The Digital Comment Card Takes a Stand

Join me as I take a stroll to “back in the day.” I am 21 years old standing in front of my closet looking at my navy blue uniform suit, trying to find something to add to the outfit to disrupt the image of a flight attendant. I try on a few blouses and different shoes and settle for a starched white blouse, a string of pearls and put my hair up so that I would look a little older. This is a funny image to me because now that I am “older” I wear my hair down to look younger! Why did I care so much about how I looked this particular day? Well, it is the day of our quarterly recognition rally called “The IMD Meeting.” This stands for “I made a difference.” The Vice Presidents would hand out awards for excellent shopping report scores, properties beating budget and certain individuals who stood out by doing something above and beyond the call of the job description. Everyone wanted to look their best for this meeting including me as I was hoping for a promotion to a position in the training department.

This meeting is a special one for me, I’ve been mystery shopped twice during the quarter and receive an excellent score on both reports earning me a certificate, some applause and $200 in my pocket. The big surprise came when I won the IMD award because the home office had received an overwhelming number of comment cards talking about various acts of service I’ve offered my important residents. Once again I stand up in my freshly pressed suit and proudly accepted my award. This was an amazing recognition and I tear up when I call my parents to share the exciting news.

I worked for a company that not only cared about the feedback our residents had to share with us, but also created a number of measurable opportunities to solicit this feedback. I’ve been thinking a lot about this while consulting with clients this summer. The hot topic in the marketing world is social media and everyone is trying to figure out what it is all about and if it is worth the effort. Much to my surprise, each client I have worked with this summer has been worried about the negative feedback that a resident may write on our Facebook wall, tweet about on Twitter or direct a scathing video for distribution on You Tube. While I understand the concern, I simply explain that these social media channels are the comment cards of 2009 and beyond. It is the new way for our residents to provide positive and constructive feedback so that we can reward our team members and improve the customers experience. This conversation derived from social media will be mentioned in award and recognition rally’s all over our industry.

This week, apartment pro’s and residents has been observing an interesting lawsuit filed by Horizon Realty versus a resident who posted a tweet to her mere 22 followers concerning mold in her apartment. Horizon felt the statement was unfair and grounds for libel. News of this lawsuit has been filling my twitter screen, discussed in other blogs, mentioned on the walls of Facebook and the topic of conversation in every corner of our country. What I think is interesting is that instead of using the tweet as a form of feedback from the modern day comment card, Horizon would like to argue that a resident cannot tell their friends and followers that they are upset with management. In a world where word of mouse is more powerful than word of mouth, Horizon’s lawsuit has sent the suspicion to thousands of people that they would rather sue a resident than to solve their problems. Now, in all fairness, the inside story may be quite different and Horizon has a good point to make, but the reality is that many will never hear that point as the thought that suing a resident who only has 22 followers and made a comment about mold makes them a landlord who does not care. Let’s remember, perception is everything and in this case Horizon has spread this perception to thousands of people through their law suit.

I am certain my consulting clients will want to use this scenario as a reason to avoid social media. Yet, I still stand firm, use this digital comment card to receive the feedback and show your residents you care. If a customer posts something on the wall, use this as an opportunity to publicly respond that you are glad this has been brought to your attention and want to make the residents home as comfortable as possible. I can promise you that if you abstain from social media, your residents will not. So, be a part of this conversation and see this as a channel to stay in communication with your residents. I admire Mark Juleen from JC Hart who reminded me at the Real Page Users Conference that we can use social media to show we care and when did it no longer become our job to show our residents we care? Good point Mark! See you at the IMD meeting.

Recently Published in Landlord Times: 6 Questions With Kate Good

1) What's your background? How did you come to be an apartment marketing guru?

I was a servi-bar attendant who lost her job and found that I was qualified to be a leasing consultant! I was so fortunate to have my first position in the industry with Trammell Crow Residential. We were building apartment communities on every corner and did not have a marketing department. We were a do it yourself kind of property. I was highly compensated to lease apartments and therefore very motivated to create my own traffic. Surrounding myself with great people the whole way allowed me to learn from every opportunity. I made leasing and marketing my area of expertise.

