Hopping off the Concession Train

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Hello Apartment friends it’s me Leslie Mathis with Multifamily Streamlined podcast. Well a few weeks we talked about being heard and not hiding behind something but it’s time to pivot slightly and get back to some of our apartment basics. It’s not secret that I still think 2023 is going to be a tough one operationally. I always say we are coming off an 18 month high of rent growth but the experts remind me it’s truly been a heck of a 10 years for our industry. But when we unpack that so many of our onsite teams and RPMs haven’t even been in the industry 10 years so while they might have experienced the challenges with Covid they didn’t experience the downturn in 2008 when the economy tanked or 911 when there were six months free rent floating around. And because of all that we are going to have to get back to the basics and those of us that have been around forever are going to need to guide the newer ones and lead by example not to mention support them. If we are being honest some of our new associates might not even know what the basics are. Perhaps we dive into that on the next episode but while concessions are fresh on my mind I want to share some thoughts around those. Also, if you haven’t taken the concession battle class I strongly encourage you to take. We just hosted but if there is enough interest we can host again late March. For me the most powerful part is we share all the fundamentals around concessions, why we don’t offer, the financial impact, the impact to the demographic of the project, etc. but we close with a power hour on confidence with Kristina Watts. She comes in and basically tears down what I say and then empowers you with a confidence boost and says sell, create the experience, blah blah blah... And then shares with the class why they truly have what it takes to sell without concessions because you can do anything you set your mind to. And that’s what is about - whatever you believe good or bad that is your reality and no one but you can change that. I guess the actual quote by Henry Ford is Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t either way you are right. And that’s it - end of story. While we will dive into concessions and how to sell without leading with price and specials - if you buy into the strategy whatever it is; you will be successful. When we sell by leading with people and experience - yes it is going to be harder but it will be worth it. The other tough part of that is we have to be pretty darn close to perfect - but that is also possible when we have the right product and people. I might even challenge, it’s not about the product but just the people.