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Building Apartment Revenue: Yield Management

Apr 15th, 2011
by jameswb.
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It is no mystery that the past few years have been tough on the multi family industry.  We are seeing pockets of recovery while other regions are still suffering.  Despite overall vacancy issues, you often will see certain floor plans or views maintain high demand.  This is where market rate properties can boost revenue by practicing yield management. 

I first started practicing yield management when I worked with a client that primarily owned hotels.  They taught me a lesson that I would never forget.  When occupancy is high, the prices go up.  When occupancy is low, prices drop.  Basic right? The key; however, was to look for opportunities to grow revenue even when overall occupancy is down.

I was curious as to what Wikipedia had for a definition and really like what they had to say:

There are three essential conditions for yield management to be applicable:

  • That there is a fixed amount of resources available for sale.
  • That the resources sold are perishable (there is a time limit to selling the resources, after which they cease to be of value).
  • That different customers are willing to pay a different price for using the same amount of resources.

Airlines jumped on yield management after deregulation.  In essence, they cannot manufacture more seats just as we cannot add more rental units.  Hotels quickly jumped on this trend as well.  We all sell space for a specified time frame.  We have a time limit—and if we don’t maximize that time we lose money.

There are software programs available that will help you to do this; however, if you want to experiment without the investment, gather your front-line team, take a look at your property and ask, “Which styles always rent the fastest?”  Every property has apartments that rent quickly.  This is an opportunity to create revenue where there was none before.  Push the rents on those styles. 

Create a base price.  This may be as simple as taking your current pricing and adjusting from there.  However, if upon review you find that some unit styles are always full and you have occupancy issues on others, you may have a pricing problem.  If you aren’t already doing so, do a market analysis to compare your pricing with your comps.  Are their rents higher or lower than yours?  (You can look at rents per square foot; however, most customers do not take the time to analyze this.  They are more concerned with “What do I get for my money and how much will it cost me each month?”)  Are their amenities better or not as nice?  Is the location comparable?  Put yourself in your customers’ shoes.  Be as unbiased as possible.  If you were your customer, how much would you pay?  As a result of this exercise you will discover where you can push rents and perhaps where some should be pulled back a bit.

Increase rents for value items.  Increase the base price for amenities such as fireplace, vaults, extra windows, upgraded finishes (appliances, carpet, remodels, etc.), which floor it is on (top floor is generally premium—unless you do not have an elevator, walk-outs are a premium due to convenience for dog owners and active residents) and views (pool or nature views).  (One of the benefits of going through this exercise with your team and manually adjusting rents is that everyone understands the reasoning behind the pricing and can therefore explain it to their customers.  This has been a frustration with yield management software.)

Invariably, when we have gone through this process we have ended up creating the equivalent of several units worth of revenue.  So, on a 100-unit site, we have ended up with revenue generation equivalent to 103 to 107 units (based on former average rents).  At the high end you can end up with almost an extra month’s worth of revenue per year!

You will also find that you have enough income to more than offset reduced rents on the apartment styles that typically do not move quickly.  This gives you the benefit of a lower ‘loss leader’ for advertising purposes as well.  There is also snobbery on the upper end of the market so this increases your total range and broadens your appeal to a larger slice of the market.

At the end of this process you may find that you love the extra income that yield management brings you.  (Undoubtedly your ownership will!)  At that point you will want to look at the benefits of utilizing a yield management software versus doing it yourself.  There are pros and cons to both.  Regardless of which you choose, you will grow your asset and hopefully increase bonuses and your career growth!  Seize the opportunity!

Jim Baumgartner is Senior Vice President of RentSoda, a consulting company offering apartment marketing, business & operations consulting as well as industry-specific training.

www.rentsoda.com |8 blog.rentsoda.com| jim {at} rentsoda(.)com | 

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“I’m So Glad You Called Today” – 4 Phone Tips to Turn a Call into an Apartment Tour

Aug 26th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
2 comments

Phones have been around for over 140 years, so answering the phone is nothing new – or is it?

Having a great telephone conversation is one of the best and most powerful apartment marketing/leasing techniques in our industry.

It sets the stage for the rest of the leasing experience for your apartment prospect. Are you putting your best foot forward?

In the apartment business, a successful prospect call is one where we turn the telephone apartment inquiry into an appointment. What are the best ways to turn a phone call into a apartment tour appointment?

