Holiday Party Tips!

Susan RoAne is known as the Nation's Savvy Networking Expert and Mingling Maven...as well a treasured client of PRANDI Property Management! Here, Susan provides us with her Holiday Party Do's and Don't s.

Brush up on your holiday party etiquette and enjoy the season with joy and class!

How to Work a Room:

HOLIDAY DOs and DON'Ts

DO...

• RSVP and say YES when the invitation arrives.

• Organize a potluck if the company has cancelled their annual party. People love the camaraderie.

• Focus Your Conversation on the Event: The season is the reason. If it's a company sponsored party, you already have a subject for conversation. So, bring your O.A.R.and start the small talk with the items you have in common.

Observe -- The venue, food or entertainment

"What wonderful ambiance! Didn't Pat and Joe do a great job planning this party and the food is fabulous."

Ask -- Other guests seasonally topical questions

"Do you have any special plans?" "Do you plan to travel for the holidays?"

Reveal -- Your ideas, thoughts, plans

"I plan to be on the slopes for the holidays."OR "For obvious reasons we've decided to stick closer to home rather than fight the crowds." Add something lighthearted: "I'm still trying to find a low calorie eggnog recipe."

• Act Like A Host: be interested; pay attention; listen and introduce people to each other.

• Treat Spouses/Guests (yours and theirs) With Respect: introduce them with enthusiasm and include them with eye contact, comments and questions.

• Remember That Holiday/Christmas Parties Are Still Business Networking Events: dress and act appropriately.

DON'T...

• Don't Drink Excessively: free drinks have a cost.

• Don't Assume Everyone Celebrates Christmas: and if you don't, be gracious about the error.

• Don't Touch Inappropriately: keep hands (and lips) to yourself; "handle" with care and caution.

• Don't indulge in foods with garlic or onions; bring breath mints.

• Don't forget to detach from the techie toys: smart phones, Bluetooth's and iPads) and refrain from text messaging, emailing and IM-ing when talking with others.

• Don't kvetch, whine, ridicule, compete, correct, interrogate or brag.

©2011 Susan RoAne

The Mingling Maven®.

Prospective Tenant Tip | Be Prepared!

This 2011 rental market is proving to be a competitive one in the more moderately priced ranges. A tip I can offer prospective renters is to get your ducks in a row and have your application packet ready to go. When you find the property you would like to rent, you won’t have to scramble to get your information together and risk losing out to a more prepared applicant. Much better to view a property and hand the agent or owner your application on the spot. Not only will that put you in the #1 position to secure the property, but it will create a very good impression on the owner/agent. You can find an application in addition to instructions on putting together an application packet on the PRANDI website at www.prandiprop.com.

Official Office Titles

PRANDI Property Management, Inc., CRMC
www.prandiprop.com

We have been very busy in our office in the last couple of months. We opened our second office on Bridgeway in Sausalito to better serve our Southern Marin clients this past year. We redesigned our website, including major changes in our management software, company colors as well as logo layout. We re-organized our office staff, making our teams more efficient and organized to improve our customer service and response times to your calls and emails. We solidified PRANDI staff titles, to help clarify company roles and to give you a better definition of what we really do.

This last change, our personal employee titles, were closely examined and decided upon. A title defines a persons position within the company and we wanted that title to be clear and concise.

Please, meet the PRANDI Property Management Team:

Melissa Prandi, RMP, MPM | President & CEO

Reidun Waage | Client Accounting Manager

Lisa Doughty | Office Coordinator

Barbara Burdick | Executive Relocation & Leasing Agent

Team 1:
Matt Borries | Property Manager & Leasing Agent
Nikki Maida | Assistant Property Manager

Team 2:
Christine Goodin, RMP | Senior Property Manager & Leasing Agent
Cristy Roberts | Assistant Property Manager

Team 3:
Dana Sansing-Esquibel | Senior Property Manager & Leasing Agent
Roxie Mikolon, CSS | Assistant Property Manager

Marketing Team:
Erin Leidy | Director of Business Development & Marketing
Kaylee Carroll | Brand Marketing Specialist

Project Re:Brand | Part 2

The logo is very important for any company. Here at PRANDI, we always double check to make sure our image, and in essence our “brand,” is as consistent as possible. We want our look to be noticed and recognizable. We want people to know our name and see us as the respected leaders we strive to be, in Marin’s leasing and property management field. We want people to see our logo and say “Let’s call PRANDI!”

To ensure our brand has maximum impact, we are sure to cover all of our bases, and are always as consistent as possible. Our logo and our image is our company’s visual identity! The fonts, color, use of illustration/ pictures, as well as our taglines are all a major part of this. Our brand is spread across our marketing, in such things as on our website, newspapers, and other advertisements. But there is so much more involved in a “brand.”

Employees, for instance, are the most important ambassadors Melissa Prandi, MPM has for her company. We are reflections of the brand she has created. We are the faces of PRANDI.

Part of our branding is how our employees interact and work with our customers. Great customer service keeps a person coming back for more – which means that if we do a great job, not only will they want to work with us again, but they might even recommend PRANDI to others. We love to partner with people, whether they are our valuable owners, contractors/ vendors, or outside agents. We love to know how our service worked out as a whole, and hear how we can improve. We love to know how we are doing as a company.

