Power Pro Leasing

The 9 Habits of Highly Effective Apartment Leasing Agents

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 19:23:33 GMT

A high-performing leasing team is the very foundation of a successful apartment community. But what exactly are the habits of outstanding leasing associates? In her new Multifamily Insider's blog, Power Pro's Karen Gladney details nine of them.

Here's an excerpt describing one of the essential habits:

They ask questions

Great leasing agents are truly interested in asking purposeful questions to help prospects find the best apartment. They are inquisitive and aren’t afraid to ask what the customer will be using their second bedroom for because they know the answer can only help them help their prospects that much better.

To read the full blog, visit Multifamily Insiders .

Power Pro Leasing Announces Integration with BetterBot

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 19:35:36 GMT

"We are relentless about improving our solutions at Power Pro. This integration with BetterBot represents a significant improvement in the prospect experience," said Ian Andrews, co-founder of Power Pro. "More than ever, today's prospects demand instant answers to their questions. If your community can't provide those instant answers, you're going to lose that prospect. With a high-quality chatbot from BetterBot at their disposal, operators can rest easy knowing their prospects will get their questions answered in a suitable timeframe."

The Power Pro mobile app empowers leasing associates to perform all of the critical leasing tasks and gather needed information from a prospect from anywhere. Through Power Pro, leasing associates can execute live Zoom tours or record and send personalized video tours to prospects. Through the app's Tour to Go feature, leasing associates can send customized e-brochures to prospects and share floor plans and photos as well as the pricing of a prospect’s favorite apartment as quick, personalized takeaways after tours. Power Pro also provides a leading self-guided tour solution and a self-check-in feature for visiting prospects.

Taken together, Power Pro’s solutions reflect the company’s Tour Your Way philosophy. Power Pro’s goal is to give teams options so they can create the best leasing experience possible while giving prospects the exact experience they desire.

"BetterBot and Power Pro have a common interest as we both want to provide the prospective renter more control over the leasing process," said Robert Turnbull, Co-Founder of BetterBot. "By combining our solutions, we’re providing operators and communities the tools they need to keep renters moving along the buyer’s journey to a new lease 24/7/365."

Power Pro’s solutions fully integrate with major property, revenue and lead management software platforms, including RealPage’s OneSite, ILM, Yardi’s RENTCafé, Entrata, Yieldstar and LRO.

About Power Pro Leasing

Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Power Pro Leasing's iPad-based software technology enhances consumers’ apartment search and leasing experience while at the same time enabling the leasing professional to become more efficient in the leasing and management processes. Predicated on customer-centric needs, the program is designed to raise closing ratios and increase leases for everyone from the greenest to the most senior leasing professionals. When integrated with an apartment community's property management software, Power Pro enables single-entry data and real-time information. This means properties make more money through more leases and increased efficiencies.

About BetterBot

Today's renter wants control over the leasing process and access to information wherever, whenever, but today's leasing team simply can't keep up. BetterBot is Multifamily's most adopted digital leasing solution providing renters the information they want 24/7/365 anywhere on the Internet. Using the most technologically advanced software to answer the renters' questions about the community, BetterBot showcases floor plans, virtual tours, specials and amenities while driving them to schedule in-person, self-guided, live-video and phone appointments. BetterBot is the round-the-clock leasing assistant of choice, freeing up leasing teams from low-value, menial and repetitive tasks so they can do what they do best, being human.

Power Pro Leasing, the best-in-class mobile leasing app for apartment operators, today announced a partnership and integration with BetterBot, a leading chatbot provider for the multifamily industry.

Now, prospects taking virtual and self-guided tours through the Power Pro app will have access to a BetterBot chatbot, allowing them to get accurate, instant answers to their questions while they tour. Instant answers accelerate the leasing process and drive more lease conversions. The integration also will allow prospects to schedule guided and self-guided tours through BetterBot that will seamlessly sync into Power Pro’s user interface.

Power Pro and RemoteLock Announce Integration

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 19:41:00 GMT

Power Pro Leasing, the best-in-class mobile leasing app for apartment operators, today announced a partnership and integration with RemoteLock, the leading provider of universal access control.

As a result of the partnership, communities using Power Pro's self-guided tour solution and RemoteLock's software will be able to provide an optimized self-guided tour experience. Prospective renters will seamlessly receive access codes via their smartphones for the smart locks on the apartment homes and amenity areas they want to self-tour. This integration will eliminate the need for prospects to pick up and drop off key fobs, increase apartment tours and ultimately drive more lease conversions.

"We could not be more excited about our new partnership with RemoteLock," said Karen Gladney, co-founder of Power Pro. "Self-guided tours were rising in demand before the coronavirus, and now they are an essential part of apartment operations. This integration allows operators to provide prospects with the most efficient, contactless experience possible. At Power Pro, we have always recognized the need to allow prospects to tour their way through better integration among multifamily technologies, and we will continue to strive to integrate with as many solutions as possible."

The Power Pro mobile app empowers leasing associates to perform all of the critical leasing tasks and gather needed information from a prospect from anywhere. Through Power Pro, leasing associates can execute live Zoom tours or record and send personalized video tours to prospects in addition to self-guided tours. Taken together, Power Pro's solutions reflect the company's Tour Your Way philosophy. Power Pro's goal is to give teams options so they can create the best leasing experience possible while giving prospects the exact experience they desire.

"With all of the safety concerns and social distancing needs around the pandemic, the need for access control and self-guided tours in the apartment industry has never been greater," said Barclay Friesen, executive vice president of business development at RemoteLock. "Our partnership with Power Pro enables apartment communities to effortlessly use our two technologies to provide an outstanding experience for prospects that will make a great impression and keep them moving along the sales funnel to a new lease."

Power Pro's solutions fully integrate with major property, revenue, and lead management software platforms, including RealPage's OneSite, ILM, Yardi's RENTCafé, Yieldstar and LRO.

About Power Pro Leasing

Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Power Pro Leasing's iPad-based software technology enhances consumers' apartment search and leasing experience while at the same time enabling the leasing professional to become more efficient in the leasing and management processes. Predicated on customer-centric needs, the program is designed to raise closing ratios and increase leases for everyone from the greenest to the most senior leasing professionals. When integrated with an apartment community's property management software, Power Pro enables single-entry data and real-time information. This means properties make more money through more leases and increased efficiencies.

About RemoteLock

RemoteLock sets the standard in universal access control with its easy-to-use, scalable, and future-proof software. It provides users the ultimate in flexibility and control—so they can easily grant any person access to any space, from anywhere. RemoteLock manages leading smart locks and access control hardware and can be integrated with its customers' essential software systems. RemoteLock is committed to being the last access management partner our customers will need. Headquartered in Denver, CO, RemoteLock has customers in over 65 countries. Learn more at www.remotelock.com.

Case Study: Morgan Group Finds an Invaluable Ally in Power Pro During Pandemic

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 19:48:57 GMT

Like multifamily properties across the country, Morgan's communities suddenly found themselves needing to connect with prospects through video calls when the coronavirus hit.

Fortunately, the Power Pro mobile leasing app used by Morgan was able to lend a big hand. That's because leasing associates can easily launch Zoom calls with prospects while in the app.

Click to read the full case study.

America's Commercial Real Estate Show Features Karen Gladney

Fri, 07 Aug 2020 19:51:46 GMT

Let's talk about experience, the prospect experience. Karen Gladney spoke with Michael Bull of America's Commercial Real Estate to discuss the findings of her 100 properties tour as she sought to better understand the actual prospect experience happening in our leasing offices.

