Are You Still Asking Prospects, “How did you hear about us?”

So, sometimes we do things without knowing why we even do them.  “It’s just always been done that way.”  One example which has come to mind over and over again is asking “How did you hear about us?” and only checking off one possible source of traffic on our Guest Cards.  Why?  There are so many possible ways that one prospect could find us, why would we limit them to one source.  We all know they have probably been to several websites and many have picked up a print publication when they were grocery shopping.  This is all valuable information to know and track.

We need to start asking, “How did you shop for your apartment?” and get the property management software companies to modify software to allow for more than one source of traffic per prospect.  Here’s what we are missing by asking this question:

Let’s say 30 of your prospects each month are using a resource that you are not currently using for your advertising.  By measuring that and applying a formula to determine what traffic you are missing by not advertising in that resource you can determine that you need to be advertising with that resource. 

We don’t know what we don’t know and by asking our prospects such a limiting question we will never know what we don’t know.  Ask the right question and you will get better results and have a better way to develop your marketing and advertising strategies.

Thank You for My Freedom, Grandpa

Today is Veterans day and the fact that I have the freedom to basically blog about whatever I want is a result of the Veterans of the US Armed Forces who gave or risked their lives for my freedom and yours.  If you have an opportunity today, thank a Veteran. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my Grandfather, Ray H. Owen who was a pilot in World War II for the US Navy.  He is a true American Hero.

I would also like to thank one of my closest friends, Mike Kuta who served in Iraq during Desert Storm. 

Thank you to all of you who have served to protect our freedom!

How Do You Find Time for Social Media?

I am asked this question quite frequently.  Be it a Vice President of Operations, a Regional Property Manager or a Leasing Agent, everyone wants to know how much time they should spend on this form of media.  The fact is, there is no correct answer to this, but the answer I most frequently give is to spend as much time as you feel you can.  If it’s an hour a week or an hour each day, you can learn a lot by just getting out there and doing it.  Set your own pace and schedule.  The bottom line is spend enough time on each of these to ensure that the end product is very high quality.  If you can only do one of these things that’s ok.  It’s probably one more than the majority of your peers or competitors.

Personally, I just haven’t had the time to blog lately.  The good news is, I don’t have to blog.  I choose to blog and it really only impacts me if I don’t.  My inconsistency may be a turn off and lose readers, but again, it only impacts me.  An apartment community with a blog or a management company with a blog can’t be inconsistent or they will lose readers and more importantly they may lose the ranking they have built on the search engines if it goes too long without an update.  Communities and companies need to post regularly.  Once a week would probably be a good rate.  More can be better, but too much could result in a diminishing return.

I also haven’t had time to be on Twitter much lately either.  Again, for me personally, that’s ok, but for an apartment community or a management company who has committed to this, there must be some consistency or you may face some negative consequences.  To me, Twitter is a daily responsibility, much like Craigslist, because of the format.  What you post on Twitter gets pushed down to the bottom of the page and eventually off the page rather quickly.  Therefore, to stay relevant you need to post frequently.  It’s no coincidence that the people with a high number of Tweets have a high number of followers.

Lastly but not leastly, Facebook could take up more time than Twitter, simply because it is a little more interactive than Twitter and does not limit you to 140 characters.  It could also take less if it’s not your preferred format or does not get you the results that blogging or Twitter do.  I think initially, the amount of time spent on Facebook will be greater, especially if you are taking the time to load photos and find your current residents and get them to be your “friend”.  Then you can simply maintain it and respond to emails and postings which you will be reminded to do via email updates.

Interesting Article – Five Best Apartment Search Tools

Just wanted to share this article. It seems interesting. A friend of mine just forwarded me this article from LifeHacker.com, “Five Best Apartment Search Tools”. With the exception of Apartments.com, these websites seem to be geared more toward micromanagement companies and individual owners rather than tradititional property management companies.  Obvioulsy, Craigslist has become a standard advertising source for many of us, however, I’m not sure the others have or will.  Each seems to offer it’s own unique perspective and features.