All feedback is valuable. If we’ve given you great service, this is always a treat to hear; but if we need to improve some part of our company to better serve others in the future, we cannot progress unless we have this information to work from! We need this feedback to better the identity we are presenting to the community.

Which leads me to: we recently ran a “February is for Feedback!” program with our current tenants, asking them to tell us how we are doing in their eyes. We also asked our owners to fill out an e-survey to rate PRANDI on various topics and give us additional feedback that way as well. Now, we’re reaching out to you, our readers. If you have anything to say about our company, that you think we should hear, please be sure to let us know. You can even email me directly: prandi@prandiprop.com. I would love to know how we are holding up as a complete PRANDI package. If you ask me to keep something completely anonymous, I will certainly respect that request. Thank you!

Sonoma County Residents Seeking Marin County Advice!!

Here is one Marin resident reaching out to another! My friend & colleague Kaylee (yes, from PRANDI too) and I have recently founded our own "hiking class" for an after-work, work-out! But we are finding we're running out of great spots to go! The problem is, we are both Marin implants (gasp!) from Sonoma County, so we want to get the skinny on some "secret" spots Marin folks know of....

We are seeking advice from you--trails and hiking paths in Marin--something strenuous but that we can do after work while it's still sunny outside. We've tried our hand at yoga, but we crave the burn....after all, I am getting married in June!


P.S. Thank you to Matt for telling us about the trail off Paradise! Thank you Google Earth, or we would have never found it!

Erin Leidy named California’s 2011 Big Sister of the Year!

Director of Business Development & Marketing at PRANDI Property Management, Erin Leidy, has recently been named the California Big Sister of the Year for Big Brothers Big Sisters. This honor is in recognition of her tireless support of the agency, and more importantly, of her “Little,” 11-year old Trayvon.

Each year agencies across the state, nominate 1 Big Brother and 1 Big Sister for their exemplary mentoring and advocacy. There are 19 agencies in all, representing over 13,000 matches. The individuals nominated are judged at the state-level by a panel of agency Executive Directors. Winners from each state are then eligible to be named National Big Brother or Big Sister of the Year.

Erin has been working with the organization for roughly five years spawned by her husband, Jonathan’s, involvement on the Board of Directors. She and Trayvon are far from the average pair. Although not the first “mixed-match,” traditionally, the organization has focused on pairing Bigs and Littles of the same sex. However, with over 200 children on the North Bay waiting list, mostly boys, the organization has been compelled to become more creative.

“When we have fantastic mentors, like Erin, willing to donate their time and talents, we want to get them involved with a child as soon as possible,” says Executive Director of the North Bay agency, Eddie Kaufman. “Pairing her with Trayvon was natural, given that she is the elder sister of 3 brothers. And the results speak for themselves.”

In the relatively short time that Erin and Trayvon have been together, they have done quite a bit. They have gone hiking, to Warriors games and amusement parks, visited museums, baked holiday cookies, and much more. “Over the course of our match, there have been many firsts for Tray,” says Leidy. “He has learned how to play tennis, make scrambled eggs, and even some less complicated things, like the importance of looking someone in the eye when you speak with them. Most recently, we took him up to the top of Tam, where he was able to experience snow for the first time.”

Of all of the things that she has brought to Tray’s life, the most valuable is stability. He has officially become a part of the Leidy family, never missing a holiday. “When we go out together, I notice others watching us, trying to bring context to a relationship that, on the surface, seems a bit peculiar. That’s fine with Tray and I; in fact, it often leads to a great opportunity for the both of us to share our story.”

Erin will be talking about her match a great deal over the course of 2011, including at both of the Inspiration events held by the organization as well as the upcoming Bowl for Kids’ Sake at Country Club Bowl in San Rafael (April 2-3). “Winning is a great honor and I would like to share this recognition with the staff at Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay as well as all of my family and friends that have supported the organization along with me.”

The judging for the National Big Sister of the Year also takes place in April. If selected, Erin and Tray would be taking a trip to the White House, where past winners have had the opportunity to shake hands with the President.

Accounting | In Review

As the PRANDI Client Account Manager, which really means the resident bookkeeper, it has been an extremely busy year for my accounting team. We just finished up last year’s 1099s from 2 different software programs, together with annual Summary reports, after our 2010 switch-over in July. The new software has been quite a learning curve for all involved and we appreciate the patience and understanding from our owners. Now, we are busy filling special requests for our owners’ tax accountants to help everyone complete the year.

New this year, the CA Franchise Tax Board made it mandatory that we collect and send 7% of rent income to the State for our out of state owner. Not a popular task!

Property taxes are just around the corner, so we’ll be starting our “Hold-Back” of funds this month, if you’re one of the owners who have specified that we pay taxes for you.

As of the first of the year, we started updating our vendor business licenses and liability insurance to make sure they are current. Our vendors have been hand-picked by us, and are the best in their respected fields, so as to give you the best service you deserve.

We are off into year 2011 with a great start and ready to take on new challenges and excitement – but we always have FUN in the process!