A "Lease Application 2 - Go"

 

So, who are we kidding ... the lease application is one of the most important parts of our business.  We have carefully collected resumes, thoughtfully interviewed and conscientiously hired leasing specialists to represent us on a daily basis to aggressively secure lease applications.  The questions is, are they doing it well?

I often refer to the apartment lease application as a "Disposable Floor Mat".  Leasing Specialist's offer them as tour parting gifts.  Community Managers direct their teams to use them as marketing collateral material, requiring they staple them to brochures.  You can  find them brilliantly fanned out on display next to the empty candy dish on the cocktail table in the community lobby.  You can often find them in the after-hours brochure box at the clubhouse entry.  

I can't help but wonder, if by making them so readily available, if our Leasing Specialists have stopped recognizing the importance of securing the completed application at the tour.

I think the lease application should be available by request or invitation, the latter being the most important.  

A few years back I had to do an intense market survey in the Raleigh Durham, NC market.  I visited 13 communities, showing great interest to the Leasing Specialists regarding renting, because not only was I shopping the market, I was also shopping for leasing consultants.  I wanted to see who was going to go for the gold.  Out of my 13 visits only two leasing consultants invited me to sit down and fill out an application, the other 11 offered me what I call the "Lease Application 2 - Go".  I was so disappointed that these Leasing (Not So) Specialists completely ignored my positive buying signals, chickened out and didn't ask me to sit down and fill out the application.

What part of "THIS IS YOUR JOB" did they not understand?  What part of "YOU JUST LOST COMMISSION" did they not understand?  What part of "THEY SUCK AS A SALESPERSON" do their supervisors not understand?  The Leasing Specialist needs to realign his or her sales thought process.  They need to own that their job responsibility is to consistently motivate the prospective resident to fill out the application before they leave.  Get the commitment!

I once was discussing this expectation at a public speaking engagement and a community manager piped up in the audience to inform me that it was against Fair Housing.  Here we go, my favorite topic, "Fair Housing Paranoia".  I asked her to explain, she quickly told me that if one of her Leasing Specialists forgot to ask someone to fill out an application, but had asked everyone else, then they could be sued.  And went on to say, it is just like if you forget to offer someone a cup of lemonade but offer it to everyone else, that's why we just have it out with a sign that says serve yourself - that way everyone is invited.  OMG!  REALLY?  Has Fair Housing paranoia made us this STUPID, not afraid, not overly cautious, STUPID!  I shared with her that actually they would be sued if her Leasing Specialist consistently forgot to ask prospective residents from one of the protected classes to fill out the application.  I further told her that I personally wouldn't worry about it if she worked for me, because if she were to forgot to ask anyone to fill out an application, she would have the opportunity to remember the importance of it on the way to the unemployment line.

So again, are our Leasing Specialists aware that their main job is to motivate the prospective resident to fill out the application before leaving.  The question becomes, have we given the leasing consultant the tools to be motivational.  Do we have an impressive product, well landscaped, well maintained and well managed?  Do we have an organized Leasing Center, home to appropriate employee behavior and a conducive professional environment?  Do we have outstanding make-ready or model units for show, that are clean and pristine in appearance?  If we have equipped our Leasing Specialists with these tools there is no reason why we would not hold them accountable for being able to motivate the majority of prospective residents to fill out the application on the spot.

So which are you?  Lease Application carry out?  Or, Lease Application dine in?

Bon Apetit!  I hope you are having a rich desert of Occupancy A La Mode!

What I Learned In China? A Smile Is Bigger Than The Great Wall!

Year after year, speaking engagement after speaking engagement, employee training session after employee training session I have preached the importance of a smile.  I have preached it so often, that I think I became numb to how much I believe it has impact on others.

This young man dawning his orange uniform in the picture, was a passenger in a company truck riding along side my tour bus.  We were in traffic for approximately 25-30 minutes and not once did I ever see him without a smile on his face.  I was mesmerized by his positive energy and could not take my attention away from him.

This is when I recognized the true POWER OF THE SMILE.  I had just spent multiple thousands of dollars to take the longest flight of my life half way around the world to see the mystic sites of China, yet they were all flying past my window without me viewing them, because I was in the presence of an AMAZING SMILE!  I was truly sad when traffic opened up and I had to return to my investment of site seeing.  I know for a fact, that this young man made my day much better.  By the way, this young man did not have the luxury of sitting in a climate controlled leasing center, in a nice chair, behind a nice desk - he was a refuse collector, in a non air conditioned truck on a 101 degree humidity filled day.

I am realizing while writing this blog that I am truly sick of miserable, negative, complaining people - and want to fire them from my life!  

