In this episode, Andrew Smallwood is joined by Reece Register, CXO and Fo-Founder at CXO Worx. Reece and Andrew talk through what it means to think like a Chief Experience Officer, leading with the resident experience and building processes that support that, rather than focusing on processes first. With great insights from his time as a property manager himself, and working with property management clients, Reece brings a unique perspective.
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Season 5 Episode 10 features Reece Register, Co-Founder and CXO of CXO Worx.
The books that Reece recommends in this episode are The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, and Unreasonable Hospitality, by Will Guidara.
The Triple Win Property Management Podcast is produced and distributed by Second Nature.
Andrew Smallwood
Hello, professional property managers. Andrew Smallwood here, Triple Win Podcast. I am joined today by Reece Register of CXO Worx. We're going to get into Reece's background and story and how he got here, how CXO Worx came to be, and why it's important for property managers.
And I got to tell you, I've seen Reece, like, popping up more and more. I realized we had more connections in our history than I even realized. And sometimes we cross paths, but, but more and more recently, I'm seeing Reece show up and other people in the industry just appreciating what Reece has to say. And so I'm like, man, we got to get this guy on a pod.
I'm really excited for this conversation today. And, Reece, I just want to say thank you. Appreciate you joining us and making time this week.
Reece Register
Dude, I appreciate the invite, and I think you and I are probably going to get cut off because we're both passionate about this topic and experience. So it should be a fun one.
Andrew Smallwood
Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. So, Reece, for people who don't know you, aren't familiar with CXO Worx, I'd love for you to, like, take us back a little bit and tell us, like, how you found your way into property management. A little bit about your story.
Yeah. So I came from the retail world. I worked at Sam's Club/Walmart. It was kind of the store fixer in the Southeast of the United States.
Became very monotonous, great experience, but I wanted to do something a little bit different. So just like everybody thinks you go get your real estate license and become a millionaire overnight, that's what I took a stab at. I learned pretty quickly that wasn't really going to be the path and met a gentleman in Tampa, Florida that had a business development manager sales role for a property management company open. And, I have no idea till this day why he took the shot on me with no experience, but landed in that role, worked for about a year, just figuring out the industry and learning things.
And then, we actually hired RentScale, which is also one of the industry players. They came in, did a little training with us, and we noticed we were starting to elevate. And there was one meeting, it was a level ten meeting, and I said, we've got to stop thinking about service, and we've got to start thinking about what our clients and our residents experience.
And it was like a light bulb went off that day. We started elevating that company, and everything that we did was a huge focus around that. And we were just targeting five star reviews and earning those five star reviews to the point we became the highest ranked property management company at that time in the entire state of Florida, and I was told top two percent nationally, on Google. So it was a fun ride.
The company sold in late 2022, and I had a great experience with RentScale and what they did for us. So I went over there with Jeremy and the team. Did that for about two and a half years, but as I was coaching property management sales professionals, I kept finding myself migrating back to the customer and client experience. So, I decided to do this crazy thing called CXO Worx and invent this whole new concept of the way that you look at your business and the strategy, putting your customer and clients first.
So that's where we're at. I'm helping a variety of different industries, obviously with a heavy focus on property management. And in the past, there's a lot of tools that I can bring to that, but it's just been fun taking what a lot of people look at processes and saying, “Okay, you've checked the boxes, but how did they make the other side of the equation feel?”
And we're rewiring all of those in-the-works processes.
Andrew Smallwood
So I want to double click it. Thank you for sharing that. And I want to click on, like, hey. There was a moment where we said, this isn't just about service.
Right? It's about experience. Like, we're not just a service provider. We're an experience provider.
Reece Register
Yep.
Andrew Smallwood
Can you help us, like, understand what more about, like, what that difference really is? Like, how would I know if I'm thinking like a service provider versus an experience provider? Like, what are the differences? How did you all make that shift?
Reece Register
Yeah. So the shift really revolved around a Google review. You know, most people were targeting Google reviews. We want to be ranked high.
But in my head, I was like, that's the end result. Like, that's when we've done what we're supposed to do, but how do we earn that? And we can't just check boxes just like everybody else is doing. So we worked backwards and looked at our entire customer journey.
