How do Vendors and Property Managers feel towards donation/sponsorship request?

Have you ever wonder what your vendor is feeling or thinking when you ask for a donation/sponsorship request? As a vendor have you ever wonder what your property management company that you service is thinking or feeling when requesting a donation/sponsorship? Great then I need your help by taking a quick survey that is completely anonymous. I will keep the surveys up till 9 a.m. Friday September 9, 2011 for you to take and share with all your friends. Once I have reviewed the results I will share them in an article on Multi Family Insider for everyone to see. Thank you in advance for taking the time out to take the survey. Have a wonderful day and I will catch you on the FLY side of leasing or doing business with you.

Vendor Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BSJFCPN - Vendors Only

Property Management/Employee Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y2WLJVZ -Property Management Only

Thank You,

Jolene Sopalski

 

Treasure Hunt Anyone?

My apartment community where I live inspired me to write this quick blog.

See, I started seeing these signs up around the community about a Treasure Hunt and did not really pay much attention until I came home on Friday and saw a red flyer on my table about a pool party.

The flyer had a pirate girl on it that said “Come Walk the Plank at ABC Pool Party. R.S.V.P on Facebook” okay that is new and I’m thinking finally my apartment community is coming to terms with social media and engaging residents.

When I went to the mailbox, I saw a treasure hunt sign that said “join the Treasure Hunt on Facebook by Liking us.”

I realized then that the pool party and the treasure hunt were the same.

So naturally I came home hopped on my laptop and searched for ABC apartments on Facebook. I could only find the places check-in.

There was no company page to be found so then I thought well maybe it’s on the flyer or the signs?

Nope, not a single flyer or sign has a link for the facebook page or a QR codes so we can find the facebook page. Maybe the real treasure hunt is finding the facebook page?

The idea of the treasure hunt is excellent. The only problem is the management team failed to direct the residents as to where one can find the facebook page.

We have to remember that if you do not share the link on your print ad or internet marketing people will not be able to find you.

Now I know you may be thinking, Jolene, why don’t you just go to your management office and ask for the facebook link?

The thing is, I do not have to time to call or go in and ask for the link and get a silly response of “I don’t know” and at this point I’m so frustrated that I do not even want to participate in the treasure hunt.

If I feel like this, imagine how the other 344 residents (not to mention all the drive traffic that see those signs) feel.

If you are going to have an effective facebook marketing campaign you must provide your residents and prospects with the proper tools to find you.

Printing Flyers or signs without the proper information is a waste of time and money. Please comment and tell me you agree?!

If you are planning on using social media to promote your campaign, make sure you put your plan into action.  You don’t want to give people a call-to-action and then not have it set up where people cannot find you!

The goal of facebook marketing is to engage with your residents or prospects not to frustrate them.

Hopefully, my apartment community mistake will prevent others from doing this.

Don’t take the fun out of treasure hunts by not letting the fun even begin by not being able to be found.

By: Jolene Sopalski

Professionally Edited by: Alisha Krueger

Why are we afraid to collect rent from our residents?

Why are we afraid to collect rent from our Residents? By Jolene Sopalski

Delinquency is such a dirty word in our industry that sometimes I feel like my mom should have washed my mouth out with soup for saying Delinquency! How did we come to feel that Delinquency is such a dirty word for us?  It’s a word that keeps Owners, Management Companies, Managers, and Assistant Managers awake at night for fear of it. Here's how I think it happened!! We started freaking out when occupancy started falling and the bottom fell out of the economy!!  We didn't want to offend our residents for fear of losing them, so we just ignored the late rent! And our residents learned to pay their rent later and later!! We as property management, owners, and managers set up a cycle that is unacceptable!!  In some weird wacked out way over the past two or three years we have given the residents the power over us for fear that if occupancy drops we will be in financial ruin, fear of a Fair Housing Lawsuit or our jobs will be threatened (I see this more often than not in this industry but that is a whole other issue in itself!).

