Apartment Training

Managing any property requires a true commitment from the on-site team. There are so many responsibilities involved that many Managers simply burn out and try to ride it out with their heads buried in so-called busy work each day without any regard for tackling the tough management issues.

One of these tough issues is also somewhat controversial, considering what is going on with the Martin case in Florida and the Price case in Ohio. However, it is an important issue to discuss and understand. Many crime-ridden properties face the issue of trespass every day and Managers should be well versed in this subject. I feel issuing Civil and Criminal Trespass Notices can work very well for addressing unwelcome people who enter your property.

Whether you are just getting started with your social media strategy or you’re paving the way for others in the industry, it is imperative to have a policy in place.  In this digital era, your employees need to be well versed in appropriate online behavior when they are representing, not only themselves, but  also the brand.  Policy can be a scary word for employees, which is why your social media policy should really be more of a set of guidelines.  Here are a couple tips to get you started on your set of guidelines:

1.    Team Effort – Creating a social media policy at your company should be a team effort.  Gather a cross-functional group from departments like PR, legal, strategy, sales, marketing and senior leadership.  All of these people will play an important role in crafting your guidelines.

2.    Common Sense – Make sure to include guidelines that you may think are common sense in your policy.  You cannot assume everyone thinks the same way and it is better to be safe than sorry.  Some examples of this would be:

By Jo-Anne Oliveri, ireviloution intelligence, Brisbane, Australia

There are many reasons why we need to recruit. We live in a world where there are unlimited opportunities for advancement and success. So, it stands to reason that your team members come and go based on their own personal career aspirations and opportunities that present themselves.

It’s always wise to know individual team member’s personal goals. You should ask them what these are at the initial interview and then discuss it at monthly one-to-one meetings. By knowing what your team member’s long-term career aspirations are, you are then able to manage your team, business, and service by design.

By Linda Day Harrison, theBrokerList, Chicago, IL

As managers and owners of property, are we not supposed to deliver the best service, and keep our properties as safe and clean as possible? Is our staff learning and keeping on top of the current trends in technology and techniques? Do we empower our teams to deliver the best they can to maintain or lease our property? If not, why? What is your excuse?

Are there not enough hours in the day? Are funds tight? Is an emergency, like bad weather or governmental changes stopping you, giving you an excuse for not training, or teaching your team how to be the best?

Lease like an Athlete – Finish Strong

In a previous blog; Train like an Athlete, we talked about training to be Leasing Superstars with repeating great fundamentals to instill great leasing habits.   That got me to thinking about other ways leasing is like sports….and the infamous words “finish strong!”

Being in softball and soccer as a kid, I always heard my coaches yelling out “Finish strong!”  Which meant, keep playing hard until the very end of the game.  Even now, as I watch my son during his baseball practice and games, I often hear his coach yelling the same words to him and his team, “Finish strong boys!  Finish strong!”  But what exactly does “Finish Strong” mean when it comes to leasing?

What are you supposed to do to “turn around a troubled Section 8 property?” Some people may not like my answer; however, since this is my forte, I will give you a succinct, straight forward answer – you can’t – UNLESS you are committed to doing what it takes. I feel strongly that just because you work on an income based property, there is no reason not to manage with pride and provide the best living experience for your residents. But it takes more than someone coming to work at eight o’clock each morning and running out the door at five o’clock each evening. I can tell you almost every project based Section 8 property struggles with discouraged management at one time or another. Until you can walk on that property at 8 AM ready to face whatever comes your way, then you aren’t approaching that property ready to do it justice.

My first Section 8 property (when I was hired it was because the manager  did not even know how to turn on her computer, much less master the newly installed property management accounting software program. She was an acquaintance of mine and recruited me) was rough with more than 300 police calls each month. The Manager’s office contained stacks and stacks of files in varying stages of recertification. Rent checks had not been input into Yardi for 3 months. I asked if the money had at least been taken to the bank? Some had, but not all of it had, evidenced by a stack of checks I found inside the bank bag.

