W
3
LIFESTYLE
best of the best
Atlanta, GA
National Apartment Designation Your community has been awarded a national apartment desgination which allows you to call your community an official W3 Lifestyle designated community. This distinction is very select and only available to a small percentage of the apartment communities in a given market. The key to the program - you will get out of it, what you put into it Everything you will read and learn in your training as a W3 Lifestyle designated community is constantly under review for adaptations to market conditions, technology availability, and market trends. As a W3 Lifestyle designated community we provide a variety of support services including the customized monthly newsletter (Community Megazine) as well as sponsored resident events. We are always looking for constructive feedback from our designated communities on improvements we can make to our support services as well as possible additions to the program. Our goal is to support you in being the Best of The Best!
W3 LIFESTYLE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The W3 Lifestyle Program Who is W3 Lifestyle Program is Only as Good as Its Communities The “Circle of Opportunity”
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PROMOTING YOUR W3 LIFESTYLE DESIGNATION When to Talk About Your W3 Lifestyle Designation Uniqueness of The W3 Lifestyle Designation Market Your W3 Lifestyle Designation Where Should You Promote the Designation Facebook and Social Media Leasing Opportunity Resident Retention But Wait - More Promotion Needed - Signage
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COMMUNITY MINIZINE OPERATIONS Community Minizine Article Submissions Run Your Ads in Your Minizine Community Spec Sheets Management Portal Interactive Advertisments Outreach Marketing Promoting the Community Minizine
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W3 REWARDS PROGRAM Challenge and Solution How to Earn Rewards What to Use Rewards For
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COMMUNITY EVENTS Community Events - Quantity vs. Quality Sponsoring Events vs. Working Events Minimum Expectations for Promoting Events Quality Events = Resident Retention Theme Your Events Average Event Size Outdoor Events Extra Events - Pool Parties and Dive In Movie Nights Event FAQ’s
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LOSS OF DESIGNATION Designation is Not Paid For Solution Oriented Communication 27 Communities Designation Revoked Once Revoked, Always Revoked? Interactive Advertisments Email Etiquette Examples of Bad Bad Behavior
Success Stories Program Changes Little W3 Lifestyle Tips and Trivia Question
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THE W3 LIFESTYLE PROGRAM W3 Lifestyle begain with one goal in mind - give apartment renters a place to go to find the absolute best in the apartment industry. No more “hoping” they can find the best or trying to “guess” who is the best based on huge publications. If a community holds the W3 Lifestyle Designation, they have proven to be the Best of The Best and committed to Superior Resident Services, Superior Product Quality and truly being the overall best place a person could possibly live. Much like other designations such as “Good Housekeeping,” “Energy Star,” etc., the W3 Lifestyle designation is one of top quality.
WHO IS W3 LIFESTYLE We Lifestyle was founded by David Wolfe, an industry professional of roughly 10 years. Frustrated with the fact that there was no good place for apartment renters to go in order to find the truly BEST apartment communities - the W3 Lifestyle designation concept was born. Our team is comprised of creative individuals who are always looking for new resident programs to enhance their lifestyles while benefiting our designated communities. The key to our company is innovation; we want to assist our designated communities with not only being the Best - but to be the leaders in the industry through true innovation.
PROGRAM IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS COMMUNITIES Reputation is EVERYTHING in this industry. We have all had our “issues” with valuation and opinion websites such as aptratings.com. Building a good reputation is hard to do - but easy and QUICK to lose with just a few short months of poor management and lacking resident services. Therefore, we take the designation that we grant our communities very seriously. After all, we are putting the reputation of W3 Lifestyle and the concept of what the designation means on the line every time we send a potential resident to your community as well as after they become a resident at one of our designated communities. The designation itself can be revoked as quickly as it is granted if it is determined a community cannot uphold the standards of quality that we expect and promote to apartment renters.
THE “CIRCLE OF OPPORTUNITY” This is where the true beauty of the W3 Lifestyle Program really shines and what we refer to as the Circle of Opportunity. The process begins with the Designation. The Communities Outreach Market to local businesses, explaining their awarded status and assists in getting them to advertise in their Community Minizine. The business takes advantage of this opportunity based upon inexpensive rates. The new advertiser automatically starts referring prospective residents to the communities they are advertising. The residents listen to the advertiser because they are already a trusting customer -AND- the residents trust the community because they chose to live there and naturally bring their patronage to the businesses that advertise and sponsor their Community Minizine. W3 Lifestyle - Page 1
The circle starts all over again with your happy new resident.
