Seminar Wrap Up by Chrissy Wills at CAA

Kate Good Presented "Beating the Benchmark" at the CAA
Written by Chrissy Wills
Wednesday, 23 September 2009 15:30

The Columbus Apartment Association (CAA) hosted Kate Good, national speaker, who presented "Beating the Benchmark" on September 23rd at the Fawcett Center. Forty CAA members were in attendance to hear Kate explain how to market during this economy.
Kate recently presented at the National Apartment Association annual convention in June at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. She is a nationally recognized apartment marketing expert known for her amazing creativity, energy and motivational ability. Kate has been working in apartments her entire life, and has brought invaluable insight to developers, marketing directors and associations across the country.

To start the Beating the Benchmark session, Kate gave some interesting facts about today's apartment industry. Approximately 70% of communities nationwide are offering concessions, everything from one month to four months free. According to her research, current consumer buying habits include: an average of two visits to make a decision, apartment residents are looking for extra spaces, in traditional relationships the female is the primary decision maker in choosing a home, the first visit to a community is virtual and apartment residents will take 60 - 90 days to make a decision.

The CAA members enjoyed Kate's humor and case studies about McDonald's trying to become Starbucks and Starbucks trying to be like McDonalds. She shared these ideas to get attendees to think about what their unique selling features are and to showcase those in ads and leasing presentations. Also, she recommended stepping up ads with language for today; she likes terms such as comfortable, generous for the money, durable, built to last, and great buy.
To close Kate shared easy marketing ideas and effective closing techniques. Some of Kate's favorite marketing ideas included handwritten notes, placing the bootleg signs inside the community to remind current residents about the community's benefits and creating a special of the day. CAA members really liked the seminar and could easily take away fresh ideas from it.

Kristi Fickert with Village Green Management traveled from Cincinnati to hear Kate speak and really gained a lot from the presentation, "I think everyone in the room took at least ten new ideas home with them."

The CAA would like to thank our members for attending Beating the Benchmark and look forward to seeing them at the next seminar.