31. Build Waitlist
Former Member Collections
Concentrate on Preventative
Maintenance
Increase in Cash Flow
Eliminates late fees
Hinweis der Redaktion
Why do you want to join this club: increase cash flow, team building because your all employees are headed towards the same goal, staff motivation
Show employees: The excitement from upper management helps up the excitement of the staff Create positive: Build Trust, give recognition, appreciation, be approachable, everyone loves a fun work environment, it is always good to have employees that are as crazy about the job as you areCommunicate: Support staff visits from the corp. office are always great, telling them what you expect of them means communicating your expectations clearly and specify job descriptions, deadlines and set goalsEmpower the staff: don’t hover, give them ideas, hear their ideas, and let them run with them, delegate tasks to employee and allow them to do the job their way this helps build self confidence and pride in the job, interact with each employee and find out what it is that drives them (listen, observe, and ask questions)
Recognize: awards, certificates, luncheons, putting them in the cooperative or corp. new letterApartment Association: I know some may shy away form the apartment association because we are not apartment living we are cooperative living- but they are beneficial because etheproperty manager and maintenance training classes are the same for both, plus they have leasing classes that concentrate a lot on sales.
Employee of the month- designated parking spaceFun ideas for awards- California Raisins for the person with the highest percentage of “raisin” their productivityTootsie roll replica, bag of candy etc for those on a roll in performance
Ideally we would love not to allow payment arrangement but most properties do. If you do, it is a good idea to have.Two types: Standard pay agree, Second chance pay agreement designed to help the member get caught and stay on track by spreading the back rent over a period of time (this may also help with vacancies since there will be less evictions we only really recommend doing this once or it will become habit forming)Do not accept partial payments, stick to the sites written delinquency policy
Contest: Early bird they are fun and the member appreciate being recognized for being the outstanding members that they are, A certificate of recognition can be a cheap way to recognize a member who pays before rent is due if you save your early bird forms every month and find out which member paid early the most consecutive months and give them a certificate and maybe a gift card to a local restaurant to show them you appreciate them and even if they have never won the early bird contest at least they are still a winner in your eyes. Early bird Bingo can be a fun way to motivate members to pay before the first. and you get three bingo spots pay the next month early you get 3 plus one and every month after that the winner of bingo gets 100.00 off carrying charges, or how about a pizza party for the first building to get all of their carrying charges in before the third. These are just some fun ideas and I am sure there are a thousand more would anyone like to share some of their ideas they use at their cooperativePartial Payments: Do not except partial payments only except partial payments from someone who has a written payment agreement that states partial payment amounts One good way to help prevent partial payments is to have the office check the members account to make sure that the amount on the check is the amount due on the member ledgerDelinquency policy- have one in writing and stick to it!Excuses- get rid of them everyone has one sticking to the delinquency policy will help you get rid of excusesLate fee- do a one time waive of a late fee this always helps make the member feel less stressed and over whelmed when they are having a bad time and money is tight
Post card reminder are for members not usually late or for those who have a small remaining balance
Finders- have a pick you neighbor special where the current members get a prize for referring new members (the new members must be approved and move in before the prize is awarded)Virtual Tour- this is something you can post on your website or on facebook. Place a screen in your lobby that could show virtual tours of your vacant units. So while your potential members are waiting they can see the units for sell. This would definitely be beneficial for those high equity properties. Free- there is a lot of free advertising you can do for you property open a face book, join twitter, linked in, some Craigslist.Word- is the cheapest form of advertising keeping your current members happy goes along way
Resident – what helps with resident retention Good staff responsiveness , maintaining the look and quality of the property, keeping them informed and involved, consistent staffTop five reasons members move outQuality of maintenance services providedSafety and securityQuality of customer service provided by the office staffAppearance and condition of the apartmentAppearance and condition of the community Top five why members move in1)Rents and specials2)Apartment floor plan / design3)Appearance of the apartment and community4)Current availability5)Information on apartments, facilities and locationShop your competitors- either by phone or visit. Find out about their specials. Amenities. You may think that the communities near you are not your competitors because they are not cooperatives but they are. When someone is shopping for their new home most are not looking for cooperative living because they don’t have a clear understanding of what cooperative living may be. They are looking for lower prices, amenities, location.
Preventative: A good preventative maintenance plan starts with regular inspection of equipment, buildings and property having good plan in place will lesson the amount of work orders called in mu the members and will also help with vacancy turner over because you have happier membersRemove duplicate: hopefully the software system you are using will allow you to compare your pending orders that way you can combined them into one Call: don’t be shy call your vendors to find out the status of the backordered supplies staying on top of them to make sure your vendors do their job will make it easier for you and your maintenance staff to do yours
Competition: a little competition never hurt anyone, keeping the work place fun and exciting motivates everyone evolvedBragging Rights: who doesn’t want bragging rights, but not only that it instills a since of pride with the job well done Member: all of the things we talked about today are going to help build member communication and with less worries of delinquencies, vacancies, or work orders it may just free up the staff to have a better one on one experience with the members Training: this is another issue that always seems to be put last and with the extra time you are not spending on collections, vacant, and work orders
Waitlist: having a waiting list is always a good thing… people want what you got and they are willing to wait for itFormer: more time can be spent on the property trying to collect from former members and less money handed off to the collection agencies Concentrate : with zero work orders you will have more time to concentrate on preventative maintenance Increase cash flow- skinny in the vacant and delinquents = fatter wallets. What property doesn’t need more available fundsLate fee: collecting rent early or on time means you can pay your vendors early or on time and that will cause your property to incur less vendor late fee
