Two Quick Tips on Determining Your “Market to Target”- Marketing Mondays with Stephanie Graves, Marketing and Training Director, Asset Plus Companies

If you have chatted with any marketing professionals regarding your property you’ll hear them say something like, “you must properly analyze your property to determine your target market and demographics for effective marketing”.  But what does that mean and how do I do it, some of you may be asking (truly the ones that are asking are probably not reading MI, but I digress)?   Here are some tips to quickly get you thinking about your “market to target”:

1. Calculate the right income earners.  Take the average rent of your apartment homes and multiple it by your qualifying income level.  For ease of math, let us say my average rent is $500.  I require that my residents make three times the rental amount to qualify.  I can quickly calculate $500 X 3 = $1500 per month or around $10.00/per hour is what my typical resident needs to make to qualify for my apartments.  Use this amount to base your marketing efforts.  Target those clients that are about 10% higher and 10% lower (roommate possibilities) than this amount.  You’ll want to look for businesses or jobs that pay about $10.00 per hour, as this is the average income of your typical client.  Does this mean that people making less or more will not lease with you?  Of course not, but this gives you a good base to start so you are not just randomly flyer marketing. 

Think about this, if your average income is $10.00 per hour than you probably will not target doctors or nurses right?  But you would target possibly hospital janitorial staff or front desk clerks at a hospital right?  As you approach hospitals and market, target your efforts to those that are within your target income, rather than to the higher income earners.  Make your flyers or give away appeals to the right income earner.

2. Survey your residents to determine their psychographics.  What did you call me?  Simply put, while demographics are what makes up your target market psychographics are what your target market does.  While demographics are very important I like to focus on psychographics because those tell me what my target market DOES, so I can go where they go and do what they do.  How do you determine that? Ask them!  Make your questionnaires fun and include questions like:

a.      It’s Saturday night and you are hungry, where would you go to grab a quick bite?

b.     You are on a ‘date night’, what romantic, yet economical restaurant would you take your sweetie to?

c.     What grocery store do you shop at?

d.     If price was not an issue would you shop anywhere else?  Where?

e.     Which of the following can you NOT live without

            i.      Monthly hair appointments, who do you recommend?

            ii.     Mani or pedi appointments, who do you recommend?

            iii.    Weekly happy hour, where do you recommend?

            iv.    Daily work out, where do you recommend?

This is a great start to target local businesses that your current residents already frequent and can solicit a few more!

This is an excellent start to your marketing efforts.  Is it all encompassing – NO!  But it is a good start to your efforts and it is a plan!  Your supervisor will be impressed with your thought process and efforts when you tell him/her how you targeted your businesses based on income and your current residents’ patterns.  More importantly I believe you’ll see more results by targeted efforts.  

Top 4 Things You Can Do to Make Sure You Are Replaceable! - Marketing Mondays with Stephanie Graves, Marketing and Training Director, Asset Plus Companies

So did I get your attention?  I know, I know, you don’t want to be replaceable because then they will… replace you!!!  YES they will because you will be PROMOTED because you are so awesome!!  So in preparation for your promotion to assistant, manager, director, supervisor or whatever title you are striving for you must make sure your team is ready to take the reins and RUN!  Here are 4 things you MUST do to ensure that they are prepared:

1. Let them stumble, and even fall!  I said it, let them fall – it is okay to have them make a decision about something that may not have been the decision you would have made or that is the absolute best decision for that time.  Of course you want to mitigate the losses and ensure that you are not losing money for the property but let them make a decision about a customer that is upset about a rental increase or one that has been late for the 10th time and still wants you to refund their late fee.  Having your employees make bad decisions is a teaching moment for you to not only gauge how they think about tough decisions but also to see how they react when they are confronted with making a bad decision.  The best inventors made 100 different prototypes of the wrong thing before they stumbled upon the right one!

2. Show them a budget!  Yes, share your budget with your teams.  Help them understand how you derived your numbers, what they mean and what happens when you hit those numbers or miss those numbers.  Make sure that you help them understand the cost of every concession, the cost of every turn and how much a lost renewal can cost the property and how it all relates together.  Understanding the budget is part of developing a ‘career employee’ rather than a ‘this is my job employee’.

3. Find teachable moments every day!  Look for opportunities to teach your teams something new.  It could be as simple as a touring with them to build a better demonstration or a quiz on the lease to make sure they know every aspect of it.  Find ways to refresh skills and build new ones DAILY!