WHEN TO TALK ABOUT W3 LIFESTYLE DESIGNATION This question is easy - ALWAYS! Never let an opportunity go by that you do not brag about the fact that your community has been awarded the Best of The Best National Apartment Designation. Remember the Circle of Opportunity - the more you brag about your distinction and the uniqueness of the program, the more effective it becomes and the more it will work to your benefit. We have seen too many communities accept our designation only then to merely attempt to use as as a “newsletter company” or as an “event planner/caterer.” They did not “get” what the power of the designation is and how to utilize it to its fullest potential. It did not take long for them to lose the designation based on their inability to communicate effectively. For EVERY prospect/client that sits in front of you - BRAG over and over about how you have been awarded this distinction of being Nationally Recognized and Accomplished as one of the Best of The Best apartment communities. Explain what it means - Superior Resident Services and Superior Product Quality. Everyone wants to feel as though they are getting the “best deal” or buying the “best quality” so build on that basic human desire and sell your designation just as passionately as you do your basic community amenities. After all - most communities have the same basic amenity packages - but only a few of them are going to have the ability to say they are a W3 Lifestyle desginated community. You have the benefit of not only “saying” you are better, you now have the ability to PROVE it by boasting about your award and designation.
“Be proud of your designation and Brag, Brag, Brag!” UNIQUENESS OF THE W3 LIFESTYLE DESIGNATION Here is a personal and true story - I visited an apartment community and was talking to the manager about the W3 Lifestyle designation program and all of its free support services that come along with it. Of course, they focused more on the free support services than they did on the designation. After sensing they were more interested in what they could get for free rather than what it truly meant to hold the designation I took them back around to the foundation of the program - which is what it means to hold the designation. The manager then looked at me and smiled and said “yes, I know...the ‘designation’...” They literally did that little quotation thing with their fingers surrounding the word designation. I wasn’t ammused and they were not granted the designation! Only a small percentage of any given market will be granted the ability to call themselves a W3 Lifestyle designated community. For example, in Atlanta and the general surrounding area there are approximately 1,500 apartment communities and only roughly 300 of them will be able to brag about the fact they were awarded a National Apartment Designation as being a W3 Lifestyle designated community. Only 300 of them can boast on how they can actually PROVE they are the Best of The Best and are monitored on a monthly basis by a third party designation company on their continued ability to hold the designation. Only 300 communities can hold up something that absolutely distinguishes them from the other 1,200 - a national designation of quality! The name of the game in property management is how do you make yourselves stand out from your competitors. You do so with a superior team and superior product. And now you have a National Apartment Designation that you have been awarded that you can point to which the complex around the corner may not have. You just stood out...
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MARKET YOUR DESIGNATION If we do say so ourselves, we think our W3 Lifestyle logo is pretty cool looking! Again, there was a purpose for a cool and hip logo that is eye catching. That purpose - so you can use on it your marketing materials and catch the attention of potential renters. For those that already know what it means, you are now distinguished as being Superior to other communities. If the potential renter doesn’t know what it stands for, it creates the question...”what is that?” Game on! Brag, Brag, Brag about what it means and how only a select few communities hold this designation based on Superior Resident Services and Superior Product Quality. Again, it is all about making yourself stand out from the pack. So use the logo on all of your ads and marketing materials. Below are just a few examples...
BRAG! BRAG! BRAG! YOU ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST! SHOW IT! TALK IT! SCREAM IT! BE IT!!! W3 Lifestyle - Page 3
WHERE SHOULD YOU PROMOTE THE DESIGNATION Again - simple answer - EVERYWHERE! We have even seen a community put the W3 Lifestyle logo on their business card. If you run an ad in the Apartment Guide, For Rent Magainze, Apartment Finder, or any other publication - get your designation as being awarded the Best of The Best apartment community in your area on there! We had a comment one time from a community manager (who no longer holds our designation by the way) who said “why would I promote your company - you should be doing that yourselves.” HELLO, McFLY! We are a designation company - we don’t sell a product or even a service to the property management industry. We provide a designation - a designation that is very limited and a designation which is also monitored on a monthly basis. This is your way of promoting the fact that you can do more than just “say” you are better than all of the other apartment communities, you can actually prove it.