And in property management, you've got a client journey. You've also got a resident journey. So we outlined both of those, and we looked at every single moment in that path. And we said, okay.
Here below the line, we've checked the boxes. But now what can we do that make them go wow? That they're still talking about us over dinner with their family over spaghetti saying, wow. Can you believe that happened today?
So one of the examples in the sales process is we always try to find a unique hobby or something that they were very interested in through the sales process, and we would send them something or write them a card that really connected with that. You can see the Jeep, shirts in my background, huge Jeep guy. So, like, on a sales call, if I was talking to somebody and Jeep got mentioned, I'm going to send them a Jeep hat or a Jeep shirt. They will never forget me.
And we looked at every element of that process and found it. Like, we went out and searched, what can we do to elevate what's a checkbox into something they're going to be like, holy cow. I cannot believe this happened today. And then, ultimately, that leads to our Google review.
That Google review led to our next customer that we put right back in that same circle. And as the business grew, you had more and more people in that circle, and that flywheel just kept spinning up new customers, new experiences, new Google reviews, which ultimately took us to that highest ranked position.
Andrew Smallwood
I love what you're saying of, like, hey. The guru reviews, like, the outcome, like, it's a little bit of a scoreboard, so to speak.
But drawing that back to, like, well, hey. If we want that and the goal is not just to, like, game the system, you know, like, reputation management and, like, a lot of people are familiar with that. Like, how could we create such a great experience for someone where they feel something the way somebody would feel if they got that Jeep hat? Like, wow, Reece was listening to me. Like, he actually cares about me. He wasn't just treating me as, like, the next prospect on the assembly line to come through.
And, like, wow, he took the time out to, like, do this and make this gesture. Like, I probably trust and like Reece a little bit more right after that than I did before. I'm going to feel connected in a deeper way. Like, you're you're thinking about, hey. How can we really make those kinds of moments happen that would inspire somebody to go off and create a five star review?
Reece Register
Yep. And it's funny. You mentioned, like, the reputation management software.
Little secret here from what we did. We never had a reputation management software, period. We never paid a single employee any kind of commission for getting a five star review. We did it based on installing culture within our company.
So everybody lived and breathed doing such an excellent job that it was a celebration when we got those five star reviews. And the flip side of that is when you have a culture that, you know, just really is all in on five star experience, we also attracted A+ talent. So as we grew, people wanted to be a part of that culture as well. So then your training timeline actually sped up because you weren't trying to train on processes.
You were just saying, hey. Here's our deliverable. So it had all of these byproducts that come along with it, but we didn't do anything with software. It was straight culture and celebration of our team and winning, and we like to win a lot.
Andrew Smallwood
I want to get into, like, more examples of this because, like, the one from the sales process, I think, is, like, great. Okay. I'm building rapport. I'm getting to know, and I'm listening for some kind of rapport nuggets that I can make a connection on or I can do something that stands out a little bit, right, and moves that relationship forward. Can you give, like, more examples from like, there's so many opportunities in property management. Like, what are some other examples of things you guys did that you felt were really effective?
Reece Register
Yeah. I have one specific story that always stands out when I get this question is we had a family coming in from out of state. They had never been to the Tampa area. They had heard about this thing called the Strawberry Festival.
Like, that is a huge deal down here. Here. Like, this is where a lot of the even the headline country stars come and sing. So they had heard about this, and they had asked a bunch of questions to the leasing agent.
And I can remember a leasing agent come back, was telling us all about it, you know, celebrating some wins. And we all sat there and we're like, well, the Strawberry Festival is coming up in a few months. We should totally get them tickets to the Strawberry Festival. And that's what we did.
We bought their entire family, I think it was four of them plus their friends. I think it was six total. We bought them all Strawberry Festival tickets and sent them over to them without telling them.
It was just like, “Hey, when you moved in, you told us this. We want to make sure we remember that. Welcome to Tampa!” And explosion.
They all left us Google reviews. They went and told other people. Here's where it really got cool, though. They lived in the house for a couple years as tenants.
