Are you proactive?  One of the things that separate the top business people from the rest of the population is their ability to identify what needs to be done on a project.  Most of the nation’s workforce will wait around until they are told what to do.  But those top people will walk into a situation, asses the barriers to success, craft a plan of action and implement the plan.  What needs to be done at your property to increase leases?

Jossua Parini was sent to a new college property that was experiencing a major vacancy issue due to management turn-over.  The property was 72% occupied and school was about to start in 30 days.  When Jossua started leasing, it took over a week for him to get a single lease because many logistical items needed to be put in place.  45 days later, Jossua had secured over 60 leases and had taken the occupancy from the low 70’s to 90%.

Below are some of the items that Jossua decided to put in place to increase the traffic, improve the reputation and raise the occupancy.

• Developed over 15 different flyers for outreach marketing
• Partnered with over 40 merchants locally to do cross marketing.  Many of these vendors partnered with Jossua for move-in day giveaways including:  Papa Johns, Verizon, Red Bull, Muscle Milk, State Farm, All-state, State Farm, Chipotle, and a local bank.
• Had Verizon give free pizza for the residents that did not have cable or internet as an apology
• Worked a deal with Papa Johns to offer a free pizza for all new move ins
• Attended football games and gave away promotions; cozies, glasses, bags, key rings
• Chalked the university sidewalks with the property logo, phone number and catch phrases
• Attended freshman events to market the property
• Organized a welcome back party for the students, with music, food, games and prizes
• Re-developed the University relationships that were tainted by the last management
• Increase Internet presence and reputation and re-negotiated pricing for advertisements to save money.

A couple of months later, it is safe to say that Jossua has hit a complete home run on this assignment.  It is a testament to his pro-active approach to the marketing and an effort that extended well beyond the normal “call of duty”.   Jossua, you did a great job identifying what needed to happen to turn this property around!

Have some other ideas for a student project?  Wanna give Jossua some props?  Drop us a line on our Facebook page!