I once took a fishing trip where I brought along food that I liked and put it on the hook. I enjoyed cheeseburgers so why wouldn’t the fish? I also had a little chocolate cake and half of a burrito for my hook. Cast after cast I caught nothing. “What’s going on?” I thought. How come the fish aren’t gobbling up these wonderful incentives I’m giving them? Could it be that just because I like something, doesn’t mean the fish will like it? “Maybe I should figure out what the fish like”, I thought to myself. A quick Google search and bam! I found out what fish actually liked and starting putting worms and crickets on my hook. The next thing I knew, the fish were hopping in my boat with very little effort. What was my mistake in the beginning? I was lazy and I went fishing with what I liked instead of putting in a little effort and finding out what the fish liked.
Okay, I know what you’re saying right now. “Did this weirdo really go fishing with cheeseburgers, cake, and burritos?” And the answer is, “No”. But what a great analogy, right? Through a lot of my conversations with maintenance techs around the world, this is what most property management companies do. They’re lazy and just assume that every maintenance tech would like the same thing instead of just asking them. For example, if John saves the company $30,000 a year in HVAC cost alone, ask John what incentives motivate him to keep doing great work. Maybe money motivates John. Maybe John would like tickets to watch his favorite sports team. Don’t just hand him a $200 Bass Pro gift card and call it a day. Oh, so you like Bass Pro and think all maintenance techs like it as well? Did you ask John if he likes to shop at Bass Pro? Maybe John hates Bass Pro and thinks it’s an overpriced ripoff. See where I’m going here? You just went fishing with cheeseburgers.
Incentives is the name of the game, people! The right incentives will drive right behavior. Especially in todays world where finding good people is getting harder and harder. And, it’s not that good people aren’t out there. It’s just that property management companies have gotten a bit lazy with their incentives. For example, if you’re not going to provide your people with any sort of retirement package, you’d better have some awesome incentives to make high performers want to stay with your company. If you don’t provide positions of growth as a way to move up in the company, you’d better be coming up with incentives that makes people want to stay. Again, incentives motivate and encourage growth along with loyalty! “Oh, but we’re like family.” Eww, please stop and gag me with a spoon.
This is so simple yet so many don’t do it. All you have to do is ask! “What incentives will motivate you to stay with the company and keep doing great work?” That’s it! That’s the magical question. And, it’s different for everyone so you’ll have to go to each individual and ask. For some, it will be money. For others, it will be paid days off or tickets to a sporting event. Whatever it is, don’t make someone feel bad for it. And for Pete’s sake don’t say, “Besides money, what motivates you to do a good job?” If it’s money, give them the cash. Don’t be Scrooge McDuck. If someone is saving the company 5 or 6 figures a year due to not needing contractors to make repairs and you’re whining about forking over a 4 figure check, you’re the reason why the property management industry is circling the drain.
If you’re a new company and you don’t have the budget to provide incentives, I understand and I hope you get it figured out and everything works out for you. With that said, I don’t want to hear, “We just ain’t got it right now” while the owner cruises the properties in a luxury car and it’s common knowledge that said owner lives in a gated community and owns multiple beach houses on the Gulf of Mexico. I’m just telling you it’s a bad look and that is not good for morale. If you really “Ain’t got it right now”, maybe it’s time to sell a beach house and send the kids to community college like the rest of us. Or, get defensive and just keep doing what you’re doing while wondering why everyone’s leaving and your company is getting run into the ground. Your opinion on this does not change my reality. I’ll be fine no matter what.
Incentives is the secret, folks! How do I know? Well, I love reading books about 21st century entrepreneurs who run massive businesses with thousands of employees. Not the big corporations you see on the News. I’m talking about the businesses that no one hears about because their culture is so awesome that no one wants to leave. And, what I’ve discovered is that the common thread with all of them is that they provide custom incentives with each employee. If paid days off motivates Donna to keep kicking ass, then paid days off is what she gets. If great tickets to a sporting event is what motivates Dave to keep up the great work, then Dave gets great tickets to his favorite sporting event. This is not rocket science, people. It’s so simple. All you have to do is ask and provide custom incentives every quarter to the people who keep the day to day operations running smoothly. It’s a gesture that shows that you care about what they care about.
Some of you are probably thinking, “What the hell happened to the industry and how did we get here?” Here’s my opinion on what happened. Most property management executives started their careers in the 1990’s and they’re stuck there. They don’t read and study new ways of dealing with people so we’re stuck with the classic “team building exercise” culture. It hasn’t dawned on them yet that maybe introvert Dan doesn’t want to do a goofy dance in front of everyone. Maybe shy Kathy doesn’t want to do a trust fall into creepy Matt’s arms. You want to know what the best “team building exercise” is now days? A staff who keeps kicking ass together every day because they feel heard with custom incentives tailored to their personal likes and needs. For some it’s money, for some it’s paid days off, and for some it’s tickets to sporting events. That’s 21st century culture and I don’t care if it takes me until the year 2055, I’m going to drag this industry into the 21st century kicking and screaming. The “We’re like family/team building exercise” days are over. No more shrinking in your seat while hoping to not get seen by an overpriced and over caffeinated apartment guru hired to scream bad jokes and platitudes at you from a homemade stage.
“How do I get my maintenance team to grow and take on more complicated repairs so we don’t have to call expensive contractors?” This is a question I get often. And, I’m sure you know my answer by now. I always answer back with, “What incentives do you give them to want to grow?” Then, I roll through a list of my incentive ideas which I will share with you.
Incentive Ideas for Maintenance Growth
1. The contractor budget gets split with maintenance at the end of the year. For example, if the yearly contractor budget is $60,000 and your maintenance team got so good they didn’t have to call a contractor all year, then the company keeps $30,000 and the other $30,000 is split between the maintenance team to take home. If they did need to call a contractor, then whatever is leftover in the budget at the end of the year gets split between the company and the maintenance team.
2. For every HVAC coil or compressor that gets changed in-house, the maintenance tech who did the work (correctly) gets $100 or more per coil or compressor. I promise you if this was a thing, every maintenance tech would be itching to learn HVAC and every leaking coil would be repaired that same week instead of getting filled with refrigerant over and over wasting thousands of dollars on buying Freon/refrigerant.
3. Every quarter the maintenance team gets an incentive of their choice if they haven’t received any complaints. Again, ASK each of them what they would like. Money? A paid Friday off? Concert tickets? Don’t just book a deep sea fishing trip for everybody because you think, “Everybody loves deep sea fishing!” No, they don’t. ASK!
This is just three of the most popular ideas I’ve given and they work. You can play around with your own ideas and the more the merrier! Or, just take the lazy road and book an overpriced and over caffeinated apartment guru to come do team building exercises. I’m sure introvert Dan and shy Kathy would love it.
If this article has offended or made you feel bad, then I’m sorry for bringing your guilty conscience to the surface. Please forgive me for trying to save an industry I love. An industry that saved me and pulled me from a dark place in 2003. I don’t see anyone else fighting to save it. So, I will. If it takes brutal honesty and hurt feelings then so be it. Sometimes it takes a brush fire to save the forest. Removing the dead vegetation helps the good vegetation flourish. That’s a major issue I see now days in the property management industry. High performers don’t like hanging around low performers. And, if you don’t hold low performers accountable, then your high performers will leave. That’s been the major issue. The high performers are leaving while the low performers get to hang around, collect a check and change light bulbs with no incentive to do anything else. Incentives will help push a growth mindset. Whoever puts in the work to grow, gets the rewards. Whoever doesn’t, gets to watch. That’s how the greats are doing it in the 21st century.
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