They moved out. They went and bought an investment property, and guess who their property management company was after they bought the investment property? It was Rent It Network. So one of my favorite stories. By doing just something small, it's also bringing in that community aspect.
That was a big part of what we were doing. But how that can go from looking at it as just another tenant moving into the property to an opportunity that could give you more business, not only a digital aspect with Google reviews, but they actually became a property owner down the road. And because of that one small gesture, we had a negative acquisition cost because we didn't have to worry about marketing to them. They're like, I know the culture.
I know as a resident, they're going to take care of me. And at the end of the day in property management, the residents actually are a paying customer. If we don't have rent coming in and we're not taking care of that resident, the rest of the equation is going to have fault lines in it. So we put a huge focus on it, and that particular story brought it full circle.
Andrew Smallwood
You know, I have a question about this because a question I sometimes hear from folks is, and I'll, like, I'll just pick on Second Nature, right, for a second. Sometimes people will say, like, hey. When Second Nature does these things, like, gets, you know, purple suits for people and, like, you know, is doing helicopter rides or, you know, picking people up from the airport, etcetera.
You know, there's like a question sometimes people have of, like, okay. Are they just flattering people? And the flattery and whatnot is the intention behind it, just because, hey. Exactly what you just said.
Oh, it's going to pay off in the end. Like, they're going to come back and pay me. Like, that's what motivates me to do it. Versus is there just, sincere, you know, kind of desire, and I just, like, make someone's day?
Right? And we have, like, a core value of “be a moment maker,” right, at our company. Like, we're hiring for it, it's part of our culture, etcetera. I'm just curious, though, like, from your perspective, when you're talking to property managers about, like, taking on this experience mindset, like, does it matter what someone's intentions are?
Like, as long as they're doing the things that are showing up and doing more than checking the box, if they're doing it because, hey. The business justification is there and, like, that's why it's going to come back to them and, like, that's why they're doing it. Does that matter? Does that make a difference?
Or what's your perspective on that, having worked with different companies?
Reece Register
Yeah. I do think it matters. I definitely think, you know, it starts with culture. You know, what we do at CXO Worx is this really is a culture based process.
Like, everybody has to be behind it. So, yeah, you have to step into the uncomfortable and stop doing what everybody else is doing, you know, and and replicating that and do something totally different to get the attention, but to your point, to make someone's day. Like, you have no idea how far that helicopter ride or everybody laughing because they see all you guys in purple suits, how that just really made them feel and make them smile.
Yeah. Y'all aren't trading any kind of transaction, but you're going to go tell that story. So when I go into property management companies, there's definitely some companies that I've seen when you introduce this, they're like, they're flight. They're like, I am not doing that.
Nobody else in the industry is doing that. I should not do that. Like, that's wrong.
Versus those pioneers, which, you'll hear that word a lot from me. The pioneers do something that people aren't doing. You know? Nobody took people on a helicopter ride off the roof at a Halloween party until Second Nature did it. And now you and I are still talking about it years later. And those are the kind of moments when you do make that impression and you show people that you're willing to live outside the box that everybody's told you to live in.
This type of customer that we're wanting to attract, they want to be a part of that. They don't want to be part of the normal that everybody else is doing. They're bored with that. We live in a world where people want that social proof.
They want that feel good, not just I went in and got something and I went home. We call it interactional versus transactional, and we have to create that. But inside of a property management company, one hundred percent, there's going to be companies that are just like absolutely not my game, not going to try anything new. We're going to do the exact playbook that everybody else is doing because it works across the country.
But those that step out that live boldly, those are the ones that are leading markets.
Andrew Smallwood
So when you're working with a client today, like, at CXO Worx and you're starting off with them, like, where does the conversation start? Because, again, there's so many opportunities. Like, you mentioned the sales process, then you were talking move-in. Like, I'm sure there's, like, a ton– there's obviously tons of moments over a multiyear journey that presents lots of opportunities.
And, again, like, the idea that I'm going to show up a hundred and ten percent, right, to every single one of those months can probably feel intimidating, especially when it can feel challenging just to, like, check the box and get everything done. So I'm just curious. Like, how does this start? Like, how do you identify, like, develop a strategy to say, here's where we're going to start with this or, like, how we're going to work through this?
