CLASS Leasing: Customer Service

Being a leasing specialist requires an individual to be ready to handle many different scenarios. With that being said there is never any telling what the next scenario is going to be that walks through the leasing office doors. Regardless of the circumstance the leasing specialist must handle every encounter with an upmost professional manner, even if the leasing specialist is in the right, because customer service can have a lasting impression.

Jessica displayed this professional attitude this past week in her encounter with a current resident at her property. Even if the proper handling in customer care does not necessarily lead to a lease, it rubs off on individuals in the office and as seen below, someone will always notice.

- "This afternoon, Jennifer Gelston came in demanding that Jessica give her a receipt for her keys on company letter head. As the letter head was locked in your office and I was out on tour, Jessica took ownership of the situation and assisted the resident.
Being very rude, angry and demeaning, Jennifer stated that nobody has ever been able to help her in this office (yet I have bent over back to assist her and have had things expedited the SAME DAY for her). She apparently thought it was ludicrous that Jessica wasn’t able to write a letter on letter head and then demanded to speak with me, even though I was currently with prospective residents (who leased).
To ease the situation, Jessica remained calm and took control of the situation by providing her with a written letter utilizing what she had stating that we, in fact, had received her keys. The fact that Jessica was extremely professional regarding this very rude and hateful resident, I would like to send a shout out to her as she is a great example of what it means to be customer service oriented. Thanks!"

Morgan Miller
Leasing Professional-

Great job Jessica!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: The Future Of Guest Cards

I, probably much like every other person that has the slightest interest in new gadgets, am really looking forward to getting an Ipad very soon. Obviously, for the sheer convenience of having what is basically a touch screen laptop, the Ipad will make traveling with a computer much more simple and convenient since the Ipad is only as thick as a couple magazines. In addition, the endless supply of apps available for the Ipad will surely absorb countless hours of my life, which I am completely okay with.

From a business standpoint, the Ipad is revolutionizing the ability to conduct business at the touch of a screen from anywhere business partners may be. With this being said the Ipad will inevitably replace the paper guest card as well in the apartment industry. Here is an intriguing article about how the Ipad will be able to be used to not only replace the guest card used now, but to also serve as a professional stall when a leasing agent may be with another prospect. If a sheet of paper highlighting the unique aspects about an apartment community is able to currently buy a leasing agent 5 to 10 minutes, just think how long an Ipad guest card could buy you. The prospect may ask you to wait while they finish up "learning" more about the highlights of your community on the Ipad!

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: The Buying Cycle

Getting prospects to stop at your community when looking for a new apartment home is in itself a challenge. Even then the hardest part is now that they are at your community, how do you get them to fill out an application before leaving, or at least keep them from visiting more communities?? Just as leasing agents have a sales strategy and techniques that they utilize to close the deal, prospects also have a set of steps that they take when it comes to finding their new home. Therefore, leasing agents can increase their odds of leasing to a prospect if they are able to break the respective prospects buying cycle.

Brent Williams posted a great article on Multifamily Insiders that really captures the buying and selling cycles that prospects and leasing agents go through when it comes to leasing apartments.

Make sure to read through the article, all the way down to the comments, because there are some great ideas spiraling from this particular blog.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Top Ten Social Networking Sites For 2011

The realm of social media is continuing to expand every year as advances in technology is endlessly connecting more and more people. With smart phones and Ipads, individuals are now able to access their social media networks at their fingertips with the upmost convenience. Facebook is still the number one leader in social networking and will be that way from now until the next niche network is created. There are in fact many more social networking sites out there, but I personally am completely content with the management of just one. Here is a list of the top ten social networking sites for 2011, so take the time to see what each one has to offer. You never know...one of these could give Facebook a run for its' money one day. I'd be willing to keep my money on Facebook though.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Price Objection

"In a recent Apartments.com national survey, 48.3% of residents said that their most important search criteria is the cost of rent. This does not mean it is their most important evaluation criteria or that apartment selection is price-driven. This is a common misunderstanding you can't afford for anyone on your team to have.

What is to misunderstand about renters telling us that they want the lowest cost rent? We are, of course, supposed to listen to our customers. However, even more important than listening to what they say is doing what market researchers do - measure behavior rather than intention.

