Thursday, February 26, 2009

A Visit From the King

This is the second chapter of “The Sky is Falling” fable.

Once Upon a Time there was king who ruled a vast kingdom containing many beautiful apartment communities. His subjects were very much in awe of the king, as he ruled with a fair hand and much empathy. They worked very hard to keep his communities beautiful and occupied. In recent days, however, competition from neighboring kingdoms had grown fierce, and townspeople were packing up and leaving in droves to take advantage of the “special offers” in other lands. This greatly disturbed the king, and he called his most trusted attendants together for a roundtable discussion. “Why do they leave,” the king asked, “why don’t they come to my communities?” One of his attendants said “Your highness, the neighboring kingdoms have all greatly reduced their rents, and the townspeople are into saving money these days. You could reduce your rents to compete.” Another, the accountant, said, “Either way, you are losing money and we need to stop all this crazy marketing we have been doing. We should probably dismiss a few subjects as well.” The king decided it was time to inspect his holdings. He would visit each community in his kingdom a week from Tuesday. The horns were sounded.

At the communities, the horns were heard. The vice president of property management pulled his portfolio managers into a conference and announced the king’s visit. “We don’t have much time,” he began, “and we need to be ready. There is much analysis and much reporting I will ask of you over the next week. In addition, you must visit each of your communities for a thorough inspection. We will leave nothing to chance. I feel confident with this great team we will do well. By the way, what’s going on with Whispering Woods? What have you been doing to get occupancy up?” Whispering Woods portfolio manager said, “They have been doing more outreach, but it is too soon to see its impact. I will visit and make sure something is being done.” \

Each portfolio manager outlined expectations for the coming week and the impending visit, most of which did not include servicing residents, exceeding expectations or attracting traffic. The communities were to be spit shined, and every apartment that was vacant was to be ready. No exceptions. Repairs were to be made, new flags ordered, windows washed and laundry rooms repainted. Nothing would be left to chance. The property manager was to study her budget, know her occupancy, renewal and capture rates and in general, was not to rest until the king’s visit was over. Preparations began in earnest.

After working non stop for 6 days and 6 nights, Whispering Woods was ready for the king. The community manager and her team had followed to the minutest detail checklist instructions left by the portfolio manager at her visit. The community looked impressive. The maintenance crew looked tired as they scurried about with last minute tasks. Though exhausted, the community manager knew her numbers cold. She was ready for the king.

The small and pleasant leasing sprite was full of wonder at all the preparations and couldn’t wait to meet the king in person. She wore her nicest suit and made sure the coffee was fresh and the water chilled. Then it was time to wait. She found she was nervous.

Soon, internal tracking systems began signaling the king’s whereabouts via text messages from neighboring community managers. The first arrived at 9:05. “He just left Cottonwood. Lots of them. Looked at a vacant and the model. Heading to The Landing.” At 10:15, “Leaving Landing. Said they were going to visit a building site and then to Whispering Woods”

The manager got on her walkie-talkie and said, “The king is on his way. Be ready.”
They waited some more. At 11:02, the maintenance technician stationed on the corner radioed in, “Here they come!”

The king’s entourage pulled into the community. ‘Which one is the king?” asked the small and pleasant leasing sprite, as she worked hard at looking nonchalant and busy. “There is the king” said the manager, “the tall one next to the vice president.”

The king proceeded up the walkway smiling and laughing with his attendants. He walked into the office and introductions were made. The leasing sprite waited in anticipation. Finally, the manager turned and said, “King, this is our newest leasing professional, Sarah.” The king smiled, reached out and shook Sarah’s hand. “Hello, Sarah,” he said, “Are you finding that Whispering Woods favors you?” “Oh yes!” she said. “Good”, replied the king “I look forward to seeing you do great things and am honored you chose us.” “Thank you!” she replied, and with that the king turned and the vice president escorted him to the community conference room to discuss the crisis.

The small and pleasant leasing sprite decided at that moment that she very much admired the king, and that she would work very hard for him.

After some discussion, the king viewed the model and a vacant apartment, granted permission for new signage and was on his way.

The manager alerted neighboring communities, sat down at her desk and breathed a sigh of relief. “They seemed happy, don’t you think?” she said to the leasing sprite, “They seemed to,” she answered. With that the manager ordered the entire team pizza, and thought, “Tomorrow we can get back to focusing on leasing.”

The morale of the story:

If you are the king, understand the impact a visit from you has to a community and the people involved. All focus has been to exceed your expectations and extensive efforts have most likely been made to roll out the red carpet for you. If you are trying to ensure quality control, you will achieve this objective simply through your visit. That is a good thing. Understand however, if the focus is on your visit, it is most likely not on securing residents, resident functions and planning outreach. In some ways, it is a double-edged sword.

