E17: Sync or Swim is Getting Bigger, Here's What to Expect

"So it forced, I think all of us, but especially myself, because I was so new, to learn a lot about the industry at a rapid rate, and look for solutions to problems that multifamily owners and operators and marketers were experiencing at the time." – Nicolina Savelli

As we move into season two of the Sync or Swim podcast, there are exciting changes happening. Some new developments, new guests, and some new hosting voices around here that you're going to want to check out.

We'll have VPs from all over the world, movers and shakers in the multifamily real estate industry, as well as a CEO from one of the leading public real estate companies in Western Canada (no spoilers yet, you'll have to stay tuned for that one.)

We'll also be moving to a weekly format, and our co-producer, Nicolina Savelli, will be highlighting her show as well, so stay tuned for that as well.

We're just getting started, so make sure you subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Google Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to keep swimming!

Episode Transcript

Mitch Fanning  [00:39]
Welcome back to another episode of Sync or Swim. I'm Mitch fanning with Rentsync. And joining me today is Nicolina Savelli. Or who we call or refer to as a "Nic" internally, who's the co-producer of this show. Nic, how are you doing today?
 
Nicolina Savelli [00:54]
I'm great, Mitch, a little excited and a little nervous. But happy to be here.
 
Mitch Fanning [00:57]
I'm excited to have you on as well. You know, today's obviously a little different. You being on, you know, as we mentioned in the year end, wrap up, we were moving to weekly episodes in February, and it is February. So here we are. So we wanted to take today's episode to discuss what the listeners can expect moving forward. So are you ready?

Nicolina Savelli [01:17]
I'm ready.

Mitch Fanning [01:18]
First, let's kick it off by actually, really, you know, as we normally do in this this episode, you know, give me a sense of your background, so that listeners understand who you are and what you're going to bring to the show.
 
Nicolina Savelli [01:32]
Yeah, absolutely. Sure. So I've been with Rentsync for a little over a year now. And basically started at the beginning of the pandemic, I was in the office for three weeks, and then we went completely remote. The pandemic was at its kind of height, and there's a lot of uncertainty. So it was a little scary at first, and I was quickly responsible for a lot of communications that dealt with something that was foreign to a lot of us. And I know, you know how that felt as well. And I was relatively new to the industry, I had just stepped into the role. So it forced, I think all of us, but especially myself, because I was so new, to learn a lot about the industry at a rapid rate, and look for solutions to problems that multifamily owners and operators and marketers were experiencing at the time. And also, we kicked this show off during that time, which has been extremely helpful in understanding what's going on in the industry right now. Because we've been able to interview so many industry experts with great insight as to what they're doing and where the industry is headed. As for my background, I have my own podcast. So at the very least, it's provided me with knowledge into podcasting, and the podcasting space. And I've been told that I have a great face for radio. So but other than that, I have my background in marketing communications. And I am a small time landlord myself and come from a family of landlords. So, there's a lot of things that I relate to when it comes to the problems and concerns that landlords face and property owners face that I can bring bring to the show on a more tactical level.
 
Mitch Fanning [03:12]
Yeah, no, I mean, a couple things that you mentioned there. Yeah, when you came on, we really were figuring out how to transition from, you know, doing some of the events that we were going to do, like last March, essentially, that that time, to more just producing good content to figure out how we can help. You know, our customers get through this uncertain time. And you did a really good job. Obviously, this This podcast is is your baby as well. And you've done a great job. And as far as face for radio, it's funny, because when we we set this up, we got this going I remember the team, you know, commenting about how great your voice was, and it really, really gave me some some, you know, I had some some problems with that, because I'm like, why not? I'm not getting any. So I thought you were gonna take over my job, but as as host, but no, I digress. You won't, you know, you mentioned you know, you did some of the external communications outside of the podcast, as we talked about. Can you speak a little bit more about that? Like, I know, you know, for example, you do the, you know, we started to do the the monthly national rental demand report, which I think is starting to gain some traction. Can you speak to a little bit about that?
 
