A few months ago, Lisa Trosien wrote about how Ikea had done a studio apartment in a box stunt that was working out really well. Before I moved to Seattle, I had heard of IKEA, but I had no idea who they were or what they did. The Swedish furniture trend has yet to hit it big out there in Kansas... but we're usually about 5 years behind everyone else. However, in the Seattle metro area, IKEA is HUGE. They have this large store that you can just utterly get LOST in while you wander through, living the rest of your life on meatballs and sleeping in faux rooms that have the best solutions for storage you can possibly imagine!
As I was thinking about the section of my training course that discusses overcoming objections, I was listing the most common hurdles that I remember hearing from my days as a leasing consultant. One of the big ones was STORAGE. It seems there's never enough storage, no matter where we move to. Americans are an interesting paradox in this matter because we love our material "stuff" but we also want our homes to look as perfect as the staged rooms in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I am personally VERY guilty of this particular fault, since it is just a dog, my guy and myself, and I still require a home with three bedrooms before I feel happy because things aren't crammed in everywhere.
It occurs to me that IKEA, which as I mentioned is BIG in the Seattle area, is the answer. As I train them, I'm going to start giving my consultants the latest IKEA catalogs so that when they are asked, "And just where am I going to put my pots and pans?" or "I have way more shoes than that closet can possibly hold!" they have the answer right in front of them.
I honestly don't know why properties don't just start keeping that catalogs in their leasing offices in general. It sure beats an angry resident who swears the linen closet won't hold a single towel.
Any Thoughts?