Business is booming in multifamily! Everyone is busy (and probably stressed) and we’re all looking for ways to streamline our process and make the most of our efforts. We’ll explore 10 leasing hacks to establish yourself as a multifamily leasing leader.
1. Be Attractional
The Attractional Selling Model says that to be an effective salesperson, you must be both engaging and assertive and that a balance of both will help you to be the most successful. If you’re very engaging, but not very assertive, you’ll be perceived as nice, but may not be very successful in closing multifamily leasing deals. On the flip side, if you are very assertive, but not too engaging, you may be seen as pushy and off-putting. (If you’re neither engaging nor assertive, you’ll send the message that you don’t care – yikes!)
2. Identify What Sets You Apart
It’s crucial that you identify the things that set you or your community apart so that you can clearly communicate to your customer why they should choose you. Ideally, you’ll find ways to convey this in convenient little morsels. Ask yourself how your customer’s life will be better if they choose your community.
3. Serve, Then Sell
Some of the more common mistakes prospects say multifamily leasing professionals make are:
- Rushing through the presentation
- Providing generic information
- Being boring
- Being “sales-y”
Take the time to serve the customer at their level. Work to create trust and build a connection, even if it takes a little extra time.
4. Use the “Happy” Response
When a prospect calls and asks their initial question, respond with:
“I’d be happy to help you with that! Who am I speaking with?”
Once you have their name, take the opportunity to personalize by addressing them by name and saying:
“(Name), just in case we get cut off, what is the best phone number for me to reach you?”
This is a great way to get the telephone conversation started and prevent yourself from losing control of the multifamily leasing conversation.
5. Walk Through the Website
Use the website as a multifamily leasing tool to work through the conversation. Ask if they’ve taken a look at your website and if they have, ask them what about the community attracted them. If they haven’t, suggest they take a look. You can direct them to the site to sell the things they’ve told you are important to them.
6. You Need to Know What Your Customer REALLY Wants
Ultimately, you want to narrow down what exactly your prospect is looking for. What is important to them; what do they really need to make a home? If you can dig in and find this answer, you’ll be able to figure out how to give them what they’re looking for.
7. Speak THEIR Words (Literal and Emotional)
Of course you need to understand the basic features and amenities the prospect is looking for, but you also want to understand the ‘feel’ they’re seeking. When you speak to the customer, use their own words to affirm you’re listening. If the prospect tells you, “I really want an apartment with a red door”, respond with “Okay, you’re looking for an apartment with a red door?” This also comes in handy when you’re touring and you can point out, “You mentioned stainless steel appliances were your preference…”
8. Sell with Benefits
Remember as you interact with your prospects – Features are facts; benefits are the desired feelings and experiences reached through those features. For example, “We have onsite maintenance (fact), so that you can enjoy worry-free living. (benefit)” Anytime you can, work the benefit of a feature into your multifamily leasing presentation, especially if it pertains to something they told you was important.
9. Look Into the Lens
When you are providing a multifamily leasing virtual tour, look into the lens, not at your screen. This will help you to connect with the prospect on a more personal level.
10. Asking Made Easy!
If you’re still feeling a little uncomfortable asking for the sale, try this method:
- Review the apartments you looked at.
- Specify the details of the first apartment.
- Specify the details of the second apartment.
- Ask which one the prospect prefers and then wait for a response.
- Validate the choice – “That’s a great choice!”
- Ask for the SALE – “Do you want to take it off the market?”
Bonus: Use Videos to Multiply Your Efforts
Create a few short videos of various apartment floorplans so you’ll have them to send to prospects to help your multifamily leasing game.
Share with us how you were able to use these 10 leasing hacks to establish yourself as a multifamily leasing leader.
The multifamily industry is experiencing a unique climate as it navigates the challenges of this COVID-19 marketplace. New constructions continue even as demand is decreasing and rental rates are on a downward trend. What does this mean? Well, it’s the perfect time to consider and thoughtfully implement concessions and specials to continue to drive a lackluster market. Right now, the apartment leasing market is facing challenges including:
If you’ve worked in the multifamily leasing industry long enough, chances are you’ve been the subject of an apartment mystery shop. This experience can elicit an array of responses from stress and defensiveness to excitement and pride. Everyone wants to perform well on mystery shops and receive positive feedback, and when this doesn’t happen, you may feel upset and judged. However, the truth about mystery shops is that they are a tool you can utilize to your advantage! An Ellis mystery shop will show you what you’re already doing great as well as the areas you can improve upon. This will benefit you AND your rental prospects and residents and will make you more likely to get the lease. 
Recent times have brought about unprecedented change in the multifamily housing industry! Many of us are finding ourselves “relearning” the job we thought we knew so well. From virtual tours to self-guided tours and back around to reintroducing guided tours, we’ve had to get outside our comfortable routines and adapt to frequent change. This can really prove to be a challenge, so let’s discuss some ways to stay on the ball and successfully roll with our evolving professional world. 
Welcome to the fourth installment of the Leasemakers apartment sales training series! As we’ve discussed in the previous three installments, there are two major components of a sales interaction: the telephone presentation and the on-site presentation. You’ll remember that each of these two components include four parts: greeting, qualifying, demonstration and close. This discussion will focus on the on-site close portion of the sales presentation. The goal of the telephone closing is to get the prospect to the community right now while the goal of the on-site closing is to secure the lease. 
The overall on-site sales presentation can be broken down into 4 steps: greeting, qualifying, demonstrating and closing. Once you’ve already made a great first impression through your greeting and have created trust and a positive relationship through the qualifying, you can move into a successful demonstration. 
The overall apartment sales interaction is broken down into two separate presentations: the telephone presentation and the on-site presentation. The primary objective for handling a telephone interaction is to convince the prospect to visit the property right now, while the on-site presentation creates a relationship and closes the deal. 
A telephone prospect is one of the most important prospects you can have as they tend to be more dependable than walk-ins. Once excitement to see your community is built during the call, the telephone prospect will keep their appointment. In addition, when they agree on an appointment, you already know the following to be true:
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