Are you looking for ways to increase revenue on your property? Here are three profit generating resources that won’t require a lot of staffing, financial investment or management.

Source #1: Vending Machines

Vending Machines provide a convenient amenity for guests / residents and a simple source of income for property owners.

• • Think Outside the Box: Traditionally when you think of vending machines, you think about soft drinks and candy. Think beyond refreshments to household and personal items your residents or guests might purchase such as trash bags, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, lip balm, shaving gel, and toothbrushes.

• • Willing to Pay for Convenience: Even if there are nearby grocery stores, on premise vending machines are always going to be more convenient. If a resident needs laundry stain remover, it’s easier to purchase it in a vending machine in the laundry room than it is to drive to a store. The key is to have machines located in high traffic areas where guests will have a need for the vending machine items. For example, vending machines with beverages would make sense near the gym or pool.

• Hands Off Management: With a vending machine, transactions are automated, so you don’t need to hire employees to run it. Vending machines have the possibility to be open 24/7 which means profit isn’t limited by time and machines are available any time guests or residents have a need. You don’t have to purchase the machines, because there are companies that will deliver and service the machines for you. You share the profits with the vending companies just by having the machines on your property.

Source #2: Laundry Room

Having an on-premise laundry room can add value and an additional revenue source to your property.

• • Raise Vend Prices by Pennies: Don’t miss out on potential revenue by keeping prices in your laundry room the same over a long period of time. Raise vend prices over time in small increments (pennies) instead of quarter increments. The change will have a minimal effect on residents and increase profits for you.

• • Loyalty Cards = Increase in Float: Utilizing a laundry loyalty card system encourages your residents to do laundry at your property. As residents add value to their laundry cards, your laundry room will build ‘float,’ or the amount of money added to accounts but not yet spent. As float increases, so will your profit!

• • “Time is Money” When Collecting Coins: Collecting coins from each machine in your laundry room is time consuming. If you are paying someone else to do it for you, that is still money out of your pocket. Implementing a card-based payment system gets rid of the need for coins, saves you time and allows you to easily track sales.

• Technology Based Amenities: Smartphones play an integral role in our lives. If a guest or resident can use their cell phone to pay for laundry or remotely check machine availability and cycle completion, doing laundry at your property becomes convenient. Overall, this improves resident satisfaction and increases usage.

The FasCard System for Multi-Housing Properties allows you to implement incremental vend pricing, accept debit/credit/loyalty cards, save time collecting coins and offer mobile technology in your laundry room. Contact us to see if the FasCard system is a good fit for your laundry room.

Source #3: Parking

Parking can be a luxury, especially in high density areas where there is a parking shortage. Parking is a desired amenity and by charging for it at your property you can increase your bottom line.

• • Premium Parking: People will pay more to park in a guaranteed spot, covered parking or in a garage. Consider giving residents a numbered parking space that is reserved for them. Charge more for covered or garage parking if you are not already doing so. If you don’t have covered parking, consider building carports over spaces.

• • Prime Location: Charge guests and residents more for parking in coveted locations. Residents will pay more to be close their unit. If your property has popular parking spots, think about advertising those spots as reserved parking that can be rented.

• • Rent Out Extra Parking: Does your property have more parking spots than it needs for its residents? Allow residents to rent extra parking. If you are in an area next to professional buildings or event spaces, consider renting additional parking out to the public for a fee.

• Don’t Forget About Cyclists: Is your property in a bike friendly area or do you have residents that are cycle commuters? Install traditional bike racks and rent them out for a fee. Create an indoor bike room on your property and charge for bike storage with additional security and protection from the weather.

By implementing these three sources of additional income at your property, you can increase revenue with virtually no extra effort or major staffing needs. After you take care of your upfront costs to make these changes, it’s pure profit moving forward!

Marketing is a large component of increasing business for your property. Having a marketing plan in place will help you attract renters to your property and turn them into residents. Here are five steps to developing a winning marketing plan for your property.

Perform a SWOT Analysis

Make a list of your property’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Define the amenities and services that offer value to your residents and give you an advantage over competitors. Outdoor spaces, extra storage, ample parking, a modern laundry room, smart technology, a fitness room, and new kitchen appliances are examples of value added amenities to advertise.

Describe Your Target Audience

Look at your current residents and what they have in common. Analyze your competing properties and their residents. Decide what your ideal resident looks like. Define the demographics, lifestyle and motivations for the market you are trying to reach. Consider what that ideal customer will be looking for in a property.

