Building & Facilities Operations

Next week, we will attend and exhibit at the Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA) 2010 International Conference in Long Beach, CA. This is our 8^th year at the event which serves the primary market we operate in.

When everything these days is driven by a need to justify expenses and deliver an ROI, there is a lot of discussion within the marketing departments of any business on the value of attending and exhibiting at association trade shows. There is a substantial cost both in real dollars and resource focus for a company to attend these shows.  In addition to the direct costs, there are opportunity costs.  Where else could you be spending these dollars and your time to more effectively reach your target audience?  These are valid concerns that should be evaluated.

However, that hard dollar evaluation doesn’t account for the ancillary benefits you receive by attending and exhibiting at a trade show.  There are also intangible costs for not attending that should be considered, including:

• Meeting your customers in a “neutral” environment and having the opportunity to get to know them on a personal level.
• The value of having many conversations in a single place.
• Seeing what your competitors are talking about.
• Meeting and developing relationships with potential partners.
• The possible perception created by not being there.
• Hearing firsthand what the issues are that your clients and prospective clients are concerned about.

A perfect example relates to the last point and being in the “know” in regards to client and industry concerns. We know that difficult economic times, coupled with an overall emphasis on “Green” operations over the past several years,  has lead many of our clients to consider energy data management systems to help them understand and better control their energy costs.  We have worked to support that effort by sponsoring a recent Webinar presented by eSite Energy on “Energy Management Systems that Reduce Costs”  and have released a White Paper this week called “It’s all about the Data: Demystifying Energy Data Management.”  Additionally, we have partnered and integrated with companies like Mach Energy for mutual clients like Normandy Real Estate Partners to take their energy use spike alerts and turn them into actionable requests delivered to a building engineer.

All of these actions resulted from conversations and information we picked up attending industry events over the past year.

So, while the hard dollar questions certainly need to be answered and will continue to drive many of our decisions, don’t forget to consider and balance those costs against the harder to measure, but often equally important “soft benefits” of attending and participating in industry trade shows.

We recently sponsored a Webinar titled “Sensible Solutions for Leases During Challenging Times.” Our presenter, Larry Haber of Colgate Real Estate Advisors, spoke about Lease restructurings, modifications & workouts.  It was a very successful Webinar and was well attended by many of our clients and other commercial real estate professionals. Larry is a terrific partner for us as he both provides information that is valuable to our clients and is a practitioner of the modern approach to business that we embrace- delivering constant value and content that supports the market we both work in.

Although Building Engines’ core maintenance, operations and risk management application and service has very little to do with lease negotiation, we recognized that this is an issue many of our clients are struggling with in today’s market and the importance of offering relevant, value-added information  in any way we can.

At Building Engines, we recently  launched a new Website where we will deliver much of that help in the form of content we make available through our “Inner Circle” resource program, events and Webinars similar to the one we held with Larry.

We hope you visit our site from time to time and suggest any topics or subjects you would be interested in. We love feedback and want to continue to provide educational resources on content that you are interested in!

Additionally, if you have a need for lease issue consultation, I urge you to visit Larry Haber’s site. He offers very valuable insight and knowledge in the hope of earning your business for when you have a more specific need. He is certainly the type of provider that I would like to do business with.

Words of wisdom from my 11th grade English teacher, Mr. Fear.

As much as I hated the mountains of red edits on my papers. As much as despised handing over quarters every time I used the word “like.” As much as I couldn’t see the method to his madness at the time, he is one of the only teachers that ever makes me wonder, “What’s he doing now?”

He was unrelenting in his effort to improve the writing style of a group of stubborn, babbling, and verbose 17 year olds. And while I resented the extra work then, I am indebted and grateful now.  I truly believe concise writing is the number one key to great content.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
- William Strunk, Jr, The Element of Style

Next time you write a note, a blog post, an article, or even a Tweet, ask yourself,  “Does every word matter?” If not, maybe it’s time to get out that red pen.