“THE DESIGNATION IS ONLY AS STRONG AS YOU MAKE IT”
FACEBOOK AND SOCIAL MEDIA The power of Social Media is not even disputable anymore on how effective it is. If you do not have a Community Facebook Page - then go back to your office and get busy putting one together...and most importantly, maintain it on a daily basis. Get your residents involved, keep it interactive and not just a “news” source. Make it fun, make it informative, make it engaging. EVERY SINGLE MONTH PROMOTE YOUR COMMUNITY MINIZINE with the link on it. Did you know the more hits you get to your Facebook page, the higher up in rankings it also goes on Search Engines such as Google? Did you also know that if someone searches for W3 Lifestyle on Facebook - anyone that has posted a link that references W3 Lifestyle also comes up in the search? See an example of a post from this month... Broadstone Vinings This month’s Minizine feature’s breast awareness and organizational techniques which will assist with cleaning up the clutter in your life! Also mentioned are several ways to cultivate a sense of community, yummy fall recipes, financial articles and more… please click below to access your October Minizine. http://www.thew3lifestyle.com/ga/ broadstonevinings.html W3 Lifestyle | Broadstone Vinings | National Apartment Designation www.thew3lifestyle.com This gorgeous community has been chosen to hold the National Apartment Designation - W3 Lifestyle. The only source for apartment renters to find the absolute best apartment communities. No more “guesswork” and no more “hoping” you end up living in the best community for you! Want a creative Facebook Fan Page Picture designed for you? Did you know we will do it for you FREE of charge? Pegasus Residential is currently branding all of their Facebook Profile Pictures to be the same for brand integrity and to include the W3 Lifestyle designation. You can do this too...just ask. W3 Lifestyle - Page 4
LEASING OPPORTUNITY OK, we have them at the lease desk - now what? The same thing you always do, promote your community, make your community stand out from all of the others and drive it home by promoting the fact that you have been recognized as being one of the Best of The Best apartment communities in your area. If you REALLY want to blow them away, pull up your Community Minizine and show it to them online or have a full color printed copy in your office to refer to. Show them your annual Event Calendar for your residents. Show them the general interest Financial Articles, Design Tips, Wellness Articles, etc. which will help improve their lifestyle. Show them how much your community cares about them!
RESIDENT RETENTION
LEASE APARTMENT
Your Resident Retention efforts began the minute the potential resident walked through your doors. That’s right. Before you even leased them an apartment, you were already beginning your Resident Retention efforts. They listened to your promises and claims. Now they begin seeing that everything you said was TRUE! Unlike the last complex they lived in, you actually do have an effective and informative monthly communication tool - the Community Minizine. They can not only read up on their specific community news, but area news, general interest items, see ads from local businesses and potentially find a few coupons in there as well. Top that off with some quality resident events that make them feel like a part of the community and all is GREAT! Renew my lease please!
BUT WAIT - MORE PROMOTION NEEDED - SIGNAGE Do you have a model apartment or perhaps even multiple? Do you have signage in your Model that reiterates your National Apartment Designation and what it means? Do you have a full color print of your Community Minizine for them to flip through and further remind them why you are the Best of The Best? Do you have a Bootleg sign out front so as they drive away they are yet again reminded that you have achieved a very unique status of being the Best of The Best? I hope you do! Because when they go to the complex down the street - they won’t have any of this stuff. And perhaps...just perhaps you will have put so much emphasis on your award winning status that they will ask that community if THEY are a W3 Lifestyle designated community and when their answer is “no” then you just got 100 points! If their answer is “what is that” then you just got 1,000 points! Because you pulled it up in your office and showed them online...so they know it is real...and that complex doesn’t even know what it is? DING DING DING, you won that fight! What we don’t want to do is create the illusion that people will simply lease an apartment from you just because you hold the W3 Lifestyle designation. That isn’t how it works. The W3 Lifestyle designation simply serves as your ability to PROVE what you say - that you truly are the BEST apartment community for your residents. We give you the opportunity to show not only your current residents, but perspective residents that you are even monitored on a monthly basis to maintain the W3 Lifestyle designation status. That type of comfort level makes people feel like there is someone else out there “watching” and making sure you stay above board and that their community won’t fall to pieces without them knowing. They can feel comfortable that what you are saying is “true” rather than you just trying to “sell” them.
