Maintaining resident retention and solidifying the likelihood of lease renewal are two valuable goals of most property managers. That said, there’s a distinctive formula that must be in place to capitalize on tenant satisfaction and encourage tenure. And what exactly comprises this formula? Doug Miller, President of SatisFacts Research, explained that each unit turned over at the end of a tenant’s lease, averages a cost of $3900 to the property manager. This turnover cost includes the loss of rental days while vacant, concessions and maintenance. Miller’s research also demonstrates 54-percent of turnovers are, in fact, controllable. Making the effort to avoid controllable turnover is the first step to securing retention.

It all begins with customer service. It seems simple enough, but given the aforementioned figure, more than half of move-outs occur because of dissatisfaction with things like failing to follow-up after maintenance, lack of responsiveness and inattentive customer service. Miller says, “There’s no rocket science behind it. And it doesn’t cost any more to provide great service than mediocre service.” Providing what Miller calls “exceptional service” is the most valuable step in tenant retention.

Once those things are in place, creative and thoughtful strategies can be implemented to further appeal to resident’s perceived value. Lynette Hegeman, the VP of Marketing at Gables Residential, notes, “Integration doesn’t always mean you have to spend a lot of money. It’s about innovation.” Gables extends the Gables Great Rewards Program which rewards tenants for tenure with ‘thank-you’ gifts at the time of lease renewal. These ‘thank-yous’ can range from carpet cleanings to the painting of accent walls. Gables also hosts monthly events, some swanky and some simple, to encourage a sense of community within their residences.

Either way, the investment doesn’t have to be costly one. Hegeman notes, “Integration doesn’t always mean you have to spend a lot of money. It’s about innovation.”

That said, it seems a combination of customer service {first and foremost} and simple innovation will keep your residents around longer. See the original article for more quotes and expert advice from Doug Miller and SatisFact’s VP of Education and Consulting.

By Ashley Halligan, a Property Manager Software Analyst

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Resident Retention Strategies: Three Tips to Kick Off a Strong 2012

Passion is one of those words that many people love to use but very rarely do they actually demonstrate it themselves. It easily can be the reason for almost any person or organization’s success. Passion fuels everything good about a person or an organization, so why is it so hard to find people that are passionate about their jobs or the product or service they sell?

In most organizations, every leader can name a few of their great employees or bosses that have immense passion and will state 100% of the time they wish that all of their employees would have that same passion. The same can be said of employees who wish their leader had more passion. Although not everybody can be passionate about their job or their business because some people just do not follow their passion (rather they follow a paycheck), as a leader one should strive to have most employees passionate about what they do. This is not an easy concept, but most things that make people and organizations great are not easy – that is why they are great. There are a few things that individuals and leaders can do to make passion a mandatory part of their culture.

Do something you love

A person once said that you couldn’t really do what you want and will probably never get a job you love so just find one that pays well and try to learn to like it. This couldn’t be further from the truth. There are millions of ways to make a living in this world, so do something you love or love what you do. A person’s passion will create value for customers, resulting in revenue from a customer or organization. In some cases, a person may not be passionate about the actual product or service they sell, rather they are passionate about the task of selling, helping customers or having personal success.

Being passionate has very little to do with what a person does and everything to do with why a person does it. Every decision made in life (hiring decisions, buying decisions, career decisions, etc.) can be based on our emotions-. Every person and every leader should strive to find the passion in their jobs and careers. People work for money, but when a person has passion for their work, they will gain a lot more than just money.

Make passion a job requirement

Some could argue that passion and attitude are subjective and cannot be measured or fairly managed, which could be true in some cases. Most leaders can look at their team and easily identify the members that are passionate about their career and the organization, and in almost every case, those people are the most successful. The leader’s job is to help those without passion find it in their current role or help them find a role within the organization they can be passionate about.

If a leader wants their entire organization to be passionate about their job, they must make it mandatory. How serious should a leader be about making passion mandatory? Should a leader fire their top performer if they lack passion and don’t have a desire to be better regardless of their results? In most cases they won’t, but in time that top performer’s results may decline as the results catch up with their lack of passion.

Encourage passion

Passion is not an emotion that is taught, rather it is the result of a person doing the right job or having the right career. Leaders don’t necessarily have to mandate passion out of each person like being told to get to work on time, but they should recognize those individuals that lack the passion and strive to help them find it in their position. In today’s economy it is not always enough to do a good job or know your business. A person and organization must have the passion to pass on to others. Passion is the fuel for an organizations success no matter what industry, region or economy one is in.

Nathan Jamail, best selling author of “The Playbook Series,” is also a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and corporate coach. As a former executive for Fortune 500 companies, and owner of several small businesses, Nathan travels the country helping individuals and organizations achieve maximum success. A few of his clients include Fidelity, Nationwide Insurance, The Hartford Group, Cisco, Stryker Communications, and Army National Guard. To book Nathan, visit www.NathanJamail.com or contact 972-377-0030.

By Walt Zeglinski

“If your employees don’t know where you’re going, almost any road will get them there.”

