If you own a manufactured home community, you want your business to be successful. There are several things you can do to keep your community running well. Most of it involves communicating with your employees and embracing change when necessary. Here are some things you will want to keep in mind to make your business a successful one.
Awareness of Needs
For any business to be successful, there must be an awareness that change may be needed. Communicate this on every level of your business from management on down.
Provide Motivation
Beyond the awareness that change may be necessary, employees should also feel motivated to make change happen. You can motivate your staff by rewarding them with praise. Other forms of compensation like employee of the month awards and bonuses also work. The resident’s appreciation will fuel this as well.
Identifying Changes That Need to Be Made
Knowing that change is needed is one thing. Having the knowledge of what needs to be done takes a little bit of experience in the field. Owners and managers are responsible for identifying changes that need to be made. They’re also responsible for going through the necessary steps to see that change is implemented.
Have the Ability to Carry Out the Change
After you identify the changes that need to be made, you must figure out how to implement them in the most efficient manner possible. To do this, it is best to use a single operating platform to make sure everyone is on the same page. Establish this and then:
- Break down all aspects of on and off site management into tasks
- Find the most effective method to complete the tasks
- Determine the likelihood of success
Reinforce the Actions of Your Employees
Once everyone is clear on the task at hand, it’s important to make reinforcements to make sure everything is running as it should be.
A good way to do this is by having corporate send out email blasts the day before anything important should be done. This can apply to specific projects or to keeping the community running in general. Some examples of day to day routines that would call for reminders include:
- Sending out non-payment notices
- Doing resident inspections
- Following up on maintenance
- Court filing
Of course, further communication should be made to ensure all emails are being received and acted on. Communication should be encouraged between corporate, management and regional management.
Encouraging Loyalty
Loyalty is necessary in every business in order to make every employee feel supported and appreciated. In the case of a manufactured home community, the corporate office and regional manager must work together to make sure everyone gets the proper level of support.
On another level, managers must be loyal to their superiors making sure residents obey rules and pay rent on time. While managers are encouraged to show empathy to residents that may have personal or financial problems, they must do so while staying within the confines of what the company dictates.
Residents often have on site communities to help them with other issues if they feel the need to take it to the next level.
Running any business can come with its share of difficulties but open communication, loyalty and an awareness of the need for change can be beneficial in dealing with any situation. If you are running a manufactured home community, do your best to encourage your employees to act in a supportive way across the board. Then look forward to a profitable, tightly run ship and an atmosphere which everyone will find pleasing.
What are you doing to successfully operate your mobile home community? Let us know!