Are you ready to market your properties on Google TV? If you own Self Storage, Apartments or Retail you'd be well served to have a strategy in place to leverage this new development.
What I like about Google TV is that it turns your TV into a search engine allowing you to target market to new prospects and create a unique brand for a relatively low cost.
This is sure to revolutionize not only TV but TV ads. Have you ever thought to yourself about a Superbowl commercial "Oh I can do better than that!" or have you had a great story to tell via TV but it's too costly? We'll now is probably your chance to advertise on TV to a very targeted audience for a relatively low cost. Check out this commercial as well as the entire offering on www.google.com/tv
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Defining The Problem Part II: You have to have a plan
Technology by nature is nebulous and free form. When I owned Integrated Sales Management we sold Customer Relationship Management software into mid size organizations. The number one question without fail that clients asked was "can your software do __________?". And my answer was always yes, because we can make the software do almost anything. But the real answer came only after truly understanding our client's needs and what should and shouldn't be automated.
Most people focus on technology's ability to perform x function or y function and spend very little time defining their own requirements and planning out a strategy for implementing technology. But in reality, if you develop your systems on the fly its like trying to sail a sail boat while make it at the same time.
For instance, most investment firms offer an investor page in their website. At best most will offer some self flattering company information, a couple of old reports as well as a "news" section. But in reality this offers little or no value to the investor and you end up with a useless part of your website that cost you extra.
Here's where a plan would have come into play. First, ask the question of "what do my investors need and is providing it to them online valuable?". Each answer is unique, but in general, you'll probably find that most investors value visibility into their investments almost as much as their distribution checks. That's right. Most of the complaints I hear from investors is that they don't get consistent reporting in a timely manner. At to boot, it makes them feel very uncomfortable and dissatisfied for them to call you up and request updates on how their money is doing.
Therefore, there are three considerations before you implement any new technology such as Online Reporting - of which I'll use as an example.
1. What kind of reports and information do I need to provide for my investors, and how often? Consider if you want to provide just property level detail or portfolio level detail. Many of my investors are in multiple deals and therefore, they want to know property level detail as well as how all of their investments with me are doing. Therefore, I have to consider the software requirements for each need and especially since both requirements typically come from two different software packages.
2. Articulate Your Critical Processes and Stay Focused: Remember when I wrote that my answer to a software capability was yes? It's true because most software packages are very flexible and able to scale. While this is inherently a good thing it can also lead to your doom and destruction. What is best is to first identify your mission critical requirements and stick to those. It's tempting to add functionality to a new technology when you're half way into your implementation but I beseech you - don't! Stay focused and keep things simple. Only develop and implement technology for what you need today yet keep your eye and vision on the future. Yes, make sure your solutions scale but don't try to accomplish everything at once. Roll things out in phases and with test groups. It's better to move a little slower and get things right than it is to move quick and end up with a half completed mess that cost a lot of money.
3. Are You, YOURSELF, Committed to the Project? I've seen way too many owners and executives preach to me that they are committed to implementing a new technology solution only to hand it off to someone who has no decision making authority and even less vision and know how. This does not mean you have to implement everything yourself. But you do have to lead and constantly reinforce to your people that you're serious about implementing a new solution and how it will benefit them too.
These are the three basic rules you need to know and follow in order to get the most out of technology. I can't overstate the importance of having a clearly defined plan and commitment to any new technology your are considering implementing. So it's worth your time and money to devote a lot of planning and white boarding time. And you'll actually be surprised at how much you learn about your own business during this planning time. So, have fund and be well.
Most people focus on technology's ability to perform x function or y function and spend very little time defining their own requirements and planning out a strategy for implementing technology. But in reality, if you develop your systems on the fly its like trying to sail a sail boat while make it at the same time.
For instance, most investment firms offer an investor page in their website. At best most will offer some self flattering company information, a couple of old reports as well as a "news" section. But in reality this offers little or no value to the investor and you end up with a useless part of your website that cost you extra.