Nicolina Savelli [04:15]
Yeah, sure. I'll speak specifically, obviously, the demand report, which I helped produce with one of our data analysts Corin Romkey and our VP of product, Michael Mottola, which provides a month over month and year over year rundown of rental demand across Canada right now. So, I will say that being able to see that data and speaking to those trends right now has been nothing short of interesting. I live about an hour an hour outside of Toronto, and we're currently experiencing increased demand for real estate at a rapid rate right now. And it's crazy to see how the trends that we're reporting on are matching up to what's happening in my own backyard and provide an analysis as to why these things are happening. So for anyone who hasn't read the report, you can head over to the Rentsync blog to check that out. And we'll also be covering those numbers and those metrics and those trends within the podcast itself. Because breaking down that data is, is a lot, a lot of hard work. And reading it, I'm sure is a lot of hard work for some of our, the people that get it. So, I think getting it on, on the podcast will really help to add some insight and and make sense of a lot of the data there.
 
Mitch Fanning [05:20]
Yeah, it's, it's definitely been a lot of work and, you know, kudos to you and the team for, for doing that. I do know, that it has been useful to to some of our clients, and we're getting that feedback from our sales team, that, you know, in fact, they're using it as a way to kind of help their clients, you know, the clients that they work with on a day to day basis, or a month to month basis, I should say. So, let's kind of talk about your show, though. Let's, you know, maybe we can give listeners a better sense of what's to come in, in the in the next month or so. But before we get into that, the other thing I want to say too, is you know, this this new season, we're kind of calling it season two is actually really exciting. I mean, we've got your show, which you're going to talk about in just a second. But we've also got a jam packed lineup you know, we basically are you know, booked until I think what, April...
 
Nicolina Savelli [06:06]
April, June we've got some people already in April. Yeah.
 
Mitch Fanning [06:09]
Got Shaun, President of Urban Nation, you know, great, great resource for for this industry, as far as data. We've got Colleen, the VP of brand marketing from Hazelview, formerly Timbercreek Communities coming on the show, talk about branding and kind of their process they went through, we've got Joe from from Rent Manager from the US one of our partners, we've got someone from the UK talking about the build-to-rent industry over there. And we even have a secret, I'm not gonna mention the name, but a CEO from a leading public real estate company in Western Canada, which I'm really excited to kind of get on the podcast and talk to them about. So, you know, we've got all of that plus your show. So let's get into it. You know, what can what can listeners expect?
 
Nicolina Savelli [07:02]
Yeah, so I mean, as we all know, in-person events, right now, we're still at a standstill. And we wanted to find a way to speak to and provide listeners with more kind of actionable tactics and lessons, much like we would at an industry event or in-person events, you know, those breakout sessions and, and when we speak to industry leaders, and we get really like, you know, great information and takeaways from that. So, what's a way to, to get that now without in-person events, so why not do it through the podcast? So, we're still interviewing key movers and shakers, obviously on your show. But I'll be taking a more tactical educational approach, finding ways to provide tips for marketing and leasing agents to generate more leads and get more leases signed.
 
Mitch Fanning  [07:48]
Yeah, it's great. It's, you know, we, we've discussed this for a while that there was, there was a, there was, you know, more information we felt that we could bring to the audience bring to this industry. And the piece that was always missing was the kind of the tactical that kind of the the key takeaways that somebody could listen to, and do something with that particular day. So, I think your, your episodes are gonna cover that nicely. Do you want to let everyone know what the what the show is going to be called?
 
Nicolina Savelli [08:13]
Um, well, I didn't want to rebrand the show completely. But I think we've agreed on a hashtag that we will use whenever the show is, is aired and people can join in on conversations about it. So, if you do get any useful knowledge from any of the episodes, feel free to go on social media and hashtag #getsynced. And we'll be following that hashtag and tweeting it out or you know, putting it on our socials whenever an episode comes out. So, that'll be kind of the the hashtag to follow for Sync or Swim is #getsynced for my shows.
 
