Apartment Training

Regardless of our role within an organization, we will be asked throughout our careers to participate in, lead or evaluate various corporate initiatives. After all, most of what a company really ‘is’ is a series of interrelated initiatives.  These could range from the acts of sales, operations, marketing, and acquisitions to finding efficiencies, fixing problems launching new products, etc. Generally we would like to succeed in whatever initiatives we are involved. And hopefully we have positioned ourselves for success through our understanding and expertise, our dedication and will to succeed, and our preparation and focus. Additionally we may have benefited from multiple books, papers and degrees which exist to provide us tools or help train us to succeed at whatever task we undertake. But invariably, there will be times when success is not an option or when we fail after seemingly doing all of the ‘right’ things. In those cases what do we do?

Our next step should be to perform a postmortem. Think of the postmortem as a forensic analysis of the results of the initiative. Admittedly, the specifics of every project are going to be different. But if we were to approach each postmortem as its own totally unique situation, then it would virtually be impossible to be efficient in our analysis. Over time, we also need the ability to connect the information that we gain to make better future decisions. This is the exact same process that our minds go through as the act of learning. The problem with our mind is that it does not always evaluate the information clearly and unemotionally. That is why we must take a scientific approach to the data and performing our analysis.

I've had clients asking me  this very question for years. Are shops really valuable to a company? Is there a better way? Let me give you some reasons why  mystery shops just might not be the answer you're looking for at your company. For the sake of this discussion, we're limiting this to phone and in-person shops.

1. Shoppers have bad days. Just like Leasing Professionals, shoppers have 'off' days, too. And this is reflected in the shopping report  that describes the Leasing Professionals' behavior. I once worked for a company who so strongly believed in this that they made sure their employees were shopped TWICE on the same day. That way, if one shop was horrible and one was good, they could throw the bad shop out (chalking it up to a bad day for the shopper). 

2. Shoppers have to remember how you behaved on the tour. Having been shopped numerous times in my career, I can tell you that sometimes shoppers get their facts confused. I have had shopping reports that accused me of failing to show all of the amenities on the property to the shopper - and they listed the ones I left out. The  problem? The property didn't HAVE the amenities I supposedly overlooked. 

We recognize that this time of year can be a naturally quieter time for traffic.  However, when we know that it is a “slow season” it becomes even more important for your leasing team to inject energy into their working week and be proactive in their activities so that their performance does not lag. Of course we set goals to achieve our business objectives. However, setting goals is sometimes the easy part.

We also need to ensure the right training is in place. This gives our employees the tools to do their jobs effectively and thus realize our business goals. A company that invests in an employee’s professional growth is really investing in its own business. Therefore it is essential to provide the leasing team with appropriate training and also to encourage the members to work on their professional development.

How many times a month does your Leasing Office receive requests for updated Market Surveys? Do you cringe when you see these come through the fax machine or when you recognize other properties’ telephone numbers on your Caller ID? I think it is only human to react this way, especially, when you feel like they ask the same information month after month.

 The BEST Leasing Manager I ever knew (and it sure wasn’t me!) and I worked out a different way of obtaining the most accurate and reliable property information so that our Market Surveys were always easily updated. I use this technique as well when gathering market information for possible acquisitions as well.

 I dislike wasting time and I dislike “busy work.” Busy work, to me, is when a company hires a new or inexperienced Leasing Consultant and assigns him or her the task of doing the monthly Markey Survey. (And you know the person who USED to get this chore each month is secretly happy to be relieved of this!) So, the new person asks which properties to call and proceeds to do so. He or she sometimes never even introduces him/herself to the person who answers the phone and usually says something like this: “Hi. I was wondering if you could answer a couple of questions for my Market Survey?” When the person says yes, then the Consultant starts in with fifteen different questions as to the size of the units at your property, how much do they all rent for, what is the square footage for each unit style, are you running any specials, what amenities does your property offer, do you take pets, how much do you charge for Pet Fees and Pet Rent (often times interspersed with his or her own opinion as to these charges), followed by, “What is your current occupancy?”