The point is - PROMOTE your designation! Make People AWARE! W3 Lifestyle - Page 5
COMMUNITY MEGAZINE - ARTICLE SUBMISSION Article submission by the communities is absolutely critical. Our goal with your Community Minizine is to have your renters associate the publication specifically with your community. They need to know that on a monthly basis not only is there going to be general interest articles, but also potentially crucial information about their community. Perhaps it is maintenance tips on reducing electric costs in the summer or heating costs in the winter. What about the general breezeway cleaning that is coming up this quarter? How about a feel good article from the Property Manager talking about how passionately the team feels about the community and the exciting things that are coming up in the months ahead to better serve the residents? Even more effective - quality pictures from the last event! Your community article submissions are what truly makes your Community Minizine a customized publication specifically for YOUR residents. Each of you have a somewhat or even completely different demographic experiencing different issues at different communities. This is your opportunity to speak to them and again - make them feel like a part of the community they live.
ARTICLE SUBMISSION DEADLINE BY 15TH OF THE MONTH
RUN YOUR ADS IN YOUR MINIZINE Sounds crazy doesn’t it? However, remember, the goal of your Community Minizine is not only to impress your current residents, but to impress them enough that they want to pass on their publication to their friends and family based on some of the informative general interest articles. So yes, if you have a specialty advertisement that you are running in some other publication, email it to us to add into your Community Minizine as well. Especially if they are fun and colorful ads - we are not talking about your Apartment Guide ads - boring...we want your special design ads (if you have any) that you are running in other publications. If you don’t have one, put one together. This is a perfect opportunity to not only promote your community to your current residents and remind them even more why they chose to live at your community, but you might just find your ad in front of their friends and family as well.
COMMUNITY SPEC SHEETS Soon we will begin running your Community Spec Sheets in your Community Minizine also. Again, just 1 more way to potentially promote your community to your residents friends and family. As well as another opportunity you will have to cover your “specialties” to leasing prospects as you are bragging about and showing them your Community Minizine. If you haven’t already, be sure you have reviewed your Spec Sheet and update the information so that we can begin putting them in your Minizine as soon as possible.
MANAGEMENT PORTAL Almost anything you will need to reference is in your Management Portal which is located on your general Community Portal page. Article Submission Guidelines are here as well. It is very important these guidelines are followed - there is a purpose for these guidelines...to make your Community Minizine the highest quality possible. So please make sure you familiarize yourself with the guidelines and adhere to them as they are defined. W3 Lifestyle - Page 6
INTERACTIVE ADVERTISEMENTS Your Community Minizine is equipped with the ability for advertisers to place ads that are “interactive.” We always suggest to advertisers that they have their ads include some sort of special incentive for the residents - a coupon or special savings if they mention the ad, etc. The ad itself will also be linked to a website of the advertiser’s choosing which is typically their Homepage or their Facebook Fan Page. The new page always opens in a “new” page and leaves the actual Community Minizine open for the reader to easily go back to. Yet again another great feature to brag about to prospects/clients looking to rent an apartment - cool technology going above and beyond!
OUTREACH MARKETING Most communities hate Outreach Marketing. There are only a few times I have ever met with someone that “wanted” and enjoyed Outreach Marketing. One cool thing about our program is we starting finding that this changed. People began enjoying Outreach Marketing because they actually had something to offer the local businesses - the opportunity to advertise their business in their Community Minizine at a SUPER inexpensive rate. As we mentioned before - you pretty much secure your place with that local business also when they advertise with you because they are naturally going to send potential renters to the community they themselves are advertising. Again - the Circle of Opportunity.
PROMOTING THE COMMUNITY MINIZINE This is a subject we cannot stress enough. It NEEDS to be done in two ways - email and via a door to door flyer. The more popular your Community Minizine, the more your residents appreciate you and the higher your resident retention efforts. DO NOT get lazy and only do one or the other. This is the worst mistake we see communities make. We watch the statistics on a monthly basis and sure enough whenever we see a dip in views it is almost always due to a change in how the Community Minizine is being promoted to the residents. Keep in mind, the advertisers in your Community Minizine are who is paying for all of this. Even though the advertising rates are inexpensive, it is still what fuels your free Community Minizine and other free support services. If you were paying one of your marketing publications for an ad and were promised the publication would go in certain locations and then you found they didn’t...you would be upset. Same goes with this - it is important to the advertisers their brand get marketed properly to your residents. HOWEVER, all of that aside, it is even more important to YOU that your residents are enjoying this great tool. Remember, resident retention, resident retention, resident retention. The last thing you ever want a resident saying is “I never even knew we had the publication.” And when you will hear that is probably after they have already put in their Notice to Vacate. We know it is a pain and we all want to be “green” themed - but you still need to do that monthly Flyer that promotes your Community Minizine to hit those people that didn’t check their email or the email got lost in a SPAM folder or somewhere out there in the internet world. We also have a flyer template already designed for you which is available on your Management Portal.
