Would you like an easy way to track the performance of your property management SuperStars? Will a large on-site activity board really make a difference? You bet! This article will give you three easy ways to improve the performance of the properties you manage because what you see is what you get!
Setting Up Your On-site Activity Board
Start by ordering a large erasable board from your local office supply store, the bigger the better (hint, a big board equals assumed big results!) and mount this board on a wall easily seen by your leasing team but not visible to your residents or future residents. Use this activity board to track the performance of each property, highlighting the “critical” factors for success.
Initially, track each property’s leasing activity, resident retention percentages, units available, the number of daily apartment tours, closing ratios of tours versus leased units and maintenance requests. This on-site activity board is also a perfect place to forecast the monthly team goals for each property you manage and gives each team member a way to see how the month is progressing. At the end of each month, schedule a regroup meeting [request article #5 for the steps to run a regroup meeting] to summarize the performance of the most recent month. Then, erase the board and set new individual and team goals for the upcoming month.
Tip From The Coach: After you have installed your erasable on-site activity board, assign a unique marker color to each person at the properties you manage. This “pride of ownership” means that each person on your leasing team will have great enthusiasm in making sure they can see as much of their marker color on the board, as the rest of the team. Sounds crazy, but it works!
Ranking Top Performers
Using your on-site activity boards, recap the monthly performance for each person at each of the properties you manage and develop a ranking report. Use this report to track the SuperStars in your property management company and circulate this information company-wide. This ranking report should reward top monthly performance both individually and as a team, depending on the areas you are measuring. This ranking report should also summarize your SuperStar performers for the month, by the quarter and year-to-date. By reflecting these three time periods, everyone is given a chance to shine and each individual within your company can see how their performance compares to the best within your property management company.
Tip From The Coach: Based on the results from your ranking reports you can now create leasing incentive programs and build new compensation plans with much greater accuracy. In addition, your ranking reports will also become a powerful tool for calculating quarterly projections and developing each year’s budget. Lastly, try and keep your “critical” factors for leasing success on a one-page report, if possible.
Tracking Your Key Prospects
Now, set-up a place on your on-site activity board to track the progress of key off-site marketing opportunities. For instance, if five new residents have come from a large nearby company, ask your leasing team to put their name on the on-site activity board and leave a space to track the number of contacts being made with this company. Or, gather a sample of this month’s guest cards and see if there is a common zip code or section of town where your future residents are coming from. Then, list this zip code as a key area for your leasing team to visit when they are doing their off-site marketing.
Tip from The Coach: Be certain your leasing team works their key prospects consistently while continuing to be “professionally persistent”. Ask your leasing team to work like “heart surgeons”. A heart surgeon can apply a little pressure in a small area and get giant results. The same thing will happen for your leasing teams when they see the results of focusing on their key prospects.
Want to hear more about this important topic or ask some additional questions? Send an E-mail to [email protected] and The Coach will E-mail back to you a free invitation to be a participant on a PowerHour conference call. On this call we will discuss the type of information to put on your activity boards and how to develop a performance ranking report for the properties you manage, using a one-page form.
Ernest F. Oriente, a business coach since 1995, the author of SmartMatch Alliances and the founder of PowerHour has a passion for coaching his clients on executive leadership, hiring and motivating property management SuperStars. He provides private and group coaching for property management companies around North America, investment banking services and executive recruiting services. To subscribe to his FREE property management newsletter go to www.powerhour.com. call 435-615-8486 or E-mail [email protected].