You’ve spent some time getting to know your prospective resident and now it’s time to help them get to the property with a tour. Make sure the tour route shows off the best views, scenery, landscaping and tranquility of the property while avoiding areas that need to be tweaked or are in the process of being renovated.
Remember, the tour demonstration is when you clench the lease.
Have a Plan; You are On Stage!
Perform – This is your time to shine! Treat the property tour as a performance and give them a show featuring all the best aspects of the property and apartment.
Rehearse – Be sure you have practiced and know all the right the lines.
Cues & Posing Points – Ensure you have strategically planned each stop and use the leasing notebook as your prop!
Demonstrating Your Community to Create Interest & Urgency
Word Pictures – Use descriptive and creative words to describe features as you point them out.
Emotional Words – Spice up those word pictures with your own emotional words so you sound unique among other leasing agents.
Sell a “specific” apartment – Tell the prospect you picked out an apartment, just for them!
Sell Value
- Point out scenery and views that really enhance the location of the specific apartment.
- Quote price in numbers; drop “thousands”.
- Sell the benefits and luxury of the amenities.
Create Urgency – Give the prospect a reason to lease now, such as noting it is the only apartment with that color carpet, in that location or other key factors.
The Property Tour
Property Tour Strategy – It’s important to have a plan for each apartment and property tour.
Continue Qualifying the Prospect – Spend time during the tour to ask additional questions so you can add the information to your guest card.
Sell the Prospect on Management – Do not forget the bigger picture and importance of promoting the management company to the prospect.
Stress Value – Continue to point out the value of the apartment as well as the benefits of the community.
Never – Discuss love life, talk about competition, hurry the prospect or just go straight to the apartment.
Overall, make sure to map your tour route so the prospect will see all the community has to offer. Work to create a sense of ownership of the apartment for the guest by referring to the apartment and community as “yours”.
Apartment Tour Strategy
- When you enter the apartment, have an exciting and enthusiastic opening statement: Welcome to your new home; This is the exact floor plan I live in; This is just what you’ve been looking for.
- Open the door for the prospect, THEN you walk in first. Do not let the prospect walk in first or they will walk on ahead and you’ll lose them!
- Have a planned strategy for showing the apartment so you will remember all the important points.
- Maintain control of the demonstration.
- Focus on selling the features of the apartment as well as their associated benefits.
- Get the prospect actively involved. The dining area is a great place to have the prospect stop while you add extra verbal benefits.
- Stress the value and make sure they know what the community and apartment have to offer.
- Know when to back off and excuse yourself to allow your prospect to clear things with their partner or potential roommate and then come back in with a new opening or follow up statement.
- Begin making closing statements during the tour. For example, ask them where they would put their flat screen TV, or which was their favorite room in the apartment.
Features vs Benefits
Don’t just point out features – sell the benefits!
- Feature = Description of basic fact; comes from the product knowledge
- Benefit = Explanation of how the feature aids or contributes to the prospect’s needs or quality of life
You will also want to stop and show the community amenities and point out key benefits of each.
The more effort you invest in preparing and mapping out the property tour, the better your chance of closing the lease!
Presented by:
Rick Ellis, CPM
Ellis Consulting Group