Mitch Fanning [08:50]
There you have it #getssynced. Love it. It's so whenever you kind of see it and you see that hashtag know that Nick is going to be on the mic. And, you know, again, I'm going to be really jealous if we start to see the listenership increase on your on your shows versus mine, but...
 
Nicolina Savelli [09:06]
It's not a competition Mitch. It's okay. But it'll all come out in the wash.
 
Mitch Fanning [09:11]
So let's, you know, let's talk a little bit more about say, the guests or you know who you might be having on the show? Can you kind of delve into that? Are you ready to do that at this time? 
 
Nicolina Savelli [09:22]
Yeah, so, I mean, I don't want to give too much away. I don't want to say any specifics, but I can say that listeners can expect to hear more from our technology partners, as well as our internal staff about the best ways to leverage specific technologies and services to improve their multifamily marketing and advertising. So we're gonna have a lot more people that have been our partners for years. And we've really just, we're finding ways to connect with them in new ways since we can't in-person and and we've invited them on the podcast to speak on, you know, the integrations and the technologies that are available, especially as they've increased and become more relevant and more useful right now for a lot of property owners and operators. And then our internal staff has a lot of information, a lot of resources at their fingertips. They're dealing with clients, and helping property owners and marketers every single day on driving their marketing and advertising results. So, they'll be on the show to share some of their tips and tricks. So, I can't wait for that as well.
 
Mitch Fanning  [10:24]
Yeah, that's a that's a good key point. You know, part of what we're doing here is, in addition to having people come on and talk about the the real hard tactics and kind of in the trenches conversations, we're going to give people an opportunity that actually work at Rentsync, to come on, and share kind of real tactical information for the audience. And that'll also give people a chance to kind of, you know, hear from other people within the company, because I think just, you know, people, you know, want to get a sense of, you know, what this company is all about. And I know that as we are going through this next wave of hiring, I've often heard people talk about how they actually listened to the podcast to get a sense of the culture. So I think that's going to be a really cool, almost a byproduct of your will. Alright, perfect. So, you know, this has been great. Again, this is just a kind of a teaser, if you will. But, you know, can you give people a sense of where they can, you know, learn a little bit more about Nicolina Savelli, on the interwebs.
 
Nicolina Savelli [11:22]
Yeah, so I mean, you can search Nicolina Savelli. on LinkedIn, I'm positive I'm the only one by that name. However, I did create an account about 15 years ago with, I think, a school email address that I don't have access to. So, be sure you're adding the one that says my current title, which is Content and Communications at Rentsync, and not you know, my university accolades.
 
Mitch Fanning [11:47]
All right. Well, there you go. So remember Nicolina Savelli. I love I love the sound of that name, even though I call you Nick. You know, Nicolina Savelli. It's a it's a great, it's a great.
 
Nicolina Savelli [11:55]
Strong, it's hearty.
 
Mitch Fanning [11:59]
Before we wrap up the conversation, can you let listeners know when the first episode is actually going to air?
 
Nicolina Savelli [13:14]
Yes, so I'll be recording my first episode with a very cool guest. I don't want to give too much away on February 16. And it'll be airing February 24. So look out for #getsynced on February 24.
 
Mitch Fanning [12:20]
Perfect. Get synced? There you have it, folks. That's it for another episode then. Yes. So Nic,
 
Nicolina Savelli [12:25]
and I'll sign off on this one. I guess.
 
Mitch Fanning [12:29]
It was actually good to you stole my thunder. I was actually gonna say sorry. Looking forward to the show. And then I was gonna say, Nick, do you want to send us off?
 
Nicolina Savelli [12:37]
Yes, sure. Keep swimming everyone, and looking forward to being on your microphone.
 
Mitch Fanning [12:43]
Alright, cheers.