Here's where a plan would have come into play. First, ask the question of "what do my investors need and is providing it to them online valuable?". Each answer is unique, but in general, you'll probably find that most investors value visibility into their investments almost as much as their distribution checks. That's right. Most of the complaints I hear from investors is that they don't get consistent reporting in a timely manner. At to boot, it makes them feel very uncomfortable and dissatisfied for them to call you up and request updates on how their money is doing.
Therefore, there are three considerations before you implement any new technology such as Online Reporting - of which I'll use as an example.
1. What kind of reports and information do I need to provide for my investors, and how often? Consider if you want to provide just property level detail or portfolio level detail. Many of my investors are in multiple deals and therefore, they want to know property level detail as well as how all of their investments with me are doing. Therefore, I have to consider the software requirements for each need and especially since both requirements typically come from two different software packages.
2. Articulate Your Critical Processes and Stay Focused: Remember when I wrote that my answer to a software capability was yes? It's true because most software packages are very flexible and able to scale. While this is inherently a good thing it can also lead to your doom and destruction. What is best is to first identify your mission critical requirements and stick to those. It's tempting to add functionality to a new technology when you're half way into your implementation but I beseech you - don't! Stay focused and keep things simple. Only develop and implement technology for what you need today yet keep your eye and vision on the future. Yes, make sure your solutions scale but don't try to accomplish everything at once. Roll things out in phases and with test groups. It's better to move a little slower and get things right than it is to move quick and end up with a half completed mess that cost a lot of money.
3. Are You, YOURSELF, Committed to the Project? I've seen way too many owners and executives preach to me that they are committed to implementing a new technology solution only to hand it off to someone who has no decision making authority and even less vision and know how. This does not mean you have to implement everything yourself. But you do have to lead and constantly reinforce to your people that you're serious about implementing a new solution and how it will benefit them too.
These are the three basic rules you need to know and follow in order to get the most out of technology. I can't overstate the importance of having a clearly defined plan and commitment to any new technology your are considering implementing. So it's worth your time and money to devote a lot of planning and white boarding time. And you'll actually be surprised at how much you learn about your own business during this planning time. So, have fund and be well.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Apartment Vacancies & YouTube
Only a few apartment owners and management companies are advertising their apartment communities on YouTube. And for the ones that do, they only get a few hundred viewers. The most I've seen is nearly 2,300 viewers for Apartment Home Tours.
The problem with most apartment YouTube postings, like Apartment Home Tours (AHT) post
is that they miss the essence of YouTube and Social Networking in general.
Social Networking is raw and authentic. Take for instance a YouTube posting from User FlamingJune5dwj. Here she gives a 6:23 video tour of her apartment and received over 17,800 viewers!
Think about her video for 2 seconds. She posted a simple video about her apartment and over 17,500 people watched it. Hence the power of Social Networking sites like YouTube or Facebook. When was the last time nearly 18,000 people focused specifically on one of your apartment units? And how much do you normally pay in advertising to reach that many people who may or may not view your ad?
Her video is successful because it leverages two basic concepts: Authenticity and Community. The irony is that the wild success of Social Networking sites, like YouTube or FaceBook, is that its based on developing and nurturing a "community" of people familiar which each other - something we apartment owners try to create as well within our apartments. Why wouldn't we shift our thinking and advertising and market according to how most people think and buy in the first place?
Here's an idea: Have your best tenants create their own commercials for your apartment communities. Place a telephone tracking number in the video so that when a prospective tenant calls in you can actually track back the lead to the source commercial. Then, reward your successful tenants with free rent, cash or whatever incentive you think will work best.
Who is better to sell your apartment vacancies than your existing tenants?
The problem with most apartment YouTube postings, like Apartment Home Tours (AHT) post
is that they miss the essence of YouTube and Social Networking in general.
Social Networking is raw and authentic. Take for instance a YouTube posting from User FlamingJune5dwj. Here she gives a 6:23 video tour of her apartment and received over 17,800 viewers!
