Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

From Peru to Portugal, and Russia to The Republic of Georgia, 2011 brought me a wealth of opportunities to not only travel to new lands, but to broaden my own business perspective.  Not surprisingly—I find that professionals around the globe are much the same as they are here in the U.S.  Even if faraway travel isn’t on your horizon right now, there’s no better way to challenge and stretch yourself than to take on a new perspective in 2012.

Just think how far you’ve traveled in your own career. A few weeks ago on LinkedIn, I posed a question to my colleagues in the real estate field: How did you start your career and has it worked out the way you planned?  The answers I received were varied:  some people migrated into profession real estate from other fields: finance, insurance, entertainment. A few actually studied real estate in school.  And more often than not, these managers were attracted to the field because they found out great things about it from a fellow professional.

We all have ideas on what we’d like to accomplish in the coming year. Perhaps you’ll resolve to finally land a new account, nail that all-important presentation or fine-tune your employee development process.  Dr. Seuss said it best: Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest. No matter what field you’re in, excitement and passion about what you do says a lot. Pass the word on and oh, the places you’ll go!

What would you like me to write more about in 2012? (Hint: that’s one of my goals!)

Post your answer here or email me: shannon@alterconsultinggroup.com. Be sure to visit our new Quick Tips on Facebook

©2012 Shannon Alter

Real Estate Management: The Adventure! Who Knew?

Did you plan to have a career in property management?   I don’t know about you, but I started my career in the hotel field and fell into property management completely by accident, and what an adventure it’s been.  Who knew that I’d be fortunate enough to be able to work for excellent companies, meet great colleagues and train and mentor great employees—here, there and everywhere! My travels in the name of real estate management have taken me to Russia, Ukraine, the Republic of Georgia, China, South Korea and Portugal. Who knew?

I’ve recently had the pleasure of addressing real estate managers throughout California and Hawaii. Often, I’ll ask how many of them planned a career in this field or even better, how many actually went to school for it. No matter the size of the group—25 or 100—the response is usually similar: one or two hands go up. The moral of this story is that you may not always end up where you started out, but it can be a great adventure along the way.

Where did you start out? I’d love to hear your experience!

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Don’t Delay! Hire a Common Sense Manager!

Have you ever had a customer experience that seems to fly in the face of common sense?  See if this situation strikes a familiar chord.  Just last week, I went to my bank (which shall go nameless) to deposit a small business check, a pretty routine transaction. I’ve been banking with this institution for over twenty years, but this time they missed the mark—and very nearly lost me as a customer.

Due to an admitted snafu with the bank’s paperwork, the manager refused to complete my deposit and offered no options. There was simply no way around it, the manager informed me; I would have to return my client’s check.  For the bank, despite the fact that I was a loyal customer the situation was a no-go. This was their policy. For me, despite the fact that I was a long-term customer and the situation  made no sense whatsoever, this was definitely a no-win– I was highly tempted to go find myself another bank. You’ve guessed it, no doubt: common sense was definitely in short supply.

How do we lose our customers? It happens all too often.  A new (or not-so-new) manager gets caught up in the rules, citing chapter and verse but forgetting to focus on the customer.  A new (or not-so-new) organization is so absorbed in getting through tough times that it forgets how—and when– to move forward. What’s the solution? If you want to see an improvement in both performance and profits in your company, hire a common sense manager.

Sure, we all want to hire employees who have technical skills, confidence and leadership qualities. But we also need team members who have what I call the CSQ, or common sense quotient.   It’s difficult to teach, but oh so important to recognize.  Good judgment, reasonableness, and an ability to understand how to make our business work for our customers, our clients and our companies are all key ingredients in employees today.

Think about the advice your mom may have offered when you were young: common sense really does count.

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©2011 Shannon Alter

Leadership: 4 Sure-Fire Ways to Inspire Your Team

Studies say only 33% of workers are engaged in their jobs these days—understandable due to our topsy-turvy work world, but certainly less than desirable. You’ve heard the saying “it starts at the top”; more and more, I think it actually starts at the bottom. Here are 4 ways to ramp up your leadership skills now:

Give up micromanagement: Sometimes we just have to get out of our own way. There’s no better way to sour an employee’s motivation than to watch them like a hawk. Take a breather, go do something else and give your employees the space to do what you hired them to do.