It’s time to take a stand and regain control of our community. In reality we ~the management team ~ are sort of like parents and our residents are like our children, who we guide and discipline. Seriously, think about it and you will totally get what I’m saying in regard to that statement. In addition we are managing a Multimillion Dollar asset and we as Property Managers, Assistant Managers, Property Management Company’s, Owners should be managing like it is our money is not being paid. After all the money we take in is what pays our paychecks right? And without the rent, we have no money to spend on resident parties, maintenance and office supplies, landscaping, etc. 

I recently started working at a property where the residents were not pushed to pay on time and were allowed to pay whenever it was convenient for them. They were not even required to pay a late fee, I know that is insane! A lot of money was just being let out of the door.  I found this to be unacceptable as did my Property Manager, who had just started a month prior to me. Luckily I have no problem telling someone they have to pay rent or I will file for eviction. I have had the privileged of cleaning up accounts and enforcing the lease guidelines. It has not been easy in fact I spent my first two months working 10-12 hour days just to fix the mess~~yes,  it WAS a mess. At first I was getting called lots of colorful names and a few complaints about my notices.  My favorite was when I put out notices with a moving truck that said “Are you packing yet? Eviction procedures will begin on the 15^th!” I was told not to send that one again because of the very tiny small customer complaints. Let’s just say that after a month of being fluffy, sweet and nice ending with a high delinquency, I now can live up to my nick name of ‘JoJo Soprano’. 

Collecting on your delinquency can be frustrating and annoying but it will allow you to see a growth in your economic occupancy and getting rid of those pesky loud non-paying residents. Sure your occupancy is going to take a hit but it just means your leasing team is going to be challenged more to lease those eviction apartments quickly so they are only vacant for a short time.

Here are some tips to collect on your delinquency:

    1)   Do Not Be Afraid to give a deadline of when past due rent is to be in with late fees. If we keep allowing our residents to brake the lease terms we are not doing them, ourselves, or our owners any favors. In fact we will hurt everyone involved in the delinquency process. You have the right to file evictions on anyone who has not paid their rent per the lease contract.

2)      Use local resources like your banks to set up financial planning classes at your property. I have learned that sometimes residents just do not know how to budget their money so that they are always paying on time. Make sure the class is always at the first of the month, this way if a resident comes to you needing to do a promise to pay you can say I will only accept it if you go to this class. Once they get hooked on the classes and see the changes they will keep going. Make the resident responsible for fixing their budget and paying you on time.

3)      Use Email, Social Media, Text Messaging, Flyers, and Bandit Signs as a way to communicate with your residents.  Send out reminders: rent being due in 5 days, rent will be late in 24 hours, rent is now late, please submit your payment in the form of certified funds with late fees, last day to pay before Evictions are to be filed. All of these can be done and actually work. Bandit Signs at the entrance and exit of your property will be seen by everyone.  My favorite saying to put on them is ‘Stop Did you pay your rent today?’  I’m still trying to talk my boss in letting me get a big flag banner that says this. The point is to use all of the tools you have to collect rent on time.

4)      Remember to say Thank You when a resident pays their rent late or on time. A thank you will go a long way. The more you tell them you are so grateful to them for paying their rent the more likely they will continue to pay on time or start to pay on time.

I know it can be scary to collect delinquent rent and to follow the lease terms because you do not want to offend anyone or have them move out. But we have to do this~~it is part of our job! I don’t know about you but I get a rush every time I see my economic occupancy go up and my delinquency go down. After working really hard to re-train my residents on paying on time, I started the month with 12k less delinquent rent than the previous months. To me that is a big accomplishment and I know that they are starting to hear me. 

If all else fells you can just get a U-Haul Truck with a banner that says ‘This could be yours if you do not pay your rent on time!’  It is time to take back our properties! I challenge everyone to stand up and expect Residents to pay their rent on time. Accept no excuses!!  And evict a resident for non-payment!

Professionally Edited by Gerry Hunt

It’s a Bird, A Plane, no wait it's a Baby Boomer!