Reece Register
Yeah. So we do two steps on the initial. I’ve actually done it this week. I won't bring out the whole paper, but we do a basic SWOT analysis to start with, which a lot of us are familiar with: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
And then my favorite tool is a roll of butcher paper. We literally roll this out across the biggest table that we can find. This week, I took two two six foot tables. We taped it all together, got their whole team together, and started at the beginning of the journey, which is awareness.
Like, how do people hear about you? Where are you going with it? To sales, to the conversion, to the onboarding, to the deliverables, all the way down to the exit. And what happens is most people look at the exit as the endpoint.
Like, if a tenant moves out, that's the end. Or if an owner decides to do something else, that's the end of a relationship.
We then take that straight line. We bring it all the way back to the beginning, and we say, how do we keep them inside of this ecosystem? Even if they're not paying us, they need to be inside the ecosystem.
So the two steps that we do are extremely revealing on where they're at, and a lot of Sharpie markers are involved in this because we want everybody involved because your operations team is going to see things differently than your sales team. Your maintenance team is going to see things differently than your leasing team. You have remote team members. You have in person team members.
Now you have different software, maybe third parties that are doing things. So we map all of this out so that we can see at all different levels what a customer would experience, and we challenge everything. Like, yeah, that's been working great for four years, but what's going to work great for the next four? Like, there is never an endpoint into developing that client experience.
So you'll see that all the time in everything that we do even when they think that they've won. We've installed this Worx process. This is great. Like, okay.
What else can we do? Like, it's a constant evolution because then anybody that's trying to replicate you, they're just so far behind that they'll never be able to catch up and do anything remotely close to what you're already doing.
Andrew Smallwood
So kind of mapping out this customer journey saying, here's all the moments. Here's highs, here's lows, etcetera. And saying, like, from there, hey, what are a couple opportunities we can really focus on to actually change this moment into, like, a really meaningful interaction?
That's really great. What are some of the stumbling blocks that you've seen people kind of like, as they're moving into this and getting into this, tricks and, like, what advice do you give people? How have you helped kind of, like, guide people through that?
Reece Register
Well, you know, most people are going to be resistant to change. There's not, you know, a lot of people that say, you know, I love changing all the time. So you are going to have that little rub point at the start with it. So what we do at CXO Worx is we take it from change to fun and challenge.
We gamify everything that we're doing. So if we're going to change what they call a process and rewire it to a Worx process, what's a measurable outcome that we can get from it? So then we gamify it, and we start, you know, having fun around that inside of these companies so that they don't feel like they're coming to work and they're having to redo everything that they've done in years past and what they know and what they've been taught because there's some companies out there that have property managers that have been in the business twenty, twenty five years. You talk about hard to change? That's hard to change.
So just making it fun and making them or having them a little bit of ownership in it versus just a leadership team coming in here and mapping out a journey for people and saying, hey, we're going to change this, this, and this. I want your entire team involved. It takes an entire team to deliver a customer experience.
Every person in the company, regardless of title, regardless of your pay scale, everybody is in that role to deliver a five star experience, and we want everybody involved with that. So you're going to get resistance on that. But if we make it fun, if we gamify it, you're going to find that you will get progress out of that. And what we call progress with results is not just speed.
We call it velocity. So when we get velocity and everybody starts seeing that, the next change is a lot easier to layer on.
Andrew Smallwood
And so as you're doing this and you think about, okay, we're moving from service to experience and we're making these moments, these interactions happen. You know, the outcomes of that are like, what are the outcomes of that for the business? Right? Like, how would you think about the expected results and how people might think about the value on the other side of that transformation?
Reece Register
Yeah. So it's going to vary from industry to industry, but property management specifically, we look a lot at lifetime value. Like, how long can we keep a customer in our ecosystem that doesn't go somewhere else, that doesn't decide to sell, that they're so comfortable with their investment, or a tenant that never has any issues, that always pays on time, if they do have an issue paying rent, that they feel comfortable calling us. The biggest measurable that we look at is going to be the Google reviews. Because in a social proof world where people are buying everything based on what other people are saying, we want to make sure that every moment that we do is going to ultimately end in a five star review in some shape, form, or fashion.