Keep the best performers: You’d be surprised how often colleagues mention that they are holding onto non-performers out of a sense of duty. Remember, the rest of your team is looking for your leadership. If you don’t expect the best performance, it’s doubtful you’ll get it.

Offer the chance to develop skills: Employers are often reluctant to provide training for their employees, internal or external, because they are afraid those employees may leave the company. Sure, that probably happens to some extent, but I think it’s all a matter of exposure. Want engaged employees? Expose your team to new trends, ideas and best practices through classes, webinars, seminars or publications and you’ll see the payoff almost immediately.

Recognize performance: Don’t let this send a chill up your spine; we’re not talking about anything fancy or costly here. Sometimes just a simple thank you or other acknowledgement will do the trick.  After all, everyone wants to know that they are contributing to the company’s overall goals and vision.

What other ways have you used to increase employee engagement? I’d love to hear from you!

Got CAM? 3 Tips to Make Your Life Easier!

Ah… budget season is finally over and you can relax, right! Not so fast! Although your tenants’ common area reconciliations may not actually be due until Spring of 2012, here are a couple of tips you can use to get a jump start on the season and make the most of your time:

1. Connect BUDGET to CAM: This may sound obvious, but all too often real estate managers—especially new ones—don’t take this aspect seriously enough. Look at it this way: what goes into the budget comes out in the CAM.  I’m often asked by managers, for example, if it’s possible to charge tenants back for a management fee, an administrative fee and salaries. My first response is always “it depends”, because it does depend on the lease language for each tenant.  My second answer is “does it make sense?”, because although it may be possible to charge back everything allowable, it may or not make sense to do so. So take the time now to look at your property’s expenses and see if they do make sense; you’ll save valuable time later.
2. 2. Review your leases: This is a great time to review and re-visit your leases, especially as year-end approaches. A colleague of mine noted that whenever his company takes on a new third-party management account they come out looking like heroes to the owner. The reason?  He’s steadfast in his belief that having his managers re-read and review every lease turns up dollars—he almost always finds something that was billed incorrectly.
3. 3. Look at past mistakes: When I worked for an anchor grocery tenant, we discovered that almost 95% of the CAM bills we received from real estate management companies were incorrect. Most often, the errors were easily rectified, but the bills took longer to evaluate and pay, simply because the process of getting them corrected took longer.  Reviewing the prior years’ CAM reconciliation with an eye toward correcting past mistakes can be a great time-saver!

Here’s the secret: Year-end is a busy time for everyone, but taking the time now to put your reconciliation in place will let you sail through CAM season without a hitch.

What’s your viewpoint? We’d love to hear from you.

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Are You Persuasive? 3 Traits of Persuasive People

Think about it: we all persuade people in our everyday lives. In the business world we persuade our clients, our employees, our customers and our counterparts to take action. We motivate and influence others to buy a produce, negotiate a deal, hire an employee or make a decision.  Developing good persuasion skills will put you ahead of the pack.  Of course, possessing natural charisma is a great start, but here are 3 other important traits which make an impact in the workplace:

Knowledge and reputation:   Over the past few years we’ve all been so busy keeping our heads above water that we may not have concentrated on our own skill set.  Now is a great time to sharpen your own skills. Why not take a class, participate in an online forum, or write an article? It will keep you on your toes!

Superb listening skills: A colleague once confided that if his team could both listen and hear at the same time, he’d have the best real estate company in the world.   How often are we so anxious to relay information to a client or a tenant that we forget to listen to their point of view?  At your next monthly or quarterly team meeting, try conducting a role play with your team, using a real-life example: it’s a great way to practice.

Convey your vision: Often, we do a lot of work to create vision and mission statements for our companies.  If you want to get your team to buy-in and market your company at the same time, be sure to clearly communicate that vision to everyone on your team; it’s time well-spent.

Want New Growth? Try these 2 Tips for a Fresh Perspective!

It’s interesting what you can pick up just by listening to the buzz around you. I’m at a conference this week and have come away with a lot of good tips, to be sure. Perhaps the most timely and useful ones are the nuggets I’ve picked up from just keeping my ears open. Try these two tips on for size if you’re looking for ways to grow your company (and who isn’t?).

