Tips On How To Show Your Community To Get That Lease!

You have already created the excitement for the prospect to see the apartment home. The key is to keep the prospect excited about leasing from you while you take them on the tour of your community.  Below you will fined some key items that I have found useful  in any situation and property. But first I want everyone to remember that every person who walks into your office has a dollar sign over their head whether it is a current, previous resident or new guest they equal money. Treat them the way you want to be treated and always keep making the sale to them.


How to start your tour:
Take the prospect to the apartment home first this is what they came in to see. Be sure to talk to the prospect about what they are looking for in a community. Ask the questions why, what, and when while talking to them. Write down their answer on the Guest Card or in a notebook that you have taken with you. Don’t rely on your memory rely on your notes. Use your notes to help you sell the community.

Inside the apartment home:

When you open the door, these words should be popping out of your mouth: “ Welcome to your new home at ________________ “.  Start introducing the apartment to the prospect by showing the key points that they are looking for in the apartment home (you should refer to your notes). Ask the guest about the furniture they have and with the guest placing the furniture in the apartment home. This will help them visualize the apartment as their own. Try to get the prospect to commit right then and there to place the application; you should always have the applications in the apartment home to fill out.

Outside the Apartment Home:

Continue the excitement with showing your amenities that you have to offer. Talk to the guest about the different programs you offer for them, after all, this will be their home - they should know. Plus this will give you an edge to close with if they say, "wow I really like that you offer a home ownership program."

Use the five sense rule:

Touch - Pool “Feel how wonderful the pool is - you are going to love swimming in it this summer.”

Smell - Nature “Smell how wonderful it is outside, you will love going for walks around our community. You can also use smell by putting an apple pie in the model oven and setting the temp at low. This will set the smell of the apartment all day, there just something about the smell of apple pie meaning home.

Hear - “Listen to how peaceful it is here at ____________.” “Don’t you just love the sound of the birds?”

Sight - Play/Park “See our beautiful park or nature area you are going to get to enjoy everyday as a resident here at _____________”

Taste - Put some fruit or cookies on a table at the end of your tour, invite them to taste the food. They will remember the really good food.
By incorporating the 5 Senses they are going to remember you and your property. You have also heightened the experience by  simply incorporating the 5 senses that are sending signals to their brain.

Back to the Office:

Once you have gone back to the office if you have any pictures framed or album of resident activities is sure to show them off. After all this is your community and you should be proud to show it off. This is a great way to lead into the final close. “So Mrs. Barbie, you see that we have all these great resident activities and community, wouldn’t it be great if you became part of our community today?” If the prospect says well I just want to look some more before I commit. Ask where else they are going to be looking at today.

Make sure you are familiar with the other communities in your area. You should have a competition book that has their floor plan, prices, amenities and pictures. Pull this book out and show the prospect start comparing your property to theirs by doing this you are reminding them all the good things you have to offer and they never left your community. The key is to keep the prospect in your office to place the application and lease from you not your competition. After showing them the competition book and pointing out all the great things they like about your community ask them to place the application with you.

Remember you are a sales person and your job is to sale the apartments. Every person you let out your door without placing an application right then and there, you have just lost money out of your pocket and your owners pocket. #1 Rule Don’t let them walk out the door without placing an application! If you maintain the thought that everyone who comes in to view will lease the same day it will happen. Stay excited and positive the entire time you are with the prospect, you will start to see a difference.

Jolene Sopalski
Assistant Manager
Finlay Management,LLC

*Originally Posted On Multifamily Insiders on October 13,2010*

STOP ask yourself do you do your follow up calls or thank you cards?!?!?!?

  STOP ask yourself do you do your follow up calls or thank you cards?!?!?!?

If you answered no to that question then I want you to hold up your right hand and pledge the following “ I will  start following up with my prospects no prospect will go un-followed up”. Good now if you are one of the ones that said yes I do my follow up calls and thank you cards I want to give you a big hug so just picture me giving  you a hug.

Why are follow ups with prospects so important to you and your owners? They are important to us because our prospects are the key to our success in this industry with out them leasing our apartments there would be no need for us. So why would you let them walk out of your office and never make contact again with money? All to often we use the excuse there's just no time to follow up. I really don’t like hearing there is no time to follow up on a potential lease because that is our job. I want to share with you some tips on following up on prospects that will hopefully increase your leases, make your owners happy and make it easier for you to follow up.  Always keep in mined that you are not the only property that your prospect is looking at so you want  to stay in the game by following up with them. You may not get the lease for many reasons but they will remember and either come back after the lease they sign at the other place or refer someone to you.

