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2010 Trend: IN-Clearly Defined Job Descriptions; OUT-Jack-of-All-Trades

Jan 25th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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Lately, much of my work has been very operations oriented. In this time of economic turmoil, companies are returning to the basics. Companies that are still alive today are going back to the drawing board and spending some time to clearly define job descriptions & responsibilities.

(picture provided by KateL366 on Flickr through Creative Commons license.)

Why spend time on something so basic? In the apartment industry, more so than many industries, we have many people classified as a “Jack-of-All-Trades.” I hear this term used so much in our apartment industry. But consider for a moment, the translations of “Jack of All Trades” into other languages:

  1. Cantonese: Surrounded by knives, none are sharp.
  2. Spanish: Knows about everything but understands nothing
  3. German: Wise guy in all alleys
  4. Turkish: One who knows everything cannot do anything

(Translations found on Wikipedia.) I don’t know about you, but a “dull knife” sounds like another way of saying, “not the brightest bulb in the pack.” Why classify a position as a “jack of all trades,” or worse, hire a “jack of all trades” or even worse, classify yourself as such? When I hear someone tell me they need to hire a “Jack of all Trades,” I think, this guy has NO IDEA what he needs. When I hear someone say, “I am a Jack of All Trades,” I think, this gal has no idea what interests her/what she is good at.

Each month of 2010 I will outline a trend that I see based on the conversations I have, questions that are asked of me, and trends that I see happening in our apartment industry. If possible, I will also try to elaborate on the trend.

For January 2010:

IN: Clearly Defined Job Descriptions

OUT: “Jack-of-All-Trades”

What makes a a good, clearly defined job description? Every job description needs to have 4 sections: Basic information, Job Summary, Detailed Responsibilities, and Qualifications.

Basic Information: Job Title, Who the position reports to, Job Status (FT/PT, salary or hourly), Expected Schedule.

Job Summary: A short 1 paragraph summary of the job.

Detailed Responsibilities: This can be a list of responsibilities expected of the job. Be as detailed as possible, without getting into the minutia. Be clear, but leave some room for interpretation depending on circumstances.

Qualifications: This would be a short list of the minimum requirements that YOU/YOUR company requires for the job.

Here is a sample of what my job description as a blogger might look like.

Basic Information:

Job Title: Blogger

Reports To: RENT SODA Readers

Job Status: PT, non-exempt

Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 8:00AM – 10:00AM

Job Summary:

Bloggers are one of the most important roles of a dynamic social community. Bloggers must write good content for their readers, continually mine for new topics/ideas and respond to readers’ comments. Bloggers should foster a community of collaboration through their own participation and readership of other blogs. It is the goal of a good blogger to provide good content, express a point of view, present an examination of facts, or tell a good story. The end goal of a successful blogger is to increase readership, collaboration and community.

Detailed Responsibilities:

  1. Research trends and topics in the industry. Mine for topics of interest to readers.
  2. Write/Post a minimum of 2 blog articles a week to be released on Mondays & Wednesdays.
  3. Communicate to the community the publication of the new blog post through various avenues including but not limited to facebook, linkedin, networked blogs, multifamilyinsiders.com, forums/discussions, twitter, etc.
  4. Meet/network with interesting people at least twice weekly. Mention the blog/other interesting blogs if conversations relate to blog articles.
  5. Read at least 10 other related blogs in the industry. Link to those other blogs as often as possible to create a sense of community within the industry.
  6. Comment on at least 5 other blog articles/week. Provide good comments, with good detail – continue the “conversation” through leaving comments on other blogs.
  7. Keep a running list of “ideas” for new blog articles. When not writing a blog article or networking, gather facts for each “idea” file.
  8. Review & analyze blog statistics to better understand blog traffic, topics of great interest, etc.
  9. Meet with other bloggers quarterly to share ideas, discuss trends, review new technologies, etc.

Qualifications:

Minimum 4 year degree.

5+ years of industry experience.

Above average people skills. (for networking)

Well-developed writing skills. (for writing)

Computer Skills-Excellent computer skills required. Proficient in MS Word, and different blogging platforms.

I hope this description and exercise help those of you working on expanding/clarifying job descriptions.

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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Supervisors & Employees: Take Advantage of Your “Open Door” Policy

Jan 20th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
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Are you a supervisor with an “open door” policy? Are you an employee that works for someone that has an “open door” policy? Are you maximizing the “open door” policy to be a better supervisor or better employee?

“Open door” policies are not just for dispute resolution. A true open door policy is a communication process where employees and supervisor feel welcomed to discuss business or employment topics together openly.