• Listen, listen, listen…to your clients, that is. After all, it’s about what they want.  I’m reminded of a colleague who once told me that he thought he had good a good leasing and management team, but if they could learn to listen and hear at the same time they’d be rock stars!
• Leadership development…don’t shoot yourself in the foot.  If you have a leadership development program in place, great. If not, the time to do it really is now: you can’t grow your business without it. Start out with simple steps. Invite your team to join a webinar, or allocate development time during your monthly or quarterly meetings.

If you get started in these two areas now, you’ll not only have a different perspective, but it will pay off in the way your business grows.

Sometimes it’s Best to Begin in the Middle

• It’s amazing to think we are already halfway through 2011! For many of us, summer is winding down and budget preparation for 2012 is just beginning.  While working on a variety of strategic plans over the years, I’ve learned it’s important to consider the following:

• Everything isn’t always linear. I spoke with a colleague recently who knows he needs to make some changes in his organization, but he isn’t sure where, or how, to begin. He wants to go through each department separately, but it just isn’t working out.  Recognize that everything isn’t neatly arranged 100% of the time, especially in real estate management.  Sometimes, it just works out better to start in the middle.

• Relay the vision: These days, being one step closer to your customers is vital, as is an understanding of what your company really does.  Surprisingly, when I interview employees as part of a strategic evaluation, they aren’t always sure what the company’s vision is.  So include your team in the vision; it’s a good investment. After all, it’s all about what will get your company closer to its goals: providing solutions for your clients.

Getting Your Team to Sing the Same Tune: 3 Questions to Ask

When I first started out  in commercial real estate working  for a large national firm, my boss was reluctant to share property financials with the property management team. This meant that we were completely unsure about the performance of our properties and whether or not we reached our goals. We were literally operating in the dark.

If you’re thinking about doing a strategic evaluation as part of your company’s growth plan, it’s critical to have everyone on your team focused on the same goals. Start the brainstorming process now by asking your management team these 3 questions:

1)      How would you describe the company’s overall mission? Your vision as a leader is key, but it’s meaningless unless you can adequately transmit it to your managers and they are included in that vision.

2) What do you see as the biggest benefits or hurdles as the company moves forward? Sure, we all know what the issues are in our companies…or maybe we don’t. Asking your employees their opinion will ensure you’re not ignoring the elephant in the room.

3)      How do we satisfy our clients? At minimum, the answers to this question will reinforce how well you service your clients; it will also give you new ideas on ways to amp it up. Think, too, about what a great opportunity this is to showcase what your company does best: provide solutions for your clients.

Stay tuned for my next blog on how to determine where you need help most.

Connected Leadership: 4 Myths to Employee Motivation

Walt Disney is credited with saying that customer satisfaction is a directly connected to employee satisfaction.  We all know that dissatisfied employees can have an undesirable impact on our clients. In fact, a Gallup study reported that a startling 49% of workers are not engaged in their jobs.  If you think your employees may have checked out, it’s time to take a look at these 4 myths about employee motivation.

1. Money is always a good motivator:  It’s no surprise these days that the desire for security often trumps everything.  And it’s true that money can help people from becoming less motivated.  Once that’s established, not every employee is motivated by the same thing.
2. Your employees are motivated by the same things that motivate you: Go back to square one! Just because you hired them doesn’t make your employees a mirror image of you.  Think about it: For some people, more challenging work or the chance to develop new skills that does the trick. For others, it’s the opportunity for advancement, greater responsibility or a different title.
3. An in-place team doesn’t need training:  The truth is, learning development is an ongoing process and a great way to show that your company is an employer of choice. An easy way to do this is to incorporate learning into your next quarterly meeting: designate one or two employees to help you prepare a case study or a discussion using one of your properties, for example.
4. Recognition isn’t necessary: After all, people are lucky to have jobs, right? While that may be true, it’s also true that strategic recognition counts. And here’s the bonus: it’s cheap, mostly free and it’s easy!

For many of us, it’s almost budget and planning season. This is a great time to incorporate a strategic assessment of your business into your plan for next year. For 7 questions to ask to determine if your employees are connected, email me at: shannon@alterconsultinggroup.com  and put “7 Questions” in the header.