Because when you get to that point, then you've created what I call a brand ambassador. When you have a client or a resident that's going out and telling someone else about your product or services, You've just hired a salesperson and never put them on payroll because now they're an advocate for your brand, and they want to go tell everybody else that you need need to be a part of this. And when you create that type of community around the brand, I mean, it's very similar to what Second Nature is doing. You know?
You have your community where people want to be a part of it. Like, you have people that go sell for you, and you don't even know it probably because they're like, no. They made our life easier. It was a great experience.
You know? I'd love going to conferences and flying off the roof with a helicopter. Like, it all starts moving together. And, ultimately, that becomes your sales and growth machine.
So then the entire company is going to feel that as you're growing because they were a part of that. They got to see the company go from three hundred and forty seven reviews to the highest ranked property management company in the entire state of Florida. They feel that. They go out and tell people that they're a part of that.
Andrew Smallwood
You know, at second nature, I mean, when we think about the triple one, it's like, how do you create an experience so good that residents don't want to leave? How do you create an experience so good that investors don't want to sell? How do you create an experience so good that talent wants to be engaged and grow in your organization?
And when you get all three of those things working together, you just unlock the most powerful force in business, which is momentum, right, that feeds itself. And, you know, you got me thinking about when you think about lifetime value, it's like we like to say there's, like, three r's. Like, there's revenue. Right? So, like, hey. People are paying you more, right, for a great experience.
Retention. Right? They're staying with you longer. And then reputation. You think about those Google reviews and word-of-mouth.
Right? It's like, how can you drive revenue, retention, and reputation all in one? Like, experience is kind of the answer to that question and where things are going.
Reece, I'd love to talk for a moment about, like, a critical moment in any customer journey for any business, which is onboarding. And my guess is, like, having been in the trenches, like, sales, we're going to, like, investor onboarding, something like you're very close to. Like, well, while second nature may have an interest in resident onboarding, I'd actually love to talk about investor onboarding a little bit more.
And, like, what are some of the opportunities? Okay. Less than the sales, like, the Jeep hat. This is that, like but in those first weeks and days of, like, bringing somebody on into the business, into the relationship, like, how might we think about some of those opportunities, versus kind of like the status quo of what's generally happening today?
Yeah. So and you've probably seen this on my LinkedIn, but onboarding is not just transferring documents. You are transferring a relationship. So you have to treat it as such.
So in that moment, you know, an investor may have taken days, weeks, months, sometimes years talking to your front of the house person, which is your salesperson, however you want to look at that, before they made an actual buying decision. Now they've worked up that trust. They've overcome that barrier. They've decided to sign your property management agreement. And what most people are going to do is like, okay. That's the end of the road for sales. Now we're going to hand over our, you know, PMA, the property onboarding sheet, our solvency statement, all this really cool paperwork stuff and think that their job's done and hand it to operations.
There is a moment there where it can turn into a wow moment or it can turn into a one star moment, and that is one of the most critical parts of this entire customer journey inside of property management. So what can you do? So when you look at the onboarding transferring over relationship, you can't just say, here's a scheduled call. They're going to be taking care of you.
It needs to be a series of relationship calls, and that property manager that's going to be taking it over needs to know all the personal things that you've come to know about that client. You know? Where are they from? What are they like?
What's their expected outcomes of this? And then spend some time talking to them before you just get into the immediate, “Alright. Here's what's going to happen. We're going to put your property on the market.You're going to get a couple emails from me. When we get an application, I'll let you know. You're going to get a weekly leasing update.”
Like, that's all stuff everybody else is doing.
But when you can dive into that moment and literally come at it with honesty and say, hey. I know you've been working with Reece for quite some time, but as we move into the real nuts and bolts of this, we're going to talk more and more. So before we get into the nuts and bolts of the business, I want to spend some time getting to know you because I'm going to be your point of contact for many years to come, and I want to make sure that we're on the same page. Versus speed, we're actually going to hear what that client wants and start transferring that relationship.