Take a listen to the latest Multifamily Market and Leasing Strategies Update

Karen starts at the 16-minute mark - and let us know what you think. How can we create the best prospect experience?

Power Pro Unveils Tour-Your-Way: Series of Enhancements and New Features to Drive Lease Conversions

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 19:56:01 GMT

‘Tour-Your-Way’ gives apartment teams more tools than ever before to optimize, personalize and customize the leasing process

Power Pro Leasing (Power Pro), the best-in-class mobile leasing app for apartment operators, has unveiled a more robust platform showcasing a series of enhancements to its original leasing app. The new Tour-Your-Way is designed to enable onsite teams to close more leases.

“Tour-Your-Way has catapulted our offerings well beyond the mobile app distinction. We are truly a leasing platform that delivers the features you need to drive more leases, accurately collect leasing performance data and ultimately increase revenue and NOI,” said Karen Gladney, co-founder of Power Pro. “We are firmly committed to always innovating our products and giving multifamily operators more and better tools to create the leasing experiences today’s apartment prospects want.”

The Tour-Your-Way experience includes:

• Self-guided tour functionality that fully integrates with leasing-agent-tour software. Power Pro’s self-guided tour solution provides an intuitive and visually appealing experience for prospects, who can access their tour through a web link. After the tour, the same link allows prospects to access a personalized e-brochure about the property.
• The ability to transfer a guest card to a sister property while in the app.
• Virtual touring including Video and Zoom experience.
• The ability to load more than one community at a time so that associates can easily toggle between properties. This multi-sites feature makes it easier for onsite teams responsible for leasing multiple apartment communities to close more leases.
• Instant prospect ID verification to create peace of mind for your associates.
• A streamlined application workflow to make closing easy with built-in navigation directed to the PMS online leasing platform.
• Enhanced configuration settings to support desired workflows.
• Visual identifiers to highlight apartments shown and most liked by the prospect.
• Enhanced reporting features to improve analysis of leasing effectiveness and prospect effectiveness.
• Redesigned quote creating a personalized prospect tour summary that they can return to including all their quotes from a particular property, the location of the apartment, features and any videos associated with the quoted apartments.
• A self-check-in app to be used by touring prospects. The app is available in Spanish, making it the first self-check-in app in the multifamily space to accommodate Spanish-speaking prospects.
• Power Pro now offers a prospect survey that can be automatically sent to a prospect one hour after a tour.

“We are especially excited about Power Pro’s enhanced ability to interact with Spanish-speaking prospects,” said Ian Andrews, co-founder of Power Pro. “This is a fast-growing segment of the renter population, and it’s critical for apartment communities to be able to provide a seamless and comfortable leasing experience to Spanish-speaking prospects.”

The Power Pro leasing app unchains leasing associates from their desks so they can create a comfortable, personalized leasing experience to drive prospect engagement throughout the apartment shopping process and the property tour. No longer does an associate have to sit in an office with a prospect and interview them in a setting that the prospect may find too intimidating, formal or impersonal.

With Power Pro, leasing associates can perform all of the critical leasing tasks and gather needed information from a prospect while anywhere on a property, whether sitting in a comfortable courtyard or walking through an apartment home. Associates are able to quickly verify a prospect's ID, and the technology enables them to fill out a guest card, show community photos and videos and access floor plans and pricing – even without an internet connection. Additionally, the solution gives leasing associates the ability to send customized e-brochures to prospects and to share floor plans as well as the pricing of a prospect’s favorite apartment as quick, personalized takeaways.

The technology fully integrates with Entrata, RealPage and Yardi.

11 Self-Touring Tips to Make it a VIP Experience

Thu, 21 May 2020 20:15:29 GMT

As we start to open up our communities again and as more prospects are going to want to take a tour, the Power Pro team has pulled together 11 steps to make sure that every self-tour is truly a VIP Experience. It is the experience that leaves a lasting impression, make sure it is the best experience possible.

1. Set the stage. Define a set number of vacant and ready apartment homes prospects can tour

2. Add in “Feature Highlight” signs where you want prospects to take notice i.e. Check out the soft closing cabinets or Look! There is 70ft of hanging space in this closet!

3. Conduct a signage walk to determine where signs need to be added… take a page out of the hotel industry handbook here. How have we all found our rooms and the amenities all these years without being handed a map?

4. Have a well-designed map (preferably digital) to compliment your signage and for the VIP Self-Touring Prospect to use as a guide

5. Put yourself in their shoes. Whatever you put in place, try it out yourself, and feel the experience from the other side. This goes for anything, not just Self Tours.

6. Send a “What to Expect” email to prospects before they tour

7. Have a self-tour waiver for prospects to agree to prior to touring. Work closely with your legal team on the language to ensure all areas are covered

8. Have a plan for scanning IDs prior to or once prospects arrive

9. Make up little PPE gift bags tied with a bow with masks & gloves in the event someone forgets their

10. Provide disposable VIP Guest on Tour lanyards for Self-Touring Prospects to wear so your team and current residents know what they are doing wondering the community

11. Remember even when physically distancing, you can still smile, be kind, use a welcoming tone when engaging with prospects, and truly anyone. Kindness will go a long way in creating a standout experience!

Power Pro Announces Partnership with PERQ

Fri, 15 May 2020 20:21:19 GMT

The integration facilitates prospects’ apartment tours

Power Pro Leasing (Power Pro), the best-in-class mobile leasing app for apartment operators, today announced a partnership and integration with PERQ , the maker of an artificial intelligence-driven digital marketing platform that engages and captures critical prospect data through a community website. The integration between the two platforms will further drive leads and improve community tour conversion.

As a result of the partnership, when a prospective renter schedules a property tour through PERQ’s website solution, the information will be seamlessly fed into Power Pro. The integration benefits both prospects and leasing associates by ensuring a community receives the tour booking selected by the prospect, be it self-guided, video or an in-person, associate-led visit, and enables the leasing associate to create the right experience.

“Our new partnership with Power Pro Leasing brings value to both property managers and consumers,” said PERQ Co-Founder Scott Hill. “Power Pro Leasing’s software combined with PERQ’s Multi-Option Tour Scheduler allows consumers to schedule and experience virtual tours of properties seamlessly and gives leasing agents additional tools to close the deal during a difficult time.”

The Power Pro mobile app allows leasing associates to perform all of the critical leasing tasks and gather needed information from a prospect from anywhere. Through Power Pro, leasing associates can execute live Zoom tours or record and send personalized video tours to prospects. Power Pro also offers self-guided-tour technology to apartment communities. Taken together, Power Pro’s solutions reflect the company’s Tour Your Way philosophy. Power Pro’s goal is to give teams options so they can create the best leasing experience possible while giving prospects the exact experience they desire.

“At Power Pro, we care passionately about integrating with other supplier partners to create great experiences for our customers,” said Karen Gladney, co-founder of Power Pro. “When we create great experiences for our customers, they, in turn, are able to provide best-in-class experiences for their prospective residents. That’s why we’re so excited to partner with PERQ. They truly are a first-class supplier partner.”

The Power Pro leasing app unchains leasing associates from their desks so they can create a comfortable, personalized leasing experience to drive prospect engagement throughout the apartment shopping process and the property tour - even over a Zoom call. When in-person community visits are an option, the app enables associates to talk with prospects and get information from them while anywhere on the property, whether sitting in a comfortable courtyard or walking through an apartment home. And regardless of what form a tour takes, Power Pro allows associates to send prospects a Personal Tour Summary e-brochure afterwards. The brochure is a lightweight quick link for prospects to open and see the apartments they’re interested in, access personal quotes for those apartments and see any virtual or custom videos made for them.