Think about her video for 2 seconds. She posted a simple video about her apartment and over 17,500 people watched it. Hence the power of Social Networking sites like YouTube or Facebook. When was the last time nearly 18,000 people focused specifically on one of your apartment units? And how much do you normally pay in advertising to reach that many people who may or may not view your ad?
Her video is successful because it leverages two basic concepts: Authenticity and Community. The irony is that the wild success of Social Networking sites, like YouTube or FaceBook, is that its based on developing and nurturing a "community" of people familiar which each other - something we apartment owners try to create as well within our apartments. Why wouldn't we shift our thinking and advertising and market according to how most people think and buy in the first place?
Here's an idea: Have your best tenants create their own commercials for your apartment communities. Place a telephone tracking number in the video so that when a prospective tenant calls in you can actually track back the lead to the source commercial. Then, reward your successful tenants with free rent, cash or whatever incentive you think will work best.
Who is better to sell your apartment vacancies than your existing tenants?
Luxury, Politics & Irony
Remember when Congress nearly waterboarded the management of AIG for spending $440,000 on a corporate event at the St. Regis in Dana Point? Up until then, the only hotel to receive so much attention around a political scandal was Watergate. And now, both hotels have even one more thing in common - Foreclosure. It's official.
St. Regis Monarch Beach seized by Citigroup - Los Angeles Times
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"The Perfect Storm"
Ardsley Advisors Managing Partner Peter Avalone agrees that we are approaching a "Perfect Storm" in Commercial Real Estate. He references a report that predicts a 5% default rate of $3.5 Trillion in commercial real estate loans.
Avalone also mentions one forecast for a 20% default rate in Hotel loans. The 20% is not a type-o. One example he gives is the Watergate Hotel. It recently went into default.
This is a sober interview and I definitely think its worth the two minutes or so it will take you to watch.
Avalone also mentions one forecast for a 20% default rate in Hotel loans. The 20% is not a type-o. One example he gives is the Watergate Hotel. It recently went into default.
This is a sober interview and I definitely think its worth the two minutes or so it will take you to watch.
Defining the Problem: Leveraging Technology in Real Estate
For most real estate owners, understanding how leverage the Internet to create value in their real estate portfolio is something of a "black box". This is understandable because there are so many ways for so many purposes to implement and use technology. If not careful, one can fall into the trap of information overload and simply put the topic in abeyance until the next Real Estate mixer or seminar and get back tot the business of managing a portfolio.
However, the challenge in today's economy is that Owners are working twice as hard with nearly half the staff just to maintain a stablized level of operations and break-even NOI. Most Proformas of the last five years did not account for such a sharp decline in occupancy levels and rental rates. Therefore, the hill we owners climb to just break even can be steep.
Yet, none of us are immune from having to redefine ourselves, learn new skills and create new strategies so we can thrive in this real estate downturn. That is why is critical to today's success to have a technology strategy impacts three critical areas in your business:
1. Asset Management
2. Property Management
3. Creating New Buying Opportunities
In the next few posts of "Defining the Problem" I'll be writing about what a technology strategy really is - no fluff - and how best to implement that strategy. There are many other factors to consider but for now, this is the best way to go.
In the meantime, post your comments and questions and I'll answer them as quickly as possible.
However, the challenge in today's economy is that Owners are working twice as hard with nearly half the staff just to maintain a stablized level of operations and break-even NOI. Most Proformas of the last five years did not account for such a sharp decline in occupancy levels and rental rates. Therefore, the hill we owners climb to just break even can be steep.
Yet, none of us are immune from having to redefine ourselves, learn new skills and create new strategies so we can thrive in this real estate downturn. That is why is critical to today's success to have a technology strategy impacts three critical areas in your business:
1. Asset Management
2. Property Management
3. Creating New Buying Opportunities
In the next few posts of "Defining the Problem" I'll be writing about what a technology strategy really is - no fluff - and how best to implement that strategy. There are many other factors to consider but for now, this is the best way to go.
In the meantime, post your comments and questions and I'll answer them as quickly as possible.
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