They Won’t Know About it if You Don’t Tell Them Over and Over! W3 Lifestyle - Page 7
2011 W3 Rewards Program Challenge: We found that even the Best of The Best in apartment communities had their fair share of “issues’ when it came to promoting events effectively, sending out the Community Minizine on a monthly basis, etc. Solution: We are creating a program we are referring to as the W3 Rewards Program. This program allows the BEST of the Best of The Best to obtain the full resources of the W3 Lifestyle support services. Those communities that do not effectively live up to our standards will not receive as many rewards points and therefore will not experience the full benefits of the program as the communities that do make the effort to consistently be outstanding. How To Earn Rewards: Communities will earn rewards points for higher percentage views of the Community Minizine, submitting community specific articles for the Community Minizine, branding their marketing materials with the W3 Lifestyle designation, Facebook advertisement of Community Minizine and W3 Lifestyle sponsored events, making creative event flyers and promoting events timely, referring advertisers into their Community Minizine, submitting pictures of their last event for their Community Minizine and the list will keep growing. What To Use Rewards For: Sponsorship of community events, W3 Lifestyle printed marketing materials, additional food for special community events, W3 Lifestyle bootleg signs and much more. The bottom line to the W3 Rewards Program is to allow our communities to all play on a level playing field. It simply wasn’t fair for the communities that live and breathe the program and really benefit from how it was designed to receive the same benefits as the communities that continually made excuses for their less than desirable results and ultimately had their designation revoked. Specific Details about the W3 Rewards Program will be coming out by December 2010.
COMMUNITY EVENTS - QUANTITY VS. QUALITY When the W3 Lifestyle Program was first designed it was based on our supporting our designated communities with 9 events. We then “themed” the year as a “Wellness” year and required the communities to hold a Wellness EXPO once per quarter. Great intentions...but the EXPO’s did not go well for a variety of reasons. 2011 is going to reflect our going back to 9 events and not requiring the Wellness EXPO’s quarterly. We will be having “blackout” event months which are January, April, and November. These months are typically the less attended events and spreadout enough for the residents to still enjoy consistent events. We will start working with communities to schedule their 2011 events beginning in November. KEEP IN MIND - while we are going to go ahead and schedule your events for the year, you will be REQUIRED to earn enough W3 Reward points for us to actually sponsor the events you have scheduled. The idea is that you would do this EASILY; however, if you are not living up to our simple and fairly minimal expectations, you will not receive your free events. Remeber - W3 Lifestyle is about being a Designation of excellence. We are not a charity, nor are we your free event company. To take advantage of our free services you must be what we have said you are...the Best of The Best through your actions.
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SPONSORING EVENTS VS. WORKING Challenge: We found very quickly that there were too many teams that were taking our generousity of working their resident functions for granted. We had team members not leaving their offices, staying together over in a corner of the room or worse yet...not even staying for their own community event. Solution: We no longer work events - we only sponsor them. Ultimately, the community gets the same exact value because realistically we were not “working” the event so the staff did not have to do anything. We “worked” the event so the teams could mingle and create stronger resident relations. We also ran into the issue that residents were thanking “us” for putting on the events and serving them. Again, that is not what the events were intended to accomplish. It is in the best interest of the community for the residents to be thanking the leasing team for all of their efforts and going above and beyond by putting on such entertaining events.
MINIMUM EXPECTATIONS FOR PROMOTING EVENTS You know your demographic better than we do. However, we have found many times a team not giving their “demographic” the credit they deserve. All too often we have heard “we don’t pass out flyers until the day before because our residents forget” - and then they wonder why their events only typically have 10 people at them versus another property that sends out 3 different reminders for their events has 50 people at their events. Ultimately, the ideal scenario is 3 times - 30 days out, 2 weeks out, and the week of. This does NOT mean posting a flyer in the common areas. This means actually sending a flyer out to the residents door to door. In most cases though...this is alot. There is too much going on in the office to handle this volume. So mix it up - post some in common areas, do some door to door. Find what works for you.