These are  my

top favorite tried and true phone leasing techniques

to turn that apartment telephone inquiry into an apartment tour appointment:

  1. Once you have identified yourself, find a way to let your phone prospect know how happy you are that they called TODAY. – If your caller says they are looking for an apartment, you should respond with, “I’m so glad you called today!...” and follow-up the comment with your specials or other related comment. “I’m so happy you called today,” is a great way to pause the conversation and inject some personal positive attention to your caller.
  2. What’s in a name? EVERYTHING. If the caller gives you their name – use it. If they don’t, ask them for their name – and use it. People love to hear their names – it acknowledges the fact that they are an individual and not just another caller. It will help you bond with the person over the phone. Using someone’s name is very intimate. Get the name and USE it.
  3. If you are comfortable, assume that the caller wants to set an appointment, and give them a couple of choices of times you have available for an appointment. With all the information available on the internet, most of your callers already know enough about your apartment community/complex to be ready to set an appointment for the leasing tour. – Assume they want the tour and work on scheduling it. If you are not comfortable with assuming your caller wants an apartment tour, then ask them if they would like to schedule a tour.
  4. At the end of each call, always thank your apartment prospect by name for calling you!

Your call should go something like this:

RING RING!

You: Thank you for calling ABC Apartments, how may I help you? (smile!)

Caller: I’m interested in finding a 1 bedroom apartment.

You: My name is Daisy – Can I get your name?

Caller: My name is Jane.

You: Jane, I’m so happy you called today! We have some great looking 1 bedroom apartments that just became available. Do you have any particular preferences you want to share?

Caller: I want to be on the top floor.

You: Great! I have 2 apartments on the top floor overlooking the park, and …

…(more conversations, get prospect info, bond, etc.)

You: I have appointments available this Thursday at 10:15AM, 4:30PM or Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to tour our apartment community and see the apartments we have available. What time would work best for you?

Caller: Saturday morning at 10:00AM.

You: Jane, thanks so much for calling today, and I can’t wait to show you our community on Saturday at 10:00AM!

There are lots of telephone leasing techniques out there. The objective is to schedule that apartment tour. These are my favorite phone tips, what are yours?

By the way, I’m so glad you read my blog post today! THANK YOU!

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

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

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

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

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GONE FISHING: using the right bait for your apartment prospect

Jul 30th, 2010
by jameswb.
1 comment

I recently had lunch with my friend and professional peer, Laurel Zacher.  We were discussing the key to understanding psychographics when working with site marketing or training of leasing staff.  I have been frustrated by multi housing professionals assuming that every customer shares their likes and dislikes.  I was floundering trying to explain how we have to put our feet in our customers’ shoes. 

She responded by saying, ‘you have to use the bait your fish likes!’ 

I so wish I had said that.

Since I didn’t create the line, I told Laurel that I was going to steal it (she very graciously said it was okay).

Some thoughts on fishing:

1)  What fish are you going after?  Take the time to research who your current customers are.  Early in my career I was asked to fill a building that was less than two years old and had never surpassed 83% occupancy.  The owner was frustrated!  I drove to the site and thought, “You know, this building is 83% full–not 17% vacant!”  (Yes, I know it was 17% vacant–but that wasn’t the important part.)  The key was that 83% of the homes were occupied by people who chose to be there.  I wanted to know why.  We discovered that the vast majority of the residents were from outside of a metro area.  They had to live in the city for economic opportunities; however, they did not want to live in a city.  We immediately began using different bait–’enjoy serenity’ was our theme.  We talked up the natural setting:  wooded hills overlooking a pond.  We pointed out that the buildings were small and you would get to know your neighbors.  It worked. 

2)  Use the right bait!  If you are dealing with seniors, remember that relationship is key.  They want to know and trust you.  Trying to rush them through the selling process will not work.  They really do want to slow down and smell the roses with you.  On the flip side, if you are working with students they don’t care about the roses–tell them where they can find beer and dates (in that order!) On my latest new construction project, we correctly predicted that our customers would be young professionals.  Sadly, my young professional days are behind me so when reviewing marketing materials and ads, I passed them in front of staff members who are in that demographic.  Invariably they chose what I didn’t like; however, that’s what we went with–because we used the bait our fish liked!  (And, by the way, it worked!)  Using the wrong bait is frustrating, a waste of time and can be financially disasterous.

3)  If you don’t understand which bait your customer is hungry for, ask.  It’s okay to pull together a team of up-and-comers together to be your advisory panel.  Tap into their wants and desires.  In the process, you will learn some amazing things and you will develop loyalty and excitement from your posse! 

And lastly–the fish are biting.  Have fun!

Jim Baumgartner | RentSoda

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New to the Apartment Industry/Job/Career? 4 Stages to an Epiphany!

Jul 13th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
1 comment

Are you new to the apartment industry? New to your employer? New career? New promotion? On a new project? There are 4 stages that every NEWBIE goes through before becoming comfortable in the new position.