As I shop markets I am blown away with how many multi-family housing representatives I meet on the front line who bring me down.  I am inspired to start writing help wanted ads for our industry, they would include things like:  Personality Required, Must Be Able To Tell Jokes On Command, Responsible For Daily Laughter In Office and Tom Foolery A Must.    Then I would recommend new ways to interview, such as put them in a room with a television running "I Love Lucy" & "Carol Burnett" episodes and observe them through closed circuit cameras to make sure they laugh in order to be eligible for hire.  I would rework interview questions to include things like:  What was your most embarrassing moment in life?  What is the funniest thing you have ever witnessed?  Who is your favorite comedian?  When was the last time you laughed uncontrollably to the point of almost peeing your pants?

As a keynote speaker, one of my favorite experiences is dealing with the maintenance guy who was forced to come to my training session.  He comes completely distracted thinking about the work orders stacked up at the property.  He comes  frustrated that he has to listen to this twit talk about customer service when he has life-threatening Freon leaking out of an A/C unit.  He comes in miffed that he reports to the idiot who deems this session more important than his on-site duties.  He is determined to have a bad time and get nothing from this session.  Then I unveil the first comedic moment, he doesn't crack a smile, but I can't help noticing that Subway Sandwich stuffed belly jiggle from behind the table and under is crossed closed body language arms.  Five minutes later I toss out the next comedic hot potato and this time he can't help but show some teeth.  A few minutes later I pull the pin and toss a comedic hand grenade right at him, those arms fly open, and he catches it displaying full on public laughter.  After this humiliating display of engagement, he forgets his commitment to learn nothing, leans forward, picks up a pen, and surrenders to writing notes regarding customer service.  He vowed not to drink the Kool-Aide, but the kid like stains around his lips are going to be noticed back at the community when his commitment to customer service is adjusted for the positive. 

When I see this happening in my classes, I want to point and yell out, "DUDE, you just drank the freaking Kool-Aide", but instead, I just serve up more for the hours remaining, I want him to leave drunk with new knowledge.

I think this young Chinese man pictured above drinks the Kool-Aide everyday.  I picture him waving and saying high to every customer he sees as he collects their garbage.  I see him being able to turn bad customer service experiences around by just flashing those pearly whites.  I envision his co-worker waking every morning, eager to spend the day with his positive energy.  

Oddly enough, because of him, I would consider being a refuse collector in China, if he were my teammate!!!

So what is the message of my blog?  If you are negative by nature and don't have a personality - don't apply to be a part of my life!  But if you are positive and love to laugh - apply today, YOUR HIRED!

No Excuses

 

WOW, found this on the internet and slapped me in the face - hard!

NO EXCUSE as to why I have ignored my blog for so long.

I am not for sure how I lost sight of how much I enjoy writing, how much I enjoy sharing my thoughts on topics or how much I enjoy seeing responses from others  regarding my writing ... but I did lose sight.  The one thing I do know, is I made a million excuses as why not to be writing, all of which were most likely pathetic.

Human nature is odd, if we have a task to do, like writing a blog, we can pull an infinite array of excuses out of our butt - I'm too tired, I'm too busy, I'm sick, I don't know what to write about, No one reads it anyway, blah, blah, blah.  But do we ever pull and excuse out of our butt regarding why we can't watch television, why we can't take a nap or my personal favorite, why we can't go to the beach?  Hell no!

I never realized how an excuse is really just a form of false justification.  When we make an excuse, we become delusional to a point, ignoring priorities and pay offs.  Watching rerun episode of Two and a Half Men offers no benefit to my day other than escape - yet there are much better escapes like writing a blog or taking a healthy bike ride.  

More importantly, who am I kidding, this blog will take me no more than 30 minutes to write, proof and post.  I waste more than 30 minutes a day just deciding what to freaking wear and eat!!!  And even though focusing on such important issues as fashion and the fast food gag in a bag culinary arts, rarely after my time investment am I as happy with the final outcome of my outfit or meal, as I am with the final outcome of my blog.

So, short and simple, monitor yourself (yes this is the pot calling the kettle black) to see if you are making excuses (delusional false justifications) as to why you are not accomplishing a task.  Then, review your day, and see if you can identify where you could have found that 30 minutes to complete the task.  If you find it, you have confirmed, delusion resides in your life!  Good news for me, now I have company.  Bad news for you, hopefully I will be leaving the "Excuse Party" and you can become the host.

TOO ENERGIZED

TOO FOCUSED

TOO STRONG

No Longer Need Excuses!!!

Feeling Boxed In With Your Present Job Or Position?

I can't tell you how many professionals I meet each week who openly share with me how unhappy they are with their career or their present place of employment.  It actually makes me sad, because life is short and we spend most of it at work, so we should enjoy what we are doing.  After all, there are only 168 hours in a week, of which the average American consume 112 of working and sleeping, leaving us with only 56 to enjoy.