Conducting a Google search for “Detroit Apartments”, Apartments.com was number one in the organic search, followed by Craigslist at listing number 7, Myapartmentmap.com at listing number 16, while the others were not in the top 50 organic search results.  A search for “Chicago Apartments” put Apartments.com at number 2, Craigslist at 4 and Myapartmentmap did not appear until page 5.  Results varied from city to city, however the only two that remained consistently on the first page were Apartments.com and Craigslist.

There seem to be a lot of companies popping up trying to win the share of apartment traffic to their websites and likely taking up a lot of our time with sales calls.  Until they are proven, I would stick with putting any extra money into your own website and making sure it is optimized.  Some companies out there are doing this and they happen to be ranking much higher on the organic search results than 3 out of 5 of the “5 Best Apartment Search Tools”.

YouTube for Motivation

I discovered a great tool for inspiration and motivation recently.  YouTube.  Seriously.  Do a search for motivational speeches or business motivation or whatever you think you may need to inspire you or your team and you’ll find more than you can imagine.  Let’s face it, most of us can’t afford a life coach these days and most of our companies can’t fly a keynote speaker cross country anymore to address our employees.  I have been getting on YouTube almost every day and watching clips that I find to be inspirational.  Here are a few of my favorites right now:

Jimmy Valvano’s 1993 ESPY Speech, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate….” a scene from the film Coach Carter.

“You want something, go get it.  Period” a scene fromt he film Pursuit of Happyness.

“Lose Yourself” Eminem music video.  (I may just like this one because it’s filmed in Detroit).

Bruce Lee, “Be water, my friend”

I’m telling you, a daily dose of the right inspiration can go a long way.  Give it a shot.  I have, and it’s made a big difference already.  If you find something that inspires you, share it with your team and inspire them.  Use a clip to kick off your next boring meeting and see how much life enters the conference room.  If you want to get the most out of your people, start by inspiring them.  Do that, and even your properties that are short staffed can achieve their objective.

Si No Puedes Leer Esto, Contratar a Alguien Que Puede! (If You Can’t Read This, Hire Somebody Who Can!)

Todos sabemos la población de hispanos en los estados unidos está creciendo exponencialmente, pero, ¿cuántos de nosotros, especialmente en el Medio Oeste, han hecho un punto para acomodar las perspectivas y los residentes por contratación habla español empleados?  Con frecuencia surge como una idea en su apartamento reuniones de la asociación o cuando un orador nacional da una presentación, sin embargo, muchos de nosotros elegir a ignorarlo.  ¿Por qué?  No cuesta más dinero para contratar a un agente de arrendamiento que hablan español como segunda o incluso un primer idioma.  No es que es difícil encontrar calificados agentes de arrendamiento que también habla español.  Casi el 15 por ciento de la población total de los Estados Unidos es hispano, según la Oficina del censo.

Recientemente, yo estaba asistiendo a una casa abierta en una comunidad de apartamentos y uno de los residentes estaba hablando a uno de los agentes de arrendamiento en español. Afortunadamente, el agente de arrendamiento también habla español.  Desde las lágrimas son un lenguaje universal, hice mi camino a ellos para ver si podía ayudar.  Lo que aprendí fue este residente había estado tratando de conseguir una cuestión resuelta por varios meses, pero debido a la la barrera del idioma que se estaba retrasado sacrificar. El agente de arrendamiento habló a la propiedad Manager y resuelto la mayoría de la confusión. Los residentes estaba feliz, obtuvo su problema resuelto y terminó por renovar su contrato.

Esta historia también ofrece un gran ejemplo de otra ruta que puede tomar para acomodar su habla Español residentes. Uso empleados de otras comunidades para ayudar en estas cuestiones.  Programar una llamada en conferencia y utilizarlos como intérprete.  Muchas comunidades uso residentes como actividades sociales directores y proporcionarles un descuento.  Si usted tiene una creciente población hispana, puede que desee utilizar uno de sus residentes como intérprete y darles un descuento para estar disponible cuando estas situaciones.