When I first started at Dominium Management Services several years ago, I was lucky enough to take a class called “Managing for New Managers,” taught by a wonderful human resources mentor named Claudia. I took away a few lessons from that class, that not only helped me in my new job - I still remember those tips to this day and pass along this info to all newbies I meet!

Before we get started, I first want to mention for anyone who is new to the apartment industry: CONGRATS! You have just joined the most exciting, most demanding, most fun, most fullfilling, most intelligent, most rewarding industry – EVER! If your manager hasn’t prepared you, I’m preparing you now:

4 Stages to an Epiphany in the Apartment Industry

  1. STAGE 1: UNCONSCIOUSLY INCOMPETENT: You read it right. INCOMPETENT. In this stage, you’re feeling good. You just landed a job – especially in this economy, this is quite a feat! You beat out the hundreds of other applicants and you were chosen as the best fit for the job. CONGRATS! You’re being introduced to everyone, your resume is being passed around, people are oohing and ahhing. Everyone LOVES  you and can’t wait for you to get started. YOU can’t wait to get started! You feel important, after all, you’re working for ABC Apartments/ABC Management Company and they own millions worth in real estate. The honeymoon’s just begun. This feeling can last anywhere from a week to a month before you head into…
  2. STAGE 2: CONSCIOUSLY INCOMPETANT: This is when you start to feel a little insecure. There’s SOOOO much to learn! You’ve just started to realize you are in charge of this multi-million dollar asset, and no one’s ever trusted you with even $100 before, let alone an asset worth millions! Then there’s Fair Housing – oh my! They expect you to market, lease, understand financials, manage people, respond to residents, live on site, deal with maintenance issues, vacuum on occasion, AND all with a smile, please and a thank you. Budgets? Maintenance? HAP? HUD?  OOOOOHHHHH MY. You’re ready to pull your hair out and rethink this whole new industry, whole new career, whole new job thing. BUT STOP! This stage is perfectly NORMAL. I tell ALL new job applicants, and all new hires, give it 90 days, and if you don’t feel better by the end of 90 days, let’s have a serious talk. The good news is, EVERYONE goes through this, it’s perfectly normal, and it WILL get better. I’ve done takeovers where I’ve had people cry in my office because of how overwhelming it is – and they’re not use to the chaos of change. Give it 90 days, and those same people are skipping, having a good old time, and thanking me for letting them know – IT’s OK. This stage usually lasts anywhere from 90-120 days, with some relief right around 90 days.
  3. STAGE 3: CONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT: At this stage, you’re starting to GET IT now. It’s not easy, but you know where to find the answers, and you’re starting to kind of like the job/industry/career! You understand what your job entails, and you’re starting to understand not only where you fit into the equation, but the whole bigger equation of the APARTMENT industry. Things that seemed like a foreign language to you, terms like, gross potential rent, RUBS, HAP, HUD, NOI, cost per lease, marketing cost per unit, traffic, replacement reserves, Yardi, MRI, multi-family residential – terms once alien, are starting to roll off your tongue. Things that used to bother you (residents coming into your office and interrupting your line of thought, vendors vying for your time, overly dramatic leasing agents, non-communicative maintenance technicians, etc.)  – are now an everyday part of your life. You’re drinking the koolaid, and it’s starting to taste good. You see light at the end of the tunnel, and you contemplate taking a day off – soon.
  4. STAGE 4: CONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT: EPIPHANY! Then one day, all the sudden, you’re walking along, multi-tasking with your blackberry in one hand, maintenance work orders in the other hand, picking up trash/stuffing it your pockets, and just as you round the corner, your leasing agent and maintenance guy are waiting with an angry resident in tow. You have 10 minutes to compose yourself and your office before your apartment owners/asset manager/big-wigs come for their annual visit. You smile, look at your crew, and say, “What a beautiful day outside. Let’s talk about what’s bothering you so you can enjoy the rest of the morning!” An epiphany hits and you realize, I LOVE this crazy industry/job/career, and if not for the variety, people, experiences, life could be SOOOO boring! I’m GETTING IT! WHOOHOO!

Loss of new hires usually occurs at STAGE 2. Before you give up or before you allow YOUR new hire to give up! Realize, IT’s OK. Give it time, and you’ll GET IT.

Since I’ve started to tell every new employee I hire about these stages and open the door for honest discussion, give them permission and encourage them to vent to me during STAGE 2, my employee turnover has dropped significantly. In addition – those people will come vent, talk and sometimes cry in my office – but 90 days later, they are laughing with me, hugging me, and asking for new projects and challenges. I LOVE this crazy apartment industry!