Power Pro’s solutions fully integrate with major property, revenue, and lead management software platforms, including RealPage’s OneSite, ILM, Yardi’s RENTCafé, Yieldstar and LRO.

About Power Pro Leasing

About PERQ

PERQ (www.perq.com), a marketing technology company founded in 2001, empowers businesses and the online consumer experience through innovative solutions powered by artificial intelligence. More than 1,500 businesses in the multifamily, home furnishings and auto retailing industries leverage the PERQ Marketing Cloud and technology to give them more visibility into their digital marketing efforts and sales.

100 Properties: A View into the Leasing Experience

Tue, 12 May 2020 20:25:54 GMT

I recently set out to visit 100 properties in 100 days. I wanted to get a truly informed understanding of the in-person experience that today’s prospects have. I wanted to see where the opportunities for improvement are and where leasing teams are knocking it out of the park.

I genuinely went into it as a blank slate not quite sure what it would reveal. So often I hear people make broad, sweeping statements after visiting only a handful of properties - as if those limited experiences represent the industry standard. My intention in visiting 100 communities was to see what the industry standard really is.

So I set out on my adventure and to say I was surprised at what I found would be an understatement. I was quickly and vividly reminded that the in-person leasing experience often is less than ideal for visiting prospects. I also humbly realized I had personally committed several of these leasing experience blunders myself. And while I understand today’s landscape has vastly changed our in-person touring options, it provides a great opportunity to discuss with your teams how to create a truly impactful experience whether virtually or in-person.

The properties I toured were all high-end apartment communities from coast to coast. These are typically the properties that are the early adopters of the latest and greatest practices and technologies that the rest of the industry eventually follows.

Here are some of the experiences and surprises that occurred on my visits:

Greetings and First Impressions: About 10 communities into this project, I called one of my co-workers and said I feel like I am treated more kindly when I check into a hotel for a one-night stay than when looking for my next home. Offices had packages, sticky notes, and file folders everywhere, and they too often were in general disarray.

Associate attire overall wasn’t polished or coordinated, and there were very few people with name tags to help me remember who I was talking to. I definitely felt like an interruption more often than not and not a priority. Nearly 50% of the time, I had to wait for someone to help me or I was sent away because I didn’t have an appointment, the office was closed or a myriad of other reasons. It quickly turned from a project I was excited about to one that felt more daunting. And I must say, when looking for an apartment you get really thirsty and even hungry. And although I was appreciative to be offered anything, repeatedly being offered water and coffee got old quickly.

The Discovery: After being asked to sit at the desk, where most people wanted to sit me down, which is not inviting and frankly, felt cold and impersonal (completely subjective), the biggest surprised came to light. STICKY NOTES! Oh my word, I truly had no idea we were still using sticky notes for guest cards at all - much less on A+ lease-ups.

It was also surprising how few questions I was asked to figure out the best apartment for me. Most of the time I was just asked about my move-in date, the apartment I was looking for, and price range. Everyone seemed to want to know my budget. I am more than just a price range.

What about the floor I want to live on? The direction I want to face? The kind of view I want to have? The type of layout? Color schemes? Many times it wasn’t until we got in an apartment and I asked about a particular feature that the team member said, “Oh! We have that, let’s go see it.” If I had just been asked more specifics about my wants not just my budget, in the beginning, we could have gone to the right apartment home immediately.

Tour and Wrap-Up: I can say this, there are some fabulous WOW fridges out there. It felt like everyone had one but in actuality, it was about 40% of the communities. The interesting thing was when I would open it the leasing associate always said, “Yes, that’s our WOW fridge,” but most of the time didn’t invite me to take anything. And since the fridges look like a work of art, I can see how a prospect wouldn’t take anything from them if they’re not invited. Maybe there should be a sign saying “Drink Me” - ha!

At the end of it all, the stats indicate I was shown an average of two apartments per tour. I definitely feel like I impacted that and that the number easily could have been higher if I had left things completely to the onsite team members, who often seemed more focused on showing me lots of units instead of the ones they thought were actually a fit for me.

Over the course of the upcoming months, my blogs will provide a deeper, stat-filled dive into areas I identified during my visits that are prime for improvement.

For now, l want to say I hope these general observations are an opportunity for you to pause and ask yourself if your leasing teams are truly providing the ideal experience for prospects. Or, if you yourself are on the leasing floor, what are you delivering to your prospects?

Our industry is filled with wonderful associates who are working very hard. But even well-intentioned and conscientious associates can make the kinds of mistakes discussed here and unintentionally undermine leasing efforts.

All Together Now – The Need for Smooth Technology Integrations

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 20:29:35 GMT

The apartment industry has long had a reputation for being slow to embrace emerging technologies.

In recent years, however, owners and managers have made impressive strides in using new solutions to improve their operations and create better experiences for prospects and residents.

They’ve implemented revenue-management software and turned to lead-management systems to improve prospect outreach. Communities now have mobile apps that allow residents to easily perform any number of tasks, such as paying their rent or filing a service request. And mobile leasing solutions are empowering associates to lead top-notch tours, while self-guided-tour technology is gaining traction as a way for prospects to learn about a community without a leasing associate in tow.

For the multifamily industry’s evolution to continue, however, one thing needs to change.

It has to be easier to integrate individual technologies. When owners and operators can’t easily assemble a group of solutions that are able to seamlessly communicate with each other, it stunts the growth of our industry.

Working Together

These integration challenges can have a seriously negative impact on operators.

To cite just one example, when a community’s CRM and property-management system don’t communicate well, the end result can be that both leasing associates and prospects have to enter in the same data about the prospect multiple times during the apartment-shopping process. That’s not a good process for anyone.

Integrating different technologies can be a very expensive proposition for supplier partners, and those costs have to eventually be absorbed by operators and their residents.

Looking ahead, supplier partners need to make easier integration a focal point. They should build their solutions with APIs – preferably open APIs – so those technologies can easily communicate with other solutions.

Having open, standardized integrations would significantly reduce the expense of allowing solutions to work together and would create a much more efficient experience for properties as well as their residents and prospects.

Entrepreneurs create multifamily technology companies to make the lives of apartment operators easier and to make them better at achieving their business goals. And supplier partners have developed any number of sophisticated, impressive solutions that do just that.

But supplier partners can’t stop there. If operators experience significant hassles when their various technologies try to work together, then we haven’t done our jobs.

By ensuring our products can play nice with others, we are better serving apartment owners and operators.

Modern Apartment Prospects: How Do They Differ from Before?

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 20:34:15 GMT

I was recently asked how apartment prospects have changed over the years. I don't know that there's a quick and easy answer because modern apartment shoppers are so profoundly different from their predecessors.

To start with, by the time a prospect visits a community today, he or she is usually armed with a lot of information. ILSs and property websites allow prospects to learn nearly everything about pricing, floor plans and amenities.

So the prospective renter who arrives for a tour often is less interested in gathering basic information and more in experiencing the service and rapport a leasing team has to offer. More than ever, onsite associates have to be ready to provide a warm, engaging and comfortable site visit to prospects.

But that's just one of several ways in which prospective renters have changed over the years. Here are some of the others:

Many of them want the option of self-guided tours. This is perhaps the ultimate customized tour experience.

So many of today's prospective renters know exactly what their checklist for a tour is. They know exactly what they want to see, and they don't want to talk with an associate while they're seeing it. They want to get in, get out and be able to visit a property at a time that works best for them, not for an onsite associate. Self-guided tours are perfect for those laser-focused shoppers.

