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You won't find a better gift for yourself or your Leasing Team this year than this amazing planning and tracking tool designed especially for Leasing Professionals to track and improve their productivity! More than just a really great daily calendar with plenty of room for recording appointments, this power-packed portfolio also includes worksheets for recording and tracking your overall, long-term career goals; your immediate weekly goals; managing your daily schedule; recording your daily number of calls and calls converted to shows, and number of shows and shows converted to leases; and it's packed with Tami's best leasing tips to help you improve your skill set along the way! Get one NOW for yourself or for every member of your leasing team and start making the most of every leasing day! Give a tool that keeps on giving every day of 2011-and not just to your Leasing Professionals, but to the success of your company and communities, too!This book is 224 pages and can be customized with your company logo when ordering 15 or more books. Contact Multifamilypro.com for details!

Our goal at Newport and Concord Village is to cross-train all our staff, increase qualified traffic, encourage return visits, and improve our closing ratios. In addition, by cross-training, we will be able to improve the market-ready condition of our vacant apartments and decrease the response time to our maintenance requests. Our team members include the Newport and Concord Village management, leasing, and maintenance staff.

To achieve our goals, we are concentrating on familiarizing and training each of our team members at both Newport and Concord Village. By focusing on cross‑training, we aspire to have each team member familiar enough with each property to overcome prospect objections at either property, create "picture" descriptions of either property, and solve maintenance issues that may arise at either property. Not only will this fully utilize all the talents of each team member at both properties, but it will also help both teams work together as one.

Step 1: To increase qualified traffic at both properties, we are using referral cards. Those prospects who don't apply for an apartment and indicate that they are "still shopping when prospects are encouraged to visit the sister property, they are given a referral card to take with them. If the prospect visits and applies for an apartment at our sister property before a specified date, he or she can use the referral card to get $50.00 off his or her first month's rent. The cards feature a map and directions to the sister property.

Step 2: To foster additional interest in our sister community, each prospect folder will include a color flyer promoting the sister community and providing price ranges.  Daily apartment availability will be shared by Newport and Concord Village. In addition, at both properties, we are paying special attention to military rentals and farming our area businesses. Each week, a “hot sheet” will be faxed to the Military Housing Office and the area businesses to inform them of the APARTMENTS OF THE WEEK.

Step 3: To encourage return visits of qualified prospects, each prospect will be mailed a "thank you” note, which includes a coupon for $50.00 off the last month's rent. The coupon can be redeemed at either Newport or Concord Village and contains the starting prices and directions to each property.

Step 4: To improve closing ratios at both properties, Marketing Consultants are encouraged to set appointments at the sister properties for interested prospects.  The guest card of prospects interested in the sister property are faxed over to that property along with an appointment time. If the prospect rents, both the "referring" and the "showing" Marketing Consultant are paid a leasing bonus. To help the Marketing Consultant match the prospect with the appropriate apartments, a target list of apartments—including price ranges, square footage, and special features—are shared with each property weekly.

Step 5: To improve the market-ready condition of vacant apartments and to decrease the response time to our maintenance requests, we are currently cross‑training the staff at Newport and Concord Village.  By cross‑training staff, management can be more sensitive to the peak periods at both communities and assign staff where they're most needed.  Both communities will benefit from the expertise and talents of all the staff members.

Contributed by the Management of Newport and Concord Village Apartment Homes

Write and tell us your “Quick Tip” or success story. If you have a clever and successful tip, we’d like to hear it. If we select your idea to use in an upcoming Quick tips calendar or book… Plus we will send you a special gift.

info@multifamilypro.com Re: Quicktips

I have a few thoughts to share on the topic of social media today, and I should tell you up front that I intend this post to provoke conversation, and I hope you’ll participate!

You all know how passionate I am about the need to begin using social media now, because I truly do believe that it will play a major role in not only our relationship/retention efforts, but also our marketing strategies.  I also happen to believe that its value on both of those fronts is already beginning to take hold.

I don’t need to tell you that idea isn’t universally held.  We’ve all seen our share of debate on the merits of social media right here online; and even among the detractors, there are varying degrees of buy-in... some will concede that while social media has a place in resident retention, it’s not a valuable or proven marketing tool; and if not now, *maybe* one day in the far-flung future.  I disagree that it isn’t yet a viable as a marketing tool based on my own experience— I believe it’s possible for any business, apartment communities absolutely included in that count.

Success is, admittedly, still a very subjective term when it comes to new media.  We’ve all experienced its benefits when it comes to connecting with others; and we know as marketers that connection breeds commitment—a key ingredient to the success of your brand.  It stands to reason that anything that facilitates a better connection with your customers is going to benefit your relationship/retention efforts.  But just as we’ve always had to work a little harder to gain a customer in the first place than we’ve had to work to keep one who’s already experienced the value of our product; it also stands to reason that marketing via social media is going to take more work than just being there.  Now, don’t read me wrong here … I am absolutely not implying that anybody who isn’t seeing the sales benefits of social media just isn’t working hard enough.  I am saying, however, that we’re all still learning the ropes; and perhaps if you’re not seeing the benefits yet, you just haven’t hit upon the right combination of tools or strategy for your brand.  Social media isn’t, after all, any one thing.  It’s a diverse and growing set of opportunities.  Imagine trying to crack a safe when there are a few more numbers on the dial each time you turn it, and you’ll get a good idea of what it can be like.  That’s just one reason why I’m so committed to educating our industry on what’s out there, what’s coming next, and the potential all those opportunities represent.