Why am I discussing this in a blog for the apartment industry? In our industry, more so than any other industry, there is A LOT of opportunity to advance. It is not unheard of for a caretaker or leasing agent to advance through the ranks and become a Community Manager, Regional or even CEO! But very rarely is there time to learn (and seldom do our own supervisors advise us) on how to be a good supervisor or a good employee. A key to being a good supervisor or a good employee is expanding and taking advantage of the ”open door” policy.

Doors are BOTH entrances and exits. There is opportunity on BOTH sides to take advantage of having an “open door.” Let’s take a step back, and ask ourselves, as people (whether you are a supervisor OR an employee being supervised), what does YOUR door look like?

(Left picture provided by h-k-d and right picture provided by roboppy on flickr through creative commons license.)

As supervisors, here are 5 things that we can do to encourage better communication:

  1. Set aside time for each individual employee, and meet with them consistently. This could be a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meeting. Whatever works best for you & your employee. Don’t let too much time pass between meetings. I recommend one-on-one meetings at least monthly, if not more often. Always let you employees know when the next meeting is, so that they are not surprised or scared when you request a meeting.
  2. Discuss all kinds of topics during your one-on-one meetings. If you are just starting out with a scheduled one-on-one meetings, keep the topics light and positive so that you can establish an environment to encourage communication. Topics can range from goal oriented topics, like the previous week’s leasing activity compared to the goals, to discussing upcoming educational opportunities, to working on a spreadsheet together or encouraging them to attend upcoming networking events.
  3. Listen at least as much as you are talking. Conversations are 2-way streets! Make sure to ask your employees for their input, their ideas, give them opportunities to express them, let them make decisionsm and support those decisions.
  4. Let you employees know that if they have something to discuss in between meetings, they are always welcome to stop by (or if you don’t office in the same building) to call at anytime.
  5. Every once in a while, monthly or quarterly, take your employees offsite or out of the building. Do a breakfast or lunch meeting. These “once in a while” meetings can include other members of the team – but keep it small, so that there is still opportunity to talk and listen. We all love taking a break from our normal environment!

Remember: These are ways to encourage and establish that your door IS truly always open to your employees. Spend quality time with them, learn about them, mentor them, and watch how much your employees will give and succeed in return!

If you are an employee and would like to have the kind of relationship described above with your supervisor, don’t fret. You can take advantage of the “open door” policy too! Especially if you are a new employee, it is extremely  important if your supervisor hasn’t spent much time with you, for you to find ways to spend time with your boss. It is extremely important to your success to know what the expectations are, how you are doing, and what you can do to succeed or improve. Here are 5 things we can do to be better employees and encourage good communications with our bosses:

  1. Communicate with your supervisor that you would like to meet with them to discuss your progress. This could be progress on a recent assignment or a weekly assignment like your weekly leasing goals, this could be progress towards the goals outlined during your last performance review. If there aren’t any recent assignments or reviews to discuss, let your boss know that you are in the process of setting goals for yourself, and would like their input. Whatever the case, make your case to meet with your boss.
  2. During your meeting, keep topics light and positive. Find ways to give your boss the opportunity to know you. Discuss your goals, bring up educational opportunities that might be coming up, etc.
  3. Listen as much as you are speaking. Don’t just hit them up with a long list of demands YOU want for YOURSELF. Ask for your supervisor’s input. – Whether you are setting goals for yourself, or wanting to attend an upcoming class, ask your supervisor what they think, bounce your ideas off your supervisor, find ways to engage your boss in your progress, and in your success. If you ARE making a request for something, find ways to tie your requests back to a company goal, talk about what the benefits are for you supervisor and the company.
  4. Especially if you are new, or working on a new project, get permission from your supervisor to come back after the meeting if something comes up that you would like to discuss with them. 99% of the time, your supervisors will say YES! – However, always get their permission to set the stage for you to come back and discuss anything.
  5. Know that communication, like doors are 2 ways. YOU have the ability to improve the communication and relationship YOU have with YOUR boss.

Whether we are supervisors or employees, ask yourself, is your open door really open door?

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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Apartment Marketing: Print Advertising for Dummies

Jan 18th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
4 comments

 I was recently invited to be a “pro” for an event at the local apartment association in my area, MHA. One of the recurring questions was, “What elements make up a successful marketing plan?”

 For me, marketing apartments is a multi-step process. A successful marketing plan must understand the different steps, set goals for each step, and find ways to achieve those goals.

 For this blog article, I’m going to focus on Print Advertising as one element of a marketing plan. Your apartment community may or may not have a Print Advertising element, but if it DOES, you’ll want to read this article.

