Developing new talent

I have been speaking over the years and all those that know me understand my passion for training and education.  I would never have been the person I am today without those along my career line sharing information and believing in me.  Leaders should constantly be looking for, molding, and developing new talent for the future.  It is also extremely rewarding to see others move up the ladder of success because you played a part in their development.

Training and education should never stop, however, most times in most positions after initial orientation and training a training plan is not available or encouraged.  Why not you ask?  Because most organizations do not see the reward with the expense or understand the motivational environment it creates.  When not in property management I am a cast member for Disney diving with sharks.  Yes, I'm in the water with real very large sharks every day and it is awesome.    This is a company that not only encourages training and education, but has one of the largest divisions related to training and education in the country...if maybe not the world.  Maybe, just maybe, this is one of the reasons Disney is known for excellence in guest services and the many years of success.  When a need was identified related to a safety issues, my coordinator asked me to develop operating procedures and head up the training program.  No long drawn out process, just do it.  Whow, what a fresh and welcoming way to enhance education within our group.  When a need was identified to conduct shark suit training for our aquarium team, I was again approached since I had training in that area.  Want to take a course to take you to the next level, Disney has one for just about every area and subject matter.  Have to say, Disney does it right!

Part of the reason for promoting education and training is helping to not only develop, but identify new talent.  Who will lead your organization in the future?  What exceptional talent may you loose if you do not identify future stars?   Leaders look for opportunity and new responsibilities, and true leaders are never complacent with where they are at and where their team is at.  I remember a young man I had once in a CAM class I was teaching.  His responses, attention, and openness told me he wanted to learn and had great potential.  I had the opportunity to work with him as his regional and he says with my guidance developed leadership traits he has today.   He later when on to become a Regional Director and has truly become a leader and someone who also sees the abilities in others.  One of my proudest moments of many similar stories.

 Seek out new talent through education, training, sharing, and believing.  Find ways to make education fun and exciting.  Develop a strategy to identify the leaders of tomorrow, and in the process you may find you are educating yourself.  Developing new talent does not have to be difficult.  A little training, motivation, education, and inspiration can take any team to the next level and in reaching new goals.  If it isn't there create it!  If not provided, seek it and find where you can learn!  If you desire it, ask for it! 

Managing My Marketing

If it's not broke, don't fix it!  We have all heard that expression and at times maybe even used it.  Problem is, when it comes to marketing it may not be broken, just not maximizing your return which in my opinion is the same thing as broken.  Marketing mediums are not all alike, and the efficacy of marketing mediums depend on many variables.  What demographics is the site or publication hitting, what is the distribution and is it hitting your target market?  How easily can content be updated and changed, as well as who can make these changes and how quickly?  How is the traffic tracked, and what data do you get for follow-up and what segments of data are available to help you understand the profile of your guests?  How can you determine which mediums create the most benefit from the expense?  What mediums should I be in and how can I provide rationale to ownership and management to add marketing dollars?  How is technology changing how I market, and how do we stay ahead of the curve when contracts are signed for long obligation periods?  And last but not least, is your message driving leases or just phone calls?   So many questions, so little time to write...so we'll touch on a few of these area!

Let's start with all the options we have and the different mediums trying to vie for your marketing dollars.  Having prepared hundreds of budgets and managed for owners, REIT's, and third party companies, ownership (and upper leadership in some cases) is not always understanding to the expense side of the financial and budget when it comes to marketing dollars.  We are constantly asked, "How can we minimize or reduce expenses and is what your asking for absolutely necessary?"  We must also acknowledge every marketing provider can say, "We are the best."  So, how do we know we are putting our marketing eggs in the right basket and can get the maximum result to increase revenue and occupancy?   Not all of the questions are aimed at marketing mediums nor do they place responsibility on them.  First line of responsibility is with us as property managers and business owners!  Do your homework, check references and statistics yourself, verify your analysis with someone you trust, listen to others, and be prepared to justify your recommendations and decision. 

I have always been an advocate of looking at leases and not just leads when reviewing and analyzing marketing mediums.  This is of course assuming you believe your team is doing the basics related to what I call "first position" leasing.  What is "first position?"  Well, glad you asked.  Are they great at handling telephone leasing and are they maximizing conversion ratio's from call to visit?  Are they quantifying the marketing source that lead them to the call or visit?  Are they performing effective and timely follow-up?  Are they superstars when it comes to leasing and closing?  If so, the next step is looking at your message.  What am I saying in my advertisement and is it generating interest to get the call and the visit?  Is my message in the ad representative of the property being presented?  Last thing you want is your ad gives a Class A feel and a Class C visit.   When you ask these questions and go back to the lead versus the lease analogy, leases put money in the bank...leads do not! 

Second position is content, the words you choose, the pictures and other content presented, and does the ad hit your target market.   Once again does the message fit the community and is it motivational (create action to call or visit)?  What do you use as bullet points and what order do you put them in?  What are you saying in your "paragraph" section, and are you keeping it brief because we all know people review advertising today in bites and more is not necessarily better?  Do your pictures really tell a story and are they representative of what the guest will see upon visiting your site? 

How do I convince ownership or upper leadership to give me more marketing dollars, or in some cases keep what marketing dollars you have had?  First question, have you answered all the questions already talked about above and made good decisions in the past to provide a basis for justification of what you are asking for?  If not, your chances are already reduced.  Second, prepare a CBA or Cost Benefit Analysis for what you are asking for or trying to justify.  Basically, you have to sell your marketing dollars just as you would a budget.  Those that have attended my "How to sell a budget" workshop know what I am talking about.  Call references and document the contact and their results.  Compare apples to apples with your analysis related to the  type of community, advertising mediums used, leases provided, leads produced, and personnel.  A well prepared, documented, and presented analysis and plan can make the difference between getting a yes...and having to hear a no!

So, what is the answer?  Not all the questions I have raised have been answered and maybe the answer is in all the questions I have raised.  My intent here is not to give you all the answers as every community, ownership, and medium is different.  My goal is to get you to open your mind, really think through the process, and ask the right questions.   I could write an entire article or even a book on this topic (wait a minute...I have), and have only scratched the surface in how to look at marketing.  Knowledge is not in having all the answers, but knowing where to find them.