“Life is like a grindstone--whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you're made of.” Unknown
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just click our heels together three times and repeat “There’s no place like 2006, there’s no place like 2006, there’s no place like 2006….
So here we are still sitting in the Dark Forest waiting for the Yellow Brick Road to find us. One expert says “we will not see recovery until 2014”, another says “the local real estate slump is over” are we going to just stay here and hope the poppies keep us asleep until then?! No! We need to look for ways to get out of the Dark Forest, out from under the poppies spell and back to the Yellow Brick Road!
Smart marketers and businesses know a thing or two:
Maintaining a Positive Attitude – Let’s start with maintaining a positive attitude for everyone on your team! Be a realist, but keep your chin up! Even when things look their worst, there are ways and means of improving the picture. How do you think we have made it out of every market downturn?
People are still worried about their performance and job security right now. Pessimism is very common. It is on the TV, in the newspapers and magazines. The time for pessimism was a year and a half ago.
Many are just confused because they don’t completely understand the economy, we don’t know how to answer the questions – “Do you think you can make this budget for 2011 work?” “Do you think historically we will do the same business in January? What historicals? They no longer exist and we are building a new history and hopefully we will do better next time around. Oh yes, there will be a next time…
Attitude really is everything. Yes, times are tough, but there is still opportunity out there for those who can spot it and even create it. Your customers and residents are still looking for solutions, looking for homes and needs to be met.
You can either stand in the middle of the road, complain and get run over by the economy, or you can get off the road!
“Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking.”
The Wizard of Oz
Staffing Strategies – Allow the celebration of success. We get too caught up that we must be successful and move ahead full blast and we should strike while were hot, without any time to celebrate the moments of success along the way you then end up with Burnout and have to take a “success detox” for a month! Allow your team to take moments, stop the process, and celebrate their moments of success.
The reason a success agenda alone is so hollow is that it doesn’t address our need for intimacy. What makes humans happy are other humans. Help your team understand the difference between being merely satisfied and actively engaged. A sales contest might be a shot in the arm for humdrum employees, moving them from satisfied to engaged during the short time of the contest, but when it’s all over you will need to think of a new challenge to keep them interested. According the book “The Carrot Principle”, for employees to be genuinely engaged in their work they must be able to answer these questions:
1. What’s important around here?
2. How can I make a difference?
3. What’s in it for me when I do make a difference?
Those answers will really lead you to the kind of motivation that lasts.
When you have engaged that motivation in your organization, then you will be able to easily weed out any of the humdrum employees. Now is the time to improve and raise the level of person in all positions. Unemployment levels that we are currently seeing tend to bring out many new options for advancing our teams.
So in your search for improvement, this is the perfect time to promote high performance through diversity. Diversity, it’s a catch-all phrase that can have a variety of meanings. Based on decades of bringing people of different backgrounds, cultures and ethnic groups into the mainstream of American business, diversity has come to represent a true melting pot of American Enterprise. Today diversity in a sales force, service technicians and management team can have not only a positive impact on a companies over all image and reach into the market, but it can also have a positive effect on bottom-line business.
A diverse team can benefit the bottom line in many ways:
Develop staffing strategies, as no one wants to layoff people during a rough economy. There are other options that might better suit these times and our businesses. Consider reducing hours, shortening the workweek, or job sharing. You can also introduce incentive strategies that award team members for generating new business, reduced expenses or reduced concessions.
Tap Into New Marketing Opportunities – The word "recession" has its origins in Latin for "move backward." In an economic recession, when those around them "move backward," smart marketers do just the opposite; they STEP FORWARD.
How about partnering with your bank, a promo company that sells visa cards with the residents name on it, or catalogs that residents can choose gifts from as they earn points, cleaning services, carpet companies, internet providers, cable providers, laundry services, Meals By Design for a delivery in the resident’s fridge. Many ideas can come from a company brainstorming session.
· Two other affordable marketing efforts is a text messaging campaign and using Constant Contact to send info to all of your residents and prospective residents.
“With Constant Contact, I can send an email newsletter , a high-impact email promotion , an email event invitation, or an online survey. Keeping in touch with my customers helps me run a smarter business. Strong customer relationships define my success. How do you define yours?” User of Constant Contact
"When you fall - and you will fall - simply pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and take more action. Success could care less about mistakes. Success loves action." Unknown
Technology – According to the e-tailing group and PowerReviews' survey, some companies are still hesitant to entirely give over to the power of social media for fear of (what else?) loss of control of their brand and concerns about their competence. A secondary fear is that consumers might find social sites more engaging than the company’s sites, and therefore stop visiting their sites.
I may be oversimplifying this a bit, but if I were at a brand that was concerned customers might leave my site for a better site… I might, oh, I don't know...maybe BUILD A MORE ENGAGING SITE?!?!?!