 What do you think the purpose of your print advertisement is? When I ask this question, most managers, leasing agents, marketers tell me, “the purpose of print advertising is to lease apartments.” To some extent, yes, however, the real goal of print advertising is to 1.) STAND OUT, 2.) BE MEMORABLE, 3.) GET YOUR PROSPECTS TO SEEK MORE INFO. (i.e. get your prospects to your website!)

(Picture provided by TMAN2003 on flickr through creative commons license.) 

The end goal of ALL of your marketing & leasing efforts should be to lease apartments. Your Print advertising has to do the 3 things outlined above.

 Have you looked at a FOR RENT Magazine or APARTMENT FINDER Magazine lately? (I am not affiliated with either FOR RENT or APARTMENT FINDER in any way.) In my area, there is probably 200 different choices of apartments in the magazine. As a prospect, the magazine is AWESOME, as it aggregates many of the available choices. However, from YOUR apartment’s standpoint, you should start thinking about HOW DO I 1.) STAND OUT, 2.) BE MEMORABLE, 3.) GET PROSPECTS TO SEEK MORE INFO. (i.e. get your prospects to your website!)

 Last year, I did a focus group at an apartment complex and asked the renters, what they wanted to see out of advertisements. They came up with the typical list of about 10 items long, including pricing, location, amenities, etc. Makes sense. When you look at an apartment magazine, most of the ads have several bullet points highlighting what they feel is best about their apartment community.

 During this same focus group, we asked the renters to leaf through an apartment magazine and pick out the advertisement that they were most drawn to. 100% of the focus group selected an ad that had nothing but a BIG fancy picture, the website, phone# and the name of the apartment community.

 What we found: What people want and what they are drawn to (i.e. sticks out, is memorable, makes them seek out more information) are 2 DIFFERENT things. We then decided that the goal of our print advertising HAD to be 1.) STAND OUT, 2.) BE MEMORABLE, 3.) GET PROSPECTS TO SEEK MORE INFO. (i.e. get your prospects to your website!)

 I’m not advocating that you take the pricing out of your print ads (maybe your pricing IS the memorable thing) - what I AM saying is that YOU must decide what the purpose of your print ad campaign is, and find ways to meet THAT goal. (And you can have more than 1 goal for an element.) Once you figure that out, go back and discuss ALL the elements of your marketing campaign, outline goals for each step, and try to meet THAT goal for THAT step. Don’t try to lease apartments when what you need to do is CAPTURE someone’s attention and get them to WANT to find out more about your apartment community.

 Here are some sample goals that have worked in the past:

 1.) Goal of print advertising is to drive people to our website.

 2.) Goal of our website is to get prospects to pick up the phone and call us.

 3.) Goal of the phone call is to get prospect to commit to a tour.

 4.) Goal of the leasing tour is to get the prospect to lease the apartment.

 Depending on your community, your marketing resources, you may have different elements, and different goals. Decide what those elements are, how to make them successful, and meet your marketing goals!

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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Career Advancement in the Apartment Industry: Speak the Language of Business!

Jan 14th, 2010
by daisynguyen.
5 comments

In today’s economy, for every job opening available, there are hundreds of applicants. In working with owners/investors/executive level management, their number one complaint is: there is a shortage of TOP level talent. Many, look outside their organizations to find TOP level talent. And yet, everyday, I hear from people in the industry that feel they are passed over for advancement opportunities and they WANT advancement opportunities. Why the discrepancy?

There is a mis-conception that if you are the best at your what you do, it is only natural that you advance. While this is very true in the apartment industry, it is only HALF of the equation. If you want to double your chances of career advancement – the other half of that equation is this: You MUST learn to speak the language of business.

(Picture provided by daviddmuir through creative commons license on Flickr.)

Whether you are a leasing agent wanting to advance into National Sales Director, or a marketing intern with your eye on VP of Marketing, or a junior accountant wanting to advance to Controller, to Maintenance Technician looking for advancement to Maintenance Director, you must learn to speak the language of business.

What is the language of business? It’s not a foreign language – it’s learning to communicate your contributions to your organization in terms they can understand AND appreciate. It comes down to 4 words: SHOW ME THE MONEY! Or more accurately, Show THEM the money.

I have attended many “owner’s/investor’s” meetings. (Sometimes as an owner’s representative, sometimes as a management company’s representative.) I have been at the middle-management level as well as the executive management level. The one things that is ALWAYS discussed at these owner meetings is – How are “we” doing? And they’re not asking about “our” health or “our” welfare, they want to know, how much money is the apartment project making, OR how much money is the apartment project loosing?

