on the exercise.  Explain that everyone on the team has strengths and weaknesses and that you want to assign tasks based on what each person does best.  P. Alex Linley and Susan Harrington discuss this concept in an article in The Psychologist: 

“By exploring each individual’s pattern of strengths, the emphasis becomes one of optimising what people are best at, while recognising and managing those situations that they may not handle naturally well, and addressing these through appropriate job allocation, complementary partnering, or strengths-based team working, rather than trying perennially to ‘address their weaknesses’ and rectify the fact that people may have been put in the wrong job to begin with.” 

By discussing it as a team, you can brainstorm optimal task assignments and create employee buy-in at the same time.

Building a new team?  Even better!  Take this opportunity to hire for your weaknesses.  All too often we hire people like us.  Resist that temptation and hire a team to balance you out.  Their strengths will supercharge your career! 

That doesn’t mean we totally ignore our weaknesses however.  Linley and Harrington add:

Overall, a strengths-based formula for organisational success would be to play to your strengths (through identifying them and finding a role that is congruent with them), develop your competencies (through ensuring that you are at least minimally effective in critical areas of the job), and manage your weaknesses (through job redesign, complementary partnering, or strengths-based team working).

We tend to spend a lot of time and energy dwelling on our weaknesses.  As in most investments (and shouldn’t our development head up the list of our own investments) apply the 80-20 rule.  Spend 80% of your time making use of your key strengths and 20% of your time developing your weaknesses.

So stop spending so much energy on your weaknesses.  Play to your strengths and focus on what you love.  Life will be much better!

Cheers!  Jim Baumgartner | Rent Soda

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Have Money – Need Apartment. PS Don’t Irritate, Annoy or Otherwise *iss Me Off!

Nov 4th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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In today’s apartment marketplace, when a prospect walks into your doors, they are READY to lease from you. With all the information available on the internet, your facebook page, your twitter account, your website, apartmentratings.com – believe me. They’ve seen it, and your prospect is STILL interested. They may as well have a sign around their neck that reads, “Have Money, Need Apartment.”

What’s preventing you from leasing to them?

I call it the PS factor. They sign around their neck that reads, “Have Money, Need Apartment,” should also have a postscript that reads,

P.S. Don’t IRRITATE, ANNOY, AKA Don’t *iss Me Off – Otherwise You WILL Lose Me!

I’m sure you’ve never annoyed, irritated or *issed your prospects off, or have you?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ACFZeCZwo

Here are 5 sure fire ways to lose a perfectly good & ready prospect AKA What NOT to Do When Leasing Apartments:

  1. Assume I want the cheapest apartment you have available. Start off selling me on price and price alone: Contrary to popular belief, finding your next apartment HOME is not a decision solely based on PRICE alone. ASK, LISTEN, OBSERVE and use the information you find to your advantage. When shopping for a home, most people do not try to find the cheapest thing they can find. CASE-IN-POINT: I recently did some apartment shops in a busy downtown market. I was dressed appropriately. My boyfriend and I asked to see a luxury unit in the 1500 – 2000 square feet range. We did not mention any budget. They leasing agent did not ask or try to pre-qualify us. Keep in mind, this is a luxury apartment complex, with rents in the $3000 – $5000 range. She immediately took us to what she referred to as the “entry-level” apartment unit. I was appalled. It wasn’t 1500-2000 square feet, it was 900 square feet. For whatever reason, she decided to show us the cheapest unit. Had I been a snobby, willing to over-pay prospect, I would have been insulted, irritated, and a TOTAL waste of my time. Instead I reminded her we had asked for a 1500 – 2000 square foot unit, this apartment did not meet our needs. She replied that those are the most expensive units, only available on the top floors, where a premium was charged. (WHAT? Remember, I never mentioned that I had a budget, but it was obvious that she couldn’t believe ANYONE would pay THAT much for an apartment unit!) We finally did get to the larger units. Don’t assume it’s all about price. Especially if you are in a luxury market, what drives people to spend money on luxury expenditures is NOT price. Because of the economy we are currently in, because of the financial pressure going on in OUR lives, don’t assume that your prospect has those same financial pressures. And NEVER NEVER NEVER, in any way shape or form, imply that you are showing them the cheapest most affordable unit – unless they specific ask for it. Cheap has a negative connotation. DON’t start off on a negative note. You’ve just irritated me.
  2. Make Long Excuses: If there are questions or objections, keep your answers short and sweet and move onto something positive. If I’m asking about the parking, don’t give me a long-rambling excuse on why the parking is $50.00/month. Just let me know what it is and move on unless I have an objection. If I inquire about moving in on the 27th of the month instead of waiting until the first of the month, don’t give me a long excuse of why  I can’t or go through a long list of things you’re going to have to take care ofo just so that I can move in a couple of days early. – I don’t care about why it puts you out. Just let me know if you CAN or can NOT, or if you need to check on it and then move on to something positive. There is no need to make excuses for anything. It’s a waste of time, and I’ll start to wonder if you’re always making excuses for anything/everything that happens….Now you’ve gotten me wondering, and I am even more irritated!
  3. Show me things I told you I am not interested in: If you do, it’s a total waste of my time – you must not respect my time, I’ll assume you didn’t listen to me when I told you I wasn’t interested in XYZ, and you just gave me information overload. CASE-IN-POINT: The same agent above, surprisingly asked us if we had any pets. We stated that we didn’t. As we were going through the tour, she showed us the pet spa, the doggy park, and the pet-only elevators. This added another 15 minutes to our tour. I reminded her that we had no pets, and in fact, I have terrible allergies to pets. (Hoping that she wouldn’t continue to show us all the pet amenities.) If I was an deathly-allergic-to-pets prospect, seeing all the amenities that they offered to pet owners would have scared me. AND, we had a lunch appointment at noon, and she was quickly eating up all our time with pet amenities and cheap units instead of showing us what we really wanted to see. Now I am TOTALLY irritated.
  4. Overload me with information: Don’t regurgitate your entire sales brochure to me. If I tell you I’m only interested in 3 things, give me those 3 things. Don’t overload me with information. Not only will you inundate me, I might even feel stupid. I don’t lease from people who make me feel stupid. CASE-IN-POINT: Same apartment building mentioned above, I named the 3 most important things to me were a.) 1500 – 2000 square feet b.) closet space was EXTREMELY important to me c.) common area entertainment spaces like pool or clubroom. The apartment building was also a green building, seeking LEED certification. As a prospect, I thought that was “nice,” but I didn’t really care to find out where the cabinets came from, how the air in the building was used to heat & cool adjoining units rather than heating/cooling the existing unit therefore conserving energy, or what the content of the “recycled content carpet” was made of or how. All this was explained to me in excruciating detail, all while eating into my upcoming lunch schedule….NOW they’ve escalated from irritating to annoying.
  5. Rush me: I’m not talking about trying to close a lease on me – I’m talking about trying to rush me and get me out of your office. If you have something better to do, do it. When I’m in your office with a sign that says, “Have Money – Need Apartment” and YOU have vacancy. I’m the most important thing on your schedule. If you look at your watch too often, or seem to rush from model to model to amenity, and try to move me along – I’m not feeling the love. Actually, I’m feeling quite the opposite – you must not want me. If I’m going to live here, I need to feel that you will service me, and not rush me through everything, including my first meeting(s) with you! I once had a TV salesman tell me that he wasn’t going to call the other store to look for my tv unless I was going to buy it from him – all I had asked for was 5 minutes to talk it over to my boyfriend. There were no other customers waiting around for help, and the store was pretty slow. My feisty reply was, “If you’ve got something better to do in the next 5-10 minutes, go do it. Before you do it, please find your sales manager for me, so that I can ask him to find me someone who has 10 minutes to sell me a TV.” Now I’m royally *issed! Congratulations! You’ve just lost my sale!

These are 5 Sure-Fire Ways to Loose the Sale/Lease. Don’t let it happen to you!

Have you seen any annoying or irritating things that killed a sale recently? Leave us a comment and share!

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

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Offering Apartment Marketing, Apartment Business & Operations Consulting & Apartment Industry Training

Web: RentSoda.com Email: Daisy {at} RentSoda(.)com

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