TRANSLATION

If You Can’t Read This, Hire Somebody Who Can!

We all know the population of Hispanics in the united states is growing exponentially, but how many of us, especially in the Midwest, have made a point to accommodate those prospects and residents by hiring Spanish speaking employees? This often emerges as an idea at an apartment association meetings or when a national speaker gives a presentation, however, many of us choose to ignore it.  Why? It does not cost more money to hire a leasing agent who speaks Spanish as a second or even a first language. It is not that it is difficult to find qualified leasing agents who also speak Spanish. Almost 15 percent of the total population of the United States is hispanic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Recently, I was at an open house at an apartment community and one of the residents was speaking with one of the leasing agents in Spanish.  Fortunately, the leasing agent also spoke Spanish.  Since tears are a universal language, I walked over to see if I could help.  What I learned was this resident had been trying to get an issue resolved for several months, however due to the language barrier it was being delayed unnecessarily. The leasing agent spoke to the Property Manager and resolved most of the confusion. The resident was happy, got her issue resolved and ended up renewing her lease.

This story also provides a great example of another route you can take to accommodate your Spanish speaking residents.  Use employees from other communities to assist in these issues. Schedule a conference call and use them as an interpreter.  Many communities use residents as social activities directors and provide them a discount.  If you have a growing Hispanic population, you may want to utilize one of your residents as an interpreter and give them a discount for being available when these situations arise.

If You Can’t Measure the Results, Then Don’t Do It

There’s an old saying that goes something like this, “We know that half of our advertising is effective, we’re just not sure which half.”  If you are saying that today, then you need to reevaluate your marketing and advertising strategies.  If you can’t specifically measure the results of a marketing initiative or advertising campaign, you probably shouldn’t do it.

So here are  some thoughts to consider:

Don’t just put your home page in print/billboard advertising. These leads cannot be measured specific to that advertising.  They will just get lumped into your overall traffic.  Create an alternative landing page specific to that advertisement and only use it for that particular advertisement.  That page may then be directed to your home page or a community page.

Do imbed google analytics into every page on your website. It’s a simple process with tremendous value.  It will also help you  measure the hits to those alternative landing pages mentioned above.  You can also see how deep into your site prospects are going.

Don’t use your local phone number in ANY advertising. Even in your Craigslist ads use a call tracking number.  You might discover that certain properties don’t get any leads from Craigslist or it might be sending unqualified traffic.  Even though it’s free, you could determine by tracking the calls, or lack thereof, that you don’t want to waste time posting or dealing with unqualified traffic.

Do record your leasing calls. This is a subjective form of measurement, but probably one of the most important.  We all know the difference between a good leasing call and a poor one.  After only a day of listening to phone calls at a particular property, I discovered they weren’t asking for the prospects name, taking control of the conversation or even asking the caller to come tour the property.  The calls were long and awkward.  Now the leasing staff at that community is doing all of those things and more.  They are even getting email addresses to confirm appointments and listening to each others calls and providing feed back.

There’s another old saying to “inspect what you expect“.  This is hard to do without consitently measuring results.

Apartment Prospects on Twitter

Twitter users like to tell everyone what they are doing and some of them are looking for apartments.  I typed “apartment Chicago” into the search box and a slew of Tweets came up.  As I read through them there was one that really caught my attention.  A young lady tweeted, “Still apartment hunting. Can’t wait to fly to Chicago and just GET THIS DONE! Goodness gracious.”  I tweeted her a link to an apartment community where I used to stay when I traveled to Chicago all the time.  I then went to her Twitter home page and noticed that she had posted “one bedroom downtown. Any ideas??” to a local apartment search leasing agent from rentproactive.com.  I presume this leasing agent found her Tweet the same way I did and reached out to her to offer assistance, so obviously this isn’t a new concept, but it did confirm my theory and substantiated that Twitter may be an excellent prospect list and that Twitter users may be open to a  sales Tweet (especially if they are announcing their frustration in finding a place to live).

