Flawless First Impressions
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How do you think the average leasing team is doing and how do you compare?
I recently had the pleasure of reviewing last quarter’s industry report card from CallSource, where they conducted a Telephone Performance Analysis of 1,436 communities nationwide.
Having been in the multifamily industry for over 14 years, the results are not surprising.
Of 81,800 telephone calls:
- Only 36 percent were converted to appointments.
- Only 61percent of leasing professionals obtained the caller’s name.
As multifamily training specialists, we conducted a survey to see how the Atlanta metro market stacks up. Out of the 10 communities we contacted, eight calls were answered by a leasing professional, (two went to voicemail). Of those:
- 25 percent asked to schedule an appointment.
- The leasing professional obtained my name on 38 percent ofa the calls.
According to the report, this equates to 2,623 appointment opportunities missed, resulting in 656 fewer leases. The total lease revenue lost by these communities is an astounding $7,742,506.
If you are a leasing professional, the odds are that your fist contact with a prospect will be by telephone. In fact, four out of every five of your residents first contacted your community by phone!
The industry’s top leasing performers convert 50 percent to 60 percent of their qualified telephone traffic (compared to the industry average of 37 percent).
The most successful leasing professional of the 10 communities we shopped was able to obtain the answers to the following questions by using a conversational format that kept me engaged:
- How soon are you looking to move?
- How many people will this be for?
- Whom am I speaking with?
- How long of a lease term are you seeking?
- Will you be bringing any pets?
- Is there a budget you are trying to stay within?
- Why are you moving?
- Are you able to stop in this weekend?
- Confirmed the spelling of my first name and asked for my last name
- Asked for my phone number and E-mail address
She sold me on the location by telling me how easy my commute was going to be and describing how spacious their floor plans were. She did such a great job painting a picture; I would’ve set an appointment with her immediately if I didn’t already own a home!
Each one of the eight calls answered by a leasing professional had the same opportunity to build a rapport with me, and convince me to set an appointment.
Ask yourself the following questions to determine if you’re taking full advantage of the opportunity that each leasing call represents:
- Do you start selling the minute you answer the phone
- Is the ringing of the telephone an interruption to your day?
- How many calls go to voicemail or an answering service on a daily basis?
- Do you take the initiative on every leasing call to ask your prospect to visit your community?
- When you’re busy, do you rush the conversation just to get back to whatever you were doing?
- Do you try to get to know your prospect and build a rapport?
- Do you try to get your prospects contact information (phone and E-mail)?
- Do you try to qualify your prospect?
- Do you ask how they heard about your community?
- Do you engage your prospect and make the conversation memorable?
How much would your conversion of telephone-to-traffic be affected if you were to truly concentrate on turning more of those calls into appointments? How much more effective would the resulting visits be if the appointment was built on a flawless first impression?
Category: Marketing & Leasing
Published: 9/1/2010 1:16 PM
Byline: Tracey Heitzman, CAP — Evolv
Abstract: How do you think the average leasing team is doing and how do you compare?
I recently had the pleasure of reviewing last quarter’s industry report card from CallSource, where they conducted a Telephone Performance Analysis of 1,436 communities nationwide.
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