The next time income-qualified prospects beat you up on price, first ask yourself, do renters in my market have an option with lower rent? If so, and they are still looking at your property, then price is not the core issue or they would all choose the cheapest option. Qualified prospects who say price is the bottom line in their evaluation when they know they can rent for less, are really just negotiating. If they are not choosing the lowest price option, then price is not their bottom line. So why do they pay more to rent from you? Isn't it because they value your amenities, location, or relative safety? Studies of consumer preferences show that we choose to spend more on all kinds of things to get options and extras of perceived value. The core issue with your renters is value - as it is with all people who have their basic needs met.

Since the core issue is value, if you raise it, you can raise occupancy."

-Great read brought to attention by Danny Soule-

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

Help! The Directions to my Apartment are wrong on Google!

Question… How does Google direct people to your property?

With so many prospects using Google, Bing, or Yahoo to look up property details prior to visiting the community, it is important to ask "is Google giving prospective renters the best directions to the property?"

The other day I was using Google to locate a property while driving. The property had a very good internet presence, complete with an effectively optimized website, Google Place Page, ect. However, as I approached the property, my GPS told me to make a very odd turn that brought me into the property from an indirect rout.

This type of thing happens all the time with Google maps, and GPS units. The directions are incorrect or just inefficient. In the case above, the incorrect directions not only took me out of the way, but also drove me past one of the properties biggest competitors.

If you find that prospects are being improperly directed to your property, here is a quick fix to get them back on track!

1. Type your property name into Google maps and access your Google Place Page
2. Click on the "Get Directions" tab and request directions to your property
3. After the directions have pulled up, right click on the purple line to open up the tab that says "Report a problem"
4. Under "Which Element is Wrong" select Driving Directions.
5. In the box that says Problem Description, insert the correct directions.

We have seen Google make the correction anywhere from 2 hours- 2 months from the time of submission so be patient if the changes don't appear immediately.
There is no reason for your prospects to be driving in the back way to your property, or past your competitors. Take control of the tour before your prospects even step foot in the door. Make sure the directions to your property are correct!

CLASS Leasing: Facebook Page Tips

There are many ideas and articles being tossed around in regards to designing the perfect Facebook Page for an apartment community and what exactly that entails. Facebook, being a social media website, or I should see "THE" social media website, is only beneficial if it is seen by many viewers. Taking the time and effort to create a page is great, but then it comes down to how exactly the page is made to be viewed by web surfers. Therefore, one of the better articles that gives some very useful tips to for designing an apartment community's Facebook Page came from Multifamily Insiders. In this article, Stephanie Burns outlines tips that range from the overall creation of a community's page right down to the daily posts that are shared with followers.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing

CLASS Leasing: Apartment Ratings

Anyone that is in the apartment industry, or even most people that have ever searched for an apartment online, have either come across, or are extremely familiar with Apartmentratings.com. Apartment Ratings is a website that allows "residents" and anyone else that has had an experience with an apartment community to post anything they would like that that individual deems as helpful information to future prospects interested in the prospective community. The website has a great concept behind it, but is often either taken for granted, or it is abused.

The screening process behind who can post on Apartment Ratings is extremely minimal and the main questioning is used to hopefully ensure that the individual posting is not anyone associated with employment at the community and that they were in fact a former or current resident of the community. From a prospects point of view, the website can be helpful to get a behind the scenes look at the community and learn about certain events, both good and bad, that have occurred at the property. What each individual must keep in mind though is that each posting must be taken with a grain of salt, because there is no way to actually prove that the posting is 100% truthful information. Just as the website can be a template for a resident to warn individuals interested in the community of potential speed bumps in the leasing process, it can also be a platform for a disgruntled resident to anonymously make-up harmful information to get back at a community for their particular transgressions.

From a management side of things, it is important to monitor what is being said about your community, because you do not want someone else making your online reputation for you. Managers are able to join Apartment Ratings for a yearly nominal fee (I believe it is currently $300) that will allow these managers to respond to postings to address each unique issue. In doing so managers will show that they are looking to reach-out to any resident that feels they were wronged to resolve their issue and in responding to any positive postings, it will show that the manager truly cares for these residents and will be a rapport building opportunity. The important thing to remember is that if a manager is looking to address these postings on Apartment Ratings, it needs to come from a credible screen name (i.e., ABCapartmentsmanager) and not from an anonymous source, because this could lead to a "fuel to the fire" situation in that any person that has posted negatively will feel that a manager is not confident enough about their community to step forward and take responsibility.

Apartment Ratings will always be a site that communities need to be familiar with to ensure their online reputation is on-par and in addition, will always be a site that residents will continue to post to express their feelings about apartment communities.

Enjoy!

CLASS Leasing