Social Media Overload

I once considered myself a semi tech savvy person, until the onset of social media.  I remember attending my first social media seminar and within minutes glazing over due to complete information overload.  I think in the beginning everyone was merging advertising venues like Craig's List into social media venues like Facebook.  No matter what, I was definitely overwhelmed and more importantly I was frustrated.  Everyone was presenting as though social media was the new cure for all apartment industry marketing and retention issues.  I continued to go to more social media trainings and in turn continued to grow more frustrated.

Just when you thought you couldn't become more overwhelmed, all of the print and online providers started hard selling you on their social media management tools.  Then new vendors came out of the woodwork offering total social media management services.  At this point, had someone come to me and offered up a mental management tool - I would have jumped on it!  Unfortunately I did not find this mental management tool booth at the NAA trade show.  Instead, I found yet another social media seminar with a pro and con panel that argued back and forth if it was worth the investment.  Yet again, I glazed over and walked out dazed and confused.

Ultimately I dove in, one site at a time and defined what they could do to benefit individual assets.  During this definition process I assigned sites into three categories;  1) Social Media, 2) Marketing, 3) Combo.  My operating thesis was that Social Media sites were designed to communicate and inform existing residents and build a sense of community.  Marketing sites were specifically designed to attract and lead new residents to my asset.  And Combo were sites that did a little bit of both.  Categorized examples can be seen below.

Social Media Sites

• Facebook - if used well, can help to promote resident events, neighborhood events, city events and deliver upbeat and informative communications to residents. 
• Twitter - again if used well and managed well can be a fun and great rolling communication within your resident base
• Blog Spot - well as you hopefully are experiencing, can be an entertaining and engaging way to inform and educate others while allowing them to comment on your blogs

Marketing Sites

• Craig's List - a great way to affordably advertise vacant apartment homes for rent
• Backpage - another great way to affordably advertise vacant apartment homes for rent
• Google Search - a great way to get your property pictures right on the Google search engine homepage and a link to your website.  Often times industry guides or industry .com sites put this info on for you, but it then links to their site, therefore showing them all of your competition.  You want to fully claim your search site and have it link to your asset and company website.

Combo

• Foursquare - This is a great application that allows you to engage your residents while also promoting your community.  Basically it is a game of check-in.  As you check-in to locations repeatedly, you earn badges and ultimately can become the mayor of that location.  You are able to offer specials such as stop in today and have your application fee waived or the first 20 residents to arrive at the pool get a free personal size pizza coupon from a local vendor.

Yes, there are a million more, but unlike all of the seminars I went to, I am choosing to only give you what I feel to be the most important ones.  Once you have conquered these, then you can move on to explore others.

Probably the biggest question asked is:  "How do you handle negative comments and postings?"  On many of the sites you do have the ability to approve, deny or remove postings.  This is something you select during your account set-up process.  On the ones that don't have this option, most companies have found that replying with an apologetic public response on the site and a new invitation to call and discuss the challenge is highly respected by the other readers.  The way I look at it is, at least you have the opportunity to respond, unlike ApartmentRatings.com .

The other challenge that should be duly noted is in regards to the posting teams.  Most of these sites require a great deal of writing skill, spelling skill, editing skill and above all written diplomacy.  I have found it harder to locate the perfect on-site employees for this job, than I have found managing the actual sites.

So, don't be afraid, just dive in one site at a time.  But beware, they do become addictive.

Gotta go, have another blog to write!

Blinded By The Concession Therefore Unable To See The Need For Revenue Management

I really am not for sure who is more blinded by the concessions; leasing, management or the prospective resident.  But what I do know is that the once declining economy caused the blindness, and we are preventing the now stabilized and slowly increasing economy from becoming the cure.

Let's start with concessions, then and now.  A year plus ago move-in and renewal concessions were needed to actually motivate paralyzed renters to stay or move.  Prospective residents could not bring themselves to even consider a community unless there was a substantial concession in place.  Most of these concessions ranged from one to three free months of rent.  Along with these concessions, companies were also dropping their market rents bringing their revenues to an all time low.

Today the motivation for offering concessions should be looked at differently.  Concessions should not be considered required as historically, but instead should be considered as a marketing attention grabber.  Many companies cannot fathom raising rents while offering concessions.Why not?  Will the "Rent Raiser Cops" come and arrest you?  Don't let concessions blind you from the continued need of revenue management.  Even as you continue to offer and decrease your concessions from one month to half a month, you can raise your rents $3, $9, $17 or $22 along the way. The concession today is merely to get your community to stand out in advertising, get the prospective residents attention and to motivate the initial inquiry call.  You know the old retail trick, mark up the sweater 20% and then have a 25% off sell, therefore only sacrificing 5%.

Provided you have a strong sales team in place, who energetically narrates your amenities and strongly believe in the product they represent ... then they can turn that concession generated inquiry into a higher rental amount lease.