 Thank You Cards–  Thank You Cards should be sent out with in 24 hours of showing the property. These can be lots of fun to send out and adds a personal touch to your  relationship with your prospect. I love getting greeting cards in the mail especially on my bad days so think of it this way you just put a smile on someones face. The key to the greeting card is to make sure you stand out and they remember you. Include a personal message about your tour what they liked about your community and a picture. Give them a special incentive to come back. You can hand make these cards, go to the dollar tree, vista print or maybe your company has some already. Post cards also work great for thank you cards.

 Phone Calls/Text– Phone Calls/Text should be done with in the first 24 hours, then with in 72 hours and then five days from the initial visit or till they say no I don't want to rent from you (sadly this dose happen). With everyone having texting capabilities it is sometimes preferred way of communicating. I know that when I get home I don't like to answer the phone I prefer texts so I like to do both a phone call within two hours of leaving my property if I’m able to and text by the first business day. When you are making these follow up calls make sure you include the hot points they loved about your community and even try to give them an incentive to comeback. If you have a hard time remembering when to phone or text you can set it up in Microsoft Outlook for a reminder call and your company software program.
 Email– Is also a great way to follow up with a prospect. There are all kinds of free e-cards that you can send to your prospect. This is also good to invite the prospect to any future resident activities that you will have on your property. What better way to follow up then invite them to a resident party?!?! Email is also the most cost effective for your owners but the email follow up may get lost in the spam filter so I advise not to rely heavily on this but to pair this with any of the follow up procedures.

 Now I like to include a few other tips that I do with my follow ups that have work for me. I like to get the prospect birthday from their drivers license and I put on my desk calendar and my outlook calendar their birthday. Depending if I have their mailing address or email I will send them a birthday card from me to them. Every one loves birthday cards and this will still keep you in the forefront even if they did not lease with you the first time. I also like to do a follow call, greeting card or email at the six month point of visiting (again calendar or outlook email) just to see how they are doing and to let them know we still have a home for them when they are ready. Also most of us are on sixty day notices so I will at the 90days before its been a year of coming to our property try to contact the prospect again. So as you can see I have done a year of follow up and the results are phenomenal.

 Making sure that you and your staff are following up on your prospect is so important that it should be mandatory and be held accountable for not doing it. Our prospects equal money and by following up we are going after the money. I hate letting money leave my wallet for silly things so why would we do that to our community or owners. FOLLOW UP with your prospects its that important.

 

Feel free to follow up with me on your thoughts and ideas for follow ups.

Jolene Sopalski

Leasing Specialist

WRH Realty Services

jolene.sopalski@gmail.com

*Originally posted on Multi Family Insiders on September 22,2010*

What Not To Wear!

What Not To Wear!

What exactly is Business Casual Attire or Professional Attire?

These two subjects are commonly confusing especially today more than ever. But what exactly do they mean? Business Casual Attire is a common practice in business to appear casual but presentable (slacks, dresses, skirts, and blouses). Professional Attires is to enable our employees to project the professional image that is in keeping with the needs of our clients and customers to trust us (Business Suits).  We see fashion ads that say be hip and in style for work but is that really right for what we do in the Multi Family Business, in my opinion yes. It is okay to be fashionable but with taste and class in all areas of our appearance. We all know that what you might wear to the club the night before is not business casual or professional attire…right? So why would you wear it to work…trust me I have seen this over the years happen.

 I want to share some basic guidelines that I have found to be useful and if you have someone on your team that may not be following the company policy on dress attire this may be a nice helpful way to get them on board!  I have five very simple rules:

 1.) If the valley is showing between the mountains when I bend down or you’re looking straight at me then I need to have a Cami underneath.

2) If I have a plumber’s crack in my pants when I sit down then I need to one; go up a size or two; get a belt.

3) Always have a crease in your trousers (If you don’t know how to then go find someone to show you).

