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one of them to another episode of industry celebrities my name is Kimberly Scott former video girl and now podcast rookie and there's three celebrities is a podcast where I interview professionals in all sorts of industries asking questions about their passions or their industry which makes them all celebrities to me if you'd like to share your knowledge or your passion and be on industry celebrities podcasts email me at kimberly ki m ber ly at marketing doer comm and you can listen to other episodes by searching my name in itunes for you iphone users anchor for your Android users or watch or I should say listen to the audio on YouTube just search Kimberly D Scott so I would like to be the first to welcome today's guest welcome back mr. Jean Harris with residential waste services hi Jean hi how are you I'm doing great how are you I'm wonderful thanks I appreciate you for joining me again so is it true that I heard a rumor or maybe it's not a rumor that you're speaking at the Alabama Apartment Association it is true I can confirm here today it's not a rumor is true that's awesome well congratulations thank you thank you I am excited yeah alabama department sociation tradeshow and expo or I should say education conference and Expo right is yes I've been that definitely highly attended and their speakers were great so kudos to you congratulations what are you speaking on actually speaking on two topics one is creating a winning team with hiring winners and the second one is winning a customer retention so their theme is winning win yeah that's that's that's their theme this year so a winning team that's great but I'm really excited you're gonna have to definitely record that winning at customer retention because I would love to hear your insight on on how how they should do that I'm about to renew my lease so oh really okay yeah any suggestions on what I could tell my the property manager here unfortunately I don't have I'm not doing a seminar for the resume turn it would be good I'm like I might not be invite everybody invited I can speak and another person if I were coaching the residents no but it it's it's more you know the whole theme of the idea is that it's creating a culture on the property management side it's funny you say you're about to renew your lease because that's kind of the big number one biggest topic that I hammer on the most and that I coming from outside the industry but if you recall or probably talked to I think we did talk about a little yes right remembered okay so coming from Hollywood video you're coming from retail into this business so I definitely have a different perspective when coming into this industry and I one thing I quickly realized is that as a whole our industry focuses more on the front door than they do the back door yes and they focus more on getting new leases than they do keeping the ones they've got and for me it's one of my favorite questions I love asking these questions it is did you know that if no one ever moves out of your apartment community your occupancy won't go down and everybody says it wasn't they say yep I know that I was like well it's funny because that's not how you run your business and there's a lot of energy and time and focus on the front door you know starting from the standpoint of when a an employee first horror leasing consultant you put them through a week or two weeks of leasing 101 and teach them how to lease an apartment and it's all fun and exciting and how to answer the phone and how to respond to emails and etc then we put them out on site and we do all these secret shoppers make sure they're doing everything correctly and we got this five page checklist at the secret shopper has to go through to make sure the lease did everything correctly and then we spend all this one on advertising and driving curb appeal and driving new traffic etc and then when it comes time to renew it's more of a you know ho-hum everyone is big I roll what I got to work on renewals and all ah a lot of time energy focus on keeping thick resident and is it cheaper to keep her or keep me that's right to you pretty keeper like it's super for me as a resident not I don't want to move but that's right it's almost like I feel I'm just gonna say from my opinion I feel like well like they don't care enough to try and do Ellie even if they were to paint my walls they were to like lick your back it's gonna go what Brent's gonna go up okay then what am I gonna get for that going up and that's that's right what's the value yeah where's the value and it's creating that value and we can create that value in a number of ways from day one like it and again again it goes back to this on-site management has to have this perspective and it's a you know it's creating understanding that that's that's the most important piece is keeping the resident it starts from the first day you move in exactly and and time and energy focus that way and it's you know it's also from a larger larger bigger picture you know are they incentivize properly you know another thing is incentivizing the team to look at the things that you want them to look at so if they're incentivized based on new leases alone and they're getting more bigger bonuses and commissions based on new leases but obviously that's where they're going to focus their time and energy at some time energy is their bonus to on customer retention and guess what that's where they're gonna focus it's weird I mean we want to stay here we we might want to just move to the fourth floor but I don't I really don't want to move if I don't like like from a whole other apartment community to another one I'd like because the apartments you know only a hundred units the pool is amazing the location is amazing you know the staff is great you know they respond well if you go in there they don't always respond to emails but they do their best job you know with the tools they have and they have events you know so I really don't want to leave however I just I'm feeling like I'm ready to say what do you do for me and if you know anything than we are we're gonna leave because yeah that's in and how long how long have you lived there in January we'll be a year but apparently be a year yeah it's funny okay yeah so here we are in September not quite September yet comes out it'll be September yeah couple days and you're already thinking about this well they have they tell us about I do 90 days we think of a 90 day 90 days Wow maybe that's new or 67 60 days 60 days it's typically at 60 yes that's the norm on a on an institutional level but but you're the reason why I bring that up is because when I was running deals you know I sent my renewal notices out a hundred and twenty days prior to your lease expiring