There are several approaches I would take to mining prospects on Twitter, and they would all really depend on what the Tweet said.   One way would be the soft approach. Conduct your search and begin sifting through the results.  When you come across a possible prospect, simply follow them.  Typically if you follow someone, they will likely review who you are and decide to follow you or not.  With that said, it needs to be very clear who you are.  Your Twitter home page needs to show that you have apartments for rent in their area, have a link to your website and a creative bio that offers referral rewards for Twitter referrals or a discount for Twitter users.

Another approach is to send a Tweet directly to the prospect and follow them.  Send them a link to a property in their area.  Don’t send them a link to your main page and make them do a search.  Be as helpful as you can with 140 characters.  If they are interested they will respond.  A different approach would be to engage them in a conversation. Why not?  If they are interested they will respond.  This is a huge experiment so test different approaches.

Here are some examples of Tweets from the last 24 hours I found with a search for “Chicago apartment” and the approach or Tweet I would send them is in bold:

“schuyler22: Planning my apartment shopping in Chicago tomorrow! Got some good ones lined up…hopefully one will work out!”

This is a hot prospect.  Act fast and offer an incentive.

@schuyler22 Got time for one more appointment? We are offering Twitter users no app fee and a reduced sec deposit. (link to community page)

“afg1988: workin workin workin. Chicago apartment next year, here i come!”

I would simply follow this person and send him a link to your Chicago communities.

“AmyJulia: Preparing for apartment hunting in Chicago- measuring furniture, looking up apartments we want to see, getting stuff together!! So excited!!”

She already told you something about herself.

@AmyJulia We are in Lakeview. Here are our floor plans with measurements so you can see if your furniture fits! (link)

“joshlurie: I’m on my way to Chicago! Finding an apartment and signing a lease tomorrow”

Start a conversation ASAP.  Be direct!

@joshlurie What part of Chicago interests you?  We have great deals in the South Loop.  Call us (312) 555.5555.

“summerbeth0519: in a blah mood. i need some @willhoge in my life l…off toChicago tomorrow in search of an apartment. im not leaving w/o signing a lease!”

@summerbeth0519 Cheer up! Are you looking in the city or the burbs?  We have both!

“SandersonPR: Looking for small apartment in Chicago’s Wicker Park/Bucktown area that will take a dog-under $1000-anyone know?”

If you have apartments in Wicker Park or Bucktown and allow dogs you MUST reply to this Tweet.  Seriously.  Fill out a guest card via Twitter.

@SandersonPR Bucktown – check! Studios – check!  Under $1000 – check!  Dogs allowed – check!  When can u stop by for a tour? (312) 555.5555

“LorenRenner: Sold my car on Friday!!! Apartment shopping in preparation for the move to Chicago. Like Andersonville, Wrigleyville, Lakeview…”

@LorenRenner we have apartments in Wrigelyville right next to the L.  Call us at (312) 555.5555.  Reduced security deposit for Twitter users!

It took me all of two minutes to find about 30  prospects from the last 24 hours in Chicago and I didn’t even get through all of them.  Additionally, it took me all of 8 minutes to prepare the responses I’ve demonstrated above and only because I had to take two phone calls while I was writing.  If you don’t do this you are missing out on a great opportunity to increase your traffic.  Consider it Twitter outreach.

What Do You Blog About If You Have Nothing to Say?