The greatest impact you will have is in how you communicate with those you lead. A simple kind word of encouragement coming from you can have a profound effect on the recipient, and remind them why they chose your company over others. People will go to the mountain for you if you show interest and empathy to them.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Short Term Gain...Long Term Sacrifice

It’s a Catch 22 – you need to reduce expenses at the same time today’s consumer is skittish, demanding and expecting better quality and value for their money. Morale is low, your team is expected to do more with less, and job cuts have placed a strain on operational capabilities. Tough call, but you’re saving money, right? Not so much.

According to Business Week, the Internal Customer Management Institute, a call center consultant, has done studies that show cutting just four reps at a call center of three dozen can send the number of customers put on hold for four minutes from zero to 80. That’s right, 80. It makes sense to reason that if there are less people in the office, there is a greater likelihood that a client, or potential client will be missed, or will need to wait a greater length of time to see product or resolve a challenge.

The immediate reaction to tough times is to tighten the wallet and squeak every dime available out of it. Think about the airline “charge for a checked bag” policy. I cannot think of one person that isn’t highly offended, or at least greatly irritated by this policy. A trip requiring more than two nights will require a checked bag. The consumer knows they have to eat it and have no option. Makes me fester just thinking about it. Unless, of course, they elect to fly Southwest, an airline that promotes the fact that they do not charge baggage fees. Think a customer might be tempted to switch?

So what’s a property management professional to do?

First, consider the impact of cuts on service delivery and excellence. You can’t afford to miss a potential client or risk the reputation your brand will suffer if clients don’t feel taken care of.

Get flexible with policy, and think about ways to stay in front of the customer that don’t necessarily involve face-to-face interaction. Rethink lease break fees, admin fees and rules and regulations that may have seen their day, but are no longer OK. Cross train, not just at your community, but cross-town as well. If your community is small, consider letting another community handle leasing during slower days/hours. The goal is to make sure the client does not feel turned away or that you are unavailable. Technology can help. Touch screen panels installed in the leasing center can be an invaluable assistant and allow the customer to review availability and lease, provide virtual concierge options for residents, and keep the client that has to wait busy and informed.

Focus on service. Rather than focusing on the lack of traffic in the market, focus on delivering the best service possible. Over the top, incredible, “I can’t believe they did that!” kind of service. Beat the market as well as move in concessions on renewals. Let your clients know that you know they have choices. Deliver excellence.

Last, be realistic. Before mandating closing percentage expectations, expected email response time, etc., work with the team to clear up and clear out operational duties that are not critical and take the focus off the consumer. Explore job duties and help the team transition to an “All customer all the time” philosophy. Every member of the team must understand that their mission is first and foremost to deliver to client expectations. Don’t forget to reward them and take care of them. Happy, engaged team members can be likened to a magnet, attracting clients and residents alike.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Sky is Falling...or is it?

I have a popular story I share in my presentations to various groups around the country that attests to what I have deemed, “The Chicken Little Syndrome”. For those of you not up on your Aesop’s Fables lore, Chicken Little makes an assumption based on one event and single-handedly convinces the masses that the sky is falling.
I would like to share my version of this story enhanced with a property management twist.

Once upon a time, the great and all-knowing vice president of property management opened his many reports and began a thorough line-by-line evaluation of the properties in his care. All seemed well until he arrived at Whispering Woods. Alas, it appeared move outs and a strange drop in traffic plagued Whispering Woods. To his horror, the vice president realized exposure at the community would reach 13% within 2 weeks if something wasn’t done.

The vice president of property management hurried down the hall to his portfolio manager’s office and said, “What is happening at Whispering Woods? If the current trend continues, we are faced with a disaster. You need to do something, and fast!”
Then he raced back to his office to wait for a visit from the king.

The portfolio manager immediately picked up the phone and called Whispering Woods. After the usual pleasantries with the community’s property manager, the portfolio manager said, “The great and all-knowing vice president was just in my office and we were discussing Whispering Woods. We are very concerned at the way your property is trending, and if we don’t stop it, it is going to be a disaster. You need to get your team together and do something!” After answering a few more questions about the upcoming visit from the king, the portfolio manager hung up and continued managing her portfolio.