4. Ensure your supervisor knows and spends time with your team – not just you!  We are all busy and have a list five miles long.  Supervisors may come into the office and you and him/her get down to business with your property walks, budget talks and no nonsense meetings of what and how things are progressing and what needs to be done.  It is okay for you to have your supervisor spend some time with your team, after all if you can teach them a one thing daily think of the knowledge that he/she can share with them too.  It makes them feel special that the property supervisor is investing time in them and it sets up your promotion plan because your supervisor will feel more comfortable promoting someone that he/she has spent some quality time with.

Don’t be threatened by a fully informed leasing agent or assistant manager – relish in the amount of delegating you can do when they actually understand the business and not just their day to day duties that constitute of 1/10th the property management business.

With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, it is nearly impossible to ignore all of the pink, red and heart shaped paraphernalia on sale at the grocery stores, convenient stores and shopping malls.  Even at our own apartment communities we focus our marketing themes around the infectious love themed holiday, i.e. “You will LOVE living here! We LOVE our residents!”

Over lunch yesterday afternoon, a few Asset Plus employees discussed their favorite Valentine’s Day memories ranging from dinner at Perry’s Steakhouse to ordering in and watching a movie. On the contrary to all of the feel good memories, there were definitely some discomforting Valentine’s Day memories that we had all either heard of or experienced firsthand. While debating which was worse, being dumped in person on Valentine’s Day or via a text message, one employee brought up the scenario of being broken up with via Facebook. Have you ever known this to happen to any of your friends or co-workers?

College students reported sending an average of 96 texts per day and 106 minutes on Facebook per day according to Dr. Rey Junco’s research in “Social Media in Higher Education.” A simple status change from “In a Relationship” to “Single” broadcasts in real time to your entire network of friends and online followers that you are now on the market. Our society works, plays and communicates on social networks like Facebook regularly, is it so out of the norm to be broken up with via Facebook and a simple status change these days?

In relationship to the property management business, we sometimes see apartment renters thinking it is completely fine to publicly “change the status” of their lease agreement via a Facebook notice. We have seen residents simply post a comment on the property’s Facebook Fan Page saying they plan to move out or “please take this is as my 30 day notice.”  However, unlike Facebook relationships where you can change your status instantly online, you cannot do this kind of cancelation for a lease agreement. 

All residents must give advanced written notice of their move-out date according Section 37 of the Texas Apartment Association lease agreement. You legally cannot accept a move-out notice from a resident via Facebook.  Here is a copy of the TAA Move-Out Notice Requirements:

37. MOVE-OUT NOTICE.   Before moving out, you must give our representative advance written move-out notice as provided below. Your move-out notice will not release you from liability for the full term of the Lease Contract or renewal term. You will still be liable for the entire Lease Contract term if you move out early (paragraph 22) except under paragraphs 10, 16, 22, 23 or 31.

• We must receive advance written notice of your move-out date. The advance notice must be at least the number of days of notice required in paragraph 3 or in special provisions—even if the Lease Contract has become a month-to-month lease. If a moveout notice is received on the first, it will suffice for move-out on the last day of the month of intended move-out, provided that all other requirements below are met.

• Your move-out notice must be in writing. Oral move-out notice will not be accepted and will not terminate your Lease Contract.

• Your move-out notice must not terminate the Lease Contract sooner than the end of the Lease Contract term or renewal period.

• If we require you to give us more than 30 days written notice to move-out before the end of the lease term, we will give you a written reminder not less than 5 days nor more than 90 days before your deadline for giving us your written move-out.  If we fail to provide a reminder notice, 30 days written notice to move out is required.

If you are not located in Texas, we advise you to check with your local apartment association and verify what deems a legitimate notice to move-out. Hopefully you will not encounter too many residents notifying you of move-out via Facebook, but in the off chance that you do, you will be fully prepared!

February is Apartment Career Month and the National Apartment Association has selected to partner with Asset Plus Companies in launching a program to market careers in the apartment industry to college students nationwide. UNITS, the most read magazine in the multifamily housing industry, featured an article highlighting why most college grads do not initially seek careers in the apartment industry.

 Many people, especially new college graduates, don’t realize the variety of careers offered by the apartment industry. Multifamily housing companies employ more than 1 million people. Reaching out to recent college graduates is not new to the industry. In fact, the efforts highlighted below are but two examples of the ways in which the apartment industry is reaching out to new sources of potential job candidates.