Because what we don't want is that client not trusting your operations team and going right back to the sales team. That's where you're going to start losing that momentum, that velocity. So it continues to move through the relations– or the process, but every client has to be a friend of yours, not just a client, and you need to make sure that they feel that in that moment.
Andrew Smallwood
You know, it's so important because, sometimes I've seen companies where, like, gosh, they just want to schedule call after call after call after call. And sometimes clients want that because they're eager for information. They're eager for engagement. They want that. Other clients are like, oh, man. Like, another call, like, I'm busy, etcetera.
And if it's just a call to show up and just bring in an update and just bring the expected, right, it's probably safe to say that that client, that probably won't build trust, that probably won't engage them, that probably won't send a message that every time you see me, I'm going to be bringing value to you. Every time I see you, I can show you I've been listening. I understand who you are, what you care about, what matters to you. I don't have to be talking to you for two hours.
Right? And I don't have to be showering you with gifts every time that I meet with you. But the point is, like, how can you really get to know your customers, understand what they want, and show them, hey. I'm going to continually show up with value for you even in unexpected ways.
And that's, like, how you can build trust very quickly and really break a pattern of what most people expect. I mean, I think in our– at Second Nature, like, we onboard tons of software vendors and external services and things like that that are an important part of our business. And so many of them, you can tell that it's just like they're working off a checklist. Right?
They're working off of a framework. And and, like, and I respect, like, they've got an important job to do. Those things are important, but it's very different when somebody shows up the way that you're talking about, and, and it makes an impression. It makes an impression.
Reece Register
And it increases that lifetime value. Right? Because of that culture wanting to make sure that these people are happy and comfortable, that's how you get future sales out of them as well. So you're genuinely interested in what they have going on, not just checking those boxes, talking to them about their life.
You know, coming into Tampa, you're brand new. It's your first investment, you know, what's your long term plan? Like, people just want to be heard. And if you just give them, like you said, not two hours, it takes fifteen minutes just to say, hey.
I'm here for you. If you need to talk about your property, you let me know. People love, love, love to hear that, and it can make that relationship transfer, document transfer a lot easier. And here's the hard fact in property management.
We are probably going to mess up from time to time. But when you have trust built, when you mess up, it should– it's going to translate into a human conversation versus them immediately scolding you or going and leaving you a one star review. They're going to give you a call and say, hey. That wasn't what it was supposed to be.
What's going on? And they layer on that opportunity for you to correct it internally versus it going externally, which again is going to protect that reputation.
Andrew Smallwood
Reece, what are, like, what are the most common questions you get when you're taking somebody through this?
Reece Register
The most common question probably is what if my team doesn't like the things that we're going to install? And that's where we start a culture. Right? If you don't create the environment for change to happen, so that's typically number one.
And a lot of times, people think that it's going to cost them a lot of money to do something that's experience-based. And I actually tell them it's going to cost you less money and get you a better ROI versus just throwing fancy tools and processes and software at it. Sometimes when you use that combination of not only high-tech, but a high-touch process that goes along with it, you're going to get a better ROI in the long run. It's not going to be a quick hit where you spend a thousand dollars and you make two thousand dollars next week.
But if you truly believe in this and you can go down the path and incrementally change everything in your business, the path to being a market leader is clear as day. And, you know, I've seen property management companies install a lot of the things that we're talking about, and they went from, you know, a hundred doors to three or four hundred doors, but the way they got there was so designed to the point where people were calling them to be a part of their culture and never ask about price. So that's who they wanted to attract. So, yeah, it was a little resistance upfront because they didn't know how their people were going to take it.
But once everything was laying out, the culture was there, they're having fun, the results are following, they started to see that, like, we're not just building a property management business. We're building a community. And when you build a community around your brand or product, people are going to want to be a part of that more than just your price point.
Andrew Smallwood
You know, you're reminding me of, like, conversations we've been having a lot lately with property managers who are frustrated because, for years, they've just been pouring in, pouring in, pouring in, pouring into what we would say is, like, making things more efficient. And so much software and all the tools, like, billions of dollars put in, it's like, how do I do leasing pretty much the same way it's been done, but, like, a little bit faster. Right? Like, more leases per day. Right?
