Blog Series: Growing Your Residency One Tour at a Time
When it comes to Property Management, tours are one of those things that can’t disappoint. That disappointment leads to an unlikely chance that the prospective resident will ever come back again.
No matter the current condition of the tour, any property can elevate the experience to have the prospective resident leaving better than when they first arrived.
Scheduling The Appointment
Believe it or not, scheduling an appointment is where the tour begins. When a prospective resident sits at the computer or dials the contact number to make the tour appointment, the speed and process they are met with is the first clue they receive about how easy it will be for them to communicate with the office, answer their questions, and submit all things rental (ie. Pay rent, maintenance requests, feedback of experience).
Easy process and quick response are the two most important factors. It starts with a polished, clean and easily navigated website. If the prospective resident can find the process for scheduling a tour within 2 minutes of looking, you are on the right track. This can be a scheduling software link/page, a survey formatted request for a specific date/time (which hopefully matches the availability), or a contact page instructing them to call or email to schedule an appointment. Whatever the method used, make it easy enough for someone who has never seen an apartment website before to understand.
Quick response is the next level of importance. No one likes to wait for information on their big life decisions, and especially when it’s under a time crunch (which is often the case for those moving
apartments). Appointment scheduling and confirmations should be limited to one business day whenever possible. Automatic email confirmations work best for online scheduling, but when contacted directly, try and answer the call immediately, return the call within the hour, and respond over email within the hour. This efficiency and attention to their requests will automatically set up the property as a professional and helpful place that they can be content living in.