They also work for prospects who may not be hyper-focused but who simply prefer to experience a community without an associate hovering over them. Prospects sometimes just don't feel comfortable reacting candidly to what they're seeing on a tour when there's a leasing associate with them.

They want a customized experience. Way back when, prospects put up with communities' one-size-fits-all approach to site tours and lead follow-up. Not anymore. Today, they want to experience a community on their terms. Many of them are extremely busy and don't want to spend more time visiting a property than they have to.

If they don't have a dog and are not interested in getting one, they probably don't want their tour to include the pet park. If they have no interest in a fitness center, they don't want you to waste their time showing them where the yoga studio and the Peloton bikes are.

And they are likely to prefer having their initial conversation with an associate somewhere other than at the associate's desk. A leasing team needs to be able to have an info-gathering and rapport-building conversation anywhere the prospect wants to have it.

Also, with all of the ways to communicate today, each prospect will have a specific channel through which they want to hear from associates. Some prefer text, some prefer email and some older ones – think empty-nest baby boomers – still like to talk over the phone. Disregarding these preferences is a surefire way to drive away a prospect.

They need instant gratification. It's probably a result of living in the smartphone era, when the answers to seemingly all of our questions are never more than a few screen taps and swipes away. Whatever the cause, when prospects ask for information, they want an answer immediately – even when they're on tour. It's unacceptable for an associate to respond with "I don't have the answer. I'll find out when we get back to the leasing office."

More than ever, onsite associates need to be extremely well-informed about their communities and have the technology at their fingertips to quickly answer a prospect's questions.

In summary, the modern prospect is more sophisticated and particular than ever. And leasing teams have to be ready to rise to the challenge.

Self-Guided Tours Come of Age

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 20:39:44 GMT

If apartment communities want to build strong bonds with today's prospects and create the kinds of leasing experiences these prospects are looking for, they will offer self-guided tours. So says Power Pro's Karen Gladney in Multi-Housing News's article on the self-guided tour phenomenon . The article appears in MHN's new ebook on property management.

Retaining Leasing Associates in a Booming Job Market

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 20:46:47 GMT

When you get down to it, an apartment management company faces few tasks more important than assembling and retaining strong leasing teams.

A property may have an unbeatable array of amenities and a much-desired location, but if it has trouble retaining high-performing leasing associates, it could struggle to attract prospects and keep current residents in the fold.

The challenge to retain the right associates is made even tougher by today's booming job market. With the national unemployment rate at a 50-year low, leasing associates have plenty of opportunities to move on to another job if they're unsatisfied with their current one.

So how can you motivate and retain top-notch leasing associates? Below are some suggestions.

Cover the basics. To start with, apartment operators have to make sure they're paying a competitive salary and offering good benefits. Medical insurance, personal time off, paid holidays, retirement plans, housing discounts and bonus programs are all components of a benefits package that will encourage team members to stick around.
Support them with the right technology. Great leasing agents are relationship-minded people. They thrive while interacting and connecting with others, and building a real rapport with prospects and current residents. This is what makes them love their jobs.

So to keep them around, operators should make sure leasing agents are able to focus their time on these personal interactions and are not tied to their desks with a ton of cumbersome data entry and lonely administrative tasks. The right technology can make these tasks remarkably efficient and can even allow agents to fill out guest cards while giving prospect tours or otherwise interacting with leads while away from their desks. Minimizing the amount of time your extroverted, active leasing agents have to sit in front of their desktops can be an important way to boost their job satisfaction.

Build a forward-thinking company culture. Millennials and Gen Z'ers, who make up such a high percentage of today's leasing agents, have grown up in a world of innovation. And they want to work for companies that embrace technology and are dedicated to being on the cutting edge.

To attract and retain today's leasing associates, your company should commit itself to being at the forefront of technology and innovation. Strive to be an organization that isn’t about doing things a certain way because that’s the way things have always been done. Show your potential hires and your current associates that your company is committed to being a leader in the multifamily industry and to enhancing the experience of its leasing agents.

Show them the path forward. An apartment operator should be clear from the very start of an employee's tenure about the opportunities for advancement and what the associate needs to do to earn promotions. Knowing they will have the chance to grow and move up the corporate ladder will make leasing agents more inclined to stay with your company for the long haul. And today's technology allows operators to more closely track a leasing associate's performance and
communicate to them in a clear and transparent way how they are doing and what they need to improve on.
Communicate, don't isolate . If your company is lackadaisical about communication, it's all too easy for leasing agents to feel isolated from the corporate office and company leadership. This in turn can chip away at the satisfaction and bond they feel with their employer.

In this day and age, communication is paramount. Regular company-wide conference calls, e-newsletters and a robust internal communication platform are a couple of ways to keep leasing associates in the loop about corporate plans and make them feel a part of something bigger. Company executives should also make a point of regularly visiting their properties and meeting with their onsite teams.

And communication absolutely cannot be a one-way street. Listening to the feedback of leasing associates is critical; it helps them feel invested in the company to know that their voices are heard, and their input can often be the springboard to operational improvements.

In the end, keeping good leasing associates around doesn't just happen. It takes commitment and a multi-pronged approach. By taking the steps outlined above, operators can significantly improve their chances of retaining high-performing leasing agents.

Power Pro Makes it Easier to Lease Multiple Apartment Communities from a Single Office

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 20:49:54 GMT

Power Pro today announced a series of enhancements that will make it easier for onsite teams responsible for leasing multiple apartment communities to do their jobs.

The enhancements give associates the ability to:

transfer a guest card to a sister property while in the app
easily delete and add to the communities they can access within the app
load more than one community at a time so that they can easily toggle between properties

"These are important enhancements for apartment leasing offices to have," said Ian Andrews, co-founder of Power Pro. "More and more companies are leasing multiple communities out of a single office. Sometimes these communities are a second phase of an existing property or an entirely different nearby community. Operators understandably want to consolidate resources by having one office leasing multiple communities within an area, but this can create hassles for agents who have to navigate the separate property management systems. These enhancements make that navigation much easier, allowing the leasing experience to feel seamless to both leasing associates and prospective residents."

The Power Pro app unchains leasing associates from their desks so they can create a comfortable, personalized leasing experience to drive prospect engagement throughout the apartment shopping process and the property tour. No longer does an associate have to sit in an office with a prospect and interview them in a setting that the prospect may find too intimidating, formal or impersonal.

With Power Pro, leasing associates can perform all of the critical leasing tasks and gather needed information from a prospect while anywhere on a property, whether sitting in a comfortable courtyard or walking through an apartment home. Associates are able to quickly verify and return a prospect's ID, and the technology enables them to fill out a guest card, show community photos and videos and access real-time information on floor plans and pricing – even without an internet connection. Additionally, the solution gives leasing associates the ability to send customized e-brochures to prospects and to share floor plans as well as the pricing of a prospect’s favorite apartment as quick, personalized takeaways.

The technology fully integrates with the major property management software platforms from RealPage, Yardi and Entrata.

One Size Doesn't Fit All: The Importance of Customizing the Onsite Prospect Tour and Leasing Experience

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 21:02:45 GMT

Every prospect who visits an apartment community is unique. Each of them has their own wants and needs, and they're all looking for different things for their next home.

Unfortunately, the leasing and touring experience frequently doesn't reflect this reality.

Too often, apartment communities use a cookie-cutter approach to engaging with prospects, taking them on the exact same tours and following up with them in an identical manner.

To capture the hearts and minds of apartment shoppers, leasing associates need to provide a truly customized experience. Below are some tips on how they can do that.

