Property Management Company: Cause

I received an email not long ago asking a question along the lines of finding a cause for a firm – in an email exchange I penned the following:

I see a cause as being something bigger than self or team. To me – it’s audacious in nature. And, it has nothing to do with selling more stuff but everything to do with building individual and organizational character as a way of changing the world. I don’t use – changing the world – in jest. It is the only premise with which to build an organization. In my head organizations are built to serve the people that serve it – period. That is first and foremost. If built right all else will fall into place. An organization that focuses on building character will see that character exercised in the way of success on every level with every metric.

I think Emerson said it best when he penned the following:

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

Capture that in the way of a cause that lays over your companies mission, vision, strategy and goals that help to execute as much and you have something people can believe in. You will have found something that people can get out of bed in the morning for – you can change the lives of hundreds if not thousands and as a default – you will create wealth beyond your imagination and more important – the imaginations of those that are served by the organization. They will have lived what Emerson had in mind – all because you made a decision to offer up a worthy cause.

Do you have a cause? What is it? Why do you think it is important?

Social Media Principles for Apartments

The four companies we have elected to draw from are:

JC Hart

Dell

Coca-Cola

Intel

There are hundreds of examples out there to choose from if you are thinking of writing your own. I can’t tell you that we used some magic formula to pick the companies we did. That is with the exception of JC Hart – we know Mark Juleen and admire the efforts he and his team have put together in executing a great strategy.  With that, we also look forward to feedback along the way as we believe that there is no perfect science to the process.

If you have a set of Social Media Principles for your organization and wish to share – link it up down in the comments. We would love to read them.

Have a great weekend -

In Lisa Trosien’s recent post: Dear Mr. (or Ms.) Property Management Executive , she speaks to ten complaints from site teams across the country. It strikes me that every single one of these have been relevant to our industry for as long as I can remember. And, every single one of them impedes progress. Which, according to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, is the number one motivator of employees.

Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer penned: What Really Motivates Workers in the Jan-Feb 2010 issue. In the article they sight the following five factors as being significant drivers of motivation;

1. Recognition

2. Incentives

3. Interpersonal support

4. Support for making progress

5. Clear goals

All important but Amabile and Kramer contend not the number one motivator. After conducting an intense multi-year study tracking a multitude of levers – progress – it seems is the number one motivator.

“On days when workers have the sense they’re making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles, their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak.”

Seems to me progress, not unlike every item in Lisa’s list, is completely in the control of executives across the country. The article suggests the following ideas for helping progress;

1. Avoid changing goals autocratically

2. Be decisive

3. Provide support in the way of rolling up your own sleeves

4. Celebrate progress – no matter the stretch

I have always believed that a happy employee is a productive employee and that the property management organization exists to serve the people that serve it. And if those two mantras are employed as a premise for all decision making the rest will happen by default.

For those who would huff and puff about about the soft stuff, there is the alternative;

“On days when they feel they are spinning their wheels or encountering roadblocks to meaningful accomplishment, their moods and motivation are lowest.”

I trust the week to come will be one of smashing progress…

Related post: Can Apartment Marketers Afford to Disconnect a 24/7 generation?

Related post: Make Sure You’re Not De-Motivating Your Team

Related post: Eight Things Your Employees Want From You

(Photo credit: Dan Pink’s: A Whole New Mind)

Fighting the good fight

What will these champions of change face as they venture into corner offices across the country? The famed Edward de Bono calls it Rock Logic. You might recognize it as linear, pragmatic, methodical or even orderly thinking. Where negative capability thinkers thrive on ambiguity their counterparts want the back up, the proof in the pudding and they want it in solid Rock Logic spreadsheet fashion. Your best bet is to make the case for Good Enough.

Good Enough vs. All

Most C level property management executives live for the numbers. They also demand that they have ALL the available information to back up the numbers. They will delay decisions for months on end if they think [not feel] that any piece of information evades them. When in comes to developing a premise for decisions in uncharted territory, Good Enough loses to All every time. Think about that in the context of making the case for incorporating social media into your on-line strategy.

The rub is that the industrial age, where Rock Logic thinking absolutely applied, has given way to the knowledge age and this generation thrives on making things happen in the midst of chaos. They thrive on making decisions based on Good Enough information knowing full well that they will remain nimble enough to change direction if need be. They thrive on trying new things and changing course at the drop of a hat. Fail fast succeed sooner is part of their DNA. 