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

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

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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TOP 10 TIPS to Get the MOST Out of CRAIGSLIST Apartment Ads

Jul 12th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
8 comments

Craigslist, when smartly used as part of your marketing/advertising campaign, can become one of your apartment community’s top traffic generators. If it’s not, you’re not getting the most out of your Craigslist ads.

Here are the TOP 10 Things You Need to Know to Maximize Your Craigslist Ads for your Apartment Community:

  1. Generally, web traffic is highest during the week, especially during working hours of 8:00AM – 5:00PM. For the apartment industry on Craigslist, the highest traffic day is actually on SUNDAY. According to Yield Technologies, their RENTSENTINEL product, a web-based application that manages posting content for rental properties, they have noticed that Sunday’s see much less posting activity for apartments than any other day of the week. Couple that with higher traffic, and your posting efforts will get the biggest audience with less competition! (SUNDAYS have the HIGHEST average views/ad than any other day for our apartment industry!) This is true of every portfolio class, geographic location or market segment.
  2. Although Craigslist is “free,” there are TONS of different services available that can help you manage your content, produce “snazzier” looking ads, track traffic, provide analytics, and MORE – OH MY! Some more common ones include RENTSENTINEL and POSTLETS. Depending on your needs and preferences, these may work for you, are pretty affordable, and provide lots of extra’s to help you maximize your craigslist ads. There are TONS of other services available – if you know of some additional ones, leave a link in the COMMENTS section of this blog post and share with everyone! OR Leave a comment about your experience with the services listed here.
  3. PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES! – And not just any old snapshot – make sure to have good lighting, take pictures of clean, rent ready or model units – try to make an positive impression that gets your target market to pick up the phone and call you! Don’t turn them off with the wrong picture.
  4. Many people ask me, “what generates more traffic? The traditional organic craigslist ads or the jazzed up ones with hyperlinks, pictures, formatting, etc?” The answer is that they BOTH work. The key to a successful craigslist campaign is VARIETY. Switch it up between your traditional craigslist ads and fancier ones.
  5. Speaking of VARIETY, switch up your posts! Make sure you have an ad targeted specifically to attract your 1 bedroom renters, or your pet lovers, or one to attract roommates, or one to highlight the fact that you are near a bus route, etc! Be sure to keep within fair housing rules, but there is nothing that says you can’t switch up your ads and highlight specific features. Variety is the spice of life, and so it is with apartments on craigslist!
  6. Speaking of PETS, whether your building is pet-friendly or does NOT allow pets, there IS a specific market for THAT! Make sure to have a specific ad targeted towards your pet lovers (for those apartment communities that accept pets) or ones that specifically state that you do NOT allow pets. Believe it or not, there are those people who look specifically for pet-free buildings, due to allergies, conditions, fear, etc. If you are targeting pet-owners, be sure to use the Craigslist “Meow” and “Woof” options to state you are pet friendly, in addition to including this information in your title/content.
  7. And since we are drilling down on specific life style choices, a choice that is becoming increasingly popular in apartment searches is “smoke free apartment.” There are new organizations promoting living smoke-free popping up everyday. Here in Minnesota, one that is making quite a splash is LIVESMOKEFREE. Make sure to include those words for the craigslist search engines (as well as all other search engines) to pick up!
  8. While we are on the topic of search engines, make sure to include search engine friendly terms in your ad! If you are near a bus-line, post that. If you are near shopping/retail, make sure to mention the shopping or retail center name. If you are in a highly sought-after school district, name the school district or even better, name the schools. If you are nears parks, name the parks. People search for apartments based on their lifestyle choices, and if those choices are based upon transportation, schools, shopping, food, retail, etc – YOU will get picked up in their search, and your competition might get buried in the masses….
  9. Another question I get asked constantly – “how often should I post?” From my perspective, it’s not a matter of “how often,” but more importantly, CONSISTENCY. According to Eric Broughton of Yield Company’s RentSentinel product, ”the most important global trend is for communities to post their available units on a consistent basis, don’t take a day off from posting an available unit, your competitors aren’t.  Equally important is respecting the craigslist community and not posting multiple ads in a short period of time.  Never post more than 1 ad in the same hour, and never post for the same unit type more than once in 24 hours.  Our analytics show that following these simple rules will provide far greater results than someone that spams a region with multiple ads over and over again.”
  10. And lastly, and MOST importantly, be a good Craigslist Citizen. Common sense folks! Pay attention to things such as knowing the Craigslist Terms of Use, posting only available Units/Unit Types, not over-posting (never more than 1 ad per hour and 8 total ads in a day – this is for LARGE sites – many of you may not have larger enough sites, where posting every other day is more than enough), and posting to only one category and region at a time.  As an industry we can all be more effective and increase our traffic if we use the craigslist environment for which it was intended which is bringing renters and landlords together in an open marketplace. Let’s not ruin the “free” part of craigslist, by over-doing it. In some regions, and some industries, craigslist DOES impose fees. (See Craigslist FactSheet.)

