Recap by Paul Bergeron
Apartments.com held its Renter Insight & Emerging Media Forum in March featuring two days of consumer behavior trends, new and upcoming media innovations, and what's on the horizon in the media landscape.
Best known for her role on the ABC reality TV business show Shark Tank, there’s an amazing story behind the rise of Barbara Corcoran, much of it based in real estate marketing.
Corcoran was the keynote speaker at the Apartments.com Renter Insight & Emerging Media Forum in March and shared her insights on how to run a successful company and how to build and grow a successful team.
Corcoran grew up in a very small town in Edgewater, N.J., as the second-oldest of 10 kids. Her mom was an amazing motivator. Her hard-working dad never shied away from showing his kids how to have fun as he helped raise the family.
Practically at birth, Corcoran’s mom told her that she had an incredible imagination. Working at a diner as a teen, she met an older man who she became romantically involved with, but more importantly, helped her to launch her career as a New York City apartment agent.
The two created the Corcoran Simone agency, which she ran for seven years before that man – her boyfriend – split from her to marry the office secretary. Jilted, she negotiated a settlement with the company and went on her own to become CEO of The Corcoran Group, one of the top real estate companies in New York and one of the best places to work. Years later, she sold The Corcoran Group for $66 million.
“I know how to build a happy team,” Corcoran said, something that resonates with today’s apartment industry, which faces hiring challenges and burnout all around.
“Creating that type of culture is perhaps the leading reason for my success,” she said. “I worried more about making my employees happy than worrying about the customers, because I knew if they were happy, then they will take care of the customers.”
They can’t do that if they have to wear too many hats, Corcoran said. “Employees today don’t have enough time to get things done,” she said. “Being better organized doesn’t cure this. People just aren’t motivated to do way more work than what they signed up for while receiving the same pay.”
“It’s so tough. Consumers are putting more demands on those on the front line. It’s stressful. This leads to burnout.”
She said that hiring more staff and paying them better wages, especially compared to the competition, can create more productive companies and more satisfied staff.
“Be generous with wages,” she said. “Right now, you have rising rents, full occupancy in the industry, so this is the time to pay them more with bonuses and raises. Or hire more people to take their miseries away.”
Adding staff is easier said than done. “If I needed 20 more people, where am I going to find them?” she said. “The job market is just so competitive.”
Remember: The Employee is the ‘Boss’
She said supervisors must remember who the boss is. “The employee is the boss,” she said. “They are in charge of your business.”
“Ask your workers for feedback. Bosses don’t do this enough – they need to go to the frontlines, not just to their managers or an employee survey company. Ask, ‘What are your biggest obstacles? What else could I do to make you happy?’ Then, target the two or three things you hear them say most and take care of them – you wish you could, but you can’t handle all of the complaints.”
Even better, she said, host employee retreats. “This will help you understand what everyone does on the job. Then, review it all to see the best way to reorganize your company. After that, find the ‘captains of change’ on your staff who can execute it.”
After all, “Business is about change,” she said, “so don’t be afraid of change. Change is an opportunity.”
But more so, she kept emphasizing, company culture is what wins the day.
“Make vacations mandatory,” Corcoran said. “And when they do, don’t contact your employees while they are on vacation.”
She said that during her company meetings one of the first things she had employees do was to open up their calendars and request vacation days off.
“We don’t want you dying on the job,” she said. “You must take one week of vacation per quarter. Even the managers.”
To compensate, she hired two swing managers whose main job was simply to replace those on vacation.
Insist on Diversity and ‘Fun’
Other Corcoran hires included one person who was put in charge of diversity. “Our population is always changing and you want your staff to represent that,” she said. “We became a giant crayon box. I went out and [found diverse workers for my company.]”
Also critical, she said, “Put someone in charge of fun. If you yourself are not a ‘fun’ person, find someone who is and have them organize events – and not the typical holiday parties. Something different. Something fun. Give them a ‘fun’ budget. Make sure they know that if they don’t spend it all, you lose it.”
Doing all of this, she said, “built loyal employees who loved their jobs and loved the company. It’s so expensive to change your staff.”
Finally, Corcoran spoke often about having learned from failures. “So many times, my successes come at the heels of failure,” she said. “I knew how to fail and get back up, dealing with adversity.”
“Let me tell you, I was hired for Shark Tank and quickly was fired, and I didn’t even do anything. But I knew I was the right person for the job, so I went back to them and told them why they needed to hire me. They listened and they brought me back, and I’ve been there for 14 years.”
To view this or any other Apartments.com Renter Insight & Emerging Media Forum session, please visit apartments.com/marchforum.
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