Just trying to wake up the brain cells here : )

AKA: I got to thinking.....

Do you consider yourself a small business?

Do you think maybe you (we) should?

Ever considered it?

I'm talking about a possible change in the way we see and present ourselves as a profession.

Also thinking of what do other small business owners do to promote & improve their businesses? Can we implement any similar things?

I doubt landlords will ever be included in the free TV promotions telling people to "go support your local small businesses", but...

So, what have they done to survive in the face of the big stores & chain restaurants?

I think they must:

Promote themselves to the media & perhaps the city council

- as being important to the local economy and the fiber of the neighborhood.

Participate in community events & do give-aways of samples to promote their product. And just to make the neighborhood aware of their presence.

Offer a quality product - even if at a higher price - coupled with good customer service. To keep customers coming back / happy.

Do they contact other similar businesses (potential competition) and form alliances? Or not? Which works better: cooperation or competition?

What else?

I'd appreciate your thoughts regarding which technique - if any - we could incorporate and how. How could we modify them to fit us? Or not & why not?

That may be true, Ally.

But, for this exercise - what if they are repeat customers who buy something of great value from us every month, and they may (or may not) recommend to others they know to come buy (rent) from us too.

How do they know we are any good so they are willing to come "taste our food" in the first place?

I want low profile. We are not an apartment complex selling our selves. Our property's are not connected. To present a profession front-- do things professionally. Be the robot-- and if you will the rubber stamp. When it works keep making the cookies the same-- no need to stand on the street and hand out samples. I for one don't want every tom dick and harry out there knowing my business.

We've met many folks who get into the county gov't and dealings with the county commission and courts and tax man-- it is in the long run taking from your main objective-- finding more property's and getting good tenants in them.

"Do they contact other similar businesses (potential competition) and form alliances? "

I may be mistaken, but I think that is called "price fixing" and is illegal.

6x sounds so good-- "word of mouth" in my honesty I don't want word of mouth. I want the people I contact not a friend of a tenant.

I don't treat them right in their eyes. I've been at this too long to think I will satisfy a tenant who was just told NO about anything "they" want. My prices are high because I deliver on my rental obligations to the tenant. 6 maybe the 1st or 2nd property I owned I was naïve enough to think I was the best and THEY owed me! That ended the 5th nasty house I got back-- trashed. 1987.

I don't have a product to promote. I don't want people to know how many units we have, and I don't keep wait lists and I don't want people to know I track their info for future use.

I like the idea of being small. It's why we haven't done the whole web site thing.

I am thinking more about using Facebook Marketplace as a tool, something I didn't think I'd ever do. Perhaps, instead of opening up to 50 inquiries, just post that there will be an open house on time & date, offer applications to any who want them. Especially on the 6 or 7 that are 30 minutes away.

The ones I know that had a FB page for their rentals never post now because he is locked in with Section 8. I couldn't even get a return phone call from them, even when I said I was a housing provider!

DJ: Not sure why, but your thought provoking questions took me in the direction of promoting ourselves (landlords as a group) in a better community image. Something like the police are having to do in some communities. So I can see an array of ideas for "A Landlord's Small Business Saturday" for landlords as a community resource and help center. It could be small or out and out huge. From workshops to teach and advise future renters what to work toward and be prepared when renting their first apartment. It could expand to encompass current renters and apartment seekers that need coaching on bettering their application skills. Many other ideas for a different segment each year or a full out many segments (Like seminar parts) to choose from and attend.

Or maybe just some sort of public relations campaign. I haven't kept up, but Milwaukee used to offer a type of "tenant training" class/course on how to be a good tenant.It was meant to help potential tenants learn about renting and landlords to benefit from what they learned.

I'm not a small business and my customer is not always right.

Give away a free sample to promote my product? What? Let peole move in for three days for free so they can see if they like it and might want to rent someday? Or recomend me to their deadbeat friends?

Dee Ann,

Now you have me thinking.

I wonder if Milwaukee was wise enough to have an expert = landlord teach.

That is something we might be able to give away that would help our profession.

I'm remembering a women-with-children shelter I donated some stuff to a while back.

They required the women to take some classes during their one year there - including financial training. Tenant training would be a perfect fit in that type of scenario.

Hmmmm........

This is more inline with what I was thinking. Promoting landlords in general in a more positive light.

Rather than the first thought being "rich slumlord", how about "nice people offering nice housing".

6x6,

There is an ad I see and hear every so often where two HVAC companies are advertising together.

They both operate in the general area where the TV station's signal goes, but focused in different smaller areas within the big area.

The answer is it depends.

If you are asking should our places be run like a business - you bet.