How does this help you in terms of your career advancement?

Since you KNOW that this is the number one concern/question for your apartment owners/investors, and in turn your supervisors (middle management AND upper management), you should start speaking in these terms as often as possible.

  • It’s one thing to say you have increased occupancy from 88% to 90%. It’s much more impressive to say, we increased occupancy 2 percentage points, thus adding $24,000.00 in annual income. 2% is a small number, while $24,000.00 in rent is a BIG number. Show them how you made the money.
  • It’s one thing to admit that you have overspent in marketing (who isn’t?), but its another thing to say, we overspent in marketing by $1200.00, but in doing so, we increased our occupancy by 2%, adding $24,000.00 of annual income. Show them that in order to make money, you spent some money, but overall, there is a net positive gain.
  • What if you are an A/P clerk who processes bills? How do you quantify your contributions in the language of business? It’s one thing to say you enter 500 invoices monthly. It’s much more impressive to say, I process over $100,000.00 of payables monthly totaling over $1.2MILLION dollars of payables monthly. Now THAT’s impressive!
  • What about a caretaker? How does a caretaker quantify their contributions? It’s one thing to say you regularly shovel and salt the sidewalk, its another thing to say, because I shovel & salt the sidewalk as well as document each incidence of shoveling/salting Because of this our insurance claims have decreased over previous years, and this year we saw a property insurance savings in the amount of $1800.00.

Owners, investors, (and your supervisors) want to know you understand exactly how your efforts effect the bottom line – whether it is through income generation or expense control, quantify that. Not only is THAT impressive, it shows you UNDERSTAND the BUSINESS part of the apartment industry. Showing that you understand how you impact the bottom line, also shows that you are not a “victim” of this economy – you’re telling owners/investor that you have control and more importantly, you are exerting control over the one things owners & investors care about: the BOTTOM line. SHOW them the MONEY!

I’m currently working with several clients to help them find top-level talent for their organizations. Their #1 priority in finding someone is to find someone who understands the BUSINESS side of the apartment business. It seems pretty simple – but as an industry, we are so focused on the customer service side (serving our residents) that we sometimes forget to serve our other customers (our owners/investors) Having been on both sides, I know that there people in the industry who DON’T GET IT, and there are those that DO GET IT, but can’t articulate it. If all things are equal, which category do you want to fall in?

  1. I DON’T GET IT.
  2. I kind of GET IT, but don’t know how to articulate it. (In the eyes of your owners & investors, this is the same as #1) – If you are in this category, there is HOPE for you! You can learn the language of business!
  3. I GET IT, and I DO know how to articulate it. (This is what everyone wants.)

What other qualities do you feel your owners, investors and supervisors look for in hiring new employees and advancing existing employees? My purpose for asking is to help people understand what your decision makers look for, so that YOU know what to aim for.

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 RENTSODAon facebook.  Connect with RENTSODAon LinkedIn!

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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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How To Be Successful In The Apartment Industry: Participate, Participate, Participate!

Dec 30th, 2009
by daisynguyen.
8 comments

I’ve had a LOT of conversations recently, and one topic has been a recurring theme: Success. Two recurring questions: 1.) How do we make our apartment communities more successful? 2.) How do we make OURSELVES more successful?

As a consultant and a writer of a popular industry blog, I meet with A LOT of people. I meet with EVERY kind of person in the industry from site personnel to vendors at every level, from to Regional Managers to directors to VP’s to CEO’s/COO’s/CFO’s, to developers, partners, investors & owners of apartment communities.

My answer is ALWAYS the same: PARTICIPATE, PARTICIPATE, PARTICIPATE!

1.) PARTICIPATE: Participate in something bigger and greater than your own apartment community. I KNOW you have a million things to do and there isn’t another minute you can commit to someone new, but YOUR PARTICIPATION in something greater will return ten-fold to your success at your apartment community, as well as return ten-fold in your own personal successes. I’ll go out on a limb here and say – I PROMISE that any participation you give will be returned to you ten fold. If not, give me a call, and I’ll take you to lunch and eat my words.

2.) PARTICIPATE: Don’t just JOIN your local apartment association, JOIN, PARTICIPATE, ENGAGE! There is no better way to work/network with other industry professionals in your market than at your local apartment association. Chances are, they ARE looking for volunteers to participate in committees, tasks forces, surveys, focus groups, etc. Do you think that your opinion doesn’t count? In an industry that serves this many people, YOUR opinion DOES count. For every 1 person who DOES participate, there are dozens if not hundreds of people who do NOT participate. YOUR opinion COUNTS simply because you have made a commitment and gotten involved. Is your local association too small? Help them grow and expand by getting more people involved. Hey – it’s YOUR local apartment association – make it truly YOURS.