And by the way, like, delivering something in one day like, getting a lease turned around to somebody who wants it in thirty minutes, right, versus, like, a day later, like, that… speed, like, speed matters. Like, I'm not discounting that, to the degree it's making that difference for the customer, right, and changing their experience.
But there's a lot of optimizing for something that's not meeting customer expectations today, And we see that as it's kind of like this efficiency trap. It's like, okay. Something is not working, and I'm missing expectations of my investor, of my customer, of my team.
Let me do that same thing, but just more efficiently. Well, yeah, it's going to cost you less to fail, but, like, that's not going to change the fact that we're not we're not winning, right, in that moment, with those customers. And so really, like, starting with what is the experience that's going to win with customers. Right? And, like, how do we create that moment, that interaction, that experience?
And then from there, start to work backwards to, okay, how can we make sure our process is efficient, working? Like, it's not the enemy, but it's like it's kind of like the second question. And you got to, like, get this first question answered first. I'm curious, like, if you see that differently or what else you'd add to that?
Reece Register
No. I totally agree. When you really look at what the customer wants, when we can design our process around the deliverable versus the other way around where we're like, oh, we're going to make this most efficient, and the customer's going to have to deal with it. Looking at it through a different lens is going to get you a better outcome because that's what the customer wants, and they're the one that's actually paying. I will tell you, and we might shake the whole property management industry when I make this comment, but I think I'll go ahead with it.
I have seen the most successful property management companies that have done a Worx process open up an open forum feedback from their clients and residents.
Literally putting them all in the same room of an online digital community on what they want, what they feel, what their happiness, and what they dislike all in one room. Because think about it. Most I mean, ninety nine percent of property management companies are really scared to ask that or let their owners talk or let their residents talk because they're afraid they're going to say negative stuff. That's actually what we want. We want them to expose all of our holes so that we can design what we're doing at the company level to meet those needs. So those companies have created online communities that they invite all of their current and future owners into as well as their residents to give them feedback on what they're doing.
That is how you build a business around your customer because you're embracing how they feel, what they're saying about it, and it allows you to adjust your strategy around that. Because at the end of the day, again, they're the ones that are going to be paying you, so design something that they want to pay for.
Andrew Smallwood
I can see why you gave a disclaimer to because I'm sure, like, I'm very empathetic to property managers who have to, like, work extremely hard, and, are dealing with, like, a lot of humanity and people in, like, challenging situations that can feel very thankless. And the idea of getting everybody into a room and especially getting them in a group together and, like, man, I'm giving up a little control over, like, what people might say, what people might do, could this really go off the rails? Right? So to speak.
Is this going to be productive? Right? What I'm hearing you say though is, man, finding a way to get that feedback and build a relationship where there's that open conversation, it can be a little scary, but it sounds like you're seeing clients of yours get great feedback out of that, apply it, and, ultimately, it's it's strengthening the reputation. Ultimately, it's strengthening the business through that.
Reece Register
Because then your customers feel like they're part of the bigger business plan. So they had a small hand in creating what is going on at the company. Now, obviously, you're not going to be able to take everything that comes out of that and implement it. But if you see a strong opinion about something that's going on and you can adjust, you adjust it.
And those people that are in the community, again, they're going to go out and be your brand ambassador and tell other people that, like, hey. I was working with this company, and they let me talk. They heard my idea. They implemented it.
It's super happy. You should come over here and try this company too. So when you do that, you remove the barrier and, I guess, it would be the little timidness to hear what they have to say in an open forum, but instead, you flip it around, that's positive. That's feedback.
You know? Failure is the mother of all success. So if I can hear all these failures and I'm a good enough business owner, I'm a bold enough business owner to take the negative and turn it into a positive for my customers, it's a rocket ship waiting to happen. It's just getting over that initial hurdle of the fear of what are my customers going to say about me.
But, again, you think about even second nature, you know, even all these software vendors, they have community boards. RentScale has a community where everybody can speak about the product and service. Why are we not doing that at the next level for our customers? And it's just getting bold, being out there and being able to accept that it may not all be positive, but I can turn those negatives into a positive.