where when I came in this business I would see managers not do it at all or maybe send it out on the you know 61st day because like well they got to give me a 60 day notice so they send them this because they think they've got you between a rock and a hard place and you know again that's an adversarial point of view right yeah versus you know trying to work together come up with a solution for me to stay there you go so what I was trying to do looks nice to listen residents know that they have to give us six day notice so prior to that time the resident begins to have an internal conversation with themselves it's not like you're doing those you you just vocalize your internal conversation you're having all the things that's going through your mind do I want to stay why do I want to say what's important to me what's not important to me what are they gonna do etc whatever and so if we wait to even the 90th day is even in your mind you said well I gotta give it 90 they know so in your mind you're already saying I need to have my mind made up by the 90th day well kind of but this is this is true this is what happens and so so I send you that you've already made up your minds what I see is that we're sending out notices for renewals and the resident has already made their mind up whether they're gonna stay or go unless you make this most unbelievable offer yeah already made up their mind right and now now we're in a position of trying to change your mind and how difficult is that very very difficult so so what I love my late kind of what I've always done is I try to get to you before you've had that commerce or having a conversation go and throw my offer out first and what I used to do is I've never raised rents I mean I was always running and typically running in concession driven marketplaces so I looked at this place if I was given a concession at the front door to a new resident there's no reason in the world has to be raising my current customer unless it's below right yeah let's just say let's say let's say all things being even it was $1000 is making up a number even even numbers and you're paying $1,000 a market rate for that unit today is still $1,000 and I'm giving them one month free to a new customer right there's no reason the world actually be increasing your rent yeah honestly honestly because it's it's again because if let's say let's say that since you $100 rent increase right and and you came in as I go I don't want to pay your hotel rent increase and I was like well too bad because that's just what we have to do for whatever reason right fill in the blank there well then you move and it costs more to turn it okay yeah but guess what I'm gonna give the new guy one month free oh wow I'm still gonna give away the month forever loose loose I mean I would just sit there and watch this happen and my mind would just be blown I'm like are you kidding me right now yeah but everybody just get some wool you know this is fair housing I have to send everyone the same increase which is not true you can you can negotiate your but anyway it's it is it is it is lose-lose and so what I try to do is I try to send out fire first early before you've had a time to have the conversation with yourself so that at least I can at least be involved in that Congress yeah - yes I would rather you be involved because then I know what to expect I already have like I'm you know unfortunately because I'm from the industry I know probably too much that you know I'm smarter than the average bear I guess a renter per se but I definitely would love for them to be like no we want you to say what can we do but that has never happened since I've lived in in the DFW market like they've never and so I've moved every year because I've never said we absolutely want you to stay what can we do to make this work nobody's they've just been like oh this is the way it is and this is okay but I would think I've only stayed one place and they and because I really didn't go up much oh my oh my rent so I was like okay you know that I was like okay with and it's you know small community and all and then maybe one other time because I might have called in a favor I don't know but anyways here's here's how camera and put my property management hand on from them and pretend to be your property manager I would have this conversation with you Kimberly you know appreciate she's a resident etc you know obviously you know price increases you knows economy gets better you know the value of things going up it costs us more to operate department community and we're gonna you know so we're asking a price increase from everyone what do you think is fair ah zero zero increase well what do I get for that increase you know you tell me you tell me what do you think's fair okay if I want to move to this some the fourth floor without being charged anything extra come at ok possible it is the fourth floor more is it cost more to live on the fourth floor I don't believe so it's the same price yes okay so thank you okay I would rent to you the fourth floor apartment home at today's market rate whatever I'm offering for today then I would rent that unit to you at that price whatever that is or maybe I could say whatever the market rate price is plus throw in my garage for free because I'm paying for my garage right now paying for your garage how much how much how much is your garage seventy five dollars and is this apartment community currently doing any type of concessions or anything like that I don't know not that I know of okay well that that you know I would I probably would maybe I'll say well what if I gave you half off your garage yeah okay this yeah so we're gonna relocate to the fourth floor I give you half off a half off your garage okay I would do that yeah what do you think yeah I mean it's a conversation to see exactly but what I wanted to point out and if people will people can rewind and go back and listen to that moment and this is the this is the key that day and you're you are sophisticated so most people would have just said yeah you know so go back to that moment when I said what do you think's fair and you struggled yes I did so hard you know why because I'm gonna tell you this right now no one ever and maybe one day they well maybe there's someone off there will do it no one has ever asked them for more than I was willing to give with it and it's all about who has the power right and so when I give you the power when I empower youth my customer I say customer you tell me what's what's gonna be right to make you happy people get all because then they don't they don't want to be the bad guy they don't really I don't you know I'm asking for the world and you know you know I said and I use the word fair that is you know so okay I know you got to