diving a little deeper
welcome back to forge. as i read back over my previous posts to forge, i see how they are both introductions of a sort. i’m recognizing that i’m inclined to keep things light…yet i’m dying to dive in to what’s deep. i love to get below the surface…talk about what really drives a person; find the roots which each of us (and our businesses) grew from.
one word that keeps coming up time and time again for me is also one that causes our skin to crawl. we argue over it and demand it and yet each of us struggle with it.
integrity.
it’s worth talking about. after all, each of us have had a conversation or more about how the businesses we trade with are lacking it. we are furious at AIG and ENRON and yet the fact is, they are doing exactly what we do, only on a much larger scale.
there are more than a few ways that integrity affects our industry (property management), but i want to talk about a couple of them.
on an everyday level; our culture demands immediate response and there is a lack of grace when an honest mistake is made. i know one struggle we have is admitting those mistakes to our tenants. let me set this up. we get a call for maintenance request. we write it down and let the tenant know they will hear from someone shortly. if we are anything like most of you, our desks don’t have just a file or two and a neat pad of paper for these kind of notes. no, our desks are trashed; the equivalent of a paper tornado hits each of us at least daily and that little piece of paper with the maintenance request and honest intentions is long gone almost before the ink dries.
a few days later, we get a call from an irate tenant wondering why they haven’t heard from anyone about their request. this is a legitimate question. but here’s where the trap lies. when we go to our computer and see that no request has been processed, the temptation is to lie or at the very least, be defensive. we want to be able to tell our tenant that we aren’t sure what has happened but that we will get someone on it right away. but the fact is that these are just the times to tell the tenant that we’ve made a mistake; their request hasn’t been entered and we will do so and make it right.
as i write this story i can think back to countless times i have been in this exact predicament and with the stomach-bunching feeling of not wanting to be wrong. sometimes this is legitimate because the tenant has escalated the issue far beyond what it necessitated and i fear getting chewed out and other times it is just because i don’t want to admit a mistake. but either way…it becomes an integrity issue. am i going to be honest and say what’s really happening or wiggle myself out of it?
on an organizational level, we are battling the integrity issue as we turn our backs to the industry standards of compensation. this is naturally hard because it means we make a far smaller profit margin than the norm. let me give you an example:
one of our clients knew a friend in the property management business a few years ago and came to me with some very specific questions; how do you handle contracting maintenance? i informed him that we have long time relationships with subs that offer excellent prices and quality work. he asked me if we would make a commission on the repairs we have done on his properties? no we won’t, we work on a flat fee system, meaning there are no extra charges. he then asked if we ever pick subs out of the yellow pages? at this point, i was getting very curious about his line of questioning so i talked to him about how we rarely go to the yellow pages and we typically find new subs by referral from our other trusted subs or professionals we respect. i then asked him about his concern.
he told me about a friend in the property management business who was bragging that they were making great money by a “cost plus 10%” aspect of their management agreement as it pertained to maintenance. this simply means that they made an additional 10% cut of any contracted maintenance in addition to the base management fee. but here’s where it gets sour. they routinely selected the largest ad out of the yellow pages knowing prices are usually higher from companies who pay for large ads. if they had to get bids for a larger job, they would encourage the owner to select the highest bid to make sure they got the highest quality of work.
i winced and immediately understood his concerns with this obvious conflict of interest. how can a property manager fulfill his responsibilities to an owner all the while drive up costs so his commission is higher? why is this behavior tolerated? i was asking one of our commercial realtors we do business with about this. his response? there hasn’t been an alternative. my response? we will be the alternative. after all, i can’t look at five different faces in the morning and i’ve got to live with the one i’m looking at.
integrity. it’s become a vow for us here at dwell. so much so that it’s one of the sieves we move everything we do through and what’s great about that is only the fine quality parts get through…everything else gets left behind…and i’m thinking that’s the way it should be.
April 6, 2009
chief, you are right in exposing the common plight of those serving the public: anyone in a service capacity can be “chewed out” for things that may or may not be their fault. thats why I am so glad we are able to be ourselves at dwell. and, thats also why I’m working on clearing my desk first thing tomorrow!
April 7, 2009
When a customer is unhappy, at least they have the interest to want to work with you. Think of it as an opportunity to make a personal impression with this customer with your kind words and quick actions to right the situation and consistent checking up to see if everything is right and better in the eye of your client. They will remember your concern and diligence more than the initial failure.
I bet those property owners are upset when they see such a large bill. As a broker, you have two sides to make happy and look out for.
I like your marketing and your image of transparency with this blog, and I would like to know if you have a place for me with in unit laundry or at least hook ups- single unit under $700/mo somewhat close to lloyd. I am also looking for a small commercial kitchen space to start a catering business, could your commercial realtor help me with that?
April 8, 2009
prospective tenant ~ great ideas and thoughts! i have just left you a voicemail with the phone number you provided via email. we hope to talk soon about some of our available rentals and i have left messages with a few brokers to find the right fit for your needs to start up your catering business. we look forward to hearing from you!
April 8, 2009
Hey thanks for following up. I spoke with someone at your office today about the Bertha blvd place and will be looking at it when it’s cleaned probably. I also called you about the milwaukee ave town home and while I probably won’t be going for that place, the bottom room has a bunch of sheet rock missing from the ceiling fyi.. Maybe I can get a roommate before the end of the month and work something out. Thanks!
April 14, 2009
Integrity…Hmm good topic. I’ve spent some time pondering if I should reply or not. So…here goes. Simply said, you either have it, (integrity) or you don’t. As we all know, it is the value system with which it drives who we are. Some people have high standards, while others may think that “anything goes”. To conduct ones-self with integrity, is a somewhat constant “checks and balances” system that sees to it that you are consistant in your actions, principles and values. That includes many things…how you interact with others (including those you serve and those that serve you); how you perform your job; how honest you are at the checkout stand when you are given too much change, or undercharged for an item; if you see someone drop some money, do you halt them and give it back? etc. I recently witnessed someone purchase an item in a store. When the item rang up much less than this person had expected, the clerk was immediately questioned if that was correct. This person stated that they had expected the item to be more. The clerk clarified with the buyer, but at the same time, the clerk had body language that indicated to me that they were surprised at this person’s honesty. That’s integrity folks.