First hello all, I am sure some are saying, " he's back", and others saying oh, no! I was out for a while and evaluating some training programs. While doing so there were many observations and there were some good and some bad. Here is one and I am sure that some of you may have read my writing, "It is not my ability to learn, but your ability to train that is being evaluated".

I find there are times when trainers give classes on a given subject, and the test results are not good because the people are not able to grasp a certain subject. Now do not get me wrong, there are those who do not get it because they do not apply themselves or have other activities which impact on their ability to pay attention in class. Lets talk about the others that are there to learn and their scores are poor.

This is where my military training comes into play as I think that we have some of the best trainers in the world! When training you first let the people know what it is that they will be trained on, under what conditions the training will happen, and to what standards they will be trained or what they should be able to do at the end of training.

Now if I have a class of personnel that have graduated high school and completed college courses, or are college grads they have established that they can learn, how does the trainer know they are reaching their personnel? Give quizzes before the final test and evaluate what portions are getting through and where it seems the people are not getting what you are putting out and look at a different way of putting it out there. I find quizzes before the exam tell you where your class is and if you are reaching them.

The next thing is when we have mastered something and have been doing it for a while it is so easy, but not everything that we learned at the beginning was easy. Many tend to forget this fact and show their impatients. Never forget when you were sitting in that seat to learn!

A trainer has to connect with their class and the class needs to know the benefit of the class and what it will do for them and their customers. Then the trainer must be willing to spend time with those who are struggling after hours. If training is just a job and the people filling those seats have dollar signs, then there is more than likely not going to be affective training and I can also a lot of times show you people that train people to take the test rather than to learn a new skill.

Just my little view for whatever it is worth!

Superstar Leasing – train like an athlete

When I first started in the apartment industry, I was fortunate (although I didn’t think so at the time!) to have a manager constantly in my ear, in my face and basically in my business!  Why?  Because high occupancy, the result of great leasing, was her business.

Yes, I was shown the ropes like most newbie’s in our biz and told “put a smile in your voice!” and “lease to them on the phone!” But doing it right, constantly, every time didn’t happen when given those instructions.  It happen with someone beside me for every call, reminding me to smile, get their name and ask those all important questions; how did they hear about us, when do they want to move, what are the looking for in their new place, how many will be moving in with us, get personal, get the appointment and ultimately get the lease.  I’ve asked those questions so many times I can recite them in my sleep!! Call log sheets were not acceptable unless every question was filled in.  Appointments that didn’t show, got immediate follow up calls, follow up logs had to be turned in daily, and often in lease ups, prospects that weren’t leasing couldn’t leave unless we went and consultant with our manager first. 

For those of you who know me or have read my blog, you know that I am a huge proponent of professional development and industry education. However, there are just certain things that you are not going to learn in a classroom about the multifamily management business. The following are meant to be lighthearted so I hope no one takes offense.

1) You will need to set a limit as to how many times a disgruntled person can drop the "f" bomb on you before its time to end the conversation

2) If you have a property with 1 or more lakes you could end up knowing more about swans and geese and their feces than you ever thought appropriate

3) You no longer will have a "normal scope of vision" you will find yourself looking at buildings and properties in which you have no affiliation and find yourself making "punch lists" in your head

4) You will at some point have a conversation with someone about dog poo that may or may not end in a threat to DNA test said poo.

5) Someone will call you and tell you that there is a ghost living with them and actually expect you to "resolve" the issue........ I recommend calling an exterminator.

Wow, one would think that a promotion from Property Supervisor to Regional Manager on a partnership track would be the epitome of property management ladder climbing. Honestly, for the fifteen years that I have been in this profession, I have only dreamed of such a moment. All I can say is…be careful what you ambition for.

I was an excellent leasing consultant because I was great with residents and prospects. I had (and still have) a talent for smooth resident relations, and I could literally anticipate the needs of the potential residents that came to my community. I can relate to people and I have been told that I have a genuine style that is seen as sincere and honest. Leasing came easy to me because that is who I am. I did not have to alter who I was in order to do my job. 

Stay with me…