run a business yeah and so you start going through all this stuff where but we finally get to a conclusion that we agreed upon you go back you're very very happy yeah you're more happy than when you were before you talk to me there's like wow I really love living here I'll have a voice I can come in and sit down and have a conversation with them they really appreciate me as a customer I mean it just goes boom I mean I'm gonna win so much more from giving you half off your garage then I would have I said no I'm sorry you have to have a price increase if you want to transfer you have to pay your transfer fee and you have to do this at etc or whatever because if even if you because if you decide to move out I still have to turn that unit you'd have to pay a transfer fee to move out yeah you see I'm saying so your I get to keep I'm gonna have to turn that unit anyway so I'd rather keep you because I again and then let's look at this you paid your rent on time ah no problems out of you the next guy move in here you know it's a coin flip you never know you know I'm saying so and and now not only that but I've got to now I've got you as a as a talking head in my apartment community when you're the pool or you're talking to your friend you're like oh my god I love this place it's so awesome all my friend should live here you're just but boom-boom-boom-boom and and what happens is the opposite happens when if I send you the rent increase and this happened to me I had a employee and actually Montgomery Alabama and she's new to the business only what she come from Wells Fargo banking only been in the business a few months and her property did a price increase and she went in there and talked to them and they were like well they were using one of the revenue management software programs like well the computer says this is what we have to do and I'm sorry and after she told me that story she went on to tell me everything that was wrong with that apartment community at that point say well they don't pick up you know the tower the cigarette butts on the ground they don't pick up with the past they don't of course this they don't do that I have bubble and this is she starts nitpicking the property to pieces where she wouldn't have done that had they worked with her she's been loving it and what she recognizes things but they weren't that big of a deal also now yeah being told no absolutely there are huge deals now and now you know such with social media yeah unfortunately so so it was so I've one way more in in my past lives doing it that way versus the other way around which is just forcing it down your throat let leg give empowering and giving you the decision and you know there's so much more that can come from tha versus trying to just say this is what it is to take it or leave it see you later yeah alligator you're helping them win so you're definitely gonna be winning you're teaching them winning skills at the next Alabama Association education conference and Expo when is this when is it it'll be September 13th and 14th in Birmingham Alabama Birmingham behave yeah well cool well I'm excited for you I'm excited for yours whoo all that you're going to be educating and are you do some role-playing if you did yes yes I did a lot of roleplay I love roleplay I love engaging the audience that's that's a lot of fun for me I like the the give or take pieces of it so I like to ask a lot of questions and yes we will be doing some rope obviously bring in some of when I was in retail I'll use that as an example because I think it really paints a it makes a better picture oh yeah in that business it what's interesting is in that business your hands are even more tired you know you have no control with the price you're and control with the product you have no control over advertising yet somehow you're supposed to increase sales and keep your customers coming back or in our business we totally have control over all three of those things yeah and what happens is when things go bad or occupancy starts to fall or we need to do things we we deferred our first go-to is to go to that change the price right we run a concession and then the next piece is oh well then we need more traffic so let's spend more money on advertising right let's get more people in the door and the third piece which is which is the most management intensive or capital intensive is is the product right you know you know new appliances yeah black to stainless or whatever and and the the problem is in ninety nine percent of the time is people yeah it's you know that's the only thing I had control over in the retail business so when I came into this business that's what I focused on first versus doing there's other three things and I want so much more yeah you're doing that well great job I'm excited for you and but you can't wait to hear the feedback from folks that attend will be I'll make sure that we put this out and then repost this or share this podcast on your on September 13th and 14th so there's no those Birmingham Alabama folks know what to expect yeah well I appreciate just so much where would they go to like how can they reach you the easiest way to reach me right now is via email which is by a name Eugene dot a Harris at gmail.com mmm-hmm is the probably quickest and easiest way right now to reach me I'm actively setting up my social media stuff accounts so there might be some more info to come later and they we can attach it onto this when you publish it right that's right I'm on LinkedIn also it's Jean Harris GE har R is comma C ApS caps okay well maybe by the time this comes out you'll all have helped you set up your YouTube channel because that's right everybody needs one I'm excited for your latest adventure getting out there and you do have a charismatic personality and people like to engage in conversation with you hence why I've asked you to be on the planet I hope that you will be a regular guest we do all sorts of topics I'm looking forward to it yes I did about it sure me too well hoping that you will be a regular guest on my industry celebrities podcast I'll always be available no matter how big and famous I get well great I appreciate you so much and thank you listeners for tuning in we'll wrap this up and make sure you you check Jean Harris out at the Alabama Apartment Association in Birmingham Alabama at 13th and 14th that's correct yeah and you can also find him on LinkedIn and soon-to-be other social media channels that he will announce next time he's on thank you so much and remember everyone if you want to subscribe to the YouTube or iTunes of Channel podcasts just search Kimberly D Scott and you can also look me up on Facebook instead of Twitter snap and LinkedIn so until next time stay positive and keep growing thanks Dean thank you