The maintenance marketing team.

The most important marketing theme or campaign any community can embrace does not involve giveaways, costumes for the staff or even free rent. It is an internal program that should take place before any marketing campaign is started at a community or company.

The thrust of the program is taking the time to educate maintenance service teams on the importance of marketing and the absolute critical role they all play in the success (or failure) of an apartment community.

In general, marketing activities are all activities associated with identifying the particular wants and needs of a target market of customers (the residents) and then going about satisfying those customers in a way that is better than what is being done by the competition. While the apartment industry is constantly working to refine and improve its marketing efforts, the industry as a whole has not always sufficiently communicated this to its service teams.

"When is the last time you counted how many marketing people you have working at your property?" asked Doug Chasick, Senior Vice President of Strategic Service for CallSource. "I'll bet you're not counting your maintenance staff, even though you would agree with me that they have the most contact with your residents, right? And how much marketing training do they get? The maintenance team has a huge effect on how the community is perceived and whether residents renew their leases and refer their friends to the community. Members of maintenance teams are marketing--with or without any formal marketing training."

Maintenance staff is in need of specialized training, but not just in fair housing or customer service (which they all should have before they ever work one day at a community). What is needed is a class that explains the importance of the maintenance team's role in attracting prospective residents, creating a warm and viable leasing environment and delivering perfect market-ready units. It also should include how the maintenance staff's behavior, job performance and attitude are all part of the marketing package for any community--basically a class in "Marketing for Maintenance."

Here is a typical management company university class listing for a maintenance worker:

"... Maintenance education covers pool maintenance, preventive maintenance, electrical power, materials, inventory control, appliance repair, basic refrigeration, plumbing, heating systems, boilers, service, HAZMAT and safety issues."

These types of courses should offer information about marketing, too.

A Vacuum or Flowers?

Many maintenance workers wonder why there is always money in the budget for "seasonal color" (flowers) but no money for that new wet/dry vacuum they really want. The fact is, that while the vacuum can be repaired, the summer annuals cannot survive in the cold of autumn and mums really need to be planted, no matter what the cost. And seasonal color at the entry sign is a marketing tool that helps bring in prospective renters. But how would the maintenance team know that? When is the last time anyone from management had a discussion with them about the importance of curb appeal? Leasing professionals should make the effort to ask their maintenance team how they should show an apartment home. Because maintenance staff view apartment homes from a completely different standpoint than leasing professionals, their input should be seriously considered when creating the tour path of the apartment home.

Resident satisfaction surveys bear this out. "Why does a property's maintenance team need to know about marketing? Because everything that happens at the property is about marketing--attempting to satisfy both prospect and resident expectations and needs, said Doug Miller, President, SatisFacts Research, LLC.

"On the leasing side, today's soft markets require that ready apartments, for example, do not create objections for a prospect. The leasing team already has enough to compete against without having their own product creating obstacles. Move-ins and service requests are critical touch points in the resident life cycle. Handle these well and you are taking huge strides toward the ultimate marketing goal--maximum retention. It is critical that the maintenance team understand the marketing implications of everything they do," Miller said.

The end results for companies willing to conduct marketing training for their maintenance teams are simple: improved closing percentages, higher resident retention and better informed maintenance team members. It should be added to every company's training lineup today.

Lisa Trosien has more than 20 years of industry experience. She can be reached at [e-mail].