Ellis Strengthens Product Line

With Launch of New Customer Intelligence Application

Dallas, TX. June 16, 2011 – Ellis, Partners in Mystery Shopping (Ellis) a leader in mystery shopping for the multi-family industry has launched its newest innovation in lead conversion and resident retention: the Customer Intelligence Application.  Marketed under the company’s new name, Ellis, Partners in Management Solutions, the dramatically unique new product embodies the company’s forward–thinking vision and commitment to the growing needs of its customers.

The new marquis Customer Intelligence Application is the ultimate enhancement to the flagship Mystery Shopping product Ellis customers have come to respect over the last 26 years as the premier objective measure of onsite leasing personnel performance.  With the addition of the new Customer Intelligence product, the company measures from post-conversion through residency and renewal, effectively outlining strategic and tactical solutions to target and increase resident retention, and ultimately raise net operating income.

The Customer Intelligence Application focuses on collection and analysis of resident feedback on a number of customer service touch points, provides easy to understand results, and defines attainable strategic and tactical solutions to driving business process improvements. The key measure of this process is the Customer Loyalty Score. The Customer Intelligence Application is a web-based interface that also merges data with the customer’s ongoing Mystery Shopping program.

In conjunction with the new product release, Ellis has also launched its updated website at www.epmsonline.com. The introduction of the fresh, new look of the main website marks the company’s foray into social media via Facebook, Twitter and a new monthly blog – all part of the company’s ongoing commitment to partner with customers by providing training resources and discussion forums and by building a community for shared ideas and industry insights.

About Ellis

Annually, Ellis conducts thousands of mystery shops across the US and Canada and offers its customers the opportunity to participate in their exclusive national quarterly performance comparison (the Ellis Benchmark), which has for the last decade ranked participating companies based on their onsite staff’s performance on 10 key questions identified as essential to successful lead conversion rates.

Contact: Joanna Ellis | jellis@epmsonline.com | 888-988-3767

Getting the Attention of Generation Y

Not long ago, the only way to find an apartment home was to flip through a printed guide located on a rack in the grocery store.  Times have changed! Today, any type of apartment search can be conducted 24/7, provided there is a connection to the web. Who is making the most use of this powerful search tool? You guessed it – GENERATION Y!

Generation Y (Gen Y) is plugged-in like no one else, raised with a computer, a cell phone, and an iPod.  Having grown up with more media than any other generation, their consumption of media is different, posing quite a challenge for marketers. Do you want to be a marketer who overcomes the challenge and gets their attention? Connecting with Gen Y is simpler than you think!

1. SEEK First TO UNDERSTAND

Before you launch your next marketing campaign to Gen Y, STOP! Instead of marketing to them, experience life with them. Find an opportunity to hang out. Listen to what they have to say. Spending time in their world will allow you to see how they think. For instance, we wanted to answer the question, “How does Gen Y search for an apartment?”, so we spent some time in their virtual world.

A couple unedited responses from forums and threads we visited:

• Ask people. Go to quiet bars and strike up a conversation. Meet people in a Starbucks. Ask the people you are visiting. Ask family and friends if they know people who live there and get advice. Post your question on FB.
• Talking with people who know the area is one of the best things anyone can do. ‘I recently talked with a friend who thought she’d found an ideal place on Craigslist. I was able to tell her it was in one of the few parts of this city that she definitely did not want to move into. It is not a safe area!’

This small preview of online discourse reveals A LOT. Want to read more? Visit their world! Check out a few of the following:

• www.Digg.com
• www.Delicious.com
• www.20SB.net
• www.CoolPeopleCare.org

More Food For Thought: EPMS recently sent out a survey to existing apartment shoppers asking the question, “In beginning the search for your apartment home, how did you conduct your initial research?” The responses were grouped by generation. An overwhelming 64 percent of Gen Y confirmed using the Internet, while only 39 percent of Baby Boomers confirmed the same.

2. Be REAL

To a degree, Gen Y listens to businesses, but they highly regard their social networks. Unless you’ve been endorsed by their friends, they probably do NOT care about what you have to say. Why? If their friends recommended you, then they know you are the “real deal”. If not, how can they trust you? They are more likely to be attracted to a friend’s YouTube advertisement than a pretty community website. Why? They know their friend’s YouTube video is real. For all they know, the pretty community website could be a bunch of fluff.

If you want to reach Gen Y, craft presentations that are realistic. Gen Y knows “real” when they see it, and they don’t waste time on people or companies that waffle, stall, or are indirect. Cool, hip, truthful advertising will appeal to this generation.

3. COMMUNICATE with THEM

Apple spoke directly to Gen Y and asked: What do YOU want?  They hit the nail on the head when they created the 99-cent download that took eight seconds to transact.

What do THEY want?

1. A Good Deal – they like to spend but have little to spend
2. A Quality Product – one that will last
3. Quick Responsive Service – don’t waste their time
4. An “Experience”– make it memorable so they talk about it

Gen Y is an “experience” culture.  They don’t want to be told what to like. They want to pass their own judgment. They want to experience the world for themselves. They love to be in the trenches of life with friends. HERE is where you have to meet them.

These steps are simpler than you think, and they pay off!

As this huge new group paves its way into the marketplace, its members are making it clear that if you want to win their hearts and wallets you will have to learn to think like they do and not like the Baby Boomers who preceded them.

STOP marketing to them and START listening to them. STOP talking at them and START talking with them. Seek to understand them by spending time in their environment. Appeal to them through direct, honest, “real” advertising. Learn to communicate effectively with them. Only when you begin to build a relationship with Gen Y will you get their attention. Then, you’ll find an audience willing to listen.