Why is training so important? Training your onsite staff is extremely important especially now with 2011 coming up. This is the year for the Multi Family Housing Industry. We have already started witnessing numbers changing for the good and it will only get better from here. Now is the time to monopolize this by making sure we have well trained staff onsite. A well trained staff that knows what they are doing will make a big difference in your portfolio.
There are different ways to train your staff from using Grace Hill, The Telephone Doctor, Toni Blake, Kate Good, and The Training Factor. But those all cost money and sometimes we just don’t have it in the budget. But I will tell you if you can spring for it at least once Skype with Toni Blake for all the Leasing Specialist in your company or region. It is worth the money and your staff will walk out energized and ready to take on the world. What you have to do as an owner, regional, or corporate leader is decide what will work best for you’re on site staff when it comes to training.
One of the things that I loved and miss about my previous company was our monthly Leasing Classes that the regional’s had for us. Sometimes they would be for three hours or all day depending on what they wanted to train us on to help improve our leasing skills. We went from a region where you did not communicate much with your sister properties to knowing each other and helping each other out. We were train on how to improve on shops, selling our community, telephones, out reach marketing etc. By having this class once a month as an open discussion type setting we were able to learn from each other. Numbers and attitude’s started to improve across the regions. We also learn allot from our regional’s who have been in the industry a very long time. One of my favorite classes was when the VP came in and showed us a graph of our leasing efforts from past and current. It really was nice to be able to see what we were doing and how it was affecting the company.
Now I know as I said before you may not have the money to have a training director or a really great training program. There are ways you can still make sure you have a well train onsite staff. There is always someone in your company that excels at what they do and this can be multiple persons. Why not have them conduct a class on Leasing, Out Reach Marketing, Customer Service, Collections, Telephone, Communication? By doing this you are utilizing the talent you currently have in your company at no extra cost to you. You are also going to create a relationship among your employees to where they know they can go to someone for advice. Essentially you can create a 12 month training program by utilizing your current employee’s talents. This is a great marketing tool for gaining new employees and to gain new communities if you are into fee management.
One of the things that I began to realize when new hires came on board they are as lost as a lamb’s in a field of sheep. So I created a Leasing Guide Book that was filled with all kinds of material and notes that I had collected over the time I was with my previous company. So that when a new person came on they were given by me a Leasing Guide Book on the how to of the company and were able to reference it when needed. Also this would help out the current onsite staff to have someone say the person who is really great at leasing to come over and train the new hire in the ways of the company. If you have someone who can do this then seriously have one created for each office. I know many companies have Directors of Training but they are spread out so thin that they just can’t get to every one. So why not set up a team of two or one depending on the size of your region to go in and train the new hires? This will keep your current and new hire staff from becoming frustrated at the thought of training someone new.
By having a great training program in place you are going to build the tools for success. There is no reason why every person should not have the proper training before coming onsite and while onsite unless we are just too lazy to provide this. They key to a great staff is giving them the tools to succeed and that starts with training.
I would love to hear any other ideas on how to become better at training or other inexpensive ways to train.
Jolene Sopalski
Assistant Community Manager
Finlay Management.Inc.
* oringally posted on MFI on December 27,2010
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