What NOT to Post on Social Media
Sure, most of us have at least a general idea of what to share with our Facebook fans and Twitter followers, but have you given any thought to what you should NOT share with them?
This topic was recently brought to light thanks to an Arizona restaurant’s epic Facebook meltdown after being featured on Gordon Ramsey’s hit show, Kitchen Nightmares. After receiving heat from Ramsey about their business practices, the owners took to Facebook, criticizing not only the show, but also customers who gave unfavorable reviews on Yelp, Facebook, and other sites.
What’s the lesson here? It’s great to share your company’s personality on Facebook and other social sites, but a line needs to be drawn. Addressing customer criticism in a constructive way is great, but if you or your company is taking to social media to lash out against critics, it will only end up hurting you in the long run.
To read snippets of the Facebook meltdown, click here....
I look to the sky, and wait for an answer!
"When will my toilet be fixed, and has my request to move my assigned parking spot even been looked at?"
For most residents on most days of living in an apartment community, the routine is simple: They wake up, they go about their daily obligations, they may fit in some leisure activities, they go to bed.
But then there are those certain days when their routine gets derailed, in large ways or small. A burner on the stove stops working. They receive a late rent notice. Someone parks in their assigned spot. There is dog waste outside their home for the 3rd day in a row.
That is when residents look to their property management teams for help. For answers. For solutions. Do they raise their hands in futility as they wait endlessly for assistance, or do they have confidence that the team will listen and help immediately?
These are the moments of truth. These are the memorable moments. And YOU have the power to make them memorable in a really good way, or a really bad way. Either way, keep in mind that it is very likely that that memory you make together will be broadcast across the world wide web within minutes.
So, how do make your interactions divinely memorable, worthy of a virtual thumbs-up?
Respond!
Whether a resident calls, emails or stops by, really listen to what they are saying or asking. Let them...
This blog was originally published by Forbes, whom we received permission from to republish.
By Ty Kiisel
It’s definitely counter-intuitive, but it could be one of your top performers.
I was introduced to this idea by Patrick Morin, a brilliant sales executive and two-time turnaround CEO. Although the context of our discussions have been primarily regarding building, motivating, and keeping the best sales professionals, I’m convinced the same concepts apply to every role within a company—small or large.
Although it’s sometimes the top performers that should find their necks on the chopping block first, it’s not their performance that puts them there.
Most people want to contribute to something meaningful, something that will outlast their particular contribution. Our job as leaders is to inspire our employees with that vision—something that has them excited to start the workday every day. Unfortunately, not all of our employees buy-in to that vision. Some are even detractors.
Morin looks at his employees on a four-grid scale with “Buy-In” on the vertical axis and “Performance” on the horizontal. When evaluating employees and potential employees he puts them into one of four categories:
High Buy-In/ Low Performance
Low Buy-In/Low Performance
High Buy-In/ High Performance
Low Buy-In/ High Performance
Over the years I’ve been compelled to work with high-performing colleagues who didn’t like the company, had no respect for our customers, disliked their colleagues, and continuously shared their discontent with anyone who would listen. Like a cancer, their bad attitude spread throughout the organization—while they were otherwise regularly recognized for high performance. Morin...
Our industry is often accused of having a “follow the herd” mentality, where all communities do is look at their comps and copy what they do. Since everybody is following everybody else, the argument is that only a few are actually innovating. So I think it is good to look outside the industry for inspiration, and today I found it in the world of Soda Pop.
I’ll share a video below of John Nese, owner of Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. On first impression, it seems like a business that simply shouldn’t exist. They are a store focused on soda, but don’t carry Coke or Pepsi products. If someone wants those products, he actually refers customers down the street where they can get a better deal than he ever could. Instead, he focuses on soda brands that most people have probably never heard from, such as Bubble Up, Manhattan Special, and Fentimans Curiosity Cola.
How is this possible? How could a store that didn’t carry Coke or Pepsi survive? For most people, they would assume that a store that didn’t cater to the big brands would automatically be torching the possibility of a sale with a vast majority of soda drinkers, and frankly, that might be true. However, although I don’t know the financials of this store, there are some key elements that make this an interesting niche opportunity:
Coke and Pepsi products are in high demand, but they also have high competition, so margins get sliced incredibly thin.
Conversely, unique labels...
There’s been plenty of talk in the news lately about the rebounding housing market, leading many in the apartment industry to wonder how they’ll be affected. The good news is that experts conclude they won’t be affected much. Here’s what those in the know know:
Few people are leaving their apartments to make a home purchase
A Chicago-based research company that tracks people’s reasons for leaving an apartment says that few people leave in order to purchase a home. Further backing up survey data is the fact that the percentage of home purchases made by first-time home buyers has stagnated since the expiration of the Home Buyer Tax Credit.
We have a long way to go
Before people in the rental industry despair over the double-digit increases in home sales we’ve been seeing lately, it is a good idea for them to remember just how low the housing market sunk. Given the housing market’s low at the peak of the financial crisis, achieving double-digit increases doesn’t require too much. People are still underwater on their homes and there is still a high number of foreclosures. Rentals are still important.
Urban living is attractive
Cities used to be hotbeds of crime, and people fled them for the safety of the suburbs. Today, with high gas prices, lowering crime rates in cities, and the cultural attractions of urban centers, people are leaving the suburbs to move back to the cities. Often, because of high property values in urban centers, people who want to live...
