Student of the Game

I am amazed. We watch sports, especially professional sports like golf, football, basketball, and baseball, and I'm amazed at how many people focus on the physical talent or the statistics. The press is the worst at glorifying talent and basing it off of statistics mainly. We see year after year a guy that leads the tour in driving distance, someone that has the most rushing yards, or someone with the most homeruns get so much credit for these measurable statistics. Statistics that without many other factors don't necessarily result in winning.

So I have a problem with this because I don't think enough credit is given to the "true student of the game." The person that is not focused on their talent to perform, but on their drive to be better. Now, I'm not trying to be short sighted and say that true students of the game don't have great talent to be professional athletes (of course they do). What I am saying is that students of the game continue to find a way to one up their competition. Not because they just try harder, but because they strive to understand what it takes to be better. It's a mental exercise and not a physical exercise.

In thinking about this I compare the idea to business. In business, the person that relies on their product to be successful can win. We've seen this happen with numerous fads and "As Seen On TV" products. We've even seen this with numerous commodities that generate revenue. The challenge comes in sustaining success based off of 1 idea or off a price driven model. This is even more challenging when economic conditions like we have today put a strain on pricing, and when new technology or copycats can easily trump the uniqueness of your 1 product. This is why, in my mind, the true students of the game are better poised to win.

The true student of the game is ready to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. The true student of the game does not rest on their laurels. The true student of the game continues to raise the bar for expectations. The true student of the game does not accept mediocrity. The true student of the game exhausts all their resources available and seeks more. The true student of the game does not make excuses. The true student of the game knows when to be patient and make adjustments. The true student of the game makes the game what it is.

What else? What makes you a true student of the game? Being a student of the game applies to anyone. How can you refocus to be a better student regardless of your position?

Tidbits from The Apartment Nerd

Hello friends. For those of you that follow this blog I apologize for the lack of content. The past couple of months I have been focusing my efforts on a new blog that is dedicated specifically to my industry and marketing apartments. If you'd like to get some weekly tidbits please feel free to subscribe over at www.theapartmentnerd.com. I'm temporarily putting a hold on the content here, but in the future plan to reengage. Thanks and enjoy your day!

"You mean, like the brown meat at the grocery?"

Kim Andreadis inspired me to write this with her Sincere Professionalism vs. Hype? post at Multifamilyinsiders.com. I think the question she poses is, with specials flying around when do your customers just turn their head and label you as another gimmick? A few thoughts come to mind.

1. Revenue management systems are a much better solution for staying competitive with price. Simplify the pricing process and your customers will appreciate it.

2. A leasing trainer I work with has a great response to customers that ask if we have specials. "You mean, like the brown meat at the grocery?" Are we selling brown meat here or are we leasing apartment homes?

3. Better yet, why does used car sales have the reputation it does? Go ahead, put a huge gorilla out on the road, wear a plaid jacket, open all the doors to your apartments (why do they do that with the hoods?), and advertise "Cash Back" on all your listings. All that should definitely set you apart from your competition. :)

I understand, desperate times call for desperate measures, but there is a line out there where your customer actually just labels you as untrustworthy and a gimmick. Feel free to attract some unqualified traffic to your property, move some brown meat to some interesting people, and in the end create an experience based on gimmicks. I'm sure those people will surely renew next year and be good testimonials for your communities and brand. Good luck with that.

Mj

I Need More Convincing

Yesterday I received an email newsletter from For Rent Media Solutions. I enjoy receiving these email newsletters from my vendors as they generally have good industry information, new data, or just information I need to know.

In yesterday's message there was a post titled "Magazine Ads Increase Web Traffic By More Than 40%." Just after reading that title I had to dig further. WOW, that's a big number, and I'm curious. As I read, the article pointed out the data was from the MPA (or Magazine Publishers of America), and they provided a link to the full report for the data.

Now they really had my attention. I love juicy data, and I was looking for a convincing reason for print to have a resurrection. As I began digesting the full report I quickly became disappointed. While the study they share is interesting and the analysis of the conclusions are explained well, I struggled with three issues in how the study was relevant to For Rent.

1. I have never considered For Rent Magazine a "magazine". It's not one of those publications I see on coffee tables or in rest rooms, and people do not read it for entertainment purposes or subscribe to it (that I know of). It is a book of listings.

2. The data generated for this study was from non-real estate related businesses, and I could not understand how the products they studied could relate to apartment homes.

3. The studies used for the data were run from 2003-2007. It's 2009, and so much has changed.

That being said, I challenge For Rent to help us all understand more about this study and how it relates to our industry in 2009. The summary For Rent made from the full report did not make it clear for me, and I'd like for them to expand on the findings. I would also enjoy anyone's thoughts on the topic, or statistics you can share from your own experiences with print driving Internet traffic.

Thanks and enjoy your day!