In some ways it is kind of old news to see tweet streams come across TweetDeck concerning a conference you were unable to attend. And, in other ways it still truly astonishes me that we have that kind of intimate access. Emotional access via the cool new third place.

AIM Conference

I had the privilege of attending the Apartment Internet Marketing Conference a couple of years ago and hands down, it was/is the best of breed. It draws in the best of the best from all over the country. Steve Lefko and his team put on a compelling show. And, it is a show – theater at it’s best. With the best internet marketing thespians acting out vignettes of knowledge laden action oriented prose, wit and wisdom. It truly is a Third Place- at least in my head.

The Third Place

Wikipedia describes it this way -

The third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace.

I describe it this way -

Crazy cool, awe-inspiring, over the top, compelling place of uber-excellent actionable idea creation…

To my point – despite not being able to attend this years conference, social media (twitter specifically) has allowed me and many others to feel this Third Place. With the likes of Lisa Trosien, Mike Whaling and Mark Juleen live tweeting, I quite literally feel myself getting emotional loaded both for the support and the retort of things that are tweeted. It’s the deepest meanings of compelling.

Hats off to the AIM team for creating a conference that is worthy of a moniker such as third place. Trust me, it’s in the budget for next year…

Your – lovin’ the ability to feel a third place from thousands of miles away – multifamily manic,

M

Obvious Belief in your Apartment Community

Nothing novel here. You have to believe in the apartment you are selling. Now you might ask, what if I am selling a C class apartment in a C location; that is different, right? No. It’s no different and my suggestion is that if you can’t believe in it – move on. As I see it, you are cheating three people out what they deserve if you stick around. You are cheating yourself as you will never be happy. You are cheating the company as you will never give them 100% of what you are capable of. And, worst of all, you are cheating the people who are really interested in leasing an apartment from you. Key: Get and Obvious belief in your apartment community.

 Obvious Belief in your Neighborhood

Tell them how much you are moved by the neighborhood. People want to know what there is to do around where they live. They not only want to know which pub serves the coldest cold one; they also want to know the name of best bar tender. They not only want to know the best restaurant; they want to know the name of the best server and the chef. They want to know the name of the cleaner that gives top-notch service. They want to know the name of the intake specialist at the local elementary school. Do you want to differentiate yourself? Key: Get out and learn anything and everything you can about the people who give personality to your neighborhood. 

Obvious Belief in Yourself

It’s people who make all the difference in this world. It’s YOU. It’s ME. It’s our friends, family, neighbors and those we would do business with. Key: You have to be comfortable in your own skin. Confident in your convictions. Convinced by your actions. And, Courageous in your opportunities. It is possible to fake it over a near term but over time even the best placed guards crumble. Be real and be real good. It is then that selling your apartment community, the neighborhood that surrounds it and you come across as an authentic need to serve the needs of others. And, that my friends sells all day long…

Your – believing in you – multifamily manic,

M

Leo, in his book titled: Love, tells an amazing story as it relates to having love for oneself. I intend to give you the very much paraphrased version. He takes you on a visual journey back to grade school. He has you remember the anticipation you held in your little heart and mind over the art teacher coming around to your classroom. It was that time where you got to put down the lead and pick up the oily Crayola. It was time to put method, pragmatism, social order and conformity to rest so as to wake up the wild and the crazy. It was time to do the thing you love. Or, so you thought….

I Don’t Love Your Tree

His story picks up in description of the art teacher drawing a simple tree on the chalk board and instructing the class to follow suit by replicating it on the blank sheet of paper in front of them. Two lines mirrored just inches apart and headed for the top of the page. Lines that lend themselves to branches. And, a line that mimics a camel hump repeated in a circular motion starting on the right and finding itself up and around nearing the top of the page and back down to a point where it intersects with the vertical line on the left. Boom – it’s a tree. Yes – you did it. You and everyone else except for Junior.

