Property Management

Apartment marketing tagline idea

Park Station: the apartment community that revitalized a neighboorhood

Or, apartment homes that re-invented community

Stay Fluid...

Pay for performance

Do you think its coming for the major print media mags? The trend that Rent.com made highly popular will force its way into the majors soon. I think the industry will call for it and or the mags will catch the wave and go for it. It comes down to tracking. See me last post for an idea on that.


Technorati Tags: For Rent, Apartment Guide, mike brewer, apartment marketing

Powered by ScribeFire.

Tracking media spends

We all know that tracking is only as good as the person putting the information into the computer. What if For Rent, Apartment Guide and all the other mediums placed bar codes in their ads? Bar codes that could be read by a cheap universal USB bar code reader supplied to all properties.

The bar code reader would be integrated with the major software platforms like Yardi or MRI so that when a scan happened a guest card would be instantly created leaving the agent to put in names, email addresses, etc...

On the internet it would be even better. The bar code would be created after a number of personal details were put in by the consumer. A coupon could be printed and when scanned at the site, it would create an instant guest card complete with a track for the ad.




Technorati Tags: bar code ad tracking, property management, apartmment marketing, mike brewer

Powered by ScribeFire.

Tomorrow is Monday....my favorite day of the week

I say that with absolute seriousness. I love Monday, it is my absolute favorite day of the week. I am most alive on Monday! I strive for the most on Monday! I drink more coffee on Monday! My heart beats faster on Monday! I do all those things that I know I won't do on Tue, Wed, Thur and surely not Friday on Monday!

Tomorrow? It is on my to-do-list to visit with one customer tomorrow. I am picking a new move in from over the weekend. What am I going to ask? The one and only question that matters in my book. "Would you refer us to your friends and family?"

The answer will reveal everything I want to know. If not, I am sure I will know why. If so, I am sure I will know why. And guess what, I won't even have to ask the follow up questions as the answers will just fly...

Happy Monday!


Technorati Tags: Monday is my favorite day, mike brewer, apartment management, apartment marketing

Powered by ScribeFire.

LED lights in the multi-family space

Now that we have all rid our communities of the evil incandescent and installed the more environmentally friendly alternative florescent, get ready for LED. These bulbs are just plain sexier and to boot they last 50,000 hours, cost about the same as florescent and can be programmed to be cool when you want them to be cool.

I remember razzing my former regional maintenance director at a big REIT about this a couple years ago now. Jason, its time to make it happen. I think he thinks I am a cracked pot. (Or is it crack-pot?) I wonder about things like that. I digress.

This trend is huge and it is gaining traction. And, it is incumbent upon those of us in the multi-family space to take action! We, as a group, control a lot of light bulbs.

If you are looking for a way to be at least a little green then buy into this trend.


Technorati Tags: LED lighting, property managment, apartment marketing

Powered by ScribeFire.

The hidden price of indifference

How many notices do you take in a year? How many do you think tell you the unadulterated truth as to why they are vacating their apartment? How many do you think are moving because they are indifferent to you and your apartment management team? How much do you think that costs you in turnover and re-marketing?

How many fewer notices are you going to take in 8'? How much effort does it take to ask a few more questions when you receive a notice? How much does it cost to be the difference that makes a difference? How much are you going to save in turnover and re-marketing in 8'?


Technorati Tags: indifference, property management, apartment marketing, mike brewer

Powered by ScribeFire.

Urbane Apartments

Eric and his team have it right!!!! Nice and famous. I am thinking 2008 will be insanely great for these guys. This is their first stab and incorporating Youtube into their marketing strategy and I must say I am impressed. The only thing I would add is a call to action at the end. The logo rocks, maybe drop the URL in under it or dare I say the phone number.

Nice work E, you are far and away leading the pack in your market place. Thank you for taking the time to share your creativity with us. M

Good to Great and employee reviews

Surely by now everyone has heard about this book. It was written sometime back in 2001 and gained a lot of attention in business circles.

I thought the book was just o.k., that is with the exception of one page. Page 56. I like to refer to it as page 56 thinking. The page speaks to the principle of having the right people on the bus and in the right seats in your organization. It speaks specifically to slackers and how allowing a slacker to exist on your team inevitably leads to low morale and superstars that leave for better environments. I really enjoyed what Mr. Collins had to say on the subject and would love to report that I have followed the wisdom without fail since. But, I have not.

I can say with great pain in those times I have not moved on an issue, the teams have suffered. Where I have done just the opposite they have flourished.

Pick up the book next time you are in the store and read page 56. Do it before you complete this years reviews. If nothing else it will validate both those feelings and those conversations you have with yourself when no one else is around.


Technorati Tags: Good to Great, apartment marketing, property management, mike brewer

Powered by ScribeFire.

Brilliant customer service

Tonight I was thinking about customer service and wondered if anyone out there has a story to tell? I am looking for the knock your socks off lunatic fringe sort of story. The one you tell all your friends about (twice).

If you have a story like that please click here and tell us about it. If we get a story or two I want to feature them in a separate post and talk about how we might manufacture and authentic replica of such service in our business.

Again, have a great weekend.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Best practices

Does the application of best practices detour or derail innovation?
Or, does it limit innovation to a choice few in the organization?

Stay Fluid...