Audit the pipeline before you change it
Listings, inquiry response, the tour or sales visit, and the close. Play 01 starts here.
PLAY 01 · INTEGRATION ASSESSMENTExperience · Ashley Cody, principal
Two industries that grow by adding locations: a PE-backed home services platform and off-campus student housing. Different customers, the same handoff problems after every deal.
Home services
I run brand and marketing for a division of a PE-backed home services platform that grows by acquiring local brands. Integration is part of the job: every new brand arrives with its own agency, phones, logins and way of counting leads.
Off-campus student housing · 2014–2019
Student housing leases a whole property on one calendar. Every listing, social post, review, inquiry, tour and event either fills a bed before August or it doesn't. I worked that pipeline from the leasing office and across a region.
In the first two weeks of August, half a property or more turns over: a move-out and a move-in for the same bed, often days apart. Turn tests every part of an operation at once: inspections, cleaning, keys, staffing and resident communication.
An acquisition, from the inside
A 360-bed community I had marketed changed hands in December 2015, and I was retained at another property an hour away. Six months later, I was asked to come back and market the community through its first turn under new ownership, in the middle of a renovation. It was sold out for move-in day for the first time in a few years, bringing in about $1.68 million in collected rent for the year.
The community is acquired. I'm retained at another property an hour away.
Asked back to market the community ahead of turn and move-in day, during a renovation.
Turn and move-in day, with half the property or more moving out and in within two weeks. Sold out for move-in day, a first in a few years.
What carries over
Listings, inquiry response, the tour or sales visit, and the close. Play 01 starts here.
PLAY 01 · INTEGRATION ASSESSMENTEvery business has its August. The 100-day plan is built around it, not through it.
PLAY 02 · 100-DAY INTEGRATIONThe people who know the property or the market are the asset. Keep them involved through the transition.
PLAY 03 · ADD-ON ONBOARDINGOne definition of a lead, one response standard, one weekly scorecard.
PLAY 04 · PERFORMANCE RETAINERStart here
Tell me about the platform and the next acquisition. I'll tell you which plays fit and what the first one would cover. For multi-location roll-ups, their sponsors and M&A advisors.