It’s a Bird, A Plane, no wait it's a Baby Boomer! by Jolene Sopalski Edited by Alisha Kruger

Marketing to seniors has to be one of the hardest markets but it can also be one of the most fun!

How do we go from seniors being hard to market to, to being easy?

Ooops, I’m still working on that, if you find out, PLEASE let me know!

I have been working at a Senior Community since October 2010.  (Not very long so I have first hand knowledge-fresh insider look at the struggles & what is working NOW) The senior community is like it's own little world in our industry! Talk about a culture shock going from Multifamily Housing to Senior Housing.

So, how do you market to seniors?  Here are some tips that I have learned and what I have research in. Maybe it will help you out when marketing to seniors!

1) Do not underestimate a senior’s knowledge of the Internet! I have learned this the hard way and let me tell you after getting an ear full from my residents and my grandmother; most seniors today are not Internet and social media illiterates of the past. Today's seniors are one of the largest groups using technology to socialize and for entertainment. Some ways to tap into this market are:

YouTube your seniors having fun at your community: Create a short film or series documenting what you can offer your residents. Remember you want this to be entertaining but stating your message to the viewer. YouTube videos will increase your name being in the top of Internet organic searches. They will always be viewed first before a website.

Facebook your community with a business page: Make sure you tell all your current, past, and future residents of your community to "Like" your page. Include your resident activities on your page in the events section. Have pet photo contests on your facebook page. Put special deals just for your residents to see. The key to a facebook community page is to get your residents talking about your community to their friends etc.

Mobile Apps- Seniors love technology and will buy the newest gadgets out there. Recently when I went into Verizon I was shocked at how many seniors were there (averaging 3 to every 1 young adult.) Make sure your community is accessible via mobile applications. Maybe you can create one that can be downloaded from your community website?

Text Messaging-This is a great way to do an immediate follow up with a prospect. I heard once of a leasing agent sending a video of herself in front of the apartments thanking the prospects by name for visiting her community. Now how cool is that! What a great way to keep it personal and use technology. Plus my residents love that they get a reminder text about their rent and when we are having a resident function.

Community Website- Make sure your website is user friendly and looks inviting! Don't be afraid to put pictures of the interior of your units up or of your staff with cute fun sayings about your community. No one wants to live in a boring community  (FACT!) so why should your website be boring?

2) Seniors LOVE Resident Activities: The first question out of any senior mouth is what kind of activities do you have and how often. I had one phone call where I told a prospect we had resident activities three times a week and the prospect said she was looking for a more active community and hung up. After this phone call, I reevaluated our resident program and it started to make sense why they were not coming out. The activities we had were boring!  Remember, seniors don't like to feel old; they want to have fun & socialize! Give them a party! Make sure your activities are age appropriate yet fun at the same time. Don't forget to include some activities where their children or grandchildren are invited. (WiI or BINGO!)

·        Pet Fashion Show- Almost 50% of my property has pets.  You can host a Pet Fashion Show charity event by featuring the pets in a calendar to be sold for a $2.00 with all proceeds going to a local Animal Rescue Shelter. (or charity of your choice) Your seniors will buy this because they will be proud of their pet featured and they need a calendar to put their doctors’ appointments on. Also, this calendar can be sold to others in the community.

·        Arts & Crafts- Who does not love Arts & Crafts? You have residents with many hidden talents who would love to share them. You can have a Scrap booking day, Jewelry Making, Mosaic Art, Knitting, Crocheting. Whatever you think of there will be people who will come because they like to use their hands and minds. One of the favorite events that we did this year was handmade Christmas cards for the Soldiers overseas. I had a great turn out especially by our retired military who shared great stories of their military life.

·        Science Fair- Have a good old fashion science fair with your residents. See if you can get local celebrities to be judges. The residents will love this I mean who wouldn't love being able to create experiments and show them off.

·        Cook Offs for all the seasons that you can think of. These are fun and are always enjoyed by everyone.