UNITS interviewed our very own Chief Operating Officer, Ryan McGrath, to find out what exactly Asset Plus is doing to successfully recruit college graduates to the industry. Mr. McGrath discusses the training technique in which begins way back when the student is a resident at one of our student housing properties. 

Often times, a resident will enjoy living at our communities so much that they will then apply to become a resident advisor the following year. Supervisors keep an eye out for young staff members who have a good work ethic, personal integrity and the willingness to learn. As of today, we currently have 13 previous resident advisors at our student housing communities, now working at our Houston corporate office.

We are proud to partner with the National Apartment Association in promoting careers in the apartment industry and support our industry’s endeavors in recruiting the top college graduates.

To read the full UNITS article, please follow this link: http://www.naahq.org/publications/units/2012/01_12

After 25 years in service, Asset Plus Companies, a nationwide real estate property management firm specializing in maximizing value and revenue generation for property owners, developers and investment partners,  has recently been recognized on the 30th annual Inc. Magazine’s 500|5000 list as one of America’s fastest growing companies!  

Asset Plus Companies is one of 52 real estate companies that made the 2011 list and is the only Houston real estate firm to receive such an honor.

To select companies for the Inc. 500|5000 list, the magazine assesses each business over a period of three years and also researches their industry, metro area, revenue, and number of employees.  According to Inc. Magazine, the honorees on the list are recognized for their “creativity, dedication, and hard work” that they put into building their companies.  

“We are honored to be recognized on such a prestigious list of America’s fastest growing companies and share this recognition with all who have played a pivotal role in the company’s growth including our customers, clients and employees” said Michael S. McGrath, President and Chairman of Asset Plus Companies.

Today, the company oversees a portfolio of close to 200 properties located across the nation. This portfolio contains approximately 32 million square feet of space representing property values of over $1.5 billion in multifamily, student housing, office, industrial, retail, and other property types.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone that has been a part of Asset Plus' success and growth over the past 3 years, we could not be more excited!

Congratulations to Asset Campus Housing for receiving a 2011 Multi Housing Technology Choice Award for Best Mobile App.

The iPhone app as well as ACH’s customized websites, online survey systems and SMS text messaging are some of the many technologically savvy resources that the company uses to provide exceptional customer service to those in the student housing industry.

About the ACH iPhone App:

Released January, 2011

Pay rent on phone

Submit maintenance requests

View upcoming events and campus news

View floor plans and photos of property

Connect with property via email or phone instantly

The overwhelming heat of summer is hitting all of our properties nationwide; therefore we created a list based on some of our property managers' most manageable tips on how you can combat the exhausting temperatures over these next couple of weeks. Let us know if you have any other suggestions!

Curtains and blinds - Keep these closed during the day. You can easily set an alarm on your phone at night time to remind you to close all lights and blinds before you go to bed, that way when you leave for work the next day they will all keep the bright light and extra heat outside.

Fans - Keep your fans running in the house to help circulate the cool air.

Fun - If you want to save some money on your AC bill, spend some time out of the house at the public library, shopping mall, movie theatre or even the ice rink!

Install a programmable thermostat - Have it set to go up about 5 degrees while you’re at work and programmed to cool back down about 30 minutes before you get home from work.

Laundry - Do your laundry at night; the later the dryer is turned on, the better chance you have at it not working against your AC.

Lights - Be sure to turn off any lights that you do not need; light emits heat as a byproduct of producing light.

Windows - If you live in a house, it is a good idea to open up windows that are directly across from one another and let the air breeze right on through your home.

Vents - Close any unused vents in your home or apartment, no need to cool a space that is never used.

With the recent management assignments of Ashton Place I & II and Brookstone Apartments, Asset Plus is pleased to manage over 20 multifamily housing communities in Houston, Texas.  Ashton Place I & II has 95 units and Brookstone Apartments has 224 units; both providing quality housing to residents in Houston, Texas.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Asset Plus Companies is a third party property management firm specializing in real estate services for investors, developers and owners.  Asset Plus is celebrating 25 years of service in the multifamily industry this year and more specifically; 25 years of property management in Houston, Texas.  The growth and success of the company is possible due to the invaluable relationships that  have been built along the years with our clients, our dedicated staff and the local Houston Apartment Association.