3.) PARTICIPATE: Participate in a local non-profit in your market. This could be a local non-profit housing provider OR this could be a local non-profit community group. As with your local association, they ARE looking for volunteers for their boards, focus groups, tasks forces, surveys, fund-raisers, etc! Especially in this market and economy, they need your expertise. Find something that MOVES you and PARTICIPATE with THEM. You will be in for one of the most rewarding commitments you can make. I know it is MY most rewarding commitment – who knew that working for free has its rewards?

How does this help you with the success at your apartment community? In participating, you’ll hear from other industry professionals, like yourself (and some NOT so like you!). You’ll hear different ideas, different perspectives, different personalities. You’ll learn, you’ll grow, you’ll make new friends that can last a lifetime. You’ll meet tons of new vendors that are PARTICIPATING. – I love vendors who participate – it tells me they are committed to the industry’s success  and not just their own. You will be exposed to ideas, people, information and opportunities that you did NOT have access to prior to your participation. You’ll be the first to know about networking events hosted by your local association, notified of training opportunities produced by the local association, be in the “know” new trends and products and through your expanding network, get to know the world OUTSIDE of your box. You can take these new ideas, exposures and bring them back to your apartment and apply them to make your apartment community more successful and making you more successful. Talk about a WIN-WIN! That’s a SCORE!

In case you are wondering, I participate in my local apartment association, MN Multi-Housing Association (MHA) – one of the best and nationally recognized associations in the U.S. (http://mmha.com/ ) or check them out on facebook!

Participation with your local non-profit brings challenges and HUGE rewards. I participate in a local non-profit affordable housing provider called AEON. (Or you can check them out on facebook. I also mention them in a past blog article.) The challenges are the time commitment involved and understanding that non-profits work a little differently. The rewards are much the same as in the local apartment association – I have chosen to surround myself with other successful people who are COMMITTED to the same CAUSE that I am committed to. The people in that group are as wide as our industry – and every one of them smart, driven and a FORCE to be reckoned with. The contributions I have made by participating have been returned to me ten-fold in the form of new ideas, new connections, new perspectives and new friends.

In a world and time where it is so easy to get caught up in OUR OWN little dramas, a more global PARTICIPATION can help us bring additional focus to our apartment communities and to our own careers. It’s YOUR community, it’s YOUR career! PARTICIPATE and make it truly YOURS!

With New Year’s coming – make it a New Year’s resolution to PARTICIPATE!

 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!

Image provided by Chooyutshing on Flickr through creative commons license.

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“Professionally Managed by…” What does THAT mean?

Dec 28th, 2009
by daisynguyen.
2 comments

Recently, a close friend of mine asked me, “what does professionalism mean to you & how does it pertain to our apartment industry? I want our company to be more ‘professional’ and I want to better understand what that means.” THIS – from one of the smartest most professional people I know? I took the question seriously.

My first attempt: Duh! Professional is… you know, someone who conducts business in a professional manner – you know – a professional!! It’s one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it REALLY mean?

I pondered some more and I realized it was a VERY relevant question to our apartment/property management/real estate development industry. There are numerous property management companies out there:  from the biggest of big – the HUGE REITS, to the smallest of small – the “mom & pop” duplexes managed by (you guessed it,) ”mom & pop.” How do we define “professional” and “professionalism” in an industry that is so wide? And, maybe more importantly, you are wondering – why would we want to? And who cares?

YOU SHOULD care. It matters to your customer. It matters to your clients. It matters to your existing and prospective employees. It is your reputation. It matters to the industry as a whole, as it is those few “unprofessional” landlords that make the rest of us look like ogres. If you claim to be “Professionally managed by ABC Management Company,“ what exactly does THAT mean?

The first image that popped into my mind when the word “professional” is mentioned is men and women in suits. But just wearing a suit doesn’t mean you are professional. There are plenty of unprofessional things done in suits these days! 

Then I thought about professional athletes – these guys do NOT wear suits at all! YET, they are definitely professional athletes nonetheless. So maybe, being “professional” means your talent is worth a lot. Then my thoughts wandered to McDonald’s – they serve burgers. The burgers are cheap. It doesn’t take talent to make cheap burgers. BUT, McDonald’s is definitely a professional organization – and a very successful one too! Not only do they sell cheap burgers where no talent is required to make the burgers, they don’t wear suits. Suits. NFL. McDonald’s.

 What did these have in common that could help me to define professionalism and how does it pertain to the apartment industry?