The community property manager grabbed her walkie-talkie and immediately summoned her entire team. “We are facing a crisis of monumental proportion,” she began, as her subjects grew wide eyed, “Not only will the king be coming next week to inspect his holdings, we are trending to a 13% exposure and that is not good.” (Her subjects were thinking, “I am not sure what she means,” but they kept this thought to themselves and assumed it was very, very bad. One subject thought about the resume he would post on Monster later that day.) “In addition to getting ready for the king’s visit, which is taking most of our time and energy, we need to find some traffic.” The community property manager turned to her newest subject, a small and pleasant leasing sprite who always seemed eager to assist. “You will be in charge of outreach marketing. Every day, you will go out between the hours of 9 and 11 and reach out to the community. I will get you some brochures and trinkets to take with you. You will start today – now get out there and do something!”

The small and pleasant leasing sprite took a deep breath and with a weak smile and loads of determination, got into her car and drove to the town square. With her trinkets in hand, she meekly approached a dry cleaning establishment. “Hello,” she said, “I am with Whispering Woods and am wondering if I may leave these brochures and trinkets with you so the townspeople will see them and remember that they should live at my community.” The merchant coldly said, “no”. Not to be dissuaded, with the command to “do something” present in her mind, the small and pleasant leasing sprite continued on. She had to save the kingdom. With each establishment she entered, the sprite grew wearier as no one seemed willing to help her or display her trinkets or her brochures. Finally, she returned to the community, and when asked by the community property manager what she did for the last two hours, and how many merchants agreed to work with her, she admitted defeat and said, “I know you told me to do something, and I tried my best, but I just don’t’ know what to do!”

The morale of the story
It’s time to stop telling your people to “do something” and start showing them what to do. Do what it takes. Bring in an outside trainer. Pool your resources. Roll up your sleeves and innovate. Go where it’s uncomfortable. Be the mentor you aspire to be so your people don’t have to worry the sky is falling but don’t know what to do.

And if you are the king, the next blog will be for you.

Next up – A Visit from the King

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Lucky Lost His Job Today

This morning I sent my dog Lucky out to get the paper and it wasn’t there. Lucky circled around the driveway blindly (literally, my dog really is blind) looking for the paper and I realized the day had come. No more newspaper.

I am a news junkie and have subscribed to one paper or another for almost 20 years. As a journalism student, I was taught the importance of the fourth estate and its relevance to keeping the world honest and safe, and once in the third grade my mug made the front page as I proudly marched in the West Bend annual Holiday parade. You couldn’t see much of me, as the 20 below wind chill dictated that all but my eyes were wrapped in layers of clothing, but there I was on the front page. Famous for a day. Nothing is more exciting to a ten year old.

There is little I love more than getting up at dawn, when things are still quiet around my house, settling into my red easy chair and perusing the daily news. It is my routine and my comfort. What will I do now? I tried settling in with my laptop and the online version of the local paper, but it wasn’t the same. It felt disjointed and incomplete. Lots of headlines, each trying to grab you, but no real substance. Maybe it’s me.

My business partner is avid about getting his news on line. He scoffs at my paper addiction and proclaims it to be “old news”. He’s right. In the race to be the most “up’ on news events, the web wins hands down. If a big event is happening, I am the first to turn to the Internet, and I daily review a variety of sources to enhance my perspective. I wonder though, how far past the headlines most people get? How many really read the in depth stories available? How many can discern the difference between citizen or opinion journalism and professional reporting?

I let my paper expire because it kept getting smaller and smaller, both in size and content. Some days, it would take me less than 10 minutes to get through, yet the price kept increasing. It became easier for me to confront my addiction, particularly in today’s economic times and say, “the value just isn’t there anymore”. I let it expire.

I will miss my newspaper. Lucky just lost his job, I have a laptop in my lap and am fighting an overwhelming urge to check my email.

One thing is for sure – people are creatures of habit that value and crave their comforts and routines. That includes the residents we serve. Be certain that they weigh similar decisions in regard to their living experiences every day, and if they determine “the value just isn’t there anymore”, when their lease expires, they will make a change, even if they don’t want to.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Rock That Coat

I have a new yellow coat. I consider it stylish, vivid and daring, and I love it. Not to mention procuring said coat was one of those perfect shopping experiences that many can identify with. Last one. Perfect fit. Half price. You know what I am talking about. Anyway, when I wear the coat, I seem to be a little happier, and there must be a definitive swing in my step, because yesterday, in the produce department of the grocery store, a person approached me from behind and said, “Ma’am”. I turned to see a young store employee and immediately thought, “Did I drop my wallet or something?” Looking at me she said, “You rock that coat.” My surprise and delight were immediate and unexpected and actually rendered me speechless. My step definitely got a little swingier after that and my head was held a little higher knowing I “rock my coat.” I received three more compliments before I left that store.

The power of a positive suggestion. Pay a client a sincere compliment today. Watch what happens. And don’t forget to once in a while wear something that “you rock”. Then go hang out in the produce department. It’s a great pick me up.