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Artcraft - (LITC) Affordable Leader in the Southeast

Carol and Neil were invited to participate at the annual conference of Artcraft Management. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, this company has made its mark by bringing superior service to the affordable housing market in the southeast. We appreciated the company's service ethic, the leadership along with the attitude and mutual respect among the onsite teams. We had a great training day. Here's what the company's training director had to say:
"Hey you two! Just wanted you to know how much I personally enjoyed meeting and interacting with you both and what a contribution you made to my life and to our team members. We were very pleased with your presentation and most pleasantly surprised at the amount of interaction you received from the audience. You probably couldn't tell, but many of the folks in that room that contributed and asked questions were from the service staff not the leasing offices. I was amazed."
   -- Debbie Huff
       Director of Training, Marketing and Recruitment
       Artcraft Management, Inc.

Customer Service is Our Policy

We designed this as a freestanding plastic sign to be posted at properties in Manhattan for our client, "Roseland Management." It might be useful for your apartment community. (Adobe Acrobat format)

JPI - Seattle

The regional team gathered in May to enjoy an interactive half-day session with Carol and Neil devoted to Outreach Marketing. Here are comments from the attendees. It always seems that outstanding professionals want to improve.

"Thank you so much for you time!! It was great to meet you both, take care and hope to see you soon"
   - Sarah

"You are both amazing!! What else can I say?"
   - Anecia

"I have been in this business for ten years and I rarely learn new things. You two have many great, new ideas and I feel I have learned so much! Thank you for your inspiration! Thanks for allowing me to be my animated self!"
   - Cherri

"Thank you for sharing your awesome energy and knowledge with the JPI team."
   - Renee

"You're an awesome team. Thanks for delivering the information we need in a way we remember"
   - Lynett

"Thanks for coming and giving us your tactics and training privately on 'our property'."
   - Joe

"Thank you for sharing yourselves with us!"
   - Melinda

"Thank you for everything you have done for us. We love you!"
   - Jacky

"You both bring such a wonderful spirit and enthusiasm to our team. Thanks for encouraging such good ideas from our group. You're amazing! Love ya!"
   - Susie

"What a wonderful experience it has been to meet you both! I'm honored. Phoenix will definitely be taking advantage of your creative ideas. Thank you!"
   - Judy

"It's my pleasure to have the chance to be part of your awesome ideas. I will surely make use of these ideas."
   - Kathy

Industry Companies Hire Personal Trainers

Successful property management companies have come to realize that increases in NOI and property value stem from the ability of the on-site management team to lease apartment homes and retain their residents. These companies feel strongly that they need to recruit, coach, train and compensate their on-site teams to increase performance. To meet this demand, I.T. Partners has contracted to provide specific training for on-site teams. This customized personal training is conducted at the individual apartment communities. Carol and Neil become part of an on-site team for a week. They participate in the daily operations including leasing, outreach marketing, retention and team building as they coach individuals, conduct impromptu group problem-solving sessions, interview existing residents about their preferences and concerns and shop the competition in the marketplace. Carol and Neil can dramatically change routines to improve leasing and retention results. They return periodically to follow up and evaluate.

"We are a catalyst for the changes that people need to perform at a higher level. The on-site team as well as the company and the property ownership wants dramatic improvement," says Carol Levey, "We are merely the agents for the changes that are needed. Change is hard, but winning is fun."

New and Improved! Let's Lease Workbook

This comprehensive workbook has been divided into fourteen modules, which highlight important aspects of leasing from start to finish. It also includes fair housing training and a new module on technology. At the end of each module there are notes and review pages for information that is pertinent to individual concerns. This workbook is designed to supplement on-the-job training for leasing specialists. It can be used as a companion resource with the Just-In-Time Orientation CD ROM.

Fair Housing Training in Manhattan

"Fair Housing workshops always create an interesting dialogue with students" Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad agree. "We love the interaction - especially with service technicians. They are often closer to these issues that anyone, but have not been included in fair housing training."

Recently, Carol and Neil spent the day with the on-site team at a residential high-rise in Mid-Manhattan. The topic of fair housing was relatively new to many in the room; including porters, housekeepers, concierges, doormen and service technicians. To make the conversation more interesting, consider the following - all of these individuals belong to a union and earn a substantial percentage of their livelihood from gratuities given by residents and visitors to their community. Achieving the appropriate balance, between delivering discriminating customer service and avoiding discriminatory practices was at the core of most of the dialogue. Everyone walked out of the session with added perspective.

Management Tools

On-site managers from Roseland spent the day with Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad reviewing the importance of tracking all potential resident inquiries, keeping systems in place in order to receive accurate information and practicing techniques that incorporate this information into financial projections and employee evaluations.