You quite presumably know where this is going. Yes – Leo inserts ‘that guy/gal’ into the story. He calls him Junior. And, Junior produces a tree with the love and care that Michael Angelo gave in creating some of the finest art the world has ever seen. The love that a kid gives to choosing his yellow, green, orange and magenta with overtones of red and shades of grey, black and just enough brown. The love that creates the freakiest most awesome and over the top tree that art teacher, the class and the world at large has ever seen. That love that gets shunned, booed, kicked and yeah butted right out of the room. The love that gets you remarks like – I don’t love your tree…

Please Conform

Conformity kicks the teeth right out of love. It asks a maintenance technician to master electricity when plumbing is his first love. It’s asks our best maintenance supervisor to lead the troops to the top of the mountain and into war when tinkering and solving mechanical problems is his first love. It asks our best leasing people to master accounting when servicing people is his/her first love. It’s telling someone who the best way to do something is the way that you do it. Or the way the company does it. Or the way your dad used to do it. It’s the continued ripping of life right out of people the same way it was ripped out of Junior.

Punch Line

Starting today – Don’t give up your tree…

Have a non-conforming weekend,

Your, never giving up my tree, multifamily manic,

M

Understand People and Their Behavior

Why would you want to understand people and their behaviors? The only way you change how people feel, think and behave is to understand them in a very authentic way? Only then will they respond to the power of your creative apartment marketing. Or, conversation and content marketing.

What can you do to understand people and their behaviors? First, you create an authentic and ceaseless urge to know more. You make it your daily quest to always know more about people. Always take notes. Take pictures. Record thoughts. Write a blog post or two or three to flesh out your thoughts. Make it your mission to understand what they think. What they prefer. What they dream. What they desire. And, what they need.

One item on note on understanding – what makes people people is always changing. And, if you are not leading that change in an authentic way then someone else will.

Your, highly interested in anthropology, multifamily maniac,

M

“Make the Customer the Hero” – Ann Handley

Finding ways to make the Customer the Hero never was and still is not difficult. It is not some over the top mysterious ‘wish we could figure that out’ chaos math problem. No – it is much easier.

It is the please, the thank you and the “I don’t know but I will get back to you” follow through. It is the pausing long enough to assist with heavy bags, taking time to clean cigarette butts off of their sidewalk and taking time to make sure the bathrooms in your clubhouse are clean throughout the day and not just at the beginning. It is keeping your word when you tell someone you will do something. It is remembering to say a kind word or send a nice gift on a birthday, anniversary or holiday. It is remember to ask about their children’s activities, struggles and successes. It is majoring in the minors for people without losing site of the bigger picture. It is taking – Time.

The trouble most of the time is understanding origin. That is, where does that ‘making the customer the hero’ mentality come from?

The Hero Lies in You

I think the late great Whitney Houston said it best in the song There’s a Hero – in the song there is a lyric that sings like this  …and, the Hero Lies in You. There is a hero that lives in all of us and he/she is right at home helping everyone around them feel like a Hero too… And, guess what – 100 times out of 100 times when you make someone feel like a hero – you feel like one yourself….

Your, remembering the hero inside becomes the hero outside – multifamily maniac,

M

Very quick note this morning.

We could get really deep into the art of body language as it relates to listening. Speaking to things like bending your brow as a show of concern, thinning your lip to show you understand the anger , leaning in, unfolding arms and the king of them all – eye contact. While not exhaustive, all good topics and in the same respect not possible without the nugget we will put out there today.

The Most Meaningful Body Language – Listen Technique I Know

Front and center to the person you are talking with – Pick up your phone and turn it OFF. Not silence, not vibrate – OFF. Or, don’t bring it along at all. Put your what if’s to rest as we could debate that to death. If you want meaningful conversation – demonstrate willingness through action – the action of turning off and tuning in.