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. - Martin Luther King

I’ve always felt like a leader. In my Girl Scout days, I was the tallest; therefore, I was in charge. When I started cheerleading, it just made sense that I was Captain. When I entered the work force as a Leasing Consultant, it was just months before I was tasked with training other Leasing Consultants and less than a year before I was managing them. In business, I’ve been in a “titled” leadership position since I was 19 years old! Being a leader is position I don’t take lightly by the way... I love to lead and I think I’m pretty good at it. But where it starts, I believe, is actually loving the role of a leader and taking it very seriously (ok, with a whole lot of fun mixed it).

Since it seems I’ve always been looked at as leader, it took me a long time to figure out why I so naturally slid into this role, in practically every situation I was faced with. And then it hit me…

Leadership as you know is a topic near and dear to my heart.  I believe there are certain qualities in great leaders, and I also am a firm believer there are distinct differences between management and leadership.  That being said, both management and leadership has a responsibility to insure those that follow or work with them have the tools and knowledge to exceed and excel.  We can complain that someone is not performing or meeting goals, however, what are we doing to insure support is provided that leads to greatness.  That support comes in training.

Training and education is never done, but it is an evolutionary process.  It also means following up on what is taught to insure clear understanding, and keeping an open mind to finding new resources and ways of teaching and seeing the benefits.  The moment we believe we are done with training or supporting from an educational standpoint, we have failed both ourselves and those working with us.  Fair Housing is one example of an area we "assume" our team members know.  We give them an online course to complete or on occasion send them to a workshop if the funds are in the budget.  I have in the past written about the trend witnessed related to this topic.  When interviewing managers or anyone that is already in the business I always ask, "What are the protected classes in Fair Housing?"  I have yet to have more than two candidates in ten able to easily give me the correct response.  Our industry has many resources for education and training from site led reviews, regional workshops, Internet based courses, corporate conferences, and apartment association events.  So why is it our people do so poorly in this and other areas we "assume" they are trained in?

The answer is in several areas all critical to benefiting our teams, creating a motivational environment, and raising the skill levels of our associates.  First is follow-up.  How often do we confirm understanding of what is taught?  What I have found when talking with industry trainers is we seem to be lacking in training trainers and leaders/managers to verify educational success.  We instead assume they get it!  The key to great education is not that they can pass a test on an Internet required course, but they "retain" what they have learned and can use it effectively.  Second, we fail miserably at conditioning the training over time.  Humans for the most part need conditioning.    Our people pass that Fair Housing poster many times a day, why don't they know what is on it?  Because we fail to provide reminders and conditioning over time about the importance.  Third, we fail to explain the importance of the training and what they should expect.  This is to not only insure they have a clear understanding, and they won't be surprised as to why we will be following up with occasional testing. 

So, you've read through countless fun blogs from within and outside the industry and yes, you've smiled to yourself as you've had to thumb through silly posts about the author's dogs or sunglasses and/or other gimmicky things to keep you reading. And yes, you've gone a step above and read through more authoritative beats like Mashable or TechCrunch or HBR to yes, still find yourself having to smile and get through gimmicky articles on social media. 

And in that time frame of lost minutes  (and yes, hours), you were trained over and over to think that social media was about #fans #followers #tweets #comments #posts and other "measurements". Well, guess what they were wrong and you were wrong to believe it. These vanity metrics simply don't add up to leases or renewals. At the very stretch, they are ONLY good for brand lift, which you likely will ONLY consider once you can DEMONSTRATE you have a handle on building true marketing and leasing ROI. Otherwise, I give it to your boss to tell you to eat it and find something else better to do with your time.

And the reason is simple, we as an industry need to spend the very little time we do have to market (how many of you truly have a full-time dedicated marketing manager on site???) on getting a return from it. 

As an approachable leader and champion for both multifamily and my company, I’m asked almost daily how to get to the next level. They’ve taken classes, have a degree, a designation or two and yet their career with their current company is at a standstill. Professionals want to grow, to make more money, to be challenged, to feel like they’re making a contribution, to make their mark… but they’re often unsure about how to find a new position.

You might be thinking this is a no-brainer; you’ll just head to an internet job board, type in the type of position you want, and search through the hundreds or thousands of results. Maybe you’ll apply to all of them, I mean… the more you apply to the better your chances, right?

To quote one of my favorite plays, Death of a Salesman, “It’s who you know, and the smile on your face! It’s contacts, Ben, contacts!”