Leasing is a sales role – do you treat it this way?

Whether you’re a dedicated leasing specialist or a BDM or PM, this aspect of PM is crucial in establishing trust with new and existing landlords and setting the tone for ongoing success.

After recently conducting some mystery shopping around leasing within Real Estate, it became clear that we all need to shift our mindset.

Leasing is effectively about getting the leasing “deal” done. It is a sales function, hidden within the PM department. Too often we slip into a passive approach to getting a property let.

Here are my top tips for improving your leasing results:

1. You must have accurate marketing, preferably with a minimum of 5 photos.
2. Returning enquiries is a non-negotiable, advertising an open home time is not enough (I am blown away with how many of my enquiries went unanswered)
3. If you use software to manage your leasing enquiries, personalise the email and text responses. Auto responses should reflect your agency and assist in your communication, not be your only form of communication.
4. All email and auto responses should be supplemented with phone follow up. The inspection rate increases dramatically once you establish a relationship with your prospective tenant base.
5. Set a pricing plan in place with your landlord, before the property hits the market. Once a property hits the market following 72 hours live or the first Inspection – you should know whether your pricing and marketing has hot the mark.
6. If enquiry and inspections are low, act early. Provide your landlord with quality advice and adjust your strategy
7. Always take names and numbers of inspection attendees (another detail that I took for granted) gaining names and numbers allows for quality inspection follow up and future cross ‘selling’ of new properties. To take your inspections to the next level, why not join our Magic Marketing & Incredible Inspections virtual class.
8. If you are not turning applications around in 48 hours, your process needs reviewing, there should not be any reason 95% of application can be done and dusted within 24 hours, so 48 is generous! Having trouble with speed and application turn around – join our April Awesome Applications virtual class
9. We need to change our mindset, leasing is not just a process, it is not just a task – leasing a property and moving house is a huge life change for our tenant clients, if you can demonstrate understanding and empathy, the results you achieve will dramatically increase.
10. Finally, urgency is key. Whether you are returning enquiries, turning around applications, getting the price adjusted or taking a deposit, you must act swiftly. Making sure your landlord client experiences the lowest possible rate of vacancy is a key management outcome. The best leasing specialists understand that minimal vacancy and achieving the best possible rent need to be evenly balanced with quality tenant selection.

Stay tuned….. It might be your office that gets mystery shopped next….. are you confident you would pass the test?