Ever wonder how to make your content compelling enough for people to want to connect with and share it? It’s a topic I think about all the time. And, one that our digital media team at Mills Properties recognize as key to our success. The short answer – relevancy.

Over the past year we have been busy hacking away at our online strategy and we are very excited about the fruits of that labor. Melissa D and Jessica H along with a whole host of crazy awesome blog post authors have put together something really special in my opinion.

A big part of that strategy centers around apartment content relevancy. Content that up to now I purposefully thought should have nothing to do with Mills Properties or the apartments that we market and sell.. As of late my mind is shifting away from that sentiment but not in a way that you might posit.

Apartment Content Relevancy

Our content strategy will remain the same. It will have nothing to do with our company or our apartments but in essence it has everything to do with both. The content is real, runs the gambit of emotions and speaks to relevant and for the most part very local and very people-centric happenings.

I see all of the content being created, be it on the blog or otherwise, as an extension of our people, our respective apartment communities, our company and the neighborhoods we participate in. It’s our way of weaving apartments, apartment community amenities and the people that live there into the fabric of the neighborhood. It’s a way, if you will, to bridge the gap between your contacts and the content people what to participate with.  And, if executed with precision, it will begin to really define the interests of our respective audiences as it relates to the current day neighborhood and the neighborhood they want to see come to fruitiion in the future. Interests that will further define the relevancy which will in turn further define the content. Such a beautiful cirle if you really think about it.

Your – always looking for relevancy in the content – multifamily maniac,

M

Concessions or Discounts

As an item of clarity – a concession is not a discount and  a discount is not a concession. Both impact the bottom line but one lives on while the other has a one time impact. Student concessions are typically given up front at the beginning of the lease and or at the time of renewal. They are considered a one time event whereas a student discount is some that lives on over the life of the lease. Example of a concession might be: $200 off of your June rent if you move in by June 10.

A student discount on the other hand is a rent reduction from the market rent over the course of the lease. Example: you give a 5% or flat dollar amount discount off the market rent rate for the term of the lease that you sign if you move in by June 10.  Both have an impact on the bottom line and both have a potential opportunity for you in the way of marketing.

Your – continuing the budget journey – multifamily manic,

M

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is hard work. Enthusiasm doesn’t scream out once your alarm clock goes off in the morning. It doesn’t just happen the second you put your feet on the floor. It doesn’t happen with the first cup of coffee or the first splash of water from the warm shower you hop into.

Not unlike most things, you have to get yourself pumped each day. How do you do that? Some read the bible or other inspirational literature, some listen to music and some meditate. I like to read Tom Peter’s or James Allen to get my day going. Whatever the case – find what it is that gets you pumped in the morning. And, promise me this – you are not getting amp’d because you can’t wait to get to work in the morning but rather because you want to be the best possible you in light of serving others. As nothing gives charge to enthusiasm as much as helping the next guy/gal get charged up.

Energy

Energy is born out of activity. I think we get this one backwards sometimes. I see energy as being manufactured out of activities such as exercise. It comes from motion. It takes energy to get out of bed in the morning. It takes energy to walk down stairs to make the coffee. It takes energy to get the dog fed. It takes energy to get your running shoes on. And, it takes energy to pound out a couple of miles before breakfast. But you know what happens when you are disciplined enough to do this daily – you are gifted more energy. You have to spend it to make it.

Authenticity

I really think that authenticity is born out of enthusiasm and energy. When you exude enthusiasm in what you do – no matter the art – you are perceived as being passionate, full of life and authentic. Now you could debate the merits of real enthusiasm and faked or forced enthusiasm but for the purpose of this discussion, let us assume we are talking about the real stuff. And, once you have enthusiasm, energy has no choice but to tag along. You getting pumped about your art and the energy to get it done will follow. And, with these two things working in tandem – your authenticity can’t be contained.

What do you do to get yourself fired up on a Monday morning after a crazy fun off the charts weekend?

Your – going for enthusiasm, energy and authenticity – 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

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

You may want to read and reread that last line a couple of times. [It's okay - I'll wait.....]

I think for many of us, me included, it’s usually more along the lines of what do we do next? What is the next thing to tweet? What is the next platform to try? What is the next marketing idea stone that needs to be turned over? How do we differentiate? How do we compete?

All good questions and likely good stimulates for conversation. But, what we leave out is equally if not more advantageous in forming an effective strategy.

What are you choosing not to do this year?

Related material: Two Lists You Should Look at Every Morning

Pic Props: TSLBO

Apartment marketing is not about viewing people in the context of residing in your apartment communities -

Apartment marketing is not about getting people to celebrate you through a; Like, G+, Tweet, RT or the such -

Apartment marketing is not about broadcasting the right message at precisely the right to the right influencers -

What you’re saying in all of this is that people mean nothing to you. And, when they don’t respond you just don’t understand why….

Your thinking people-centric multifamily manic,

M

Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trusting intuition and making decisions based on it is the most important activity of the creative artist and entrepreneur. If you are facing (and fearing) a difficult life decision, ask yourself these three questions:

1) “What are the costs of inaction?”….