As a lifelong Bostonian and die-hard Red Sox fan; it’s hard to admit and even type that, especially this year, but it’s true.  I was in New York last week for 3 days with a colleague visiting clients and prospects of our property operations and workflow solution.  Aside from all of the great things that New York has to offer as a city, doing business there is a terrific litmus test for any company.

We have been very fortunate and worked extremely hard to establish a very solid group of clients in the City, but it has certainly taken time and we had to learn some hard and valuable  lessons along the way. My trip last week reinforced a number of those and I thought I’d share what I think are some important ones with you here:

1. Relationships Really Matter

When you are in sales, you certainly know and understand the importance of developing a connection to your prospect. However, in New York this is more true than anywhere else. We sell and support a web-based software application, so our typical sales process involves email and direct mail and other campaigns, phone calls and web demonstrations of our product.  These indirect sales tactics alone will not cut it in New York.  You need to put your feet on the ground there. People want to meet you, they want to see the effort made to connect personally and quite frankly, to be able to “size you up.”   This is not a one and done effort either, you need to show a commitment to being there and that you are willing to make an investment toward building solid and lasting relationships.

2. It’s Really a Small Town

It is incredible, particularly in our business, how true this is. Everybody knows everyone else.  People want to know who you are working with in the City and they will absolutely check you out. I had a client tell me over lunch last week,

“The first thing I do when I  am evaluating a potential vendor or partner is to reach out to my local network; I want to know if they have heard of you and if they have worked with you, everything about you… all the pros and cons.”

While it is a challenge to establish that first client without a track record in the City, it is essential that you service that client extremely well in order to build a solid reputation and the local references that people will prefer.

3. You Better Listen Well

New York moves at an extremely fast pace, and the people you will work with are used to keeping up with it and dealing with the individual demands of their jobs and clients. They will tell you what they need and expect, but really only want to do that once and their expectation is that you will hear what they are saying directly, or have the ability to “read between the lines.”  Your ability to absorb that information, ask the right follow-up questions and turn that around quickly into a solution that meets their needs is critical.

4. Have a Thick Skin

New Yorkers have a great sense of humor. But they can occasionally come across as gruff and even perhaps a little crass.  Not only do you need to be able to laugh along, often at yourself, but you should also be able to give it back a bit. There is certainly a skill to doing this well, but New Yorkers respect that ability and certainly in a place where the daily pressures can be intense, being able to laugh a little bit at yourself and with others is critical to developing trust and building relationships.

5. Bring Your “A Game”

More than anything else, in New York you will be working with, and competing against, the very best.  In general, the nature of the city- the history, size, energy, the businesses and opportunities that exist- attracts the most skilled and competent people you will run into.  There is very little they haven’t seen or heard and you must continually prove your value.  Be well prepared and certainly never try to  “put one past” anyone as you will find that extremely difficult to do and will be called on it.

If New York is an important market for you and your business, thinking about and applying these tips should help you and your chance for success. There’s actually a strong bit of truth to the line from Frank Sinatra’s famous song…

“…if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere, New York, New York!”

In the spirit of the Holiday Season, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of the secrets I have gathered for better real estate management.  Don’t roll your eyes just yet.  These aren’t the broad-sweeping ideas that are shoveled at you every day:  “Communicate better with you tenants. Get a system for organizing your Certificates if Insurance.  Design a good website to market your building.”  No, no.  These are actual, practical, tips that will marvel your co-workers, help you organize your work life, and in the end make your business more productive.

1. Evernote:

Evernote is the cure-all for a disorganized life.  In short, it helps you remember everything in your notable world.  You can type a text note, grab a screenshot, take a picture, write a memo, or anything else that you can imagine and Evernote will capture everything, organize it and make it easy to find on your computer or phone.

So, what does this mean in the property management world?  If you’re using a GPS enabled phone, you can send coordinates to a note.  You can take photos of business cards before you lose them and Evernote will search in the text of the card for easy access later.  You can clip marketing ideas from websites, or send links to Evernote for use later. And on, and on.  As Evernote says, they are “infinitely useful.”

