The Manufactured Housing Forums

Chrissy,

I have enjoyed reading your column over the years and have always learned from your insightful commentary. For the first time this year I am gathering all of my on-site managers from various cities and states and giving them an opportunity to meet one another and to bring their insight to a series of round table discussion topics.
Never having structured a meeting like this before, I wanted to get your input as to some suggested topics for these sessions. Some of the topics that we are planning to address are:

1) Accounting and bookkeeping procedures
2) Rent collection procedures
3) How to deal with problem residents, homes, yards
4) Evictions
5) Promoting your community
6) Contacting dealers and incentives
7) Security
8) Open forum
If you could expand, delete, or in offer any other topics that you feel are worthwhile, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you have any publications that you feel would be a good source for any of the above topics, I would happily order them.
Thanks,
Mark

Thanks for the opportunity to help. I think you have lined up a goodly amount of topics for discussion at your upcoming conference. Just a couple of suggestions to help include the following. Accounting is generally a difficult-to-follow topic, so be sure to use plenty of visual aids during this presentation. When you discuss rent collection procedures, it is important to do role playing. Allow the managers to play the role of the resident, and you play the manager. Give them real experience in seeing what to say and how to handle various situations. Then, let them be the manager and you be the customer. Dealing with problem residents should include not only creative methods of enforcement for guidelines, but also a discussion with role play of conflict resolution and how to create win-win situations. Evictions, since you are in several states, is a difficult topic to handle in terms of procedures, but you could certainly discuss the ways to avoid eviction, and the things that must happen before eviction actions are initiated. Be sure to talk about all three forms of eviction, and how they affect both the resident in question, the community manager, and the community as a whole. Promoting your community is always an interesting topic as marketing is such a dynamic area. Review traffic reports, advertising, and share what works in different areas. Look at not only how the ads are worded, but also where they are placed. And, stress that promotion is successful only when partners are included. Your managers should have at least eight of the eleven most common partners on board to help them promote the community. Contacting retailers is a science that needs true follow-up and a planned program to succeed. Stress consistent visits and ways to make sure those visits happen regularly. Security is scary. Most insurance companies recommend you do not stress security, but rather courtesy patrols, controlled access, etc. If you are talking about security of employees while showing homes, stress real-life situations and solutions for solving them. The open forum is a great idea that can quickly get out of hand. Require all questions to be submitted ahead of time in writing so you have a chance to prrepare good answers with visual aids if needed. And, yes, I do have several items that would be of value to you. The following handbooks would be beneficial: "Promoting Your Community," "Live Awhile in My Community," Get Tough, Get Creative," and "Guidelines for Living." Other items available through my company that would offer help include my famous solutions packages. these are groupings of materials (unlike the handbooks) which pertain to a particular topic. My recommendation to you are the following: "Financial Solutions Package," "Marketing Solutions Package," "Resident Relations Solutions Package," and "Operations Solutions Package." All of these items are available by ordering online at my website www.chrissy-jackson.com, or by calling me directly at 813-982-9617 or by mailing a check to me at chrissy Jackson & Associates, Inc., at 109 Tanglewood Lane, Thonotosassa, FL 33592.