4) Hair is to be tasteful.. I know we all love Rihanna’s Style or Kristen Storm (Twig light girl?) but we need to remember that we are professionals and our hair styles need to be neat and clean.  Hair Color should be tasteful think of where you work before you get your hair done some weird wacky color. Don't be afraid to ask for help in this area sometimes someone else’s eye for color maybe just what you need. Oh please no wet hair to work you look like a drown puppy dog …seriously.

 5) Makeup is never to be over done. If the color looks like you belong at a club (example: black, blue, purple, or lime green eyeliner or shadow) don’t wear to work its distracting to the selling of the community. Ask a makeup expert at the local malls tell them what you need it for they will help you with a nice style. Your makeup should complement your features not cover them up. Ever heard of the saying less is best...

Those are just some helpful tips of mine that I keep in mined. I also feel that every man or woman should have at least two business suits in the closet. I know that when times are tight we don’t have the money that is why Good Will, JcPenny’s, Ross Dress For Less, Marshall’s are great places to fined good quality clothes at a great price.

Remember when our customers walk into the Leasing Office we are the first ones they see. Appearance is everything, how we dress and present our selves is how they view the property. Trust me on this one I have seen it happen. If you don’t believe me try an experiment for a week and see what happens. We tend to buy from those who look professional and put together all the time. Its just human nature!

I have included some links for articles on helpful guidelines and some pictures. Hopefully this helps! I really feel like we need to stand out now more than ever with the summer season coming to a close.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/dress_code.htm

http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/dress_formal.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_casual

Jolene Sopalski
Leasing Specialist
WRH Realty Services
www.wrhrealty.comJolene.Sopalski@gmail.com


*originally posted on Multifamily Insiders Jul 2010*

21 Resident Renewal Ideas

Creative Ways To Retain Residents At Renewal Time

So often we focus on leasing and being creative with our marketing that we forget about Resident Retention. We think oh we don’t have to market our current residents they already live here at our community. That is the wrong thought process, marketing does not stop the moment they sign a lease, it’s a continuous thing. So let’s focus on some creative ways to market renewals and to get the current resident to stay a current resident. Especially now in these times when we are all competing for each other residents. I was reading a past issue of Rent and Retention magazine March/April 2006 and discover a fun list of 21 methods to deliver lease renewals. I tweaked some and added a little here and there! I really hope you enjoy this and have fun! There will be lots of more fun and creative ways to market current residents to stay coming your way soon!

•Remember the first initial letter is to have all the information they need to renew their lease. You can still deliver it in a fun and creative way!
1)  Wanted Poster- This is great if you have a picture of your resident. Get some cream color paper to make it look aged. Scan the picture and write “WANTED-YOU to renew your lease!”

2)  “Seems Like Only Yesterday”- Do the same thing with the wanted poster but write “It Seems Like Only Yesterday that you moved in. We’ve had a great year. Please stay for another!” This would also be cute in a card. 3)“We can’t bear for you to leave!”- This would be cute with stuff teddy bears (you can fined them at the dollar store) or go to www.plushinarush.com. Make a cute card tie it around the bear neck and hand deliver to the resident that has put in notice. You can even have a special just for them.

3)  Custom Fortune Cookie Co.- Make cookies with your personal fortunes inside. Example: There are large closets in your future! Renew Today! I have a great recipe for this contact me at jolene.sopalski@gmail.com for it.

4)  Make Posters and Hang them on the resident’s door- Make the posters have a homemade feel so it shows that you really cared about them to take the time to make a poster for them. Example: We really love you & all that you do for our community! Make it a fun poster; you could even tie some balloons to it. Check out your local scrapbook stores for clearance items. You ca also have everyone on the maintenance team sign the poster and write something nice about the resident.

5)  Giant Checks- I know you’re thinking what. Create a Blank Check and write the resident name on it. You can put your renewal special, the cost of a carpet clean, or their rental rate. In the memo section put renew today.

6)  Laminate Place Mat- Put a team photo that says “Renew your lease…Have dinner on us.” It cost less than three dollars and everything can be found at a craft store. Include a gift certificate to a restraint or a night you make dinner for the renewals. Set candled in the clubhouse, put dinner cloths on the tables have a name card with resident name, light music and you serve dinner to everyone.

7)  Recordable Cards- Are a great way to get someone to renew…example have an Elvis card you could record “Don’t be a hound dog! Renew your lease today!”