2) “What kind of person do I want to be?”

3) “In the event of failure, could I generate an alternative positive outcome?”

Multifamily greatness

We recently purchased a property from a lending institution who had in turn taken it back from a previous ownership interest. When completing the due diligence phase of our process we discovered roughly 40 units in various stages of disrepair. Units we classify as down. Down to mean not habitable absent some major rehab.

It spoke loudly to the point of the first question – inaction. Banks are not property managers. And, in lieu of spending $25 to $30k to replace the roofs, they left them alone. Result of that inaction? Several hundred thousands of value wiped away.

Greatness starts with forecasting the consequence of in-actions. In this case, it would suffice to say that some back of the napkin math would have yielded an ROI that would have driven a decision to replace the roofs.

What kind of company do we want to be

At Mills Properties, we ask that question a lot. As of late it has been in the area of branding, marketing, digital footprint and the such. We have been slow in moving toward what we want to achieve part and parcel because of near 50% growth in community and unit count over the past four years. And, in part not having a real plan.

Fast forward to today. We have taken the time to craft a 40+ page branding/marketing plan that includes everything from font types and size for all thing forward facing to big ticket strategies to dominate the St. Louis Apartments on and off-line space. It lays it all out and captures how everything from curb appeal to lease contract signing ladders up into an overarching message for the neighborhoods and communities we serve. And, in advance our striving to make a splash nationally at some point.

It all starts with asking the right questions.

Multifamily failure

I think the best way to overcome failure is understand that it going to happen from time to time. In fact, I like what Tom Peters has to say about it, “reward

Crash and Learn

failure.” If you are not failing, you are not trying, you are not learning and thus you are not growing. Equity Residential cements this in their 10 ways to be a winner – one being ‘take educated risks.’ The expectation is that you gather every piece of information you can to include the counsel of others before you pull the trigger. And, if you fail, you simply have a group postmortem where you examine the facts and the various action points to see what could have been done better.

Off for a float trip

It’s Saturday, it’s raining and we are headed out for camping and a float trip. Should be loads of fun. I say that with lots of hope in mind.

Your hoping you have an amazing weekend contributor,

M

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

…Decide what you want the future to be and make it happen. Because you can. Write about your future now.

(Author: Cindy Gallop)

It’s an elegant way of saying Trust thyself. There is no way of really telling how many times a year we have brilliant ideas cross our mind only to be lost in the same instance. And, no way to tell just how many times that dismissal is a direct result of our innate lack of trust in our own wherewithal. Or, back to that ever persistent dream killer – fear.

What do I want people to say about me when I die

A number of years ago I took the time to write a personal creed for myself. The soul-searching was prompted by a book I was reading at the time; don’t quote me but I do believe it was Steven Covey’s 8th Habit. The methodology included thinking about your very own funeral. I know, morbid huh?

You are at the back of the room as you watch four people take the stage to speak about you: a family member, a co-worker, a coach, mentor, friend or otherwise and a civic/church member. In the exercise you wrote about all the things you would want those individuals to say about you. In doing so you would discern the things that meant the most to you in the way you would want to live life. In a word: character.

Once you defined the character traits, the next step consisted of writing your creed. And, once the creed was written it was time to pen your goals and strategies with which you went about achieving them, predicated on the creed. Or, what you were going to do to build your character.

Character leads the way

Every year in early Jan, I sit and pen my goals for the coming calendar year along with five years and ten years down the road. All predicated on my creed. All in an effort to work on character first, accomplishment second and gathering of things third. In my head if I work on character, accomplishments will come followed closely by money and the things that money can buy.

Over time I will post the creed and the goals that go along with it as one of the last steps in the methodology is to share openly with those that would hold you accountable to living up to what you penned. But, not yet.

What about you; what methodology do you use to create the future for yourself?

Your working on 2011 goals predicated on creed and aiming for good character contributor,

M

Imitation is Suicide. Insist on yourself; never imitate. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

(Author: Fabian Kruse)

Let me start by saying this is a tough one for me as I believe in and have utilized the highest form of flattery in the past; that is, borrowing multifamily business and marketing concepts and adding a twist or two to make it my own. I am certain that I have employed a few former employer concepts at my current place of business. 

Multifamily Blog

To speak to the point of today’s prompt. What are those area of my life? I would say the multifamily space leads the way. I have the tagline on my blog; Out to put a dent in the multifamily universe and I believe that will come in the way of insisting on myself as suggested above. I like to think we did as much back in 2006 or 2007 when we created the Portland Rocks Newsletter Blog while working for EQR. After a few platform changes and copy amendments we settled in and went for it. The team went on to win an inagural award for, in part, being the most innovative group in the bunch. Blogging today, while not mainstream, is certainly more prevelant that it ever has been. And, it will only continue to get more exciting. We like to think we were part of the catalyst that got the party started. 

Today, we are constantly working on identifying new and exciting ways to enhance our organization through the use of exciting new technologies. And, look forward to continue to flatter and uniquely innovate in the space. 

What about you? 

Your, not sure if Imitation is suicide, contributor,

M