Respect their communication preferences. I've been to a lot of apartment communities where leasing associates will only use the communication channel that they prefer. For example, I've seen situations where Leasing Associate A likes email, and so she emails all her prospects. Meanwhile, Leasing Associate B is huge on texting, and therefore he texts everyone.

But this is the opposite of how it should be. Each prospect has their preferred way of communicating, and leasing associates should honor the prospect's preference, not impose their own. It may seem like a minor matter, but texting a prospect who prefers phone calls is a very good way to chase that lead away.

Customize property tours. Associates usually take each and every prospect on the exact same tour, showing them the same amenities in the same sequence.

But what if a prospect has no pet and no desire to see the dog park? What if they have absolutely no use for a fitness center? Seeing these features will do nothing to encourage their interest in a property and being forced to see them only stands to irritate and exhaust them.

Operators train associates to focus so much on just gathering data points – what size apartment is the person looking for? When are they looking to move in? – that associates end up interrogating prospects more than actually having a conversation with them. When associates build rapport and actually talk with their prospects, they will come to truly understand what the prospect wants out of their home and can design a tour that addresses their concerns and interests.

To truly customize the leasing experience, apartment communities need to give prospects the option to take self-guided tours. Many of today's apartment shoppers want privacy in the apartment to think or even talk through this massive buying decision without the pressure of a sales agent breathing down their necks. Offering self-guided tours is a great way to provide exactly the kind of property visit they want.

Personalize your follow-up and marketing materials. Communities frequently give prospects the same generic promotional brochure and use formulaic follow-up messages. This doesn't need to be the norm.

Technologies exist that allow associates to send customized follow-up materials, ones that touch upon the preferences and concerns expressed by prospects during their property tours.

Expand office hours. Leasing offices are traditionally open during normal business hours, which makes it incredibly difficult for many prospects to come and actually tour and view apartments when it's convenient for them.

There's really no reason why a community can't extend its leasing office hours into the evening and adjust its staffing schedule so that prospects can visit a property when they want to. Communities don't need three or four leasing associates working during the middle of the day when they can spread those associates out to have more coverage for longer hours, giving prospects more opportunity to tour.

In the final analysis, each prospect's apartment-shopping experience should be uniquely tailored to that prospect. If we hope to win their business, we have to show them we can listen and that we will accommodate our processes to their needs.

Vive LA Rolls Out Power Pro Leasing App Across Its Portfolio

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 21:07:16 GMT

Power Pro Leasing (Power Pro), the best-in-class mobile leasing app intentionally designed to drive leasing results for apartment operators, today announced that Vive LA, which manages 16 apartment communities in urban neighborhoods throughout the Los Angeles area, has implemented the Power Pro leasing solution across its entire portfolio.

"We are absolutely thrilled about Vive LA's implementation of our mobile leasing app," said Karen Gladney, co-founder of Power Pro. "Vive LA is a top-notch management company dedicated to providing prospects and residents with the exceptional service and living experiences they expect. Power Pro’s mobile leasing solution is designed to help them do just that. Our technology will better position Vive LA's leasing associates to build rapport with prospects and to provide a more comfortable and authentic leasing experience. It will also give the company valuable insight into how their leasing associates are performing and will help the company take its leasing discipline to the next level. We look forward to a strong partnership."

With Power Pro, leasing associates can perform all of the critical leasing tasks and gather needed information from a prospect while anywhere on a property, whether sitting in a comfortable courtyard or walking through an apartment home. Associates are able to quickly verify a prospect's ID, and the technology enables them to fill out a guest card, show community photos and videos and access real-time information on floor plans and pricing – even without an internet connection. Additionally, the solution gives leasing associates the ability to send customized e-brochures to prospects and to share floor plans as well as the pricing of a prospect’s favorite apartment as quick, personalized takeaways.

Power Pro also provides a score card so that executives and team managers can see the ways in which associates are performing well and the areas in which they need to improve. The technology fully integrates with the major property management software platforms from RealPage and Yardi.

Four Common Mistakes Onsite Associates Make with Visiting Prospects

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 21:16:13 GMT

To bring in new residents, leasing associates definitely have to bring their A-game to the prospect tour.

With the recent increase in new developments and the wave of renovated communities, apartment shoppers have no shortage of appealing and eye-catching properties to choose from. In this environment, providing a warm, informative, personalized and engaging touring experience is key to getting a prospect to choose your property.

In my experience, there are four common mistakes that leasing associates make with visiting prospects. These missteps might seem innocuous but they can easily lead to a potential future resident ending up at another community.

Here are those four mistakes:

1. Not explicitly inviting a prospect to apply for the apartment home.
I'll talk to leasing associates about their interactions with a prospect, and they'll say something like, "I let them know what the deposit is, how much the application fee is and I told them to let me know if they have any questions." But they didn't explicitly ask them to submit an application

On the one hand, this is understandable. A lot of leasing associates are twentysomethings who are relatively inexperienced, and they're afraid of getting "no" as an answer. Also, prospects, when they first arrive onsite, often will indicate that they're not inclined to make a decision that day. But data from Power Apartment Leasing shows that, in 2018, 62 percent of prospects who visited one of our client communities leased the same day they visited.

Leasing associates too frequently make the assumption that a prospect is not ready to lease or that it would be rude for them to come out and ask a prospect to submit an application.

Leasing associates should assume that every prospect that walks through their doors is going to want to apply for a home. After all, that prospect has taken the time to visit the community. If you love your property and you know all the wonderful things about it, you certainly should assume that visiting prospects are going to want to lease.

2. Asking prospects to go home and submit an application online.
With the phasing out of paper applications, many leasing offices are not equipped to have prospects submit an application right there in the leasing office. An all-too-common scenario has associates telling prospects who want to apply to go home and do so online.

But that just gives the prospect an opportunity to leave and drive by your competition and become interested in one of those properties. A myriad of other things could happen after a prospect leaves, and the result is that they don't end up applying.

Apartment communities have to do everything they can to create a frictionless experience for prospects, and part of that means making it as easy as possible for a prospect to apply the moment they are ready. At the very least, communities should have an in-office laptop or iPad that prospects can use to submit an application while onsite. If apartment shoppers encounter a disjointed and complicated application process, they are likely going to take their business elsewhere.

3. Not having ready inventory.
Prospects, no matter how much they might try to convince us otherwise, cannot see past unclean carpet or dirty walls. They just can't. To convert more prospects into leases, ensure you have ready vacant apartment homes to show. And accentuate the best ones, not the hardest-to-lease homes. When you are trying to create momentum, focus on the low-hanging fruit. If you're stabilized and all is well, then focus on the unit that’s been vacant the longest, or the one with the view of the dumpster. Until then, showcase the positive!

4. Not asking enough questions.
This relates to point No. 1 above. Leasing associates are frequently hesitant to ask visiting prospects a lot of questions. They're scared of coming across as nosy and invasive. But this prevents associates from developing a real relationship and rapport with a prospect, which is so critical to bringing in new residents. It also limits the associate's opportunity to discover the information they need to find the right apartment home for a prospect.

In a friendly, professional way, associates have to draw out information about all kinds of things, ranging from the types and names of pets the prospect has to which floor they would prefer to live on. When you only know the desired move-in date, apartment size and price range, you're just not able to help them very effectively and you're not nearly as likely to convert them into a new resident.

Apartmentalize Session Highlights Benefits of Mobile Leasing Technology

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 21:19:41 GMT

The apartment industry has made many technological advancements over the years, but too many operators still embrace a leasing process that is decidedly old school. In doing so, they make their associates' jobs harder and their communities less appealing to prospects.