I wake up each morning and know that the tasks I have in store for me are personally fulfilling.  Be it a speaking engagement, an employee mentoring session, an apartment association board meeting, a corporate financial meeting, conference planning, writing curriculum, completing expense reports, meeting with vendors, etc., I look forward to the days challenges.  Of course there are duties that are less pleasant, such as counseling or terminating an employee, but I still find reward in knowing that I am doing it correctly, professionally and with the best interest of both the employee and company in mind.

As professionals express their career woes to me, it often becomes apparent that in fact it is not their career or job duties they are are unhappy with, but instead a working relationship with a specific supervisor or colleague.  Being 49 years old (turning 50 this December - EEK!), I have had my fair share of experience with colleagues/supervisors and can certainly relate to the positive/negative dynamics they can bring to the work place.  However, over the years I have realized that I am 50+% of that dynamic and need to be able to recognize when I am being positive and when I am being a stubborn bitch, when I am being sensible or when I am merely wanting to win the fight.

One of my bosses post college was Cruella DeVille.  For some reason, her position as an Elementary School Principal gave her the right to treat adult professionals as children.  She would make teachers sit in the center of staff meetings on a kindergarten chair encircled by their colleagues, should they come 1 minute late or ill prepared without pen and paper.  While her expectations of timeliness and preparedness were admirable, she never recognized that embarrassing the employees that she personally hired and interviewed only caused the rest of the staff to question her hiring ability and lose respect for their fellow colleague.  NOTE TO PROFESSIONAL SELF:  don't publicly embarrass colleagues or employees.

One of my bosses was a certified martyr.  She worked harder and longer hours than anyone else in the company and made sure you were aware of her extreme sacrifice for success.  Oddly enough, I only found that my phone calls and emails were returned Monday through Thursday between the hours of 10:00 and 4:00 pm.  Additionally, in reviewing weekly corporate rankings, I consistently found our district to be in the bottom five.  For such a hard working woman, her efforts were certainly proving to be fruitless.  NOTE TO PROFESSIONAL SELF:  don't verbally express your work ethic, let it be noticed by your actions.

One of my bosses was justifiably paranoid.  An extremely talented woman who had proven herself year after year of having the "Midas Touch".  She had built a dedicated team of long-term talent that consistently exceeded expectations, unfortunately, her supervisor was a male chauvinist determined to build a boys club.  Each day was an emotional nightmare that she was unable to hide from her in-tune team.  NOTE TO PROFESSIONAL SELF:  know when to hold them and know when to fold them - and don't let "golden handcuffs" blur your judgment.

One of my bosses started out awesome, but ended up a Diva.  This guy had the ability to look at you with the sweetest of sweet smiles and make you feel like you were the best employee he ever could hope for.  I was blinded by his acknowledgment of my talent, and never realized how hard I was working to meet his unreasonable expectations.  Nor did I realize, that most of his demands were to further his career, completely unaware or uninterested of his employees' career goals.  NOTE TO PROFESSIONAL SELF:  know your employees, recognize their talents and sincerely work hard to promote them, because their promotion is a reflection on you.

From these four examples it is evident how a supervisor can definitely impact the positive or negative work experience.  Equally, so can you.  It is easy to get caught up in negative energy and focus on the bad and ignore the good.  It is easy to talk about the accounting department who consistently loses invoices, or the human resource department who slowly responds to termination requests, or the information technology department who can't seem to fix anything, or our maintenance teams who move to slow or our leasing teams who couldn't rent a life preserver to a drowning man.

But the fact of the matter is, you continue to choose to work with/for these incompetent idiots.  That means, you are either too lazy to pull your resume together, too frightened to leave, too insecure about your ability to achieve elsewhere, just love complaining or have built a mountain out of a mole hill.

I know this, because I was all of these things approximately three years ago.  It was actually my limo driver that slapped me into reality.  Having come in on a delayed flight out of Washington D.C., originally to arrive at 10:00 pm, instead arriving at 2:00 a.m., I got in the car and started bitching.  I complained about the company, my supervisor, my colleagues, the employees, etc., wrapping it up with, I am going to resign and move to Florida.  He responded with a deafening, "Whatever, you have been saying that for over ten years now".  And he was correct!  I had built a box with walls of excuses and sealed it with a lid of negative attitude.  It was not the company or the people around me preventing me from happiness, it was me.

The next morning the sun rose, I updated my resume and six weeks later moved to Florida.  But this time with a new philosophy, "I control my career happiness", even in a bad economy. And now, I LOVE MY LIFE in Florida as much as I originally loved my life in Chicago.

So, remember, life is short, stop bitching and get happy ... even if it means you have to move on!  You built the box you function within, you can modify it, move it or even tear it apart at any time.