It did not take long to see who the stand out marketing people are in our industry. I study everything that Jamie Gorski and Jennifer Nevitt create. Each are so accomplished and very different in their approach. In addition, I keep a close eye on the brands that serve our residents. They spend millions of dollars on marketing experts and I get to observe their work for free.

Today, I feel something like a scientist because I am willing to test ideas and see the results. This is how I know what works.

2) What has changed the most since you started your multifamily housing career?

a. Our knowledge. We used to make gut based decisions. Now we have access to data and information and we can make wiser choices for our budgets, apartment design and positioning.

b. How residents use their apartments. No one eats dinner in the dining room and American also hang on to a lot of stuff. We need things like home docking stations and places to hang a flat screen. This consumer need repositions apartment spaces to meet their lifestyle.

c. The Internet changed everything in the sales and marketing world. In some respects it makes things so much easier to market and rent because we are able to communicate more information in a well positioned way to our current and future residents. In other ways it created non geographical competitors and made marketing more challenging.

3) What has stayed the same?

Salaries. Ok, just kidding. But I don't think they have grown enough to account for a 5% increase every year over the past 21 years!

On a serious note, the basics just seem to never change and are still important. A mentor of mine, Anne Sadovsky says "we are going to keep on teaching the basics until people start doing them." I could not agree more. The basic way we lease and market to our customers still has the same theme of attaching their needs to the attributes of our community and then asking for the lease.

I find great joy and comfort in the fact that many of the same people I worked with early in my career are still in the business. I recently reconnected with my very first boss Glenn Rand. Our paths have crossed a few times and I am so excited that he knew me when I was a Leasing Consultant and is proud of my work today. I learned so much from him. It really is important to never burn a bridge. Our business cards may have changed but the people are still the same great leaders that I enjoy doing business with.

4) How has the use of technology changed the business?

Access and response. Today we have greater access and quicker responses. What used to take six hours is now done in six seconds. I don't think anyone misses ledger cards! However this has also created more work for us. Our capacity for gathering information is amazing to me. The knowledge I gather by spending 8 minutes on Twitter is exciting. I am glad to see this technology revolution unfold and capitalize on the opportunities. I expect another technology revolution will change our lives in the near future.

5) You work with apartment marketers all over the country and you've pretty much seen it all. Does anything blow your mind anymore? Have you seen anything amazing during your recent travels?

I am seeing a lot of desperate marketing and this does not make an apartment community desirable. People are still leasing apartments during this slump. Instead of decreasing value we need to increase the value proposition by adding services and access through affinity programs. People love coupons these days. Why not build a great alliance with area businesses by giving them access to your residents through a community membership program? This would be a huge win for all parties and completely fits the mind of today's consumer.

Can you believe some properties still do not have Web sites? Amazing!

6) With the overall economy in the tank and the housing bubble evaporated, the apartment market has become pretty volatile and can be very different market to market. From a marketing standpoint, give us a brief state of the industry.

The game has changed and so should our marketing message. The industry should now focus on building value and retaining our customers. Calling an apartment "luxurious" won't sell in a savings minded economy. The focus is once again on the management companies to tighten up operations and expenses and also maintain value for our investors. I think the apartment rental market will recover quicker than other real estate sectors. New construction came to a screeching halt and that will eventually push demand as new supply stands still. This means the next two years have to be about maintaining and remembering that what we have always done won't get us what we have always accomplished. It is a time of retooling and doing it better than anyone else. A company's ability to learn and appropriately change faster and smarter than anyone else will be their key to success and survival.

7) With the troubled economy in mind, what words of advice would you give to someone who's just getting into the business? What about an apartment leasing veteran who's looking to recharge in this competitive environment?

For our newcomers, welcome. I have made a lifelong career in this business and you can too. Like you, I entered during a challenging economy and it made me smart and solid. You will learn faster than your peers did because of this timing. There are a lot of paths to be followed in this business but along the way simply be a standout in your current position and the business will always reward you.