8)  Inflatable Monkeys, Whales, Smiley Faces, Lions, Guitars- These can be found all over check the dollar stores or party stores. Attach a sticker or card that says “Don’t monkey around! We want you to stay!” or ‘It would be music to our ears if you tell us you’ll stay for another year!”

9)  Balloons( non-Mylar)-This is a great way to deliver you letters, attach some balloons to the letter if the residents not home then tie to the door knob or knocker.

10)  Movie Posters- Get a picture of a movie star, example Brad Pitt attaché the following saying or whatever to match the movie star picture. “It would be the Pitts if you moved. Please renew your lease!” This makes the renewal letter fun and catches attention.

11)  “Whoopee!”-It’s time to renew your lease. Attach this note to a whoopee cushion from a party or dollar store.This will make a good laugh for the resident.

12)  “Any way you slice it…we want you to stay!”- Attach to a pizza box or a gift certificate from a pizza place or an invite to a pizza renewal party.

13)  100 Calorie Pack- “Don’t Dessert Us!” attach this to a 100 calorie snack pack.

14)  Renewal “flex days 7-3/10-7 techs too!”- Come in from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. to renew your lease. We’re open for you!

15)  News Paper-“Great News! It’s time to renew!” put this in the headline of a newspaper…like the daily paper or make your own from a print shop program. I thought it would be great to get the Sunday paper with the coupons and do this with!

16)  Mylar Balloons- Get some cute Mylar balloons from the dollar store and attach the renewal letter. Give this to the resident either in person or tie to the door.

17)  Drive Thru Rent Payment (Two Birds with one stone) - I love this one a lot. Make sure you have all your renewal notices ready to go in the morning. Stand at the entrance to your community and collect rents. Be sure to hand out some breakfast items with a Thank you for paying rent. Have your renewal letter attach to the breakfast items and give to the resident as they leave. Let them know you hope they stay. Be sure to advertise this a week before rent is due.

18)  Sunglasses or Field Glasses- “we’re looking for you to renew” attach to the letter.

19)  Turn a Candy Bar into a renewal notice- example: 100 grand bar, “ You are worth more than a 100 grand” renew today! You can even make a customer renewal letter wrapper by going to http://desktoppub.about.com/od/candywrappers/l/bl_cwbaby.htm there are templates here for you to use.  Side note this works and is a lot of fun!

20)  Renewal Party- A theme party; example a murder mystery dinner is a lot of fun and you can have the papers ready for them to sign. They get dinner, entertainment and you get a renewal. 

21)  Hang Around- Saw this on multifamily pro and loved the idea! Get some colorful hangers ( Dry cleaners-Great way to start a business partnership, dollar store, or walmart) attach a  note that says "We Love For You To Hang Around another year!"

Now the point is to make personal contact with the resident (just like when we go out marketing). So deliver the items personally and if the resident is not home leave a note saying they have a package at the office. Once they come in give them the renewal notice and see if you can get them to renew.. Once the resident renews don’t forget to send them a Thank You Card. It would even be nice at the six month period to send another Thank You Card ( maybe with a lotto ticket or a free appetizer from a local restaurant) for being a great resident! 

Jolene Sopalski
Leasing Specialist
WRH Realty Services
www.wrhrealty.com
Jolene.Sopalski@gmail

* If you would like the nice pretty version with clip art email me at jolene.sopalski@gmail.com* Stay Tune For Much More fun stuff!

* Originaly posted on Multi Family Insiders on Jul 28,2010*

Jolene Sopalski: Leasing & Marketing Ideas For Multifamily Housing Industry: How Important Are Resident Activities to you and y...

Jolene Sopalski: Leasing & Marketing Ideas For Multifamily Housing Industry: How Important Are Resident Activities to you and y...: "Resident Activities are very important selling tool for us! I remember four years ago when I was on the apartment hunt looking for an apartm..."

How Important Are Resident Activities to you and your community?

Resident Activities are very important selling tool for us! I remember four years ago when I was on the apartment hunt looking for an apartment community that was going to be home for my self and three children I wanted something that I could find living in a neighborhood but with in an apartment community. I must have look at ten different community's and left each one disappointed. Several times I ask what do you do for the residents and got oh well we have these great amenities. I wanted to feel connected to my community and get to know my neighbors. I know its a crazy thought but I really wanted that.