 It finally dawned on me, what all these had in common, and why it should matter to you:

 1.) Professionalism is all about expectations and standards. As an organization, one of the best things you can do for yourself, your clients, your employees, AND your reputation, is to set a standard. The NFL has standards for their athletes – and each team has its own standards. Everyone is expected to play at or above those standards. For McDonald’s, the standard is a very small narrow window of what the customer can expect from the restaurant, the food, and the service. Customers expect their experience to be the same or very similar at every McDonald’s whether it is a McDonald’s in downtown LA or in suburbia: It’s a McDonald’s burger. Having standards can contribute positively to your customer experience. If customers know what to expect, and they receive it (whatever THAT standard is that you’ve set) this results in a positive experience. McDonald’s has a standard, and their customers know what to expect from them. A person wanting a gourmet steak burger is not going to wander into McDonald’s and then become disappointed at the burger experience.

 What is the standard at your property or management company? Do you customers, vendors, and employees know what to expect? You have the ability to set those expectations – and more importantly increase the likelihood that the customer experience is positive – by setting realistic expectations that you have specifically trained your employees to attain.

 2.) So then, what’s up with the suits? I realized that it wasn’t about the SUITS as much as what the suits represent – it represents an image. In the NFL, each team has a uniform – which they all wear proudly. At McDonald’s – there is a uniform that serves a dual purpose – to project a consistent image of McDonald’s as well as to provide clothing that can be abused in a restaurant setting and still fit into the McDonald’s image. Does your image project “Professionally managed by ABC Apartments?” or does it say, “the uniform stinks, I hate this job, and I don’t care enough about my job to care how I look?” What image are you portraying, and does it fit into the standards that you set in #1 above?

 3.) Lastly, for an organization or a site to be “professional,” the standards of conduct and the “professional” image need to apply to everyone. – Whether it is consistency in behavior, or consistency in image, or consistency in the treatment of staff, or consistency of how residents are treated, – professional in an organization is as much about consistency as it is about standards and image. I’m not advocating that you require your maintenance staff to wear suits. What I AM advocating is there is consistency in the messages that you send. Everyone on your team needs to have the same consistent (hopefully high) level of customer service that your residents can come to expect out of their “professionally managed” apartment building.

 Is your apartment community “Professionally managed by … ” What does this mean to 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

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

Follow RENTSODA on Twitter!

Image provided by Jesse Draper on Flickr through creative commons license.

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TWEET TWEET: Twitter for Business Users and Apartment Marketers

Dec 23rd, 2009
by daisynguyen.
11 comments

I’ve been following the whole TWITTER phenomenon very closely. At first, I was VERY confused. Who would use twitter and why? More importantly, why would I use twitter, and what would I tweet? After months of following tweeters, tweeting, searching tweets, reading tweets, re-tweeting, something dawned on me: Not all twitter users are created equal! In order to best understand and utilize twitter, I had to decide what kind of twitter user I was or wanted to be.

Most twitter users fell in the following 4 categories:

Tweeters – These guys have something to say, and they are out there sharing IT with the world, or at least, the twitterverse. In the real world, these would be your authors, writers, politicians, radio personalities, teachers, educators, speakers, advocates, socialites, personalities, class clowns, etc. Instead of a book, magazine, stage, forum, class, radio, soapbox, etc. – they use twitter to get their message out.

Followers – are exactly that. They follow the tweeters. They are the audience. In the real world, these would be readers, subscribers, students, supporters, etc. In the twitterverse, there is more opportunity to INTERACT with their tweeters than in the real world. AND, almost more importantly, that INTERACTION is shared with all fellow followers AND the twitterverse.

These are the TOP 2 types of twitter users. In the business world, and in our multi-family apartment industry, the following 2 lesser known types are KEY to marketing and sales:

Listeners – these are not just followers – these twitter users are out there listening for very specific topics or trends. In the apartment industry, we must learn to listen on twitter. Find out what our customers, clients, competitors are saying – especially what they are saying about our apartment communities, our markets, and our competitors! That’s a LOT of listening! Listening is one of the KEY components to effective communication, and as an interactive communication tool, it PAYS to listen on twitter. Listening is akin to being in a busy restaurant and overhearing someone at the next table talking about your apartment community! Except on twitter, the next table is the entire twitterverse. Listeners who are active and respond to the needs of their customers can help in strengthening an apartment community’s brand, image or message and extending the customer service arm. You listen, you respond = YOU CARE. Now THAT’s something to tweet about!