QUALITY EVENTS = RESIDENT RETENTION If a resident loves where they live, they do not move unless they are relocated for some reason or purchasing a home. Just ask any Property Manager that goes above and beyond. Ask the Property Manager that gets to know their residents and makes their residents really feel like they are a part of the community and not just an apartment number that turns in a rent check every month. One way of accomplishing this is to put on quality resident functions and then pamper your residents. Make them feel appreciated. Make them proud of where they live. Make them WANT to tell all of their friends and family how great their community is. The apartment communities that are doing the best right now we have found one common trait - a quality team that makes their residents feel at home. I have heard an executive at a property management company say “what economy?” The economy does not dictate how we make our residents feel about their homes - our teams do. That same property management company has seen steady 94% to 98% occupancies and steady rent growth in a time when so many others are falling. Always remember - the key to resident retention is simply...make them not want to move. This starts the minute the very first walked in your door and lasts until the time they are ready to sign their renewal. It can’t start happening 60 days before their lease expires “hoping” you will save them. Quality events do not have to cost a fortune, just be quality enough that they are well presented and create an atmosphere of community by getting involved with your residents.
It’s Simple - Make Them Not Want To Move! W3 Lifestyle - Page 9
THEME YOUR EVENTS Some of our designated communities have themed their events such as a Luau by the Pool versus just a Pool Party, or a Football Party versus a Meet & Greet. Ultimately, these are your community events so you have the option to call them whatever you would like and theme them however you think your residents would enjoy them. The only thing you want to be sure and do is to keep us updated by sending the specific article for your themed event for your Community Minizine. It would also be fantastic if you did a custom Event Flyer for your themed event and again, send it to us and we can put it in your Community Minizine along with an article describing it. Always remember that the more customized we can make your Minizine to your community the better the result and impact. You simply need to communicate the information to us so that we can include it in your Minizine.
AVERAGE EVENT SIZE Here is the two thousand dollar question! Obviously some communities could be completely different than others - there are ALWAYS opposite ends of the spectrum. The average community event participation size is 15 to 20 people. Give or take 5 from that average is the norm. Therefore, when we sponsor events that is what we base our food budget on for a community - to feed 15 to 20 people. The only exception to this is our Pool Parties and Dive In Movie Nights where we supply enough food or popcorn to feed 50 people which again, is the average participation. If you have an event that you know is going to have more participation, simply supplement the food we are providing based on your anticipated additional volume. The next biggest question we get all of the time is “what do you provide” and each time we refer to the Management Portal which has each and every event and the FAQ’s for each event. The FAQ’s list very specifically what we provide. Obviously in some cases we may have to substitute if a certain food item is unavailable; however, 99% of the time we provide exactly what we have listed. Pictured below is an example of what we provide for a Jazz Under The Stars event.
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OUTDOOR EVENTS Our outdoor events are the only ones that could potentially get cancelled due to a lack of control over weather. Our policy is if there is a 40% or greater chance for rain according to weather.com then the event will be cancelled. We make this determination 24 hours prior to the event so that a flyer can be sent to the residents to inform them or at a minimum posted at common areas. This is a policy we absolutely do not vary from. The reasoning behind this goes back to events needing to be “quality.” If you lose an event due to weather it can be rescheduled, but if you have the event no matter what and it rains the entire time, then it is a waste. As expensive as these events are, they are not the ones to take risks on. We had one manager want to pay for their own Pool Party and of course it did in fact rain and their attitude was, and I quote, “Well at least it is over and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Shortly after that comment their designation was revoked. So on your outdoor events, Pool Party, Dive In Movie Night, and Jazz Under The Stars watch the weather at weather.com for your zip code.
EXTRA EVENTS - POOL PARTIES & DIVE IN MOVIE We offer the opportunity for our designated communities to have an extra Pool Party or Dive In Movie Night if they desire. At many communities these events are so popular that it only makes sense to have at least 2 per year. In those cases we do offer discounted rates - simply contact our office to determine the rate at that time. For example, in 2010 our discounted rate was $350 for a Pool Party and $450 for a Dive In Movie Night. The great thing about our parties is that the DJ we utilize is not only award winning, but he is also the entertainer that the Apartment Association uses for their events. He is high quality and the above pricing reflects a major discount. Another way our buying power can assist you.
