There has been a surprising number of multifamily posts
recently on the topic of following up with Prospect leads. Maybe it is because
it’s an attempt to promote webinars or conference sessions coming up in the
next few months and I am curious why there is so much debate about it. After
all, if you receive a lead from one of your sources: Apartment Guide, Rent.com,
Craigslist, Apartments.com, or your own website, why wouldn’t you follow up?
Instead, the debate is likely about the timeliness (or lack thereof) of the
community’s response.
On a recent community visit, I noticed one person in the
office. That one person was trying to talk to a contractor, getting keys for
his project, a maintenance tech asking her to override his time sheet because
he made a mistake when entering his time on the computer, the phone was
ringing, a resident walked in wanting to sign his renewal, when in walked the
apartments.com rep to meet the manager and show her how his product would bring
in so many new leads. This was the very definition of chaos.
I am sure there were unanswered emails in her in box, some
of which would be from interested Prospects. How long they are in the que is anyone’s
guess. However, I think we can all agree that this was an understaffed office.
It doesn’t matter why it’s understaffed, but I can tell you, it was stressful
to watch. I can only imagine what it would have been like had a Prospect walked
in and saw all that.
Here’s the thing about leasing and follow up. It comes in
waves all day long. People get online at 8:00 pm and send out those generic “A
renter is interested in your property” with nothing more than a faceless name,
their email and maybe a phone number. A huge majority do not even specify the
floor plan or move in time frame. I can tell you, for a leasing professional,
the ones not including these facts will NOT be responded to first.
When I am working with new leasing consultants, emphasis is
placed on follow up, in a very specific way.
1.
Look for WHEN the person wants to move in. The
person who is looking to move in right away should be contacted ASAP.
2.
Look at the floor plan. Check for availability
before responding.
3.
Look for their preferred contact method. Is it
by phone or email? Respond first according to this preference. However, I have
found that if you do not get a response to your email within 4 hours, you
should call and at least try to leave a message.
4.
There is a lot of debate, too, on whether or not
you should personalize the message. I advise having a template you can adjust
to suit their preferences that includes property info, office hours and their
floor plan availability and description.
What about the faceless Prospect who doesn’t tell you
anything relevant? Reach out by email or phone when you can, when you have time
to breathe. While it is better to be able to respond right away, sometimes, it
can actually take several points of contact to reel in the person to the
Leasing Office. What is the BEST thing of all, is to make leasing ONLINE an
option and easily accessible to all Prospects. Streamline your process! In
fact, for those properties that are understaffed, use a call center service;
make it your business to use the second hour of the day, the fifth hour, and
the almost last hour to check for Prospect contacts – respond or follow up. In
between, do the best you can and charm them with your killer personality the
minute someone walks in the door no matter what else is happening or has
happened that day.
Leasing is not always easy. Quit criticizing professionals
in understaffed offices. Start criticizing management companies for having
understaffed offices instead. Give the right tools to your onsite teams to help
streamline leasing (and maintenance for that matter.) If you have a team in
place who is NOT dealing with understaffing issues, and they are still not
following up in a timely fashion, then that is a different problem altogether.
