Summer Refresher:Advanced Leasing
Summer Refresher: Advanced Leasing
This is a guest post from Carina Miles. She’s a Market Director with 407apartments, a local ILS that helps connect renters with apartments in Orlando that best fit their lifestyle and budget.
Summer months are known to be hot, draining and BUSY in the leasing office. With all the prospects walking in the door, it is crucial that you are at the top of your game during this peak leasing season. If you’re in need of a little inspiration and tips to make sure you’re performing at your maximum potential, check out this recap from Desiree Starr’s Advanced Leasing class held at AAGO in May.
What Makes a Great Leaser?
The class kicked off with a live poll to find out what the leasers in the room thought made a great leasing professional. Here are some of the top responses:
- Someone that knows the area they are leasing
- Strong closing skills
- A great first impression
- Product knowledge
- A hands-on leaser
- Great at building rapport
- A well-dressed professional that is always ready to greet prospects with a smile
- Customer service skills
- Knowing your competitors
Think about what skills you possess that make you stand out from the other leasing agents and communities. Are there any you can need to strengthen?
Enthusiasm is Key
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Before anyone can be sold on your apartment community they must first be sold on you. That’s right, at the end of the day every leasing team is selling the same thing – every apartment has four walls, a ceiling, and a floor. What makes their experience different is YOU.
How do you sell them on you?
- Be enthusiastic, it’s contagious!
- Believe in your product. If you don’t, why should they?
- Add value to your customer – make them feel special.
- Pay attention and listen
- Tell the truth
What’s Important to a Manager?
Is Desiree your friend on Facebook? I have a feeling the answer is probably yes. Let’s face it, she has a lot, and I mean A LOT, of friends in the apartment industry! Quite a few of those friends are (or were) property managers. So she asked them to share the top thing they look for in a leasing agent or would like their current team to improve on. Check out the top 10 answers.
- Listening
- A smile/great attitude
- It’s about the prospect, not you.
- Professional dress
- Pride
- Effective questioning skills
- Establishing rapport
- Following up and following through
- Adapting to the prospect
- Ability to ask for money
Out of this entire list, isn’t it interesting that listening came up as number one? Always remember the 80/20 rule – listen 80% of the time and talk 20% of the time.
Speaking of rules, Guisenia from Bell at Universal taught the class a new rule. Ever heard of the 7/11 rule? It only takes 7 seconds to realize 11 things about you. That’s a little scary if you ask me! This definitely makes one think about the image they’re portraying, attitude, tone… the list goes on. Let’s make sure those 11 things are positive!
Let’s Talk Telephone
Did you know that phone calls are 3 times more likely to convert than any other type of lead? Be sure to do these three things and your call will be off to a great that:
- Create the right call environment
- What are your must-haves?
- Build a connection
Your telephone voice includes tone, words, manner, and courtesy.
Tone: Speak distinctly and clear and use a variation of tone. People can actually hear a smile over the voice, so before you pick up the phone give them a photo-worthy smile!
Words: Be sure to avoid slang – keep the What’s ups and sweeties for your friends and family! It’s also important to avoid industry slang. Your team may know what a turn or punch is, but you may just scare your prospect away with that type of talk.
Manner: A sincere manner that’s friendly can go a really long way when it comes to building rapport.
Courtesy: Give a prospect your undivided attention and show them that you’re personally interested in the discussion.
Below is a list of common mistakes leasing professionals make on phone shops.
- 42% of all leasing agents that were shopped never introduced themselves
- 78% never ask the reason for moving
- 81% never qualify for price range -no one asked if it fit within your budget
- 53% tour the prospect instead of building a relationship and selling
If you liked these tips and want a full day of leasing training with Desiree, contact Lydia at AAGO to find out when the next leasing class is scheduled.