To my fellow veterans, I offer you a challenge; get involved and be an educated voice in the industry. Start your own blog and/or resource Web site. You will be amazed at how much you know and how others will grow from your knowledge. A great place to start is www.MultifamilyInsiders.com. There are so many veteran's blogging on that site. When I post a blog on this site and www.KateGood.com my heart really starts to race when I get feedback that people are reading this and asking for me. Personally, this has renewed my spirit to grow again and expand my knowledge base.
This is a big year for me, I am celebrating my 21st year in the industry and I started at the age of 18. Do the math and you will see the second reason why this is a milestone year. I am amazed at my longevity. I used to be the youngest person in the room who could not have a sip of wine at a company meeting when I was 19 or rent a car when I started business travel at the age of 22. Now, I am a veteran? It seemed to all pass by so quickly and I was never bored because I followed my precious father's mantra to "never stop learning."

Kate Good has been leasing apartments her entire adult life. 12 years ago, she decided to start her own business as a professional speaker and marketing solutions expert. She consistently receives the highest marks possible for her content, presentation style and audience involvement. Never one to fall short of exceeding expectations, Kate insisted on answering 7 questions for this 6 question interview. Visit www.KateGood.com for her content rich blog and free leasing and marketing ideas.

The Landlord Times: Your source for multifamily and apartment news and landlord, property management, property maintenance & real estate investing tips.

Shame on me!

Hello to all my blog followers. Shame on me for neglecting you for so many weeks. All I can say is that it has been wild and crazy in the world of KateGood.com. I have been busy traveling to meet with clients. I have also been busy writing and presenting new material for my presentations at NAA and I very excited to share some good stuff with you.

Please tune in over the next few weeks as I get it all typed up and ready to share. I hope you are as inspired as I have been. There are so many good opportunities for marketers today and I have had a front row seat to some amazing education.

Social Networking: How to Get Business

Social Networking: How to Get Business
Join us for a Webinar on June 17

It's hard to ignore social networking and the marketing opportunities they present. Your competition is jumping into this new world of marketing, what are you doing? This Webinar is for those who are taking their first steps into Blogging, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Plaxo and for those who have already engaged but are hoping to find more ways to capitalize on the effort. Learn how to turn social networking into gold by developing databases, staying on contact and creating effortless channels of communication with current and prospective customers.

Title: Social Networking: How to Get Business

Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT
CEU: One (1) CEU credit for CCHPs
Cost: Members $50, Non-Members $75


After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
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Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://ssl17.pair.com/chpa/cgi-bin/chpa_webinar_reg.pl?goto=webreg

Marketing in a Down Economy

By: Steve Hendershot
Issue Date: April 2009

The recession is bad news for just about every sector of American business, and property leasing is no exception. But before you rush to slash your marketing budget as a cost-saving move, consider that good marketing may be the key to keeping your business afloat. Your tenants are out there, and with careful marketing you can find them.

Rather than dream about high rents and low vacancies, focus on a plan to survive the recession. That means offering great value and making sure people are hearing about what you have to offer—in other words, keep marketing.

“If you need traffic, you shouldn’t cut your marketing budget,” says Kate Good, professional speaker, marketing solutions expert and partner on the Apartment All-Stars tour. Instead of keeping your current marketing program, look at changing it up and marketing more intelligently. Good suggests starting with the tenants already in your properties. “The least expensive strategy is to market internally and close the back door.”

So while it’s critical to study your market and know which promotions are luring tenants, it also makes sense to devote some of those perks—a couple of months free rent or a new flat-screen TV—to your existing clientele. It seems counterintuitive to give discounts to the people who are currently underwriting your revenue stream, but if you increase your retention rate you’ll be solving your vacancy problem without the turnover costs associated with moving in a new tenant.

When it comes to reaching out to prospective tenants, be selective. Figure out who is already drawn to your properties and find more of them. Good uses this example: If you notice that your community appeals to active seniors, invite the local bridge club to meet for free in your clubhouse. That way, more people in the target market will see your property, and word will spread.