That was one of the major points made by Wendy Dorchester, vice president of operations at Pegasus Residential (Pegasus), during the "Leasing Gone Mobile: How to Disrupt the Failing Leasing Process" session at Apartmentalize 2019.

Power Pro Co-Founder Karen Gladney interviewed Dorchester during the session.

"We've got to improve the leasing process," Dorchester said. "This industry has come so far over the last 20 years. It is an amazing career path. We are a professional industry and so we've got to act that part."

Too often, Dorchester explained, prospects visiting a community are forced to sit across a desk from a leasing agent while the agent robotically goes through a series of formulaic questions to gather information before taking the prospect around on a tour of the community.

"There's no rapport building," she said.

She described recently visiting another operator's community and being struck by the inadequacy of the prospect experience.

"I was just shocked. It's a brand-new, very sexy lease-up. Gorgeous," she said. "There were really wonderful people at the leasing desk, but they're in front of their computer and their screens are right in front of my face, and it's a barrier. It's a barrier to the process."

The way to revamp the prospect's on-site experience, Dorchester argued, is to equip associates with mobile leasing technology.

Pegasus associates use iPad-based mobile leasing software from Power Pro that, among other things, allows associates to collect information from prospects while sitting in a comfortable social area or touring a community instead of sitting in front of a desktop computer in the leasing office.

"This mobile process is really about building rapport with prospects without that barrier of a desk while also getting that person's information," Dorchester said.

The mobile leasing technology used by Pegasus also gives associates all the floor plan, pricing and other community information associates need to immediately answer prospects' questions while anywhere on the community, she added.

"It's like taking an open-book test and you have all the answers right in front of you at your fingertips," she joked. "This iPad-based solution benefits both the prospect and the leasing consultant, and I think that's super important."

The solution also can scan and quickly verify a prospect's ID to enhance the security of the leasing agent, Dorchester told the audience.

Finally, using a cutting-edge mobile leasing solution can be an effective associate-recruitment tool, Dorchester explained.

"The people who are flocking to our industry – they want technology," she said. "They want to go to a company that is forward-thinking. I think that associates make decisions about companies they're going to go to work for based on how forward-thinking those companies are, and old technology and processes can really frustrate some of these younger associates. I think we have a duty to step up."

Apartmentalize Panel Moderated by Karen Gladney Shows Importance of Investing in Technology that Benefits Associates

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 21:22:42 GMT

When it comes to technology, it's common for apartment operators to think about their residents first.

Owners and managers have implemented an array of solutions – from online portals and mobile phone apps to smart-home technologies – to provide renters with the best living experience possible.

But, as an Apartmentalize 2019 educational session moderated by Power Pro's Karen Gladney discussed, forward-thinking operators now are investing in technologies that improve the efficiencies of their onsite leasing and maintenance teams. In so doing, they are positioning their associates to provide outstanding customer service.

The panelists were Brenda Gammie, senior vice president at Avanti Residential; Tracie Leonard, vice president of operations at Gables Residential; and Joe Melton, vice president of marketing and management support services at The Morgan Group.

Among the beneficial technologies discussed during the session: iPad-based leasing apps for associates, mobile apps that give maintenance team members access to work orders and self-guided tours, which serve the dual purpose of giving associates more time to focus on other important tasks while providing prospects with the kind of experience they want.

Avanti's Colorado properties are testing self-guided tours, and the technology has been a big hit so far with apartment shoppers, according to Gammie.

"We are in the initial stage of testing it so when potential residents come in we give them the option of a self-guided tour or an associate-guided tour," she said. "We are seeing about 80 percent of the prospects choose the self-guided tour option."

Melton also noted that many of today's associates expect apartment operators to be equipped with cutting-edge employee-facing technology.

"When it comes to recruiting, the expectation of our job applicants is that we are a tech-savvy company," he said. "They're looking to check that off their lists."

Before implementing an associate-facing solution, it's imperative that an operator test it thoroughly, Leonard said.

"We have a large portfolio so we will run a pilot test with a new technology on, let's say, six properties," she said. "We'll run the test for usually up to 60 days and then compare performance, before and after, for those pilot communities as well as the performance for similar communities across our portfolio that weren't in the test."

Finally, when it comes time to evaluate the return on investment in technologies for associates, Melton noted he takes a slightly unique approach.

"We call this the R-O-E, which is the return on your energy and your effort," Melton said. "I feel like that is so powerful because that really is where the magic lies. Sometimes it's not in the numbers. The data is important but, really, is it worth your energy and your effort? If the return on that is impactful to moving the needle, then that's a win."

Back to Basics: Giving Your Community a Personal Touch

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 21:26:56 GMT

Pegasus Residential is a big believer in using technology to enhance leasing efforts. In this wide-ranging interview with Multi-Housing News , Pegasus Vice President of Operations Wendy Dorchester outlines how self-guided prospect tours and iPad-based mobile leasing apps from Power Pro are benefitting both onsite associates and prospects.

Three Benefits of Self-Guided Tours

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 21:32:00 GMT

It’s vital that apartment communities regularly sign new residents, and forward-thinking operators are always looking for ways to make it easier for their properties to do so.

Self-guided tours are emerging on the multifamily scene, and smart managers are seeing that the technology allows communities to serve more prospects and to provide prospects with a better onsite experience. The solution also enables onsite associates to be more available to their current residents.

Now, understandably, some leasing agents might be a little leery of this technology, fearing it could put them out of work, while others in the industry might be somewhat dubious about its impact. To those who might not be greeting the solution with open arms, I would like to offer these three benefits of giving prospects the option to take self-guided tours.

1) Self-guided tours will help associates do their jobs more effectively - they will not overtake the jobs of leasing associates.

Onsite agents have many responsibilities other than leading tours, but visits by prospects can take up a disproportionate amount of an associate's day. Consider this entirely realistic scenario: a leasing agent takes eight prospective residents on a tour in a single day. Considering that each tour probably lasts between 30 minutes to an hour, that leaves little to no time to follow up with and manage other prospects or leads, handle service requests from current residents and tend to any additional needs current renters may have.

Leasing associates are so much more than tour guides, and giving prospects the ability to take self-guided tours will free up agents to tend to their many other responsibilities.

Also, when making a decision this big, prospects want to buy from people, and even those prospects who take self-guided tours want some level of in-person interaction. Associates are critical to establishing rapport with these prospects. At the same time, reducing the number of tours agents have to lead will give them more bandwidth to develop and maintain warm relationships with prospects in all the other stages of the demand funnel. They will have more time and energy to sell and promote the value of a community when following up with prospects.

All this to say: leasing agents aren't going away – and self-guided tours will allow them to do their jobs better.

2) Self-guided tours create a better experience for prospects. Many of today's leads, particularly Millennials and members of Gen Z, prefer to tour communities by themselves. According to HRC Retail Advisory, 95 percent of consumers want some time to themselves during their shopping experience.

The more you think about it, this makes perfect sense. When I'm shopping for an apartment home and touring a community with my wife, I don't want the leasing agent to be in the unit with us. I want to be able to talk frankly and say to my wife, "I dislike this. I love this." Prospects often don't feel comfortable reacting candidly to a community when there's a leasing associate with them. In the end, self-guided tours are likely to lead to more same-day leases because prospects are able to work through their decision-making discussions while onsite.

Additionally, giving prospects the option to take self-guided tours can reduce the waiting times they sometimes experience when visiting a community. If several prospective residents arrive at the same time and want to tour a property, some of them will have to wait until a leasing agent is available to show them around – and that can take a long time. Communities typically don’t track the number of prospects who leave before touring because of long wait times and don’t ever come back - but these numbers are surely larger than most think. When leads can take their own tours, they can get in and out of a community faster, and this improves the way they feel about a property.