Look at the statistics.  People are spending again, not at the original rate, but definitely spending.  Car sales are increasing, 2010 Christmas spending was way up compared to 2009 and the hospitality industry is reporting huge increases in restaurant food consumption and hotel overnights.

What makes the apartment industry impervious to these positive spending trends?  YOU and YOUR TEAM!  So, go out on an untraveled limb, keep your concession to grab their attention, but raise your rents behind the scenes.  Revenue Management is alive and well ... you just need to practice it a little differently.

Everyone Thinks They Are A Designer

I am sure this applies to many of my readers, though you hate to admit it.  There is a certain intoxicating rush that comes along with the opportunity to be in charge of creating a model or managing an interior designer.  The good news is we know exactly what we want, and we cannot wait to get it set up.  The before and after is the absolute most exciting part.  The bad news is, we may have a limited outlook of what goes into design.  Often these limitations have come from what our mothers taught us, what we have seen in others homes or on showroom floors and what we have purchased for our own homes.

Good apartment model design has a litany of key concepts that must be intertwined in the design in order to reach the full potential of your investment.

5 Things Not To Do When Executing Model Design

1. DO NOT go with the ordinary or traditional.  Your model should be extremely memorable and set you apart from your competitors.   This is not achieved by mimicking the traditional living rooms and bedrooms that you find in your own home, your parents home or many real estate for sale models.
2. DO NOT use earth tones.  Bright colors, unique furniture and interesting accessories are a must.  Touring a model should be a very memorable experience for your prospective resident.  Upon completion of the tour, when they ask you where to buy a specific item they viewed, it is a compliment and a sign of success.
3. DO NOT put hard to manage items in the model.  Sofas with tons of throw pillows to manage, glass top tables with finger prints to wipe off, puddling curtains on the floor to vacuum around, etc. need to be avoided.
4. DO NOT over design the models.  Keep the design streamline and closer to the minimalist end of the continuum.  This creates a larger vision of space, mobility within the apartment and visual cleanliness.
5. DO NOT use models as corporate suites.  It is inevitable that things will get damaged, dirty and worn.  A model is to be perfect.  If you cannot afford to maintain the model as a vacant unit, then abort the model concept and settle for mini-models you can transfer throughout vacants.

Models should be outside of the box.  They should reflect a hip unique view point on apartment living.  They should have hard to find items in them that become memorable conversation pieces. 

Let's face it, none of us are selling anything unique.  We have square footage, wall to wall tan carpet or ceramic, kitchens, baths, closets and balconies - typically very similar to our competitors.  Your model needs to reflect a vision of lifestyle that your potential renter has not considered.  This vision has to be so vivid that it permanently lodges in their mind.  While visiting your competitors, all they can think about is your model and the lifestyle it portrayed.  It should be MAGNETIC, drawing them back to you, eager to apply and make a deposit.

Here are some final hints to help you capitalize on your model.  The key, make them use all five of their senses.

Visual (Sight) - bright colors, cool lighting, unique furniture and unique accessories

Auditory (Hearing) - radios/music in all of the main living and sleeping areas

Tactile (Touch) - furniture, pillows, throws and accessories of touchable fabrics like chenille, velvet or suede

Gustatory (Taste) - candy, cookies and refreshments in the model

Olfactory (Smell) - room deodorizers, preferably vanilla, proven to be a calming scent

The Carpet Replacement Nightmare

As many of you know I have been in the apartment industry for over two decades.  I have been blessed to consult with and work for some of the most intelligent Principals, CEO's, COO's, CFO's, Presidents, Executive Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents in the industry.  And yet, every year at budget season they all seemed to be stumped with the past years overage on carpet replacement.  It is like the "Ninth Natural Wonder of the World" to them. 

1. Great Barrier Reef
2. Amazon Rain Forest
3. Grand Canyon
4. Sahara Desert
5. Galapagos Islands
6. Ngorongoro Crater
7. Halong Bay
8. Iguazu Falls
9. CARPET REPLACEMENT

Consistently each year I sit and listen for hours to these brilliant individuals discuss that yet once again, carpet replacement is over budget.  They sit there with wonder and dismay on their faces as they discuss the three to five year life expectancy, and how it is impossible based upon turnover that they should be over budget.

Within minutes the community manager and/or maintenance supervisor have tread marks on their bodies from having been thrown under the bus.  Then they move on to miraculous un-thought of concepts like patching and dying and they get excited by this new delusional world of answers.

I say to these brilliant executives, GET A DAMN GRIP!  Neither cheap or affordable apartment carpet  has nor ever will have a three to five year life span among the average renter.  Pull your community manager and maintenance supervisor from under the bus and replace them with either the vendor who sold you the life expectancy or yourself for believing the vendor year after year. 

Stop wasting valuable time analyzing what has been for years and start running the numbers on the long term pay-off of ceramic or porcelean tile.  This tile lasts for years, increases the value of your asset and often justifies an amenity rent increase for market rate assets.  But most importanly, it prevents you from being nominated for the "Most Likely to Beat a Dead Horse" award again this year!