“Don’t try to be all things to all people,” says Good. “Identify the kind of people who like your community, find out where they are, and figure out how to attract them. You’re saving money by reaching out to a smaller audience, but it’s the right audience.”

Even with changes to your marketing strategy, don’t do away with all of your traditional marketing.
“Print drives traffic to the Internet, so make sure you keep those ads out there,” says Good. And you have to, do it year-round. “Renters pick up the apartment guide in February or March even though they might be renting in June or July. If you pull your ad in February because you’re not getting any traffic, you’ve lost an opportunity for residual traffic later. I don’t pull back on advertising until I’m full, and most people aren’t full right now.”

Next, consider changing your pricing model. Instead of charging the same rent for every two-bedroom unit, for example, charge more for the unit at the end of the hall with more windows, or the unit with new carpet.

There are two advantages to this strategy. First, you can make more on your premium units. Second, if the least expensive units sell first, then your best units will be available for display during the peak of leasing season.

“If you’re charging a flat rate, your best units get cherry picked,” says Good. “You want to have that more desirable unit—with the higher price tag—available when you have higher traffic.”

Slashing your marketing budget isn’t the right response to the recession—changing the way you approach marketing is.

What Madonna Taught Me

My Marketing Mentor: Madonna

In my consulting practice, the economic crisis of 2009 has brought about the need to change, retool and reinvent everything we do in the leasing and marketing of multifamily rental assets. What worked as little as two years ago will simply not cut the mustard today. In fact, it won’t even be close to the results those efforts created 24 months ago. My experience has taught me that this is the time to be at the top of my game so that I can rise to this challenge.

Like everyone else, I need someone I can learn from. This is why I have chosen Madonna as my marketing mentor. For me, Madonna came on to the music scene while I was in my first few years of high school. Even though we wore uniforms, we would try to put a lace band in our hair that would match our lace socks. Every girl running around Fisher Catholic High School wore not less than 6 – 10 black rubber bracelets on her arm and risk detention for a uniform violation infraction. I have to admit, I was influenced by Madonna.

As the years rolled on, Madonna sprinted into a provocative direction and defined herself with her extremely open sexuality. She stared in her movie called “Truth or Dare.” She shifted that X rated image and was nominated for her performance in musical movie Evita. Then in yet another grand process to change her ever evolving image, today, she is writing children’s books. Do you remember the last book she wrote prior to her children’s books? It was sold with a paper cover at the bookstore because of its cover! How does a woman go from pop artist to sexual icon to movie star to author of children’s books? She does it by constantly reinventing herself. She can retool her image to fit her business needs. This is a person who is a marketing genius. She has a unique ability to change her image and position in the spotlight year after year.

If we take a lesson from the marketing manual lived by Madonna. Any apartment community, no matter when it was built, can survived and thrive as Madonna has. I am excited to be working on some projects which are being rehabbed. The “before and after” photos of the apartments are astonishing. To follow suit the marketing needs to be rejuvenated often with a new name, logo and market position. However, you don’t have to redevelop your buildings to conduct a marketing rehab. And, there is no better time than now to reintroduce your apartment community to the market with a fresh look. This is what it takes to get the attention of today’s consumer.

I think Denny’s should receive an award for their effort to get America back to their dining rooms. The Tuesday following Superbowl Sunday, Denny’s offered a free Grand Slam breakfast to everyone who visited. Including the Superbowl ad to launch the campaign, Denny’s spent six million dollars on ads, food and staffing. 200,000 American’s waited in line for up to two hours for a free breakfast valued at $5.99. Not only did Denny’s receive over 100 million dollars in free advertising due to the fact that every media outlet covered the event, they also got old customers and future customers acquainted with the value they offer on a plate.

I drive past apartment communities in every city I visit and many have invested in a rejuvenation effort in years. Their signs have not changed, the landscaping is overgrown, and their exterior colors are out of date. When I open the apartment rental magazines I still see ads with the same old photos and tired words that have not been freshened since the 90’s. If Madonna was your marketing director, she would jump on this need to refresh, renew and reposition. The styles we use for new logo’s has changed. For just $180, the online designers at www.CrowdSpring.com will send you a minimum of 25 entries for new logo options. This small investment is a great start to kicking your image into the current day.

