LOL

This morning, after perusing my usual news sources including, but not limited to, The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, and ingesting row after row of horrifying headlines, a sampling of which include, “New Home Sales Fall to Slowest Pace Since 1991”, “Fed Warns of NYC Subway Terror Plot” “, and “Melamine Traces Found in US Infant Formula”, I found myself with two options: I could run out my back door, sink to my knees and begin wailing and gnashing my teeth, or I could add a little humor to my daily news repertoire. I chose the latter, and chose to spend a few moments reading The Onion. www.theonion.com There’s nothing like a little satire and tongue in cheek humor to put things back into perspective. Recently headlines include “New Pain Inducing Advil Created For People Who Just Want to Feel Something, Anything”, and “Denny’s introduces ‘Just a Humongous Bucket of Eggs and Meat’”. I have added The Onion to my daily list of required reading and find my mood improving and my outlook sunny. Sometimes humor is the best medicine. Make sure you get your daily chuckle.

Just Call Me a “Recessionista”

According to Business Week, the term “recessionista” is everywhere these days. The Irish Times recently used the word to describe a “modern sort of girl who is trying to survive the credit crunch the best she can.” Today’s recessionistas haunt thrift shops, fueling year-to-date sales growth of 6% to 15% at Salvation Army and Goodwill outlets. Goodwill’s San Francisco-area outlets will launch a blog for recessionistas in November.

Might be time to organize a rummage sale at your community.

As for me, I am adding the title to my business cards.

Pay Attention

This post is for all of you that are compelled to check your email via your Blackberry or IPhone devices while dining, socializing, during family gatherings, before going to bed, before getting up, during your child’s football/soccer/lacrosse/dance event and any number of places where you feel compelled to check your device for something far more interesting than my conversation with you. First, it is extremely rude. Second, you are an addict – you need help. Third, if you are trying to make yourself look important and extremely needed by your employer, the people with you are not impressed. They feel sorry for you and think that you are rude. When you are in a meeting where you feel compelled to hide your device under the table and secretly check it, understand that everyone knows what you are doing. They know that it is the oldest trick in the book and that you are paying absolutely no attention to what is being said at the moment. My son tried to check his text messages the other night at the dinner table. When I asked him a question and did not receive eye contact, only a view of the top of his head, I demanded he turn over the phone and I threw it out the back door. It is a shame the dogs didn’t chew it up.

Put the devices down. If the building is on fire, or there is an emergency, I promise, they will find you. It may be via an old-fashioned phone call, or in the case of a fire, smoke signals, but they will find you. Focus on the people in front of you and show them the same respect they show you as they pretend not to notice your compulsion. Life is short. Pay attention.

Hug a Soldier

I spent an hour this morning helping the members of the Grandview High School football team assemble goodie packages for our servicemen and women overseas. It was touching to see the young men spend time signing cards and footballs and carefully selecting items to go into boxes for their soldier. Many younger siblings were involved as well, judging from the pile of hand made letters; each carefully colored and thoughtfully created.

Now is the time to have your residents come together to create care packages for the troops to receive by the holidays. Not only will it make a service man or woman feel good, your residents will feel good as well. The United States Postal service website, http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/ will help you get started.

Keepin' on the Sunny Side

With all the glooming and dooming going on today, I think some optimism is in order. John Zogby, in "The Way We’ll Be – The Zogby Report on The Transformation of the American Dream" writes that Starbucks recently asked him to provide a quote for its “The Way I See It” series. He sent Starbucks the following quote:

"In three decades of polling, I‘ve found that while individuals make mistakes in judgment, America as a whole rarely does. A collective wisdom emerges from a poll or vote that is far greater than the sum of its parts."

Collectively, we will always do the right thing. I find that refreshing.

Library, Library, More Than a Book...

"Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card."
Rumor has it that going to the library is back in vogue. Makes sense since everything is free, (unless of course, like me, you tend to misplace your library books and do not find them until 3 weeks after the due date). You can check out movies, music, reading materials and have access to every magazine and newspaper in the world and surf the web all in on easy stop. But wait – there’s more!

On a recent visit to my neighborhood library, I stopped by the coffee shop and purchased a Latte’, which in itself is quite remarkable, considering that as a teen I got busted in the West Bend Community Memorial Library for trying to smuggle in a thermos of Tab cola. I also ventured beyond the usual, and discovered a myriad of resources available to me. Two meeting rooms, each with a capacity of 100, are available for $30 dollars per hour. What a great place to hold a leasing or staff meeting!

Monthly programs and events, (the majority of which are free), include “Living Green” sessions, an opportunity to give blood, 30 minute lawyer consults, English conversation circles and a variety of kids programs.

Think about how you might incorporate neighborhood library offerings into your resident retention programs to add value and a sense of community to the village your residents call home.

The next time you find yourself out and about, make sure you check your library out.

Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

The economy is bad. Time to trim the fat. The first thing to go - promotional expense. Second thing to go - training. In a struggling economy, those are the worst decisions that can be made. If you slash the promotional and training budget today, the pain is not immediate. You won’t notice any impact for 6 weeks, and no huge changes for 3 months. Sooner or later, however, you will lose - to the competitor that kept his cool and kept on promoting. You see, while your community no longer exists to the consumer, theirs does. Your competitor is taking steps to maintain and increase market share and ensure a strong capture rate. In the process, you’ll be smoked.

When times get tough, your job is to promote more, not less, and make sure your team is the best the industry offers. Keep bringing people through the door and then ensure the deal is closed. In a faltering economy, there are always businesses that seem to defy the odds. Those companies get creative and stay visible.

Now is the time to:
• Evaluate your promotional sources to determine what is working and what isn’t. Take the money from what isn’t and put it into what is.
• Evaluate your team. Make some tough decisions. You want the best, the brightest and consistent performers. Once you have your “A” team, Invest money to train them. Spend time with them. Make sure that your promotional efforts result in either new or renewed residents.
• Hold weekly marketing meetings with your team. Where can you be better? Where can you have greater impact on the client experience?
• Stay the course and don’t panic. Even if you have no money, make sure you are visible. Take your brightest talent and teach them how to conduct effective outreach. Make sure they feel comfortable and will deliver a positive, professional representation of your company and the community.

Keep your momentum going. Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow with a “Chicken Little” reaction today.
Lori Snider