Miners – these are the most diligent and proactive business users. These guys, not only listen for specific topics or trends, they are mining the twitterverse to FIND prospects and leads! In the real world, this would be similar to standing in a busy restaurant and hoping to hear someone mention they are looking for an apartment – being the diligent manager/leasing agent you are, you quip in and let them know that you work for an apartment community down the road and give them your card and contact info. On twitter, you don’t have to be anywhere and wait for the stars to aline to catch this conversation. You can use twitter search engines to mine for prospects and leads by searching for key words such as “apartment hunting new york,” – and then sending those prospects a direct message with a link to your property’s website.

I should mention: I don’t think mining for prospects should be an apartment community’s only marketing plan – however, there probably aren’t that many prospects out there who just happen to mention your key words “apartment hunting new youk,” but if your traffic is slow or nonexistent, being proactive and mining instead of waiting for propsects to walk in the door, might not be a bad option.

I’m still learning more and more about twitter every day, and have learned to LOVE it. Love how fast it moves, LOVE all the random and not so random things I have learned following others, listening for trends, and when it DOES happen, finding those leads.

The most active twitter users participate in all 4 categories. Everyone is focused on tweeting and following. For apartment marketers & leasors (or any business’ marketing/sales personnel for that matter!) the biggest opportunities are in listening & mining.

How have you used twitter for marketing your business, apartment community or services? What type of twitter user are you?

tweet tweet? RENT SODA. GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota

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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Mid-life crisises don't just happen at MID-LIFE anymore…bring back Mary POPPINS!

Dec 8th, 2009
by daisynguyen.
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Do you feel the need to get more done? Do you have long to-do lists? Are you doing “stuff” but still can’t get “anything” done?

If you answered “yes,” you could be headed to a mid-life crisis. These things start small, and then they snowball….take for example:

I had a conversation with a woman yesterday that BLEW my mind. She’s young, beautiful, smart (she’s my “go-to” person when I need info), socially connected, socially conscious, and someone who gets STUFF done. I’m talking A LOT of stuff. She juggles a demanding job, participates in the local apartment association, fun/loving family woman, successful - one word AMAZING. (Let’s call her Mary Poppins going forward.)

Mary Poppins said to me, “I need to find a way to get more done. I want to take a class on prioritizing and how to get more done.” WHAT? I was so surprised. Get MORE done? MARY freeking POPPINS? WOW.

I recently took a class on MOLD. The one thing I learned in this class,  was this: Address the problem, not the symptom. So, in the mold case, the problem was moisture, and the symptom was mold. Treat the moisture problem and the mold will disappear.

For Mary, her sypmtoms included keeping long lists and feeling dissatisfied with all that she had done. As we talked more, I was able to uncover the real problem – lack of motivation.

We’re not talking about the momentary lack of motivation where a simple PEP talk would cure you. We’re talking about a full-blown lack of motivation. The kind that if left unaddressed, leads to a MID-LIFE CRISIS. The kind of crisis where you wonder who you are, why you’re here, and why you gave up on your dreams. All the sudden, you buy a fast car, join a band and dye your hair pink – try to live the dream all in one fell swoop. This doesn’t cure it either. Mid-Life Crisises don’t just happen at mid-life. They can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. They take time to build up.

How do we address a lack of motivation before it becomes a full blown mid-life crisis? Before you quit your job and dye your hair pink?

In talking to Mary further, I found that in her attempt to get more done, she had cut out many of the things she  enjoyed – singing happy songs, painting as a creative outlet (she had always wanted to be an artists!), and yoga. In the time that she used to read books, paint and practice yoga, she replaced those with career oriented activities – meeting with MORE clients, analyzing traffic patterns, and learning about the widget building process (and how to turn widgets into socially conscious “green” widgets), the list goes on and on. FUN? NOT.

I encouraged Mary to treat herself - allow herself the outlets that she so desperately needed. Take a class on painting! Join a choir or singing club! Find a yoga group – not only practice yoga – but talk yoga! I promised her that is she did so, even 1 hour a week, she would find that she would be so much MORE motivated at work. (Let’s bring the POPPINS back to Mary!)

I also encouraged her to find a way to bring those parts of her outlet to her career, if possible. Was there some way to intertwine yoga & the multi-family industry? Was there some way to intertwine her love of painting and her career? Could she start a singing club on site? How much happier would Mary be if she could?

Why do I mention this on a blog for the Multi-Family industry? Because Mary is not just one person, she is almost everyone person I meet in this industry. In the Apartment (multi-family) industry, it’s serious business. So serious that many of us have sucked all the fun out of it and replaced it with 100% serious business 24/7. We’ve all gone from Mary POPPINS to plain Mary!