·         Pool Parties- Yes seniors love pool parties during the summer. Have a Luau with hula dancers giving lessons and roast a pig. Have a best Hawaiian shirt contest and a pineapple carving contest. Pool Dive in Movie Night!

·        Farmers Market is also a great way to have your residents involved and let them see local culture also. Remember some may not get out as much so this would be a treat if your community can host one.

3) Know Your Demographics: It is really important to know who you are marketing to. If you don't know your potential clients how can you sell them the value of your community. Seniors want to know what they are getting for the price of rent. Sell your community, company and yourself before you give the price.

4) Follow Up! Seniors are not quick to make decisions it can take them six months and yes they will start looking a year ahead of time. That is why it is important to have the correct information on your guest cards and to follow up with them. You always want to be on their mind, as they get closer to the time of move in. A Follow Up can be a call, text, email or card just saying, “how you are doing?” Something that always makes my seniors happy and I get a return call on is when I send them a birthday card. I don't even stop sending it to them when they become a resident.

I hope that this helps you in the journey of marketing to seniors. One of the best things about this industry is the on-going learning! If you have any ideas or comments about marketing to seniors, I would love to hear them!

A Lesson on Sales From Shopping...

 Have you ever been excited to go shopping only to leave disappointed? That's how I felt today after leaving a department store where I was looking for a new television. From the moment I stepped into the store I was greeted by a sales associate who assured me that all of the associates had over 200 hours of product training. The problem was not with how I was greeted or how knowledgeable the sales associates were. The problem was when I went to look at all the new HD televisions.  Now picture this, you walk into the electronics section ready to drool over all the different size televisions an crystal clear picture quality of all the latest an greatest goodies that modern technology has to offer, finding only to your disappointment that all of the televisions are all showing the same Non-High Definition broadcast, Which roughly translates into the formal wear section of the Miss America pageant being down-graded to T-shirts an jeans. None of the TV's were showing off their true potential. The sales associate wasn't even interested in trying to sell, or even acknowledging the presents of anyone other than a rather affluent looking gentleman who was clearly annoyed by him. Needless to say the only thing I left with was disappointment.

 This got me to thinking how can I make sure no one ever leaves my community feeling this way. Even the thought of one of my prospective residents leaving feeling as neglected an unappreciated as I did upsets me, considering we are here to provide quality homes and make our communities prosper. No one cares how knowledgeable you are if the product you are selling dose not look its best. No one will care if you are currently with a prospect as long as you acknowledge them and let them know you will help them as soon as you can. A great sales person is aware of every potential customer and will establish some type of contact. Do you greet every person who walks into your office when you are busy or just ignore them wishing they would go away? I surely hope not, as that negative attitude can often influence your chances for a lease in a very negative way. Sometimes we are so wrapped up in a conversation on the phone, or with a resident, or a prospect that we can't jump up from our seats and say welcome. What we can do is make contact, and let them know that you or someone else will be able to help them shortly. Something as simple as making someone feel at home in your office can make someone want to make your community their home.

 So... are your apartments ready for your potential residents? Is your office warm and inviting? Does your model scream out rent me? These are serious questions that we have to address when we are selling our communities to potential residents. Something as simple as an air freshener can make the apartment your showing more appealing. Having resfreshments in your leasing office can make everyone feel more at home and buy you some much needed time when you are busy. Adding freshs flowers to your office can improve moods an stimulate the senses. Always make sure your community is looking its best. Even the smallest details can set you apart from your competition.

 The bottom line is that consumers want to know what they are getting for their money. If your product looks its best and you are knowledgeable then your sales will reflect that. Don't let someone leave your community feeling deflated by their experience. Take the time to touch up the appeal of your leasing center and apartment homes. Those little touches will make your assets shine and set the standard for potential residents if they view another community.

Your greatest assets as a sales person is the confidence you get when you know your selling a quality product, and that will leave customers confident that they want to buy from you.