These are words that send chills through the hearts of leaders everywhere. And it’s why they work hard to develop business plans for their workforce to follow. Even the best-intentioned, savviest business plans can fail if the organization lacks consistent employee commitment. But you can’t just mandate commitment. Organizations that achieve the promise of their business plan are able to create “positive accountability” – a powerful, healthy culture that results from goal alignment and workforce engagement.

Goal alignment is a common challenge, yet its solution can be as simple as how goals are established. If developed through a process of top-down collaboration with employees, strategic imperatives will cascade to frontline behaviors, dramatically impacting an organization’s success. Effectively channeling employees’ talents boosts their productivity and job satisfaction. And satisfied employees often become high-performing, passionately engaged employees.

Workforce engagement allows organizations to tap into their employees’ discretionary efforts. However studies show that only 1 in 4 employees comes to work actively engaged, or “on purpose.” These are the individuals that find their work personally and professionally meaningful. Of course this means that 75% of employees consistently fail to execute to their full potential. More disturbing, the same studies show that almost one-third of these are actively disengaged and can undermine the engagement of others.

Clearly, addressing alignment and engagement challenges can result in significant bottom-line dividends. Consider high-performance cultures like Google and Southwest Airlines. Two unique companies in very different industries, they both sustain their competitive advantage by leveraging the commitment of their employees. They have created cultures that drive alignment and engagement to achieve their strategic goals.

The Positive Accountability Model (below) helps to illustrate four different profiles that organizations typically fall into. Specifically, it examines how varying degrees of Goal Alignment and Workforce Engagement can result in Casual, Compliant, Chaotic or Committed cultures.

The Casual Culture

Employees in the Casual Culture are unclear about how personal contributions support their organization’s success and, often, they don’t care. Most organizations struggle with disengaged employees, but Casual Cultures have more than their share. You’ll often spot the Casual Culture in the wake of a merger, acquisition or new CEO. It’s often embedded in entrepreneurial companies, fueled by passionate, egocentric leaders, rather than by calculated ones who, instead, implement collaboratively planned process discipline.

In a Casual Culture, people often do mediocre work, maybe just showing up and following bare-bones procedures. They lack passion for the organization’s mission, and often don’t understand why or how they need to achieve both personal and company goals. The Casual Culture often operates in “survival mode.”

What to do? Use consensus-building to develop and implement strategies that establish clear goals and expectations, a Vital Factors metrics-based system to inspire success, and the means to hold people accountable. Once developed, the consensus plan must cascade down through the organization, and be communicated in both word and deed.

Leadership must also leverage the strong ties created by alignment to improve engagement. When people feel that their goals and tasks have meaning, they’re more likely to provide the organization with an extra measure of accountability that leads to goal achievement.

The Compliant Culture

A Compliant Culture is clear about individual goals, but not about how these goals connect to strategic corporate outcomes. The workforce may understand the company’s direction yet remain generally disengaged, resulting in a deceptive behavior pattern of doing what’s asked but little more. This creates the “it’s not my job” syndrome, as leadership finds it hard to tap into the discretionary effort of their people. Every manager has one or two people who fall into this behavior because of their personal style but, when it’s pervasive in an organization, it’s difficult to get things done and nearly impossible to implement change.

Overcoming this major accountability barrier, most often requires effective, inspiring leaders who encourage open, honest communication. If a safe environment can be established it’s possible to reverse this dysfunctional behavior. They enable team members to understand the business rationale behind their goals and take risk in an effort to achieve them. It will empower these employees to discover the alignment between what they do daily and their company’s goals. When an employee develops positive attitudes and beliefs relative to goal achievement, their motivation to maximize their potential grows along with the passion in their commitment to company results.

The Chaotic Culture

Most employees in a Chaotic Culture are engaged but unclear about their goals. Put simply, these cultures diffuse energy and squander talent, so there’s ample activity with little to show for it. Employees have the talent and passion for greatness, but their strengths can sour if not channeled into predictable, focused behaviors. Without clear expectations, confusion reigns in the Chaotic Culture. What’s more, studies show that employees commonly fail and leave organizations simply because they don’t know or understand the expectations.

What’s needed is goal clarity, managed by a leader who sets expectations and deadlines for achieving them. To ensure employee engagement, leadership should encourage their participation in building a plan based around SMART goals — those that are Specific, Measurable, Aligned, Realistic and Time-bound. Once that’s accomplished, an effective leader must hold the team accountable through regular performance assessments and check-ins, determining what goals have been met and any corrective action that should be taken.

The Committed Culture

Engaged with a clear understanding of its goals, a Committed Culture both maximizes the potential of its employees and consistently achieve goals. It’s the healthiest of work environments — what every organization should strive to achieve. Employees work with clarity and purpose and, although they might not always meet all goals, they stay committed to an action plan to fulfill them. Because they have an understanding of what success looks and feels like, they can develop the attitudes and beliefs that release achievement drive. This provides the energy and motivation to execute with accountability.

A Committed Culture isn’t foolproof. An aligned, engaged culture must be nurtured to sustain performance standards. Regular progress reviews can ensure employees are meeting their goals and whether corrective action is necessary to stay on track.