2. Jott:

Jott allows you to use your phone to record and send text to e-mail. How does it work? You call a phone number, speak your message and then Jott converts your spoken message to text and sends it wherever you want. Maybe you just wrapped up an outside business meeting and want to record your thoughts before you get back to the office.  Maybe you are in the field and just remembered a list of items that need to get installed.  Record and send your to-do list to your e-mail.  Best of all, Jott can work in conjunction with Evernote!

3. Utilize “Rules” in Outlook:

If you’re not using Rules in Outlook, you are really missing out on a valuable tool. You can create rules that automatically flag important contacts so that their e-mails get special attention.  You can flag certain words in subject lines, so that any e-mails you send or receive with those words get stored in the folder of your determination.  This can come in really handy to track transactional e-mails or tenant inquiries by name.

Visit Microsoft Office Online for more information and a tutorial.

4. Market your building’s location with Geotags on Google:

One of the most important tools you have for marketing you building is your website. Many of the visitors coming to your site are not only interested in your building, but are interested in the the local area and what it has to offer. Through Google’s Picassa and Google Earth (both free services), you can create a visually appealing map with photos of local attractions, restaurants, and other places of note.  If you own multiple buildings you could even do a map with photos of all your buildings!

Using Geotags for Google

Learn how to Geotag photos with Picassa.

5. Get a comprehensive CMMS system:

If you are still printing out work orders, having field personnel come in to get work orders from an inbox, lacking a tenant interface where customers can quickly and easily manage issues and log-in visitors, your team is AT LEAST 50% less productive than they should be.

Today’s web-based building mangement systems virtually help to run every aspect of your property. You can automatically send electronic work orders, standardize preventative maintenance and reminders, track Certificates of Insurance, easily organize and post Tenant Handbooks, communicate with tenants, control visitor access, track resources, and automate fire and life safety reminders- all from one efficient central operating system.

Learn more about Building Engines’ web-based property management system. (I’m not just plugging this because I work here.  I really do believe in the flexibility and value of our product!)

Like many managers at this time of the year, I have been actively, but not easily, trying to carve out bits and pieces of my day to deliver my 2010 sales and marketing plan.

While I have never met anyone who actually enjoys this process, most business-minded individuals understand the value it brings if done well.  The interesting thing I have to come to learn about the annual budgeting and planning process, is that the most successful plans begins with a thorough and honest look back at the success and failure of the previous year’s activities.

It’s an interesting parallel to a question we ask every prospect for our web application and service, “What do you want to do better?”

For our business, and for my particular role in our company, the answers are fairly straightforward:  I want to increase sales to meet and exceed our targeted growth plan.  I want to increase the effectiveness and ROI of our marketing programs. I want to lower customer acquisition costs by X.  I want to reduce our sales cycle by X.  Just to name a few…

One of the common pitfalls of  budget creation and planning, is forming a plan based on a 10,000 foot view; you are bound to miss the details, destined to recreate previous mistakes and will most likely anchor your company in areas where it should be progressing.

Let’s apply this statement to trade show attendance.  The “10,000 foot view” examination involves looking at trade show related expenses, qualifying the resulting leads and value of trade show generated business, and calculating the monetary return for attending those shows.  However, to truly understand the value of a specific event and whether future participation is warranted, a deeper and more detailed examination is required.

Take your planning to the next level:

What was the internal cost of resources used for pre-show preparation and post-show follow-up? Was there an associated opportunity cost by diverting those resources from other activities that may have yielded comparable or better results? Is there a more cost-effective or efficient way to reach the target audience this show represents?

These are just a few of considerations you might apply to all of the previous year’s sales and marketing activities. Too often, we do something because “that is the way we’ve always done it.”  If that has been successful for you, than by all means, continue.  I think for most of us, honestly assessing the past illuminates the path to a brighter future.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a prosperous 2010.