Heartland Investment Partners - September 2020

& STRIPES

HEARTLAND INVESTMEN T COMPANIES STARS

SEPTEMBER 2020

AN.COM

DARINGARM 319-350-5378

Do you ever look around and think, “Man, I got lucky”? I feel that way about my family, of course, but I get the same thrill sitting in staff meetings at the Heartland Investment Partners office. Our company is small, but we truly are a team. The success we’ve had in our rental and real estate brokerage business over the last few years has definitely been a group effort. With Labor Day coming up, I thought it was about time I gave credit where it’s due! One of the things that makes the team here so amazing is that everyone works well together. When problems inevitably arise with residents of our apartment communities or other parties, the staff handles them terrifically. A big part of that is communication. Here at Heartland, we have a roundtable discussion policy. That means no matter what we’re talking about at a meeting, everyone’s opinion is welcome. No one is going to get in trouble for speaking their mind, even if they completely disagree with me. A counterargument never offends me. In fact, I think the more views aired in our meetings, the better, and I encourage people to comment on areas of the company outside their expertise. If I could give every other business owner one tip for Labor Day, it would be this: Listen to your staff. You might be surprised just how much it pays off. More than once, an idea from an employee has saved our company thousands of dollars. One prime example is our eviction policy. We don’t have a lot of evictions, thank goodness, but they do happen. Once upon a time, we were pretty hard-nosed about evictions at our properties. Our old policy was that if the rent went unpaid and the tenant did not attempt to contact us and explain why, and then they didn’t respond when we reached out, we’d start eviction proceedings. It seemed reasonable, but it ended up being pretty expensive. Court costs and man-hours add up quickly, and the tenants we evicted had a bad habit of punching holes in the walls and kicking in doors on their way out. I never understood the vandalism, but it was a real headache for me and my team — until it wasn’t. HOW 1 IDEA FROM MY TEAM SAVED ME THOUSANDS IT PAYS TO LISTEN TO YOUR STAFF — LITERALLY

The turning point came when one of my property managers suggested we handle things differently.

They said, “What if instead of filing the paperwork, waiting to get into the courts, and wasting staff and administrative time on this whole process, I contacted the resident and invited them to meet with me to talk about the situation?” The thought was if we did that and still couldn’t work things out, we could give the tenant the option of just handing over their keys and leaving. At first it sounded ridiculous to me — these people owed us money after all. Shouldn’t we go after them in court? But the more I thought about it, the better it sounded. We decided to go for it. You can probably see where this story is headed. Thanks to that suggestion, we’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars. Our eviction costs are down 60–70%. The court costs, labor hours, and vandalism related to evictions dropped off a cliff. And all of that savings came because my team and I were willing to listen to each other. There’s a real freedom in that kind of open communication, and I’m proud we’ve made it happen! So, this Labor Day, I want to thank all of my staff for their hard work. I couldn’t ask for better on-site property managers, managing assistants, maintenance personnel, bookkeepers, administrative assistants, and accountants. I still remember the days when I was doing all of these jobs myself, so I know the blood, sweat, and tears that go into them. Thanks, Heartland team, for everything you do!

–Darin Garman

319-350-5378 1

Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.TheNewsletterPro.com

IGENCE

CIAL INTELL ND FUTURE

WAYS ARTIFI UR MONEY A

2 SURPRISING PROTECTS YO

Most people who hear about artificial intelligence (AI) conjure up an image of a robot acting and thinking on its own. However, it’s far more than that. AI systems are used by businesses to identify human behavior patterns and tailor marketing messages. They’re also used by health care professionals to provide diagnoses and monitor trends. And now, AI is being used for financial security.

How does AI help? It works with >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

daringarman.com

Made with FlippingBook Proposal Creator