EVENT FAQ’S We touched on this a bit ago - Event FAQ’s. It is probably what we get asked most about - what do we provide, what is the event, etc. We have answered your basic questions in the Event FAQ section of your Management Portal so that you can obtain the answer at any given time. The Event FAQ’s will go over specifically what we provide and a general summary of what the event is. You can also refer to your Community Megazine as it will have a description of your event as well. We are a very small staff with a very large workload - we have tried to simplify things as much as possible by having the Event FAQ section as well as having the Minizine Publication Guidelines right there at your finger tips to refer to. The last thing we ever want to do is let you down by not being able to respond fast enough to answer your questions. So please, before asking, always refer to your resources that we have provided to make sure we have not already answered your question(s) or given the descriptions you are needing. We want to be there for everybody, but if everybody asked the same question every month our small team would never be able to do what we truly want to do, which is provide more and more free support services for you to take advantage of. W3 Lifestyle - Page 11
DESIGNATION IS NOT PAID FOR Never make the mistake of thinking that your $395 annual administrative fee “paid” for your designation. The W3 Lifestyle designation is earned and definitely not for sale. We maintain the integrity and the purpose of the designation by making sure it is not a “paid for” gimmick. Your annual administrative fee is simply that - an administrative fee that helps us cover certain costs. Obviously you are getting a tremendous value for only $395 with the monthly Community Minizine as well as the free events - heck, a pool party alone costs more than that. However, never associate this fee with an entitlement of the designation.
SOLUTION ORIENTED COMMUNICATION There is never a challenge that cannot be discussed to find the best solution. However, there are always problems that can never be resolved because discussions fail in the “blame game.” Ultimately, we are a designation company - not a free newsletter company and not a free resident event company...a designation company. We identify the Best of The Best apartment communities in the industry based on their committment to Superior Resident Services and based on their Superior Product Quality. We are ALWAYS looking for ways to build upon the free services we provide to our designated communities as well as always looking for opportunities to improve upon our current services. However, part of being the Best of The Best is realizing that our relationship is a partnership - we are here to help you in any way that we possibly can. To help, we must know what is going on and what challenge we need to work on together to solve.
27 COMMUNITIES DESIGNATION REVOKED Why? 100% of the time it has been due to one simple problem - communication. The community did not communicate to us the challenges they were facing which created their inability to provide Superior Resident Services. If we had been communicated with in a Solution Oriented manner, we could have likely assisted them. The corporate team did not communicate with us when there was a failing at the site level and without corporate support and an obvious failing at the site level, Resident Services failed. This is a subject that I could go on and on about - the cheat sheet to our program is: #1 - Send out Minizine link to residents via email and door to door flyer #2 - Effectively promote your resident events to your residents #3 - Promote your W3 Lifestyle desgination If you do the above 3 things effectively - which should be natural for a Best of The Best community, then you will succeed with our program. The communities that fail and end up having their designation revoked are the ones that make excuses for not being able to achieve the above. Seems easy doesn’t it? It really is. Keep it simple, have an open line of solution oriented communication, keep us informed, tell us when something is wrong and we will be there to assist you in absolutely any way that we possibly can.
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ONCE REVOKED, ALWAYS REVOKED? This is more of a question we have gotten from residents. Once a community loses their W3 Lifestyle designation can they get it back? The answer is “perhaps.” If the corporate level can prove to us that what was failing at the community level has now been resolved, then we will consider evaluating the community again for the designation. However, we do so very carefully and with our eyes wide open to warning flags. Again, we are very serious about what the designation means and it is critical to us that we are reporting to potential residents accurate information. Our reputation as the National Apartment Desigantion of Excellence is just as much on the line as our designated communities...if not more so.
EMAIL ETIQUETTE This is a topic that makes me laugh a little. It is something that is a no-win situation based on a variety of personality types. If you type too much, they only read a little. If you type too little, they have a million questions and get mad that you made them have to ask. If you type too much you are “wordy.” If you type too little you are “short (rude).” Here is the rule of thumb to remember about W3 Lifestyle. We were founded by someone that has roughly 10 years experience in the industry. We absolutely will not send an email that we feel as though is “fluff.” We will only send emails that relay information that is needed. So please be sure to try and pay attention to the emails we send out. In many cases they are covering program changes/enhancements and/or important news that might affect the community. Again, we are a small team here at W3 Lifestyle and send out updates as we have changes or need to report new programs. It is a challenge for us to have emails ignored or “filed” away without reading to only then be surprised when the affect is felt and then we get an angry phone call to cover what we had sent previously to avoid any surprises.