E-mail essentials were discussed in detail to sharpen the effective use of this powerful communication tool. The potential for consistent interaction and documentation with team members was demonstrated.

Technology Skills for Property Management

NOW AVAILABLE. I.T. Partners has been developing workshop material designed to meet the growing demand for technology training within the multihousing industry. We wanted to deliver tailored workshops that teach on-site and other industry employees how-to fully utilize computer, e-mail and Internet skills in their daily assignments. This kind of material has been in high demand by property management employees across the U.S. that we have surveyed while delivering other interactive training. Uniformly, technology skill training is viewed as an important employee benefit and key to advancement opportunities.

During the first quarter of 2001, Neil Fjellestad field-tested several approaches to instructor-led courses using this material. Local associations are finding these courses to be an excellent resource especially as continuing education for CAM, NALP and CAMT designees. Relying upon the enthusiastic response along with valuable feedback from attendees, we refined the content and delivery for several important half-day workshops. These workshops laid the foundation for additional coursework that will be designed in the near future along with some distance learning alternatives. Click here for descriptions of Computing Fundamentals and Property Management on the Net. Generally, E-mail Essentials will be included with one of the other workshops, but can be given separately.

Sevo-Miller has Annual Conference in Denver





Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad return as an ongoing resource to Sevo-Miller. The topic was "Coping with Change." The teaching duo were able to create an interactive environment that turned this half-day workshop into the centerpiece of the three-day conference. Sevo-Miller owns and operates large apartment communities in eight states, but believes the company's most valuable asset is its people.

JPI has Annual Conference in Phoenix

The central division of JPI brought together their on-site managers, assistant managers, lead service technicians joined by regional and divisional support teams for a three-day conference. Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad joined JPI professionals from Denver, Seattle, Phoenix and Kansas City for a full schedule of team building activities along with professional growth sessions utilizing I.T. Partners materials developed to create honest discussions, share diverse perspectives and foster performance enhancement. Divisional Vice President Mary Wessler requested tailored workshops focused on "Change Strategies for individuals" along with "How-to-Change Leadership Techniques". Another session focused on Multi-task Management. Attendees indicated that from the subject, the classroom experience and practical ideas that each left with a motivation and a plan to improve their personal and team performance. JPI is a company that doesn't believe in resting on its laurels.

Specific Leasing Training

Sevo-Miller executive, Beau Robinson, took a special interest in his on-site leasing teams as he moved into the Phoenix region. To ensure that his on-site teams have the tools they need to succeed, he contracted with Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad to come into Phoenix with a tailored workshop on Leasing Challenges and How-to Overcome the Competition. An additional benefit of this workshop was that Beau was on hand to hear and react to the needs of the frontline team.

Fair Housing Training for Kansas City and Denver

JPI develops and leases up beautiful apartment communities to sell to institutional investors. These investors often want assurances that the on-site team has represented the community in a consistent and professional fashion. Fair housing training becomes a key element of the lease-up process. Carol Levey, working with the on-site managers and regional support professionals, was brought in to explain Fairhousing, role-play situations and answer questions so that the on-site teams at Jefferson Plaza in Kansas City along with several communities in Denver, could represent JPI and their apartment communities with confidence.

Outreach Marketing with JPI

Carol Levey has much to share on this important subject due to her industry experience with ongoing outreach marketing programs. She recently conducted a workshop for JPI in Denver at the request of the regional manager who recognizes what it takes to preserve a competitive edge in the Denver Market.

Hudson Tea on the Gold Coast

Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad are very involved with the emerging multihousing developments along the west bank of the Hudson River-NJ with 10-minute access to Manhattan. Quarterly visits to this region and the existing luxury apartment communities such as: Portofino, Avalon Cove, Newport, Pier House, Riverbend, Riverbend II and the Landings at Port Imperial and the Hudson Tea Building along with new communities yet to come out of the ground are eye-opening. Our specific interest is the development of the people that create property value at each of these communities - giving them the training and marketing support to be confident professionals. For more on this exciting market along with the companies that are making it happen, see the article "Renaissance of the Waterfront" in the March issue of Multifamily Executive. Go online to www.roselandmanagement.com.

Fair Housing in Phoenix

JPI has an impressive portfolio of apartment communities in Phoenix, Arizona. The on-site management teams as well as the regional support team are also impressive and make sure they stay sharp through ongoing education.

Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad were invited to conduct "Fair Housing Fundamentals" for the region. Whenever possible, the entire on-site team including leasing specialists, service technicians and housekeeping should be included in the same Fair Housing discussion. Then they realize that compliance, consistency and continuity is a team effort. An open classroom environment leads to good questions and an improved understanding of legal requirements. Often it is discovered that there is not a commonly held interpretation of company policies. With the entire team on hand communication can straighten out any misunderstanding so everyone leaves the session "on the same page." If an addition or clarification is needed to existing policy or procedure it can naturally follow the session as a priority. Regular Fair Housing training will empower each team member to perform his or her job with renewed confidence.

Kansas City

JPI invited Carol Levey to spend time at their landmark community - Jefferson at The Plaza - to coach the leasing team. The assignment - maximize closing rates. Just like the best athletic teams the best management companies understand the value of professional coaching to enhance performance. JPI plays to win.

On-site Leaders Put On Investor's Hat

Managers and lead service technicians at Roseland learned how their apartment communities are valued by investors. Financial methods of property valuation and how rental increases are determined were important quarterly training topics for the operational leadership of this progressive northeast company. The benefits of this kind of training include: a better understanding of property ownership changes; ways to communicate with others in the company who are looking at the same facts with a different perspective; and finally how everyone on the property can be trained to recognize how their assignment does indeed affect NOI, property value and ROI.

Multi-Task Management Skills Taught

Roseland on-site managers, lead service techs and their regional counterparts spent a half-day taking a hard look at some of the skills they each need to employ in order to execute multiple tasks with the help of others. Prioritizing, delegating, dealing with conflicting assignments and multiple bosses were some of the highlighted topics of this workshop.

JPI: Phoenix is Hot! Hot! Hot!

JPI asked Carol Levey to come into the Phoenix region as they are just getting ready to kick off their prime leasing season. She spent two days interacting, sharing and having a wonderful time with the JPI team in Arizona. Click here to read unsolicited notes of appreciation from Phoenix attendees.

DKD in Northern California

Carol and Neil join DKD Property Management Company at its annual conference to give presentations on Fair Housing, Resident Retention and Customer Satisfaction to an audience consisting of approximately 125 staff including 75 service technicians, 30 managers and 20 leasing specialists. All mid-and upper-level managers were present as well. The all-day conference was lively and there was great interaction at both the morning and afternoon sessions. DKD's headquarters are in San Jose, California.






Director of Property Management, Sue Hartley Williams says "Half of our 3500 apartment homes are for those receiving some form of rental assistance. We have always stressed customer satisfaction. Since some of our properties are accustomed to long waiting lists we need encouragement from outside the company to keep our CRM (customer relations management) skills sharp." Click here for photos of the company's conference.

JPI: First Class in Seattle

Community Managers and Lead Technicians from Denver, Kansas City and Phoenix flew into Seattle to join with their counterparts there to spend several days for business and pleasure. JPI executives for the western U.S. supported this event with the same "attention to detail" that their apartment communities have " branded."

This "merchant builder" is carving out a national niche within the multi-housing industry. They acquire and develop unique parcels into A-plus apartment communities. These communities are custom designed according to a JPI marketing strategy to meet the lifestyle requirements of select rental residents.

After completion and lease-up, JPI turns the community's ownership and operation to others moving on to their next start-up. This requires a special breed of on-site management.

"We continue to recruit and develop our on-site teams into first class professionals and keep them in the JPI family," explains Mary Wessler, Assistant Vice President.

"Educational support from industry experts like Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad is important to our region's accomplishment of the JPI mission," she added.

"Their interactive workshop "Coping With Change," brings to focus important issues that our on-site leaders face, but often need additional help to solve. Carol and Neil create a classroom environment that recognizes participants for what they have to share as well as what they need to walk away with," says Wessler. (Click here to download a Power Point presentation authored by Carol and Neil on the subject.)

To learn more about this trendsetter go to www.jpi.com.

Fairhousing Training is Ongoing @ Roseland

Carol and Neil return to Roseland Management in the Northeast to give the company's on-site service technicians training in Fair Housing Fundamentals. Across the country nearly 60 percent of complaints originate from the comments or actions of members of the service teams. Roseland is very proactive in this area of training.

The Sares-Regis Group in Southern California

Carol and Neil were pleased to join the Sares-Regis Group (Multi-Family Property Management Division) on the campus of the University of California at Irvine. The university was an impressive location for this company quarterly recognition and training session.

It was a full day organized and orchestrated by Stacey Waddell, Director of Training. Sares-Regis is headquartered in Irvine, California. This industry leader brought together their apartment community managers from Denver, Phoenix and throughout California. These managers were joined by regional vice presidents and corporate support staff for an interactive day including: awards, internal reports, outside presentations and a two-hour brainstorming session during the morning.