Please leave comments on any tips I might have missed, leave comments about other craigslist applications or services, and your experiences with these services!

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not affiliated with Yield Technologies or Postlets. Yield Technologies has provided me with information for this blog post. THANK YOU! (Roboblaster, another posting service also provided information for this blog, however, at the time of publication, they have folded.)

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO/President

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

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

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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Good Customer Service is Dead! Where is the LOVE?

Mar 8th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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You read it right -GOOD Customer Service is DEAD. Where is the LOVE?

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

(Video: Black Eyed Peas – Where is the Love?)

This is actually good news – If you are one of the few apartment communities that consistently provides good customer service, you are WAY ahead of the game. Even if you THINK you’re doing a great job, this article will be an EYE OPENER. Read on! (This blog-post was inspired by a recent blog post and discussion initiated my Brent Williams – read his original article here.

In today’s market, the BEST way to control vacancy is to close that back door – meaning KEEP your current residents! Don’t let them leave! We all know it costs us a WHOLE lot less to keep a current resident than it is to turn an apartment and find a new resident! The few prospects that ARE in the market for a new apartments – they KNOW they are a WANTED commodity, SO they are shopping for the best deal. Our current residents? They want a good deal too – however, more than wanting a good deal – they want to feel good about choosing to spend their money with YOU.

GOOD Customer Service is Dead! Where is the LOVE?

So why is this good news? Good customer service can be IMPROVED. It’s not like a location or an expensive amenity.

YOU have the power the improve this! 

Not only do you have CONTROL over this, based on some recent experiences (See Brent Williams blog about his renewal experience here), it wouldn’t take much these days to stand out from everyone else.

I LOVE shoe shopping. My favorite place to shop for shoes? Nordstrom’s shoe department. They tend to have pretty good customer service overall - but NOT all customer service is created equal. I have found that when my regular salesman, (let’s call him Adam) helps me, I will leave the store with at least 3 pairs of shoes. And when it’s someone else – most times I leave empty handed. Why? Everyone is extremely helpful and cheerful – its Nordstrom’s after all! But when Adam helps me, he makes me feel like the ONLY person who SHOULD be wearing THOSE shoes, should be ME. (“Darling! Those shoes were MADE for you!” or my favorite, “I won’t be able to look at those shoes on someone else’s feet the same way EVER again. And I have 6 pairs left back there!” It’s partly how he treats me when I am trying on shoes, but in the course of getting to know me, he has gotten to KNOW ME. He knows what my style is (knows the labels that typically appeal to me), he’s gotten to know what my preferences are (LOVE PINK, RED, GOLD), he knows my foot size. AND he tells me when something is NOT right. (“Friends don’t let friends wear THOSE out.”) I’ve learned from my shoe experience and have singled out a GREAT sales person in each department or store that I frequent. I don’t put up with bad customer service, and believe me. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE happens to GOOD PEOPLE – ALOT more frequently than we care to admit – especially when it comes to our own communities!

Learn from Nordstrom’s – in a time when EVERY other store is having a sale EVERY WEEK, they seldom have sales. I pay full price every time I shop there – but I feel GOOD doing it.

THAT’s what your current residents want from you – make them feel GOOD about spending their money with YOU. SHOW THEM THE LOVE.

As I mentioned previously, BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE happens to GOOD PEOPLE. I have noticed that in this economic time, it is EXTREMELY hard to find good customer service. Many times, when I am out and about, shopping, dining, etc. Mediocre or bad service is so common – in fact it IS the norm. Customer service people are talking to each other, ignoring customers, acting as if somehow, the presence of a customer waiting for service actually is a nuisance! At some restaurants, especially during non-peak hours, the service is downright poor. Why is this?

A recent discussion at my local apartment association, MHA (Minnesota Multi-Housing Association) zoned in on the fact – it’s NOT that we (as customer service providers) don’t KNOW what GOOD customer service is. Bad news & bad attitudes are everywhere. It’s a depressed market. WE feel it, we are stressed, we are strapped on time, our budgets have been cut, our payroll hours have been limited, pay freezes. YOU name it, we’ve all experienced more bad news than most of us have ever experienced or care to remember. We’re not the ONLY ones this is happening to! Our residents, prospects, clients are experiencing this TOO. 