I think the opposite. The Multi-Family indsutry is one of the most exciting, most diverse, most fun industry I have ever and will ever participate in. There are TONS of avenues that we travel where we can bring the fun. WE are our own worst enemies- we have chosen to cut the fun out in order to make room for more work. Let’s choose to bring the FUN back in.

When I was on-site, I once taught a cooking class, hosted off-the-hook FUN events (complete with aerialists, acrobats, and fire-slingers – email me if you don’t believe me and I will send you a link to pictures!), hosted “neighborhood socials,” had the oppotunity to pick out FABULOUS art for my community, hosted “jewelry” parties and fashion shows all in the name of WORK! Did my boss tell me to do these things? NO. Did I get in trouble for this? NO – in fact, my property won 5 MADACS awards for all the fun we had. My goal was to make the property successful. To do that, I brought the FUN to work. Here’s a picture of us on our 5th award at MADACS gala. Looks like fun, huh?

In the Multi-family industry, I believe we have so much more opportunity to bring the FUN into our lives than most other industries. Whether you like to cook, network, party, admire art, wear jewelry, read books, juggle fire, play music, whatever tickles your fancy – YOU have a greater opportunity than many in other industries to bring THAT to work. Whether you are a site manager, leasing agent, maintenance man, bookkeeper, caretaker, vendor, service provider, you NAME it, YOU have the opportunity to bring IT to work. – then see how much you can get done! In the words of Disney’s Mary Poppins, “A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down!”

What kind of FUN have your brought? Leave a comment and see how much fun we could all be having!

Don’t Get it? RENT SODA. GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota

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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Dear Apartment ILS: KISS! (Keep It Simple Silly!)

Dec 1st, 2009
by daisynguyen.
3 comments

We all have a love/hate relationship with our apartment ILS’s. We love them for everything they do, and we hate them for everything they do. Yes, I’m talking about Rent.com, ForRent.com, Apartments.com, Move.com, ApartmentFinder.com – those are my big ones, but I’m sure I’m not mentioning dozens of other ones. I’m talking about ALL of them! Don’t get me wrong, I love all my providers! They bring me traffic. Traffic is king these days. The provider’s sales agents are great – friendly, helpful, a HUGE resource to apartment communities. But, the actual services all lack something EXTREMELY important - make it easy for the prospect! KISS! (Keep-It-Simple-Silly!*) (*I hate calling anyone stupid, so have replaced stupid with silly)

A recent blog post I did and two recent discussions on Multi-Family Insiders got me to thinking:

Give the prospect what they want. In the end, they are our customer.

To read the recent RENT SODA blogpost and discussions on MFI that got me to thinking, click below:

There’s a MARKET for THAT! (my RENT SODA marketing blogpost)

Advertising on Yours (and Others’) Good Names : an MFI discussion started by Mike Whaling

The ILS Conundrum – an MFI blogpost by Mark Juleen

Why can’t the ILS model be more simple, and cater to the prospect? Make it easier?

If they get THEY want, you get more traffic, and you drive more traffix to US, and we get WE want…everyone’s happy!

I’ve been a renter before, and as a renter, or anyone looking for a service for that matter, I love it when:

  1. …someone else has aggregated all the information for me into 1 BIG list. i love LISTS! I’m lazy, I have limited amount of time, and I need to find the RIGHT apartment without spending all my free time looking for an apartment. Come on, I have a life that I want to live. Being a professional apartment shopper is not my gig!
  2. …once I’m on your site, make it simple for me to find my dream home. (i.e. if I’m looking for Minneapolis, don’t give me all the listings out in the suburbs! REALLY? Do you think that providing me with listings all the way out to Timbuktu serves me in anyway?) The more time I spend frustrated on your site, the unhappier I become.
  3. Provide me with reviews. REALLY. Amazon does it, ebay does it, Best Buy does it – everyone and their dog allows for comments and reviews. I want to hear what other people like me who have done this before think.
  4. Link me to the property. Come on, I know you want me to stay on your website so you can provide a report to those that pay you on how long the average user stays on the website. But REALLY? Once I have narrowed down the list of who I want to visit, I want to VISIT them. Make it easy for me!

What do YOUR prospects and renters want from an ILS? As a renter, what do they want to make the experience easy and enjoyable? Please leave a comment with your thoughts. In the end, we should give the customer what they want, and they’ll continue to come back for me. Let’s see if we can get the attention of the ILS’s!

Dear Apartment ILS: KISS!

Don’t Get it? RENT SODA. GET IT!

-Daisy Nguyen in Minneapolis, Minnesota

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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