When I hear the arguments now that social media is important to keep an eye on, but isn’t yet a proven marketing tool and therefore not yet worth implementing or even getting educated on, I frequently laugh; and I’ve been asked more than once how I can be so amused at something I’m so passionate about.  Mostly, I’m remembering when—way back in 1994—we started writing about how important it was for property management companies and apartment communities to have internet access, get to know the “lay of the land,” and begin to build an online presence; because if their customers weren’t on the internet yet, they soon would be.  I can’t tell you how many times we heard “why should I do that when the internet isn’t even proven as a marketing tool?”  Then we watched as the early-adopters began to reap the immediate benefits of great online positioning while other companies and apartment communities struggled to catch up—and heard time and time again that “it’s taking us more time, effort, and expense to adapt than it would have taken us to prepare.”

Yes, great marketing is a science.  It’s important to carefully measure the hard reality of what you put into it against what you get out.  But it’s also an art, requiring at least equal attention to softer ingredients that include creativity, intuition, the ability to spot a trend, and the occasional leap of faith … but I’m not going to ask you to set the science aside.  So here’s what I want to know:  is social media working for you as a marketing tool?  Is it worth the time it takes?  Are you getting rentals that you can track back to your social media efforts?
Let me know your thoughts.

Tami

A CONVENIENT TRUTH

Let’s face it, the world runs on lattes and 5-hour energy these days. People constantly en route from one destination to another, and during these transits they are going ... mobile.

What once was a sedentary task, web browsing has evolved: users are accessing the internet via phones and mobile devices from the convenience of wherever they happen to be.  Statistics show that mobile Internet search is more than a trend:

• Based on a study, mobile users are 3x’s more likely to convert to a lease than from a traditional website.  Based upon their own analytics of mobile-access users versus network-access users. (Rent.com)

• Mobile Users clearly want to be able to do more with their mobile devices and while commercial transactions are not the primary stated reason for so much usage, consumers want to transact in cyberspace when they need it.  Desired services include, among other items, the ability to pay bills, purchase tickets and financial services. (BuzzCity 2009 Study)

• A January 2009 study indicates that more than 80 million Americans use their mobile devices to access or browse the internet for news and information.  35 percent of those users are doing so every day, more than double the comparable 2008 numbers. (comScore)

• Statistics show just about all US “general internet users” (96%) go online at least once a day. Sixty-one percent (61%) say they access the mobile Internet six or more times a day, well above the 50% network-access average. (BuzzCity 2009 Study)

• Connecting to the web via a mobile device is outpacing PC’s by 2.5x (Juniper Research Study)

Are your property websites putting their best face on to meet the current mobile market demand?

:: LETS GET MOBILE

As mobile users grow in number and sophistication, so do their expectations of how they want to interact with properties on their mobile phones. Users want the same functionality, features and access on their phone that is available on the desktop web browser, but optimized for a limited space. This means providing easy access to key information and features (while stripping non-essential graphics and layout options) in order to ensure prospects and residents have a satisfying mobile browsing experience.

Many mobile providers have entered the market: UDR has created its own mobile program; many industry vendors are now offering mobile service add-ons. With a growing variety of options in the market, clients can find the best fit for their needs.

Gone are the days when you had to advertise a different URL for your mobile site (no more “wap.bravotv.com,” Tim Gunn).  The best mobile sites have code that detects when visitors are using a mobile device and redirects them to the appropriate format for that phone, whether it’s the iPhone, Android or BlackBerry.  So all you have to do is navigate to the primary website and the technology does the rest and gives users a satisfying browsing experience.

:: TO MOBILE OR NOT?

Is it worth the added expense to meet this growing market trend? You bet.

“Based on where technology is going, mobile websites are truly a no-brainer"
-    Drake Powell, Principal of Echelon Property Group, LLC

Whether your goals are simply to provide a satisfying experience for mobile visitors, to avoid frustration, to attract new prospect demographics, or to give yourself the edge in closing leases, mobile options are an affordable way to stay out in front.

:: MARKETING MOBILE

Although redirection to your mobile site should just happen “automagically” behind the scenes, don’t let that keep you from patting yourself on the back … and do it publicly and often!  It will benefit you to let your prospects and residents know you are an early adapter with a leg up on the competition, and that you are committed to keeping up with technology to meet consumer needs.  If you integrate a service request form, contact form, mobile rent payment, or specialized mobile GPS-enabled features, those are substantive features you can advertise.   Mobile conveniences are valuable amenities to prospects and residents on-the-go.

About the Author:

Dana Zeff is Cofounder and Principal of The DZAP Group and LeaseLabs™. LeaseLabs™ is a suite of web-based tools designed to manage the branding and promotion of apartment communities both online and with on-demand marketing.  Visit us at www.leaselabs.com to learn how we can help you go mobile.