Your – working on listening through meaningful body language – multifamily maniac,

M

Today, we are doing a down and dirty lesson on empathetic listening or a fancy way of saying – pay attention. Empathetic listen is active listening or seeking first to understand and then to be understood. The goal being two-fold – listen on an emotional level as well as a cognitive level. In other words you aim to get a sense of how they feel and what they are thinking. And, remember empathy is not sympathy. Empathy speaks from experience; sympathy is there in support of.

Two Questions – Going Deep

When communicating with any one of your apartment residents over any issue, good or bad, use the following two questions to go deeper. If they are in your office complaining about a leaky faucet for the third time this week [and, presupposing you have experienced a persistent leaking faucet in your lifetime], stop and listen. Once they are done talking ask, “how does that make you feel. Or, suggest, “I can imagine that makes feel very frustrated or angry.

It seems obvious but many times, in our haste to get the cranky people out of our office, we don’t take time to validate their feelings. Guess what, that makes a person even more frustrated or angry. All that most people are after is an outlet to vent their anger, frustration or the such and they want the problem fixed. That is where the second question comes in. It is more cognitive in nature.

At the end of understanding their emotion; repeat the reason for the anger or frustration; “I see Mr. Ineedamyfaucetfixed; this is the third time this week you have been in to report your leaky faucet. Our service person has been over two times and still you have a leaky faucet. It bugs you because you are a light sleeper and the persistent drip against the aluminum sink keeps you up. And, you don’t think you should have to put a cup or a rag under the drip to soften the sound. You just want it fixed.”

Your – seeking first to understand – multifamily maniac,

M

Empathy – Care

Empathy can be defined as having the ability to relate. For example, if you are speaking to someone who lives in your apartment community about their son’s soccer game over the weekend and you have a son that plays soccer – you can empathize. And, empathy is the perfect foundation for caring.

If you can empathize – you can care. And, when you care people will respond.

Take the time today to reach out and initiate some conversation. Be it with people you work with and for or with the people who you serve and that serve you in return.

Don’t accept the canned answers and don’t ask canned questions. Let the weather take care of itself. That is the easy stuff.

Ask deeper questions and if your weekend sucked – say so. Don’t be surprised if your audience can relate.

Your – caring to empathize – multifamily maniac,

M

I read a book some time ago that started with the line (para-phrased); If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. It went on to describe that the aroma of a home is detected the second before you walk across the threshold and into the front door. And, that aroma can elicit memories from ago both good or bad.

It sets the stage for a good, bad or indifferent visit. And, even though it happens in an instant – it happens.

Our properties and/or corporate offices are no different. In a sense, you are either baking apple pie or its rotting on the shelf of inaction or worse yet, ill regard.

Culture is everything in a business. It sets the stage for the people you work with and for; and, it’s powerful in the way of building enduring relationships with the people who live in your communities.

Building Culture in a Word

Care

That’s it. That’s all she wrote folks.

Get Care right and you get right Care. (We will post more on this later).

What are you doing to make sure your aroma is inviting and worthy of partaking in? Cook up a good comment and leave it below – we will eat it up. Pun intended.

Your caring about culture multifamily maniac,

M

GSNA – Quotes: Commitment

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Burn the Ships

It has the leanings of Hernan Cortes scuttling his ships to eliminate any ideas of retreat by his crew. In the modern day, maybe in means walking away from crummy circumstances. Maybe it means getting out of that dead-end career. Maybe it means betting the house on a business venture that you believe in. Maybe it means finally slaying the debt dragon, un-saddling from the burdens of smoking, breaking free from the caustic relationships that keep you down or calling it a day at the property management job you hold today.

Commitment is a Choice

There is a little word with a very powerful meaning that stands at the chasm between stimulus and response. That word is choice. Every response carries before it a set of circumstances that are premises for your choice. This week, step back and look at them sharply. Then choose, despite any and all fears, and go for it. You owe it to your self.

Your committed multifamily maniac,

M