Good News For Apartments

Hi Friends! Thought we could all use a little good news these days. Since CNN is covering the comment Miss California made instead of job growth in Texas and other meaningful states, I feel it is my duty to report. The numbers are not record setting but they are a positive step.

Let's keep in mind that jobs drive the apartment market. In addition, it has been my experience that when San Antonio starts to recover or experiences any trend the country will soon see the same trends. -Kate

Best Cities for Jobs
by Joel Kotkin, Forbes.com

Over the past five years, Michael Shires, associate professor in public policy at Pepperdine University, and I have been compiling a list of the best places to do business. The list, based on job growth in regions across the U.S. over the long, middle and short term, has changed over the years -- but the employment landscape has never looked like this.

In past iterations, we saw many fast-growing economies -- some adding jobs at annual rates of 3% to 5%. Meanwhile, some grew more slowly, and others actually lost jobs. This year, however, you can barely find a fast-growing economy anywhere in this vast, diverse country. In 2008, 2% growth made a city a veritable boom town, and anything approaching 1% growth is, oddly, better than merely respectable.

So this year perhaps we should call the rankings not the "best" places for jobs, but the "least worst." But the least worst economies in America today largely mirror those that topped the list last year, even if these regions have recently experienced less growth than in prior years. Our No.1-ranked big city, Austin, for example, enjoyed growth of 1% in 2008 -- less than a third of its average since 2003.

The study is based on job growth in 333 regions -- called Metropolitan Statistical Areas by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which provided the data -- across the U.S. Our analysis looked not only at job growth in the last year but also at how employment figures have changed since 1996. This is because we are wary of overemphasizing recent data and strive to give a more complete picture of the potential a region has for job-seekers. (For the complete methodology, click here.)

The Big Winner: Texas

The top of the complete ranking -- which, for ease, we have broken down into the two smaller lists, of the best big and small cities for jobs -- is dominated by one state: Texas. The Lone Star State may have lost a powerful advocate in Washington, but it's home to a remarkable eight of the top 20 cities on our list -- including No. 1-ranked Odessa, a small city in the state's northwestern region. Further, the top five large metropolitan areas for job growth -- Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Ft. Worth and Dallas -- are all in Texas' "urban triangle."

The reasons for the state's relative success are varied. A healthy energy industry is certainly one cause. Many Texas high-fliers, including Odessa, Longview, Dallas and Houston, are home to energy companies that employ hordes of people -- and usually at fairly high salaries for both blue- and white-collar workers. In some places, these spurts represent a huge reversal from the late 1990s. Take Odessa's remarkable 5.5% job growth in 2008, which followed a period of growth well under 1% from 1998 to 2002.

Of course, not all the nation's energy jobs are located in Texas, even if the state does play host to most of our major oil companies. The surge in energy prices in 2007 also boosted the performance of several other top-ranked locales such as Grand Junction, Colo., Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodoux, La., Tulsa, Okla., Lafayette, La., and Bismarck, N.D.

Looking at the energy sector's hotbeds, however, doesn't tell the whole story. Another major factor behind a city's job offerings is how severely it experienced the housing crisis. There's a "zone of sanity" across the middle of the country, including the region around Kansas City, Mo., that largely avoided the real estate bubble and the subsequent foreclosure crisis.

College Towns as Emerging Hubs

Still other factors correlating with job growth -- as evidenced by Shires' and my current and past studies -- are lower costs and taxes. For example, the area around Kennewick, Wash., is far less expensive than coastal communities in that same state, and residents and businesses there also enjoy cheap hydroelectric power. Compared with high-tech centers in California and the Northeast, such as San Jose and Boston, places like Austin offer both tax and housing-cost bargains, as do Fargo, N.D. and Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.