See I was a single mom going out on my own for the first time sense having kids and previously had only lived in student housing(which trust me there are lots of activities going on it was allot of fun) so I knew that I would need the connection to others and hopefully find a friend or as Anne of Green Gables states, a Kindred Spirit. I finally found what I was looking for in the community that I currently live and work for. I was blown away by the fact there were kids outside playing and the amount of resident activities they had.  I knew right then and there that was where I wanted to be. It also helped that it was close to my employer at the time. As you can see having regular resident activities can make a difference to a prospect. For myself it was very important in the decision making part of where my family and I would live.

Every time I show our community or any community that I'm on for our company I start off showing our resident clubhouse or activity board.  I give the prospect a calendar of the activities that we have going on and invite them to come out to the next one so they can see how much fun we have. I guarantee if you do this then your closing ratio will increase. Having regular resident activities will also help with resident retention. People more than ever want to feel connected to where they live. They want to know that this is a great place to be. So why not start setting yourself apart now from everyone else by offering more resident activities that appeal to your residents. Take a survey ask what they would be interested in. Make them part of the process like they have a say in what you are planning. Start a resident activities committee...oh I really like that idea...just pop into my head. This will also take some of the stress off of you in the office.  Here are just a few idea's for some resident activities to try out:

Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer Festival ( Have local vendors or businesses help sponsor email me if you want a layout for this)

Game Night: Bingo.Bonco,Cribbage,Uno, Phase 10

Hamburger Cook Off: Make this an annual event play it up

Chili Cook Off: Make this an annual event play it up

Breakfast On The Go: Simple Breakfast Items maybe check with your local breakfast place see if you can get a special on items. Also Starbucks will do taste test at your community for Free.

Ladies Night: Make this a feel great about your self event talk to some makeup distributors set up different tables of different local business let them have samples to give. Have a nice dinner

Mystery Dinner Theater: I know they use to sale these years ago but check out a themed mystery dinner.

Movie Night at The Pool

Tutoring For Kids: Contact the High School or Colleges Offer Free Tutoring

Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts: Set up a chapter at your property


These are just somethings that you can do. I know there are tons of  things we can do. I don't know how else to stress that having resident activities are very important to our communities. It is hard work but the payoff is worth it. You will have more resident retention and higher closing ratio. I love to hear what you have to say or other ideas you have!





This is a picture of an event that we had where one of our residents gave a lesson on snakes! The kids loved it!

Jolene Sopalski
Leasing Specialist
WRH Realty Services

* Originally Posted On Multifamily Insiders Jul 2010*

Sumer Marketing Ideas

A friend and I  were talking about some fun summertime marketing ideas and she came up with several that I really like and wanted to share.  Suntan Lotion, Beach Toys, Fans, and Water Bottles are great inexpensive ways to market your community.  I know your thinking, huh?  Think about it if you live close to the beach, lake, water park or even to a public community pool everyone goes there. What better way to reach a mass group of people than  with these items. 

Suntan Lotion- Check with your local dollar store and buy as many as you can afford to. If you happen to have a resident who works for a distributing company ask if they could donate suntan lotion. We have one property where a resident gave them a case for a pool party. Once you have your suntan lotion put a label ( address label) with your community info and special  on the bottle. Everyone needs sun block and who does not want FREE. Hand these out at the Beach, Lake, Water Park, Public Community Pool or event in your community.

Beach Toys- Local Dollar Store, Walmart, Family Dollar etc put a label on these items with your company info and special. These are great to hand out at the beach, children's park that has a sandbox, lake or even community events.

Fans- You can fine the fans with a water bottle attach at the Dollar Stores, Walmart, Family Dollar for a very low price.  Put a label with the community info and special give out at any of the above mention areas.

Water Bottles- This one I love the idea and can't wait to try it. I was at the beach with my family and there was a guy walking up and down selling cold ice water for $2.00 and thought hey I could do that but give it out for FREE to everyone. Just put a label or if you have money order some bottles with your name on the labels already. These are just a few fun summertime marketing ideas that are relatively inexpensive to use. Hope you have fun and let me know how these work for you.


Jolene Sopalski
Leasing Specialist
WRH Realtyjolene.sopalski@gmail

* Orignally Written On Multi Family Insiders June 2010*