3) Self-guided tours produce actionable data. Another benefit of this technology is that it allows operators to closely track the floor plans and amenities that prospects are visiting as they tour a property. This provides invaluable insight and can help operators understand which features are really driving purchasing decisions.

Overall, it makes a ton of sense for operators to embrace self-guided tours. The benefits are just too significant.

Top Technologies Where Apartment Owners Should Invest

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 21:34:21 GMT

When it comes to implementing technology, owners and operators can no longer just think about solutions that benefit residents. As Avanti Residential SVP Brenda Gammie points out in this GlobeSt article, solutions like mobile leasing apps from Power Pro can dramatically enhance the productivity and efficiency of onsite associates.

"This kind of technology tends to attract and retain top talent, leading to increased productivity and helping shape the culture of the company," she told GlobeSt.

How Technology Works as a Catalyst in the Evolution of Leasing

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 21:36:41 GMT

Forward-thinking apartment managers realize the many challenges faced by today's leasing associates - and they are turning to mobile technology and self-guided tours to make it easier for them to provide the kinds of leasing experiences demanded by today's prospects. A new article in Multifamily Executive details JVM Realty Corp.'s use of Power Pro and also features perspective from our own Ian Andrews.

ID Power Pro Leasing Improves Verification Feature

Tue, 28 May 2019 21:39:18 GMT

Power Pro Leasing has announced its ID verification feature is more extensive than ever.

The app allows leasing agents to scan driver's licenses, passports and military IDs. The solution then uses the information from the IDs to auto-populate guest cards while also storing the data in a Fair Housing-compliant manner.

Power Pro also protects the safety of leasing agents by ensuring prospects who arrive at a property for a tour have valid IDs. When leasing associates scan the IDs, Power Pro verifies the prospect is at least 18 years old, verifies the ID hasn't expired and allows agents to confirm the name on the front of the ID matches the name associated with the barcode on the back.

The solution also fully integrates with property management software platforms, so the results of any ID verification are automatically fed into those platforms.

"We are extremely excited about the security enhancements featured in Power Pro," said Ian Andrews, co-founder and principal of Power Pro. "The goal of our app is to streamline the leasing process and give agents all the tools and resources they need at their fingertips. Providing agents and their communities with easy access to such powerful ID verification features will make the leasing process easier and give them the peace of mind that comes from knowing touring prospects are who they say they are."

Kellie Hosch, district manager of NALS Apartment Homes, says her company welcomes the security enhancements.

"The integration with our property management system is wonderful, and it's great to know we're doing all we can to protect the safety of our leasing agents by making sure those who tour our properties have legitimate IDs," Hosch said. "More generally, we have been extremely pleased with how the Power Pro app has made it so much easier for our agents to do their jobs and provide prospects with outstanding experiences."

Power Pro drives prospect engagement throughout the leasing process and the property tour. Leasing agents can access community information for a prospect from anywhere on the property – in the clubhouse or at the pool – and the app creates an easy and efficient follow-up process. Agents can also send customized e-brochures on the spot to prospects, and also share floor plans as well as the pricing of a prospect’s favorite apartment as quick, personalized takeaways.

What Today's Prospects Want from Their Leasing Experience

Wed, 22 May 2019 21:45:12 GMT

To be successful, apartment communities obviously have to provide prospects with great leasing experiences. Here’s the thing, though: A lot of times, consumers don't know what they want.

Did consumers know they wanted the Google search engine – literally just this blank page with one dialogue box – before it came along? No. Did we know we wanted a one-click way to check out, like Amazon has given us? No.

Capital One has disrupted the banking experience with their open-space Capital One Cafés. However, I doubt they got the idea for this because they got feedback from customers saying, "I'll feel better if I bank in a café with refreshments and without tellers behind three-quarter-high walls."

Like these businesses did, apartment operators and their leasing teams need to use their insight, expertise and even the science around buying to design leasing experiences that will please and engage prospects. And they should look to what has been studied and works in other businesses as well.

And yes, definitely, listen to and taken in all prospect feedback.

Still, from my years in the industry, I've learned there are some general things prospects want from their leasing experiences, and it's important for operators to keep these in mind.

Prospects want leasing agents who add value. Prospects really crave leasing agents who truly listen to them and who have the knowledge to answer their questions. Unfortunately, leasing agents don't always pass this test.

Agents also too often force the flow of conversation. If a prospect starts off by talking about how they want to be on the top floor of the building and the leasing agent says, "First off, when are you looking to move?", or the leasing agent is completely price-centric and responds with “What’s your price range?”, that's forcing the flow of the conversation, which can be irritating to a prospect. Prospects want to have authentic, natural conversations with leasing agents.

Prospects want to feel welcomed. Leasing agents have to be welcoming. They need to smile, stand up, say hello and introduce themselves. They should offer refreshments to ensure prospects know the leasing team is excited they are there. Leasing teams are under so much pressure, and sometimes they've just been grilled by their regional manager or had a rough owner's visit when a prospect walks in, so it's not always easy to smile but it's so crucial to do so.

And it's crucial for management to feed their leasing teams with positivity. I've been in leasing offices right after they've been rather beat up by someone from the home office and thought to myself, "If a prospect walked in right now, how would these leasing agents bounce back and be in the right frame when they have just been spoken to like that?"

Prospects want a frictionless experience. Today's prospects can encounter a number of snags in their apartment shopping. This happens consistently: before arriving at a property, a prospect will talk with an agent over the phone or send in an internet query and provide all sorts of information, about things like their pets and the size of apartment they’re looking for, their move-in date. Then, when the prospect visits the community, the agent doesn't pull up the information, and the prospect is asked to provide the data all over again. That's a real pain point.

And what about the forgotten void that everyone skips over: what happens throughout the leasing presentation? What questions do prospects need answers to while on tour and are those able to be answered immediately or does the prospect have to wait until they get back to the office for an answer? What expectations does management have about what agents highlight during a tour What do leasing agents say they need at their fingertips and do they have the tools to provide those deliverables?

Also, some systems make it hard for prospects to complete an application. I was recently with an operator while they were testing their online application. They tried five times, unsuccessfully, to make it through the process. The site was timing out on them, and it wasn't always clear what an applicant should do next.

We as an industry have not mastered simplifying the process anywhere along the journey and definitely not from the point where a prospect says, "Yes, I want this apartment" through approval.

There are technologies out there to address all the pain points prospects feel, and operators must look into these. And as they do, they need to make sure their different technology platforms integrate; this is critical.

In the end, consumers' expectations regarding their shopping experiences are ever changing. By keeping the ideas above in mind, focusing on making it easy to do business with their property and using their own expertise and insight, operators can create the kinds of leasing experiences prospects will find engaging - and that will ultimately lead to more leases.

Simplifying the Leasing Process

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 22:09:14 GMT

Nurturing leads and getting them to sign a lease is no easy feat, and operators owe it to their hardworking associates – as well as to their prospects – to make the leasing process as simple and as efficient as possible.

To my eye, there are several ways to significantly improve the leasing process, and I've summarized a few of these recommendations below.

Make sure solutions and software programs integrate. The lack of integration between property management solutions, lead management programs, online leasing technologies and the universe of other ancillary products has long plagued multifamily.

It's not uncommon for a prospect to go to a site like Apartments.com, provide some information and request to be contacted by a community. Then, when the prospect goes to the property and talks to a leasing agent, the agent has to ask most, if not all, the same questions again because the prospect's information didn't come into the community's systems. This results in frustrations for both associates and leads.