Back to resident retention and good customer service at your community. The one place where your resident spends the majority of their time is at HOME – at YOUR apartment community. The biggest check they write EVERY month is a rent check to YOUR community. The ONE place where we don’t want to feel the everyday pressures of a bad economy, depressed market, bad news is at HOME. Your community is HOME for every one of your residents. It’s not enough to say “good morning,” or “how are you?” when your resident comes home in the evening. Get to KNOW them! Have a genuine interest in your residents. You should know who are the frequent fitness buffs, which ones are early starters, which ones have pets, etc! Talk to your residents, engage in positive interactions with your residents, get their input. Get to KNOW them! Even if YOUR community has 500 or more residents, it is nowhere near the kind of traffic Nordstrom’s gets on a weekend. Learn from the best and forget the rest!

SHOW YOUR RESIDENTS THE LOVE.

If the only conversations you are having with your residents is when they sign their lease, when they are late on rent, and when they renew, SOMETHING IS WRONG. Where is the LOVE there? If you’re only dealing with “customer service issues” (i.e. complaints) instead of receiving letters or thanks and praise from your residents, the customer service at your community is lacking. There are hundreds of ways to have positive interactions through-out the course of a resident’s lease term. Create THOSE opportunities, and make it a part of EVERYONE’s responsibility on site.

SHOW YOUR RESIDENTS THE LOVE.

Don’t GET IT? RENT SODA! GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

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

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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Apartment Communities: 10 Elements of an Effective Pet Policy

Mar 2nd, 2010
by daisynguyen.
1 comment

With vacancies at 10 year high’s, apartment communities are finding ways to become more appealing to the apartment dweller. An area that you can use to broaden your renter population: Pet Owners!

(The happy spirit pictured is my dog, Jazz, one of the happiest, most loving dogs EVER. I would never live someplace that does not allow me to bring this sweetie with me!)

If your community has historically been a no-pet community, or one where there are stringent pet restrictions, this maybe a good time to take a look at your pet policy, and see if there is room to broaden it. Here are some facts about pet owners:

The Humane Society’s statistics:

  1. 39% of US Households have 1 or more dogs.
  2. 33% of US Households have 1 or more cats.

The CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL states pets can:

Decrease Blood pressure
Decrease Cholesterol levels
Decrease Triglyceride levels
Decrease Feelings of loneliness

Increase opportunities for exercise and outdoor activities
Increase Opportunities for socialization

Sounds like a recipe for happy, healthy residents to me!

In a 2006 survey, roughly half of the pet households consider their pets to be family members. 

Family members! – that’s a pretty strong connection!

We have all heard or seen the worst of the worst when it comes to pets - right? Pets that have chewed through furniture, pet droppings, pet smells, pet dander, pet barking, un-ruly pets, etc! Don’t let this sway you. I was once an unruly child too…

Seriously, there are ways to set-up pet rules & guidelines to make pet ownership in an apartment community work for everyone.

10 ELEMENTS of a Good Pet Policy:

  1. Clearly define what kinds of pets you are going to accept. For instance, some communities will accept small dogs upto a certain weight. Other communities will accept dogs regardless of the size – but they may have breed restrictions. Do your research, and set criteria that best fit the needs and expectations of your community. (For instance, in communities where the size of the apartments are small, or where outdoor space for walking dogs is limited, it might make sense to restrict the size of dogs. In other communities where the size of the apartments are larger, and the community was built as a pet-friendly community, it may be a better option to accept all sizes, but decide on breed restrictions.)
  2. Decide how many pets are allowed per apartment.
  3. Establish a pet deposit or/or pet fees. This should be used to establish your community’s expectations of pet owners – let them know they are responsible for any damages inflicted by their pet.
  4. Establish whether or not you community will charge “pet rent.” I see this used in communities that have been built to be pet-friendly – meaning they have a dog park or dog walk area that may need some routine maintenance like weekly sanitation or other cleaning services. The “pet rent” usually helps to offset the cost of keeping those facilities clean and well-maintained.
  5. Establish penalties for resident who do not notify the management office of their pet. If you ARE allowing residents to own pets in your community, have everyone, even non-pet owners, sign the pet addendum. This establishes the fact that your community DOES accept pets, as well as outlines the penalties for not notifying management of a pet household member.
  6. Establish – when outside the resident’s apartment, a pet should be under the complete control of a responsible human companion at all times. Pets are not to be left alone, unattended or tied anywhere outside.
  7. If your community has common areas, establish which common areas pet owners can bring their pets. (I’ve seen pet friendly communities establish “no-pet” zones – like the fitness center, but keep everything else available to pets & their owners.)
  8. Establish clearly defined penalties if an owner does not clean up after their pet.
  9. Take a picture of the pet, get copies of their vaccinations & rabies shots, and keep this information in your resident’s file.
  10. For cats, decide if your community will accept cats that have claws, or declawed cats only.