We took the afternoon to explore the topic of Conflict Resolution with the group (90-100 people). We divided into training teams to work through several "communication exercises" and "conflict scenarios". The interaction was superior as we led a discussion that uncovered the primary sources of conflict; how a particular communication style can help or hurt; and how to identify and control conflict in workplace situations before customer relationships are jeopardized.

We were able to round out the afternoon with specific techniques and verbiage applied to conflict situations recreated from the daily experiences shared by attendees.

We were particularly impressed with the leadership and participation displayed during the course of the day. For example, the president of the division, Jim Thomas, was an active participant throughout the entire day. This was an active demonstration that what we were all doing was important. Everyone's participation lived up to that standard. Click here to visit the website at Sares-Regis.

Park Central in Orlando

Several recent trips to the greater Orlando area have introduced us to an exceptional apartment community. We were impressed with the concept, the grounds, the apartment homes, the community service staff and the management leadership that pulls it all together. Click here to see some photos we took of this extraordinary community - Park Central. Included is a letter written as a result of our most recent visit.

You're the Boss @ Roseland

Carol and Neil revisit Roseland to introduce their interactive problem-solving program titled, "You're the Boss - Now What?". In these sessions individual on-site employees are grouped into training teams to create a business from pooled ideas generated within each group. They go on to evaluate problems and initiate action plans that they will explain to the rest of the group. A question and answer session follows. This kind of training, introduced by I.T. Partners, has been very effective within other management companies as well.

Strathmore Park in Colorado

Gold Crown Management recently brought I.T. Partners in for consulting and "voice over" talent during the production of an in house CD-ROM for the marketing presentation of their apartment community, Strathmore Park, in Lafayette, Colorado. You may visit Strathmore at www.strathmorepark.com.

Sevo-Miller Annual Managers Conference





What might look like clowning around is actually a well planned and rehearsed portion of Sevo-Miller's Annual Managers Conference. This leading-edge firm certainly understands the value of equipping their managers with the tools necessary to motivate their on-site team members. Carol Levey and Neil Fjellestad help good companies get better - but don't take themselves too seriously in the process. Sevo-Miller executive Josie Bowan says that Carol and Neil got better reviews than the Magician!

AIMCO California

I.T. Partners provides quarterly training throughout California for the nation's largest apartment operator, AIMCO. On-site team members representing 8000 apartment homes in Northern California met recently in workshops conducted by Carol and Neil.

Doug Oyler, the Director of Training for California participated in Oakland and Sacramento. "California is a large and dynamic marketplace. AIMCO's portfolio is diversified between affordable and conventional housing," he said.

"Additional challenges include the merging of several management cultures due to AIMCO's acquisition of Insignia and NHP. In addition, the company is rolling out innovative tools for their on-site teams and more customer programs for AIMCO residents," Oyler continued.

"We appreciate the ongoing resource that I.T. Partners represents. This round of workshops, including Coping with Change, was well received as Carol and Neil facilitated a very interactive training session that confronted some specific issues with techniques that are already making a positive difference."

Click here to read unsolicited notes of appreciation from Oakland attendees.

Leadership Training for Assistant Managers

During the last round of quarterly visits to Roseland Management, a workshop was devoted to a group of on-site team members that are often ignored.


This session was well received by Assistant Managers, who were taught to look at their assignment as an opportunity to develop their personal leadership style, create communication habits that serve the team, practice effective persuasion and team-building without relying on authority.

Coping With Change - A Hot Topic

If change is so good, why does it feel so bad? Roseland in the Northeast, AIMCO of California and JPI in the Northwest are among the trend-setting companies that understand success comes at a price. Dynamic growth often puts tremendous stress on employees. Team members are encouraged to express themselves honestly in this workshop conducted by Carol and Neil. This opens the door to strengthening interaction that leads to personal growth and team building.

Roseland - A Trendsetter

I.T. Partners provides ongoing training and consulting support to this fast-growing company in the Northeast. Quarterly visits can include marketing analysis, operational problem solving at the regional and community levels or whatever the client and current circumstances dictate. Click here to visit this progressive company along with the impressive communities they operate.

Senior-Housing Specialists

On-site teams from Western Senior Housing (previously known as Western Security Management) gathered in Ontario, California to sharpen their leasing skills. Carol and Neil, from I.T. Partners team-taught a "Let's Lease" workshop tailored for the specific requirements of this unique company.

"Western Senior Housing is steadily becoming a key player in this growing niche of the multihousing market. We benefited from the experienced perspective and the interactive training style that Carol and Neil bring to our company," said Vicki Clark, a company executive. "Our employees evaluate all of our company training. These guys get invited back because they deliver what our people need according to the evaluations."

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