The Five Phases of Social Media: By Scott Monty
Denial - the first stage of social media grief in which the marketer refuses to acknowledge the existence of social media. Common phrases: "It's just a kid's thing," or "It's just a fad."
Anger - in the second stage, jealousy and rage are misplaced and rage ensues. Common phrases: "This is stupid," "I've got better things
to do with my time."
Bargaining -Anger gives way to hope that incremental adoption of social media will be enough to make a difference. Common phrases: "If we have a Facebook page, we should be covered," "Let's just create a blog."
Depression -The fourth stage manifests itself in an understanding that the inevitable cannot be delayed and the marketer becomes doleful. Common phrases: "Twitter/Google/Facebook is taking over the world!" or "We're overwhelmed with choices."
Acceptance -With the final stage, the marketer finally realizes that social media is here to stay and begins to determine ways to integrate activities and craft strategies that are truly integrated. Common phrases: "Let's craft a comprehensive social media strategy," or "Let's spend some time listening to what consumers are saying about us."
Some folks (like me) may be stubborn and may take a while, while others may be ahead of the curve and breeze through them quickly.
The world around us is changing…” Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore …”
Social Media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, podcasts, pictures, video and much more I don’t even know about! Technologies include: blogs, picture-sharing, wall-postings, email, instant messaging, music-sharing.
With all of the new technology we have that propels us into a brighter tomorrow, please don’t forget about the human aspect of customer service and marketing.
Branding – This is the time to set apart your company and or community and create a BRAND SLAM! Try reading a book by Rick Frishman, named “Where’s Your WOW? 16 Ways to Make Your Competitors Wish They Were You!” The WOW factor can put us over the edge and lead us to the Yellow Brick Road of Success.
Don’t get your Mission and Vision mixed up with your Brand! What is your brand? How can you influence the public to see you as you want them to see you? A Brand cuts through the clutter out there and sets you apart.
First you have to know who you are marketing to. I know…. we are all marketing to the same person right now, anyone! Not enough traffic, losing residents to unemployment, skips in the night; ok enough of that.
An effective brand is:
Relevant – to your target customers
Different – than your competitors
Ownable – something you already, uniquely have
Durable – withstands the tests of time and growth
Here is the strategy for successfully branding:
First you must start internally - Too many companies brand with only the public in mind. However, the successful ones turn once again to their most important asset, their team members. Everyone must know the company mission, goals and clearly understand the purpose behind these ideas. Make sure everyone understands their role, as part of this goal and owns the brand in order to sell it.
Define clear goals – Work with your in-house committee and spend a lot of time establishing clear objectives before any effort begins. If you don’t know exactly what you want your campaign to accomplish, there’s no way to tell if the effort was successful.
Always know your mission - After you define your objectives, don’t do anything that strays from them. Companies often fail because they get wowed by the grand plans, things don’t happen quick enough and they bail. Don’t be fooled…branding does not happen overnight. Stick to your defined goals-no matter what happens.
Communicate, communicate, and communicate – All parties need to know what the goals for the campaign are, and consistent communication will make sure it stays on track.
Be accountable and measure regularly – Companies need to be able to evaluate the success of a campaign. Create measures of success and failure for your efforts; check the status of these measures on a quarterly basis.
Pumping cash into a new campaign may sound foolish to some of you with our market, economy and our empty purses right now. But does it really? Even though some companies are continuing to tighten their belts, some savvy ones are doing just the opposite by looking for good marketing opportunities. These are the companies that recognize advertising dollars translate into increased market share, profitability and customer loyalty.
Pricing – If you want your business to be profitable, the last thing you want is a price or concession war. The best way to avoid a margin-murdering competitor is to partner with them, build a rapport and help each other reach your goals. Build a relationship with your competition, not a war.
Companies that understand the power of pricing are already getting ready for the day when business improves. These groups manage pricing systematically, based on value to their customers, market supply-and-demand dynamics and their ability to define and stick to a pricing structure.
We must realize we cannot price our way out of a recession. Demand is down and data shows this is virtually every sector! By definition, most markets are currently inelastic; demand is not increasing in response to price cuts.
So what do we do? If it’s true that lower rents will be likely, as more investors buy apartments at greatly deflated prices, it may be time to cut back on our buying occupancy with extreme concessions and take back some control. It is predicted that rental rates could drop another 15% over the next year! Our focus on survival is paramount, but please don’t forget that our offerings still have value and we have the responsibility to fight for every kilowatt of pricing power!
Development – Developers, shift your attention temporarily from NEW development to renovations and renovations of affordable senior living for the Phoenix market.
Allow the new history we are making everyday to correct with our help. Our actions will make all the difference for a longer or shorter recovery here in Phoenix and around the country.
We can’t wait for the economy to change and pull us out of the Dark Forest, we must take charge and use new exciting things to help lead us back to the Yellow Brick Road.