What other pet rules/guidelines should be included? Please leave your comments & suggestions!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO

RENTSODA-small

Business, Operations & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

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

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Being Shy About Business Won’t Win Leases – How to Take Your Competition OUT!

Feb 22nd, 2010
by daisynguyen.
2 comments

Everyone knows – being shy about business – especially leasing, won’t win you any leases. Have fears or doubts? Your prospects can smell it a mile away -and so can your competion. So what WILL win you leases? 

This is a picture of me in 2nd grade. I had just transferred to a new school. I was a toothless, innocent, unsure and extremely SHY child with ONE WISH: More than anything in the world, I wanted to make friends. Being shy didn’t win me any friends. And to make matters worse, I was the smallest child in the class. Who gets bullied around the most? Well, the weakest link of course – MOI. How do you win friends in this environment? 

Fast forward to today’s apartment leasing world: That toothless, SHY, unsure child pictured is YOUR property. The bullies out in the world are your competition. They’re bigger, better, faster, have deeper pockets, YOU name it, they’re IT. You’re feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated, and more than ANYTHING, you not only WANT new leases, you NEED new leases. How do you win leases in this environment? 

As a child, I had one thing in abundance – IMAGINATION. In my mind’s eye, I imagined that I came into school one day, and I had all my teeth! I then imagined that I approached all the students in my class and introduced myself. I imagined skipping out to recess holding hands with my new friends. I imagined being picked FIRST for the dodge ball team. For some reason, DOUBT, FEAR, UNCERTAINTY, would find me even in my imagination! Even in my wildest dreams (Being picked first for dodge ball? Little ole me? THAT is a WILD dream at best!), my bully was THERE. And he had the ball, had it aimed RIGHT at me. 

If you know the rules of dodge ball, you know there are only 2 ways to take someone OUT: 1.) You hit them with a LIVE ball. 2.) You catch a LIVE ball that is aimed at you. And you better believe, my big bully had mastered the art of whipping that ball quick and hard – at ME! He liked to get that ball first, and take me out – as a warning to everyone else that he was coming for them NEXT.

Day after day, even in my imagination, my bully was there, whipping the ball at me. He’d always hit me, and I’d always limp off in pain. Then one day, I IMAGINED that I caught that ball. What an epiphany! AND BOY did that feel good! I imagined it again and again. I replayed it in my mind. In slow motion, in fast motion. I dissected that moment of impact. And I planned like an obsessed mad scientist, exactly how, when and where I would catch that ball. Until finally one day, that doubt, fear, and uncertainty was gone. In its place, was my INTENTION: I was going to take that bully OUT. 

I’m NOT going to tell you it was easy, OR tell you that the next day, I went to recess and immediately caught that dodge ball – because that’s not how it happened. BUT, what I DID: I started trying harder. I stopped being shy and afraid. I reached out and made new friends. I smiled; I was charming, I was no longer afraid. As a coping mechanism, I actually avoided my bully as much as I could. I was hit many times by that bully’s dodge ball – but I was no longer afraid of him. It wasn’t until the 4th grade in gym class that I finally turned around, looked him in the eye, and caught that ball and took him OUT. Not only did I take him OUT, I took him out in the first minute of the game. THAT was the highlight of my entire 4th grade year.

What does this have to do with apartment leasing? That bully is all your competition. Those dodge balls are all your objections. And believe me they are YOUR objections to YOUR own success. It could be that you don’t have amenities to speak of, it could be that your building is dated, it could be that you are forced to compete in a world filled of concessions and yours aren’t worthy of the competition, or it could be YOUR own self-doubt about your selling abilities. Whatever IT is – you’ve bought into those objections hook, line and sinker. 

Now, as an adult, this might be harder to do, but IMAGINE your prospect walking in. Imagine how that leasing process SHOULD occur. Do the objections come up? That’s OK. In your mind’s eye, take care of those objections. Dissect it, play it in slow motion, play it forward, whatever it takes. Don’t just glaze over or erase those objections – take them ON head-on. Address them! Imagine your leasing process until it becomes one that feels GOOD to you – and you see yourself WINNING that lease. Once you have THAT process in your mind down, imagine THAT winning process over and over again. Imagine that you WILL WIN. Take that competition OUT!