EXAMPLES OF BAD BAD BEHAVIOR The examples below are true stories and will hopefully give you a good understanding of why we are so passionate about the W3 Lifestyle program and what it means for apartment renters. Example #1 - Property Manager has a FIT that we are only bringing enough food for 15 to 20 people for a Saturday morning event. She swears up and down she will have a minimum of 50 people at her events. She doesn’t care what our policy is - she only wants what she wants. So we bring enough food to cover 50 people (this was at the beginning, we learned NEVER to do this again so don’t get any ideas) and a total of 13 people come to the event AND not only did the Property Manager not come to this event she was so confident would have so many people - that she only staffed for 1 Leasing Person to work the office that day. So nobody to mingle with all of the supposed attending residents. After talking to the residents as well as to the extremely frustrated leasing agent who also was disgruntled she was the only one staffed that day - the community hadn’t had an event for MANY months and even the last event they had only had a handful of people. DESIGNATION REVOKED Example #2 - We confirm an event for a community - show up with the food only to be told they decided to cancel it...but didn’t bother to tell us. Oh yes...they cancelled it because they never sent out the flyer even though 2 weeks prior when we confirmed they event they report to us that they had in fact sent out the flyer. DESIGNATION REVOKED
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SUCCESS STORIES Nothing makes me feel better but to hear the appreciation comments and receive the emails from communities on how the W3 Lifestyle designation has truly benefited them. Even better is when we see posts on community Facebook pages with residents complimenting the Community Megazine and/ or the latest Resident Event. After all, that is what we are here to do! Our goal is to partner with you and help you Increase Resident Retention, Increase Lease Desk Traffic and Decrease Expenses. We help apartment renters find you because you are proven by our standards to be the Best of The Best. Communities that “get” this and make the effort to put into the program so they get results out of the program are the ones that succeed the most. One Community Manager said it best when they wrote me and said... “I just wanted to let you know that we created a desk display stating that we were a proud member of the W3 Lifestyle. This is right on the front desk as people come in and I have had several people ask “What does W3 mean?” This has been a great tool for us to start talking about the W3 designation (what that means and what that includes.) This has always impressed people when fully explaining that we are one of the “best of the best” and all the extras that are included with the W3 program. We are excited to continuing promoting this as much as possible because we have already received great response from our residents (and we are just in our FIRST month) and also from propsects based on the desktop plaque we are displaying. It is true...we are getting out of the program what we are putting into it!” Another Assistant Property Manager sent to us... “Our pool party last night was literally the best resident event I have EVER been a part of!!!! We had an amazing turn out!!! Everyone participated in all of the events and had the best time!!! I’ve been flooded with resident phone calls today thanking us and W3 for putting on this event for them!!” I even had a resident a few weeks ago email me on my personal Facebook page complimenting their community Minizine! She boasted on its quality and how she looks forward to it every month. She was not even my “friend” on Facebook - how she found me, I have no idea. For her to search me out and then take the time to email me about her community Minizine is in my opinion astounding. However, as much as I loved it - I want that level of enthusiasm and appreciated directed to the community. That is why those community specific articles are so cricitcal.
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PROGRAM CHANGES The W3 Lifestyle program has evolved since we first began in November 2009. We have gone from a Print Newsletter - to an Online Minizine. We have gone from working events - to sponsoring events. Each change is made with careful consideration and ultimately with the best interest of the community at final decision. The great things about changes like this is that the Best of The Best rises to the top and shows how great they truly are by not only adapting to the changes and making them work the way they are intended, but even more importantly they take the time to truly understand the reasoning behind it.
LITTLE W3 LIFESTYLE TIPS #1 - Manage your workload, do not let your workload manage you! #2 - Steal shamelessly! #3 - Open and Solution Oriented Communication is the only way to find solutions! #4 - Be open to change, it’s the only way to improve! #5 - Do what you love, and love what you do...or go home!
HELP US TO HELP YOU Selling advertising is our only source of “real” revenue. The advertising is extremely inexpensive and as we have covered it is a solid way to secure your ability to get local businesses to refer potential residents to your community. The more you assist us with selling ads into your Community Minizine, the more successful we will be...and the more successful we are, the more we can continue offering you free of charge. We are constantly running special offers to your teams as well - help us by promoting these offers to your team members to help motivate them with being passionate and excited about Outreach Marketing. For example, for the month of October 2010 we are paying anyone that assists in selling an ad into their Community Minizine a $50 VISA Gift Card....for each ad! That can add up fast! Again - Circle of Opportunity - get the team excited to help us, to help the businesses, to help you, and to help the residents! We are your partners and our success is your success and round and round the circle goes.
TRIVIA QUESTION What does the W3 Lifestyle Logo represent?
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