Why strive for a Committed Culture? When your workforce is fully engaged and clear about its goals, your employees will be loyal to the core. And a loyal workforce is one that naturally inspires loyal customers – emotionally satisfied customers who refer new customers to you and generate repeat sales. An organization that develops a Committed Culture has unlocked the secret to successful plan execution and profitable growth. It has created a culture of Positive Accountability.

About The Author

Walt Zeglinski is CEO & Chief Client Advocate for Management Action Programs (MAP), a performance-improvement firm that helps organizations achieve profitable growth. MAP’s performance and process solutions establish the disciplines that create a culture of accountability. Walt has 20+ years of successful experience in the corporate performance industry, with expertise in developing and implementing practical solutions for complex business challenges. He has worked with executive teams across most industries including financial services, healthcare, technology, hospitality and manufacturing. For more information, visit www.mapconsulting.com or call 888.834.3040.

Sometimes, especially when we take over a property or replace a Manager, we find that the collection policy has not been followed, which almost always produces a major mess. Although it would be nice if we could just tell the Residents that “There’s a new sheriff in town” and you better start paying according to the terms of your lease as of TOMORROW, it’s not quite that simple.

When we do not hold our Residents to the terms and conditions of the lease, and we let it go on for a while (30 days or more is a good rule of thumb), most jurisdictions require us to give the Residents a thirty day written notice which tells the Residents that you intend to start enforcing the terms of the lease again.

Following this article, you will find a sample copy of a letter that must be delivered to each Resident at any community where the rent collection policies have not been enforced.

IMPORTANT: I am NOT an attorney! PLEASE have this reviewed by your attorney before you use it – I make NO WARRANTY that this language complies with the laws of your jurisdiction!

Again, the purpose of this letter is to re-state our rent collection policy so that it will stand up in court during an eviction procedure. If a property has not been strictly enforcing the rent collections provision of our lease, a letter such as this must be used to “reinstate” the policy contained in the lease. By sending each Resident a thirty (30) day advance notice of our intention to enforce this lease provision consistently and without exception, we will be able to avoid any surprises if and when we go to court with a delinquent Resident.

The letter should be copied on your community letterhead, and signed by the Manager. Type or print the delivery date on top of the letter, and then print a rent roll for your community and give it to the person delivering the letters. The letters should be delivered to each apartment, and slipped under the door. As each letter is delivered, place a checkmark next to their name on the rent roll. After all letters have been delivered, write the following on the bottom of the rent roll and have it signed and dated by the person who delivered the letters, and have their signature witnessed by one person:

“I hereby certify that on (Day, date and time period) I delivered a copy of the attached letter to each and every Resident listed on this Rent Roll.”

For time period, put the range of time during which the letters were delivered: “Thursday, January 24, 2012, between 3:00 PM and 5:15 PM”.

It is imperative that every apartment receive a copy of the letter no later than 30 days prior to the first day of the month in which you intend to reinstate the collection policy contained in your lease..

January 24, 2012

Dear Resident,

The successful operation of our community depends a great deal on our ability to secure professional services and quality materials, and pay for them in a timely manner. Just as you depend on your paycheck to meet your financial obligations, so do we depend on your timely rental payments, to ensure uninterrupted services to maintain and enhance your rental home.  Given our commitment to providing our Residents with a comfortable and well-maintained apartment home, we are sending you this reminder letter regarding the timely payment of rent.

First of all, let me thank all of you who have consistently paid your rent in accordance with the terms of your lease. I hate to bother you with this letter, but not all of our Residents treat their rental payment obligation in the manner that most of you do.

The lease that every Resident signed specifically states that the monthly rent is due on or before the first day of the month. This means that the rent is late on the second! The lease further provides a “grace period” of five days before a late charge is assessed. The lease is a legally binding contract, and we have never waived this provision, although it may not have been enforced “to the letter” in the past.

This letter will serve as our thirty (30) day notice that, effective March 1, 2012, we will expect ALL Residents to abide strictly by the rental payment requirements stated in their lease.  We will not be sending any late notices or reminders to any Resident whose rent has not been received by the 5th of the month. Anyone whose rent is not paid as of the morning of the 6th of the month will receive an Eviction Notice, and anyone whose rent is not received, along with the late charge, by the expiration of the Eviction Notice will be referred to our attorney for eviction. Any rents paid after the 5th of the month must be paid by Certified Check or Money Order; no personal checks will be accepted after the 5th.

Again, I apologize to each of you who has consistently paid your rent early or on time in the past; this letter is not directed to you, and I appreciate your sense of responsibility regarding your financial obligations. I must, however, notify each and every Resident to make certain that our continuing enforcement of this lease provision is known to all Residents. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

(Name of the Manager)

Property Manager

Do you feel like you don't have enough time to walk your market readies before move-in's? Do you never enough time to have a team meeting?

Well why not combine the two?! Have your weekly team meetings in a vacant, market-ready apartment. Have each member of the team take a room and do a through inspection. Make it fun, and reward the apartment service team a prize for every room that is perfect!

Contributed by Kristin Lapdog