College towns also did well on our list, particularly those in states that are both less expensive and outside the Great Lakes. Although universities -- and their endowments -- are feeling the recession's pinch, they continue to attract students. In fact, colleges saw a bumper crop of applicants this year, as members of the huge millennial generation, encompassing those born after 1983, reach that stage of life. More recently, college towns have emerged as incubators for new companies and as attractive places for retirees.

Specifically, the college town winners include not only well-known places like Austin and Chapel Hill, but also less-hyped places like Athens, Ga., home of the University of Georgia; College Station, Texas, where 48,000-student Texas A&M University is located; Morgantown, W.Va., site of the University of West Virginia; and Fargo, the hub of North Dakota State University.

Democratic states are glaringly absent from the top of the list. You don't get to a traditionally blue state -- in a departure from past years, Obama won North Carolina -- until you get to Olympia, Wash., and Seattle, which ranked No. 6 among the large cities.

But political changes afoot could affect the trajectory of many of our fast-growing communities -- and not always in positive ways. It's possible that the Obama administration's new energy policies, which may discourage domestic fossil fuel production, could put a considerable damper on the still-robust parts of Texas and elsewhere where coal, oil and natural gas industries are still cornerstones of economic success.

Economic and Power Shifts

By contrast, the wind- and solar-power industries seem to be, as of now, relatively small job generators, and with energy prices low, endeavors in these areas are sustainable only with massive subsidies from Washington. But still, if these sectors grow in size and profitability, other locales that have not typically been seen as energy hubs over the past few decades may benefit -- notably parts of California, although Texas and the Great Plains also seem positioned to profit from these developments.

Another critical concern for some communities is the potential for major cutbacks on big-ticket defense spending. This would be of particular interest to communities in places like Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia where new aircraft are currently assembled. Over the years, blue states like California have seen their defense industry shrivel as the once-potent Texas Congressional delegation and the two Bushes tilted toward Lone Star State contractors.

These days it's big-city mayors and big blue-state governors who are looking for financial support from Obama. Northeast boosters are convinced more money on mass transit, inter-city rail lines and scientific research will rev up their economies. Boston -- No. 16 on the list of large cities and a leading medical and scientific research center -- could be a beneficiary of the new federal spending.

The most obvious winner from the recent power shift should be Washington, D.C. The Obama-led stimulus, including the massive Treasury bailout, has transformed the town from merely the political capital into the de facto center of regular capital as well. Watch for D.C. and its environs to move up our list over the next year or two. Already the area boasts one of the few strong apartment markets among the big metropolitan areas in the country, which will only improve as job-seekers flock to the new Rome.

More Promising Places

Yet Washington is an anomaly, because most of the places that stand to benefit from this unforgiving economy are ones that are affordable and therefore friendly to business, reinforcing a key trend of the last decade. It also helps regions to have ties to core industries like energy and agriculture, a sector that has remained relatively strong and will strengthen again when global demand for food increases.

Some areas have attracted new residents readily and continue to do so, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Over time this migration could be good news for a handful of metropolitan areas like Salt Lake City, which ranks seventh among the big cities for job growth, and Raleigh-Cary, N.C., which was No. 1 among large cities last year and No. 8 this year. Over the last few years, these places have consistently appeared at the top of our rankings and are emerging as preferred sites for cutting-edge technology and manufacturing firms.

Below these winners are a cluster of other promising places that have already managed to withstand the current downturn in decent shape and seem certain to rebound along with the overall economy. These include the largely suburban area around Kansas City, Kan., perennial high-flyer Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Greeley, Colo. -- in part due to their ability to attract workers and businesses from bigger metropolitan centers nearby -- as well as Huntsville, Ala., which has a strong concentration of workers in the government and high-tech sectors.

In the end, most of the cities at the top of the lists -- whether they are small, medium or large -- have shown they have what it takes to survive in tough times. Less-stressed local governments will be able to construct needed infrastructure and attract new investors so that job growth can rise to the levels of past years. If better days are in the offing, these areas seem best positioned to be the next drivers of the economic expansion this nation sorely needs.

Joel Kotkin is a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is executive editor of newgeography.com and writes the weekly New Geographer column for Forbes.