Published on February 17th, 2012
By Aimee Miller
We hosted a great webinar with Grace Hill where presenter Patty Morgan-Seager (Marketing Expert) shared tips on how to get more done every day and maximize your time.
Did you know that only 3% of adults have clear, written goals? Patty’s time-savings tips addressed making a “to do list” the night before your work day and how “eating the frog first” can help you end your day with a sense of accomplishment. Patty revealed how the #1 pet peeve in today’s work force is poor time management and described how “procrastination is the assassination of motivation.” This webinar was packed with helpful tips and comical scenarios that all property management professionals can relate to. You may think twice now before checking your email from bed in the morning. Here’s the recorded webinar for your reference.
Patty addressed several real world scenarios and many participants submitted additional questions during the Webinar so we wanted to follow up with Patty’s comments below.
How do I manage a situation when my boss’s “to do list” doesn’t match my own?
That is a great question. I would ask my boss if we could sit and compare our “to do lists” with each other. This will give both of you valuable insight as to what the items are on each of your lists. Then, I would ask your boss to help you prioritize your list with his/hers.
The “Frog” is often the most time consuming thing on my “to do list” – how do I fit everything into my day?
Hmmm…first of all, I would take a look at your Frog and determine why it often seems to be the most time consuming task on your “to do” list. Is it the most time consuming because it is something you do not like doing, you are not comfortable doing or you do not feel you have all the resources to accomplish the task in a reasonable amount of time? You might want to consider asking yourself the above questions. And, another suggestion would be to see if you can break your Frog down into smaller, more bite-size tasks. (no pun intended!)
How do I handle resident interruptions while maintaining customer service?
Wow! That’s a tough one, isn’t it? As I mentioned on the Webinar, I work in the trenches to keep myself up to date on what really happens on a daily basis on site. One of the situations I have been noticing is the fact that residents would enter the office and interrupt a leasing consultant while they were in the leasing process with a future resident. Now, this presents a two-fold situation. One, you want to make sure you address the resident concern in a way that displays your intention to deliver great customer service to an existing resident (because we really do want to focus on retaining our current residents!) and secondly, the way you handle the interruption has a great impact on the future resident you are with, because the future resident is observing your actions and thinking… “Hmmm…is this how I will be treated when I am a resident here?” So, I suggest excusing yourself with the future resident, and addressing the resident’s request, and then return to the future resident interaction. That’s a win-win!
What should we do if the same residents keep calling and interrupting us over the same questions? Can you offer a suggestion?
First of all, I would investigate why the same residents keep calling with the same questions? Are they calling about the same issue, and if so, why is that? Do you need to take a look at their question and how you are addressing it? You might consider meeting with them in person to discuss. Sometimes an in-person discussion is more effective.
What do you suggest to do when there are constant interruptions in the office and it gets very loud?
This world of property management is a busy one. Sometimes, it is almost impossible to find a few minutes of quiet time. Do you have an area in your leasing office that you can go to when you need to Eat Your Frog or focus your attention to specific tasks on your “to-do” list? Or, perhaps you could work on your task in the model?
Comments by Aimee Miller
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