Set Marketing Goals

Make your goals measurable and time specific. If you want to reach prospective residents on social media, make the goal clearly defined by saying you want to reach X number of followers on X social platform by X date. If you want to increase sales, you can make it quantifiable by saying you want to increase new leases by X percent in the next X months.

Define Your Strategies

What marketing strategies will you put in place to reach your objectives? How will you market to your target audience at every step of the sales process, from those who aren’t aware of your property to those that are ready to sign a lease? Consider print, email, online advertising, direct mail and promotional products.

Build a Plan

List which marketing strategies you are going to implement at each stage of the customer life cycle, from a cold prospect to a hot lead. For example, you could use social media advertising to build awareness, email marketing to those that have taken a property tour and promotional gifts to those ready to become a resident. Make sure your strategies are aligned with your marketing goals.

Our FasCard system for multi-housing properties is a great way to market to potential residents. FasCard gives your property a valuable amenity and helps attract new residents to your property. Our “Roll into Rent” feature allows you to advertise your property with “Free Laundry” and our Smart Technology adds a cutting-edge service to your property’s laundry room.

Want to learn more about how FasCard can add value and an additional revenue source to your property? Let’s Talk!

Technology has made just about everything in our lives more convenient and that includes the management and use of multi-unit laundry rooms. Having modern amenities in your laundry room such as online monitoring via smartphones and card payment systems will bring value to your property and set your property apart from the competition. As an owner or manager, introducing automated systems into your laundry room will save you time and money and reduce the stress of running a laundry room. In this blog post, we’ll show you how bringing technology into your multi-unit laundry room will turn it into a profitable and valued amenity of your property that is easy to manage.

Remote Management

Installing CCI’s FasCard system in your laundry room gives you the ability to manage cash and collections, provide immediate customer service, configure vend prices, implement marketing programs, run sales reports and monitor the status of equipment – all live and remotely from your smartphone or laptop! Having web-based management means accessing your FasCard system is simple and can be performed from any web browser so you can manage your laundry room at anytime from anywhere. With FasCard you can accept cash payments and resolve problems without having someone physically there. If a tenant or guest has a problem with a machine, you can simply log into their account and refund their money.

Card and Coin Auditing

Using FasCard in your laundry room allows you to audit both coin and card sales on any specific machine. This will give you the ability to not only track the success of your credit card sales but monitor the number of coins in each machine. You can configure FasCard to send you email notifications when coin boxes reach capacity so you collect only when you need to. If you are having someone else collect for you, you can receive an email notification that details the coins collected from each machine once your collector has finished. Having less cash in your machines will reduce theft and you’ll always know at any time how much money is in your laundry room. FasCard isn’t just a card payment system; it introduces a holistic solution to running your laundry room.

Flexible Payment Options

Installing FasCard in your laundry room makes the experience of doing laundry easy, quick and stress free. Whether a customer prefers using currency or credit/debit cards, FasCard provides the ultimate in convenience by accepting all types of payment. Customers can even insert some coins and swipe their card for the balance. By adding card acceptance, you are make it easier for your customers to use your laundry room, encourage more use of your machines and therefore produce more revenue for you. No longer do your residents have to obtain coins and cash or deal with the hassles of coin dispensing equipment. In addition, our F2 Card Reader makes it even easier for your customers to pay for their cycles.

Smartphone App

Residents want to complete their laundry as quickly and efficiently as possible. With FasCard, instead of your consumer having to revolve their schedule around doing laundry, the laundry card system makes it convenient for them to do their laundry and easily fits into their busy schedule. Smartphones play an integral role in our lives and FasCard includes a smartphone app for today’s latest devices. From their smartphone, your customers will be able to create an account, add value, manage loyalty cards, check machine availability, request cycle completion notifications and even start a machine! No longer do your residents have to make unnecessary trips to the laundry room to check the status of machines, sit around and wait for their cycle to complete or risk loss of clothes sitting in the machines for hours.

CCI’s systems will give you the technological tools to create a modern laundry room that is a valuable business, easy to manage, and meets the needs of residents and guests. Our FasCard system is a perfect fit for multi-housing applications such as apartment buildings, hotels, condominium buildings and residence halls. If you’re a property owner or manager looking to get more out of your facility’s laundry room, contact us today to learn more about our FasCard payment solutions and how investing in the technology can take your laundry room to the next level!