You pull a Larry King and just post random thoughts like these:

• If you can’t measure the results, don’t do it.
• The Predictive Index Survey is an impressive personnel resource.
• I like lifestyle photos in brochures.
• You can use Twitter to mine prospects for your apartment community.  Just enter the name of the city you’re in and apartments into a search and look for people who are looking for apartments in your area.  Then follow them or send them a helpful Tweet.  Don’t spam or be a pest.  If they want more info they will contact you back.  This will work better in larger cities.
• I still don’t like Apartmentratings.com, even after reviewing different view points.
• Check out www.iwebtool.com or www.alexa.com to see how your website stacks up in Google page rankings, the ranking of your website and compare your website with your competition.
• “Why Leasing and Marketing Apartments is Like Bass Fishing” is my most popular post thus far.  Weird!
• Answer the phone.  Answer the phone.  Answer the phone.
• Make sure your advertising stands out in a crowd!
• Follow me on Twitter…  https://twitter.com/brainoblog
• Email is the new snail mail
• I’ve learned a lot about technology, marketing, social media and how it benefits the apartment industry simply by blogging about it.  This blog has forced me to do my research and stay up to date on current topics.
• I need a logo for my blog.
• Use measuarable statistics to motivate your teams.  Share them with everyone.  The person at the bottom won’t be there for too long.
• Please share my blog with 3 of your peers today.

Follow Up Discusson on Apartment Review Websites

(This is a continuation of a discussion that has taken place.  Links to the other blogs discussing this topic can be found at the end of this post.)

I think the fact that we are talking about it is a great sign that we don’t want to bury our heads in the sand any longer. The information above is very compelling and shows an obvious trend in transparency. I agree that it will only progress further and our industry needs to get on board in some fashion.

However, I am still conflicted about coming up with a way to embrace these websites and promote them to prospects or integrate it into our customer satisfaction process.  They simply lack credibility.   Here are some questions and my initial answers I’d like to throw out that could result in possible solutions that work towards equitable transparency:

1.  Can the local apartment associations form a partnership with a customer satisfaction organization to come up with a solution that would benefit the prospect and portray the apartment communities in an accurate manner?

I think this could be a possibility and could actually lead to stronger apartment associations. They are already driving traffic to our communities which is great. Why not add reviews for current residents? The associations could become the JD Power of our industry. Sure there are possible conflicts of interest, but with a third party administrator and the right format there could be a great deal of integrity. Disclosure would be key for transparency to be achieved.

2.  Have any owners/managers had the moxie to post ALL of the results (good or bad) of their CEL or other satisfaction surveys on their community sites?

If you have a 500 unit property and 30% of residents respond, would it be smart to post all 150 responses online? Talk about transparency. This would also take away from some of the credibility of the current formats.

3.  Why not post the number of resident referrals your community receives on their websites or the number of residents who have chosen to renew their lease?

Run a counter at the top of the page that gets updated on a regular basis and have it link to a page dedicated to your resident referral program and the statement that it makes about your community. Residents don’t refer people to a community where they no longer wish to live themselves. Do something similar with a repeat customers page. Most consumers don’t give repeat business to a company with poor products and services. I sure don’t. Talk about that! Let your prospects know how many people have not renewed due to issues that do not reflect customer satisfaction such as home purchases and move outs. These are all things that we have access to that these so called consumer advocate or consumer review websites do not have, which come to think of it diminishes their ability to provide true transparency.

In spite of our desire to believe that the company we work for has the secret recipe, there are not really many proprietary secrets in our industry. With employee turnover at every level our business practices have become homogeneous. Twitter and blogs have increased that exponentially in the last few years. We thought we were in the information age years ago, but that was just the beginning.

We need to become the authority on transparency and push each other to no longer “fall short” on customer service and resident retention. Fight fire with fire ladies and gentlemen. Don’t waste time being held hostage by a website that knows nothing about our industry and who’s business model is to capitalize on content being the driving force of hits on the internet. Information is power and we have more information than we know what to do with. Put it to use and fight their candle with your flame thrower!

Links:

Apartment Marketing Blog

Multifamily Pro

Aptly Spoken

Multifamily Insiders