All that in mind, convincing C level types that Good Enough, as it relates to embracing social media, will/should become their motto for the stump of 2009. Encourage and massage those negative capability muscles so that Good Enough has space in their thought process. Go for it and fight the good fight as your organization will be all the better for it.

A big note of congrats to the insanely great team over at ForRent.com The Magazine….You gals/guys ROCK! M

NORFOLK, Va.—(November 19,
2008)—No other Internet listing service
in the multi-housing industry has engaged its audience through social media
quite like ForRent.com.
According to Vitrue, Inc., a social media marketing company, ForRent.com is
dominating the multi-housing sector’s social share of voice. As a product of For
Rent Media Solutions^™, a division of Dominion Enterprises,
ForRent.com, utilizes tools such as Twitter, MySpace^®, Facebook and
YouTube^™, to achieve this accomplishment.

ForRent.com’s ranking was
determined by Vitrue’s Social
Media Index™ (SMI), the recently launched free tool that measures a brand’s
online conversations. Based on patent-pending technology, scores are comprised
of various online conversations ranging from text-dense micro-blogs to
multi-dimensional video sites.

“We are thrilled with the results
found by Vitrue’s Social Media Index,” said Brock MacLean, vice president of
national sales and development, For Rent Media Solutions. “Social media is a
very effective way to communicate with our core demographic of 18-34 year old
adults. For Rent Media Solutions’ involvement in social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and
video sharing sites like YouTube allows us to
participate in a true dialogue with consumers, giving us more insight into our
audience and their needs. We plan on expanding our social media efforts in the
future. The Social Media Index will help us gauge the success of our efforts and
how we are resonating with our consumers.”

Generating more than 83 percent of social media
activity, video sharing makes up the largest portion of ForRent.com’s SMI score.
Apartment property video commercials seen on ForRent.com, called Community
Theater^™, are distributed to an extensive network of channels
including major
search engines like Google^™ and Yahoo!^®, social networking
sites such as MySpace, and video sharing sites including YouTube. During October
alone these videos were viewed more than 17,000 times a day.

Generating more than 12 percent of the SMI score,
communication through social networking makes up the second largest method of
social activity for ForRent.com. MySpace has played a significant role in the
success of For Rent Media Solution’s social networking efforts. More than 40
profile pages have been set up, representing more than 40 markets where the
company’s anchor publication, For Rent
Magazine, can be found. Through these efforts, For Rent Media Solutions
communicates with more than 5,300 consumers. 

The remainder of the score is comprised of blogging and
micro-blogging. This number includes activity from blogs, such as the ForRent.com blog, and key influencers who
chat and push content through micro-blogs, such as Twitter. Twitter is a service that
allows its users to send updates to their “followers” while trailing other
individuals as well. For more details, please
view the full Social Media Index
report.

“The Vitrue Social Media Index provides invaluable
insight for marketers to understand how they are stacking up in the social media
space,” said Reggie Bradford, chief executive officer of Vitrue, Inc. “Brands
are being talked about in social settings and we are providing the ability to
proactively track these conversations. We firmly believe understanding and
measuring your performance in these environments is key.”

ForRent.com The Magazine, Multifmaily Marketing, Apartment Marketing

I know I would enjoy engaging in conversation with some of the leading apartment executives in our industry. And, I am very certain your resident base would enjoy the conversation as well. I mean, imagine unlocking the potential marketing force of two-hundred thousand plus residents? Imagine converting just one percent of that number into evangelists for your brand. Imagine letting the apartment searcher tell you, in public, what makes for a better search experience. Imagine giving them a forum where they give you unadulterated and real time feedback. Imagine being able to respond rather than react to the issues concerns and success stories they would share. Resident portals are a great first step but blogging in the open for all to see is much more authentic and transparent.

For those that have no idea how to get started let me point you to Debbie Weil – She wrote a great book on the subjects called The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know to Get It Right.

In a spirit of competitiveness I look forward seeing who has it in them to be ‘first.’ Let me pre-applaud you for your foresight and courage.

Multifamily Executives, Apartment Marketing Executives, Apartments, Multifamily