Andrew Smallwood
Awesome.
Reece, I'm curious. Like, a couple quick questions. Like, if somebody was to look at, like, a book or a podcast or, like, another resource to just be thinking more about this kind of stuff? Like, do you have any recommendations for people who are just trying to get around this kind of thinking, this kind of approach, frameworks, etcetera? Like, what recommendations might you have for people?
Reece Register
This is going to sound so simplistic. It's been around for a long time, but I live and breathe by The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, because those are, you know, very, very simple, habits and behaviors to install for most people. And then I always go back to, how do I create a win-win. Like, if you can create win-wins in business for clients as well as yourself and think every decision through that way, that is really where success is going to lie.
Because if both people are winning, what's– there is no friction point at that point because everybody's happy. So I know that sounds kind of… probably everybody's read that and heard of it, but I really just lean into those principles over and over and over again. And then secondary would probably be Unreasonable Hospitality where you just go above and beyond on everything that you possibly can. Because, again, it creates a feel good moment.
And when people feel good, they're they're they pay more, they stay longer, and they're going to go tell somebody else about you.
Andrew Smallwood
You know, one thing I love about Unreasonable Hospitality, and I've heard many property managers recommend that book as well, once they've had a chance to read it.
It is, like, inspiring stories of, like, incredible things done for I can't remember if it's, like, going out and getting a hot dog or, like, what whatever it was. There's just so many like, there's so many stories that I hear people retell. Right? And it just goes to exactly that, what you've been saying, right, in this podcast. If you create those moments and people don't forget them and then they're talking about them over and over again and wow.
I love that I love that you shared that.
Reece, what else? Like, if we signed off before saying one more thing, what would you want to make sure people heard before we sign off?
Reece Register
Yeah. The biggest thing is I know CXO is kind of this new term. Right? A lot of people haven't heard that. You've heard of the CEOs, CFOs, COOs.
But having a chief experience officer type of mindset that really looks at every angle of your business can truly redefine your future. We live in a world full of social proof. Like, when something goes right, they can put it on social media, and it can spread like wildfires. And the same thing with the negative aspect of it.
People aren't buying off fancy ads anymore. They're not buying clickbait. They're not buying off really cool colorful mailers. They're buying on what other people are saying about you.
So when you're designing your business, think of it that way. Everything that you do, will people be happy that I made this decision, and will they tell somebody else? And if you can ask, you know, people used to wear the WWJD bracelets all the time. If you could literally put one of those on that said, what would a CXO say?
And every time you make a decision daily, it will really transform that entire mindset and culture throughout your company, and it's going to make customers want to work with you versus you going out and searching for that next customer.
Andrew Smallwood
How do you bring an experience lens, right, to each opportunity, each decision you're making in property management? How could that serve you? The one thing I love about this too is the stories are great, like, for the customers, and that's great. But also the teams, like, the team morale, like, to be a part of a business that says we're building, like, legendary relationships with our customers.
Like, we aren't doing the normal thing. Like, that's a lot more motivating place to work than, okay. I got my, like, thirty six tasks done today. Like, check, check, check, check, check.
Right? Like, that's where, like, hey. When people are feeling burnout, it's a lot of, like, you know, I've got stressful situations, and I feel like I'm grinding, but I'm not really getting anywhere. Like, we're not making progress versus when I give someone that Jeep hat, when I see that reaction from a customer, when I see that resident become an investor client one day, like, you know, those are things that, like, wow.
Like, what I am doing is making a difference, and I feel connected to the way we're doing this and how our– I'm proud to be a part of this business.
And, man, you inspire that in your team, and people are showing up a little bit before nine o'clock. Right? They're sending that extra email at the end of the day. Like, they're– you get addicted to that feeling.
Right? If you've got the right people in the right culture there, that can be really, really powerful. Man, Reece, I knew I was going to enjoy this conversation. I had that feeling coming in.
I really did. Thank you. It was great to have this conversation with you. Thank you for taking the time today.
Reece Register
I appreciate the invite, Andrew, and I’ve got a feeling we'll probably be talking more about this in the future.
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