How are you qualifying and converting property leads into renters? How are you qualifying leads to be able to focus on the most lease-ready prospects? Constantly driving lead conversions is at the heart of revenue growth and keeping your properties fully occupied.
Here are a few ways that some of the savvy property marketers we’ve spoken to are tightening up their sales funnel.
Chatbots
Chatbots are a great website tool to help site visitors find what they or looking for, provide answers to common questions concerning pet policies, and ultimately, schedule a tour. In short, they allow you to collect leads at any time. Chatbots eliminate wait times by providing timely information about the property or rental polices, improving the quality of the property leads. They also free up your sales/leasing team for more complex needs.
Speedy Responses
Every minute and second you can shave off the response time to a query improves the likelihood of a conversion. (And drastically reduces the chances of losing out on a potential tenant to the property down the street.) Research by rental and real estate giant, Zillow, shows that people who respond to leads in the first 1–2 minutes of receiving the inquiry are 40% more likely to engage with that prospect that those that take a day to respond. A difference of even 30 minutes drops the conversion rate down to 30%. So, speed is of the essence.
Pre-Qualify Leads
Prospects who make an appointment to see the unit are 3Xsmore likely to convert into tenants than leads who just make an inquiry. However, showings are time-consuming, and you want to ensure the quality of the leads by ensuring those that book understand your renting criteria.
Your listing needs to be as clear as possible, not only about the features but also any terms and conditions (not pet-friendly, etc.) And, just in case they didn’t fully read the ad, upon calling or emailing you should ask qualifying questions to determine if the prospect is a good fit for the property. A few extra minutes qualifying your prospect can save you hours of showing time with a person who isn’t your ideal candidate.
Online Applications
If your organization is still relying on scanning and faxing applications back and forth with the potential renter, it’s time to change. Online applications save countless hours, and vastly reduce the potential of human error and the cost of rework.
In an addition to a “Get More Info” or “Schedule an Appointment” buttons, many large regional and multi-provincial property management firms include an “Apply Now” call-to-action in their website property listings. Both prospects who have either just viewed the unit or people who just want the unit based on photos and location can then easily go through the application process.
Online applications are part of a larger digital leasing cycle process. One that makes it possible for potential tenants to submit an application and consent for screening, be automatically screened and, if approved, sign their lease online. This allows property professionals to get out of the weeds and instead focus on the activities that drive value to the company.
Faster Screening
The application and screening process should be as seamless, as thorough and as fast as possible. An automated approval tool takes a part of the renting cycle that’s heavy on paperwork right off your plate. For example, Property Vista’s system uses a state-of-the-art algorithm to analyze more than 30 points of interest, such as credit score and debt, income and required rent. You can simply eliminate applications that do not meet your approval without having to lift a finger. Quite simply, the faster and more accurately you can screen a lead, the faster you can move on to signing a lease.
Automated Emails
Let’s face it, not all prospects are not ready to sign the lease upon making a query or even seeing the unit. If you aren’t following up, your lead can go cold. And, considering how much property firms are investing in lead generation, that’s a lot of marketing money down the drain. More and more multifamily PM firms are creating nurturing campaigns, a series of automated, contextually relevant emails about the property, designed to engage a prospect.
We are seeing more and more PM professionals implementing cross-selling strategies in their email campaigns to continually fill up vacancies.
Lastly, seal the deal with automated communications. Notify successful candidates to arrange paperwork, alleviating you of phone calls and emails. A digital leasing platform with built-in automated email capabilities allows you to send paperwork automatically, nudging the prospect to sign and speeding up the leasing process. It also highlights a customer-centric approach of ongoing communication – something tenants appreciate.
How We Support Your Leasing Cycle
Finding good tenants and filling vacancies is crucial, complex, and form any property management companies, a seemingly never-ending stream of tasks that keep you from focusing on growing your business. One of the greatest time-saving changes you make at your property management company is automated, organizing and managing your leasing cycle. Property Vista’s solution helps you automate your marketing, leasing and daily operations, saving not only hours of time, but helping PM firms to improve tenant quality and revenue. Check out our pricing and book a demo here.