 And as an adult, I no longer call it a WILD imagination. I call it setting my INTENTION. I’ve gotten much better at it over the years. It doesn’t take me 2 years to figure out how to be successful. Whatever the challenge is, I let my imagination run wild, set my intentions, and WIN.

Believe me when I say, that 2nd playground was a lot harder to overcome than most of the hurdles in my life, but it taught me how to win. I keep that struggle and triumph close to my heart, and pull from that experience many times in life. How about you?

Don’t get it? RENT SODA. GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO

RENTSODA-small

Business & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

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

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Your Apartment Community’s Facebook Page Needs a Vanity URL

Jan 11th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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Your community’s facebook page should have a facebook username, also known as a vanity URL.

Why? Being able to choose the URL for your facebook page is like a vanity license plate – it not only makes it easy to remember (and hence share with others), but helps you claim a little piece of facebook space as your own. Why let someone else (facebook) randomly set your URL, when you can control how people find you, remember you AND how google ranks you?

(Photo provided by aprilzosia on flickr through creative commons license.)

What am I talking about?

Most facebook URL’s are something like http://facebook.com/profile.php?id=123456789  – that’s hard to remember!

Now take for example, RENT SODA’s facebook URL: http://facebook.com/rentsoda – WAY easier!

In terms of SEO, having a facebook vanity url will help your facebook page rank higher in google searches than pages without a vanity url.

Follow these steps to claim your facebook vanity URL for your apartment community:

1.) First, carefully think of a username you want to use. Once it’s been selected, you won’t be able to change or transfer it. Usernames need to be at least 5 characters made of only alphanumeric characters. A period (.) is also allowed.

2.) Go to http://facebook.com/username  . Follow the prompts for your profiles and each fan page administered by your profile. For fanpages, facebook requires that your page have a minimum of 25 fans.

Don’t get it? RENT SODA. GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO

RENTSODA-small

Business & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

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

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

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Land of Opportunity or BUST! Do You See the Land of Opportunity?

Jan 6th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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Have you ever noticed the people who complain about the lack of opportunities are also the ones that are the first to say they are too busy to join, have too much work to do, can’t take on another project, and are the ones turning away perfectly good opportunities? Complain, complain, complain, blah, blah, blah. If I were ole “Opportunity,” I would knock on another door too.

(Picture provided by Dominic’s Pics on Flickr through Creative Commons license.)

How can you position yourself to invite more opportunity?

1. Stop Complaining. Not only is this a negative, unproductive opportunity, you can’t hear when opportunity DOES knock.

2. Choose one of the following statements for the day:

A. I make things happen!

B. Things happen to me.

Hopefully, you chose option A. You’re one step closer to inviting more opportunity! If you have chosen B, there’s no one who can help you. Go back to bed. Wake up tomorrow and choose A.

3. HELP yourself. If there is a lack of opportunity in your life, stop and figure out WHY. Take some responsibility on WHY you are in this situation – and take a step to move yourself OUT of the situation. If it’s because you don’t have a degree, sign up for 1 class. Small step, but BOY, you’d be 1 class closer to a degree than you were yesterday. If you’re looking for a job, and the only place you are looking is on monster.com – you’re missing out on the majority of the job market. Most jobs never hit the classifieds! (CNNMoney.com reports over 80% of jobs are never advertised.) Figure out what you’re missing and find a way to GET IT! Stop finding excuses, start finding solutions. Make it YOUR business to be IN business. ENGAGE yourself fully!

4. Forgive yourself for any mistakes, and know that YOU are WORTHY of success beyond your wildest dreams. Most people sabotage themselves – the reason most people don’t succeed isn’t for lack of trying, its lack of belief in themselves. My favorite quote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re usually right.” (Henry Ford) Why not be right about your success?

How does this apply to our apartment industry?

With this economy, so many people are singing the blues. I GET IT. It’s a tough market. So what? We’re all in this market together. If both you & I are operating in the same market, all’s fair. Go through steps 1-4 not only for yourself, but for your apartment community, for your team, for your career, for your staff. Stop complaining about the market and making excuses. Start finding solutions. Engage in your community’s success. Participate and engage in your community. Forgive yourself, your staff for not being able to run it like it WAS, and run your apartment community the way you CAN, and not the way you CAN’T.

Winston Churchill said, ”

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Do you see difficulties or opportunities in your future? Do you see the Land of Opportunity?

Don’t get it? RENT SODA. GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota MN

CEO

RENTSODA-small

Business & Marketing Consulting to the Apartment Industry

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

Become a fan of RENTSODA on facebook.  Connect with RENTSODA on LinkedIn!

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

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