A Gathering of Pricers--Will I See you at ARM?

It’s been a while since I last blogged. Lots going on—crazy busy with clients, my younger daughter just started high school and we just sent my older daughter off to Princeton for her freshman year. Both of those milestones got me thinking about how I got to where I am.

Hard work, smarts and a good bit of luck certainly had a lot to do with it. But I think the most important thing for anyone in a “cognitive skill” career path is to be constantly learning. Learning from experience,  but more importantly learning from others—from “experts” we may not know and from colleagues (and competitors) who we do know. Which got me thinking about how important a role conferences have played in my career. I’ve met so many people who become not just business colleagues but also friends; and I’ve learned from many speakers I never would have otherwise encountered—people with ideas that changed how I viewed the world, my job and myself.

So if you’re serious about pricing in the multi-family industry, you simply have to go to the Apartment Revenue Management Conference. There are lots of pricing conferences and lots of multi-family housing conferences, but ARM is the only conference dedicated solely to practicing our art in our vertical. I’ll be there again and hope to see you. For those of you who might care, here’s what I’m expecting to do there:

• Network a ton. I’ve already got at least three meetings set up—one with someone I know well and am looking for feedback on a sales system concept I’ve been developing; one with someone I’m thinking about working with in the future; and one with someone who I’ve never met who reached out to me. I have no idea whether that will be useful or a waste of time, but I’ve learned over time that what may look like luck is often the result of just being out there and open to possibilities. One of my favorite sayings is, “Action begets action”
• Listen intently to the first session on how pricing and marketing can work better together. Since I had responsibility for both when I was an executive at both Archstone and Holiday Retirement, this is near and dear to me.
• Definitely sit in on the keynote—this year’s may be the most practical yet.
• Have fun leading a lunch roundtable on PRM and lease-ups. I think lease-ups are a great opportunity for pricing to do more than it has in the past, and I’m eager to hear what participants say. Join me for this one!
• Get informed on what’s coming down the road with the top new companies and products discussion. Last year’s session was very interesting—this year there’s a good mix of new companies combined with established companies telling us about new products
• Lastly, I’ll moderate a panel on the untapped arbitrage of customer satisfaction and revenue. Two great panelists—Dave Romano and Francis Chow—will lead us on a discussion of practical current applications and aspirational ones for the future.

There's lots of other good stuff on the agenda--the above is just a few highlights. Once again, ARM is sure to be THE place to be to learn more about MFH PRM and to network with leading vendors and practitioners. If you’re there, please stop me and say Hi; if you’re not going to be there, why not? There’s still time to register!