Similar examples abound of how the lack of technological integration creates double work for agents and a slower, less efficient experience for prospects.

I've seen a lot of communities where associates will enter information into a guest card and then, when the prospect wants to apply, the leasing agent has to manually re-enter the guest card information into a different place to run the credit check.

In the end, suppliers need to be more diligent in creating products that play nice with other multifamily technologies, and operators should make a point of purchasing solutions that integrate with their other technologies.

Create an environment in which agents can make efficient use of a prospect's time. More than ever, today's prospects are busy and want to complete a property tour as quickly as possible.

There are now solutions that allow agents to gather information from prospects while touring the property instead of while sitting at a desk. This can significantly reduce the amount of time a prospect has to spend at a community.

Mobile leasing solutions also can allow agents to answer questions about pricing, floor plan availability and other topics while on the tour instead of having to return to the leasing office after the tour is over to look up the answers. Having this information at their fingertips can make agents feel more confident and results in a more satisfactory experience for prospects, who can get frustrated if an associate doesn't have an immediate answer to their questions.

Along these same lines, multiple prospects sometimes descend on an office at once. In today's booming job market, some communities have had difficulties staying fully staffed. Combine these two dynamics and this often means some prospects are left to wait - some will even have to walk away - before an agent can meet with them.

Communities might want to consider offering self-guided tours, which allow prospects to see a community without having to be accompanied by an agent. Some leads prefer to tour by themselves anyway, and self-guided tours can create real efficiencies for leasing agents. Still, it’s important for onsite associates to have at least some type of conversation with a potential resident, as prospects do value building a rapport with the community staff.

At the very least, properties should consider having some type of kiosk that allows a waiting prospect to provide information and answer questions before meeting with an agent. That way, the conversation isn't starting at ground zero when the associate is finally available to talk.

Test your prospect pipeline. Not a lot of communities do this, but it's a highly effective way to see exactly what your prospects go through and to optimize their experiences.

Someone from the management company should go to sites like Apartments.com or Zillow and request information about their community. From there, they should go through the entire lead experience and even tour the community as if they were a prospect.

Associates need to make sure they've made it easy for their prospects to get to the next stage in the process. If each step isn't carefully thought through and doesn't flow logically from the preceding step, prospects will grow frustrated and you're going to lose them. Make the process easy!

Leasing agents across our industry work hard to close the deal and convert leads into prospects. By following the suggestions above, apartment communities can make leasing associates' jobs easier, make the prospects' experiences more enjoyable and boost conversion rates.

Power Pro Leasing Announces Upcoming Release of Self-Guided Tour App

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 22:18:52 GMT

Power Pro Leasing has announced it is accepting preorders for a self-guided tour app it will release this month.

The new technology, which will work in conjunction with the Power Pro app or as a stand-alone option for leasing teams, will create efficiencies for onsite teams while meeting prospect demand. Prospects will be able to enter a leasing office, register on an iPad, provide official identification and receive a text or email with links to a community map and directions to the apartments they would like to visit.

"Empowering prospective renters to participate in self-guided tours will be an important part of the future of leasing," said Karen Gladney, co-founder and principal of Power Pro. “It not only gives prospects a choice in the type of buying experience they want, but also addresses the challenges for properties associated with finding great leasing agents, turnover and unanticipated high-traffic times.”

Power Pro has coordinated with operators, such as UDR, while developing its new app to make sure the solution meets the needs of today's onsite teams.

"Onsite associates are busier than ever, and in today's booming job market, many apartment communities are having a difficult time retaining them," said Ian Andrews, co-founder and principal of Power Pro. "Self-guided tours can free up overextended, smaller staffs to manage their day-to-day responsibilities more efficiently."

In addition, many of today's apartment prospects prefer to tour a property by themselves, according to Michelle M. Peterson, community director at UDR's Steele Creek, a Class A, luxury high-rise community in Denver. "We are finding that majority of prospective residents prefer to self-tour through our community," she said.

For communities with 24-hour concierge staffs, offering self-guided tours can also be a way to allow prospects to tour outside of a leasing office's business hours. "Leasing offices often are only open during normal business hours, the same hours that most prospects work," Peterson said. "Self-guided tours can be a way to give them more flexibility to view a property."

With the Power Pro leasing app for leasing agents, leasing agents create a much more effective and efficient process that drives prospect engagement in the property tour. Leasing agents can access community information for a prospect from anywhere on the property – in the clubhouse or at the pool – and the app creates an easy and efficient follow-up process. Agents can also send customized e-brochures on the spot to prospects, and also share floor plans as well as the pricing of a prospect’s favorite apartment as quick, personalized takeaways.

Click here to request more information about Power Pro's self-guided tour app.

7 Crucial Questions to Address Prior to Implementing Self-guided Tours

Wed, 20 Feb 2019 22:36:02 GMT

The shiny new object of our industry in 2019 is “self-guided tours,” allowing prospects to visit communities and tour without a team member. While allowing someone to tour themselves isn’t new, and was how less professional buildings conducted operations even as recent as a decade ago, this time it’s here to stay.

With the evolution of technology, the self-guided tour experience can now be purposeful, intentional and fabulous. Before jumping in the self-tour deep end, however, there are crucial questions to address. Of course, there will be lessons learned and pivots to perfect this approach, but thinking ahead will create a better experience and save headaches down the road.

Remember when Facebook was a new shiny object and properties started creating pages with fake birthdays as if the property was a person? Then the page sat stagnant because there wasn’t a plan on how to implement and manage them.

Knowing the objective is half the battle.

As you determine whether you want to implement self-guided tours as an option for your prospects, think through your objective, your brand and the experience you want prospects to have. Consider what industries and businesses have effective self-service business models and what you like about their models from your local grocery store to Silver Car. Then, address these questions:

Will prospects have a choice or will self-guided tours be the only way to see a home?
Will prospects be able to tour outside of the office hours?
How will you verify people who will be walking through the community without a team member?
How will you identify prospects from residents?
What data will you track?
Who, What, When, and Where will there be human touch points?
What integrated systems will you have in place to support the experience for both the on-site team and prospects?

While self-service can sound like a breach of customer service, it can be quite the opposite and enhance the customer experience. A recent salesforce study found that 80 percent of customers say that the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services. Couple that with 92 percent of customers who say the ability to control what personal information is collected from them makes them more likely to trust a company with that information.

Trust is a major factor in why people choose to buy from a company. The more you can do to create trust, the more likely customers are to buy or lease in the case of the apartment industry.

There are extraordinary payoffs to incorporating self-guided tours into your customer service experience. Communities will absolutely be able to operate well without more team members than they can find to hire with the labor shortage in full force.. In many other industries, when forced human interaction was removed, foot traffic increased up to 70 percent. Could this happen for apartments? Also with fewer forced human touch points, enhanced touch points, and increased trust, the result should be more leases.

These are exciting times. You just have to be intentional and have a plan laid out for the best execution of the vision. Keep pushing our industry forward by bringing innovation to the forefront for better efficiencies and better experiences.

The Kindness ROI

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 22:41:20 GMT

There's no line item in the budget for practicing kindness throughout your company. But doing so creates a powerful ripple effect that ultimately has a significant benefit to the bottom line.

For starters, kindness paves the way for happier, less stressed and more productive team members. According to information from Dartmouth College , those who regularly practice kindness experience a wide array of health benefits: more energy, increased levels of happiness, less anxiety, healthier blood pressure, significantly lower amounts of cortisol (the stress hormone) and longer lifespans.

Along those same lines, organizational development specialist Dan Schwartz advises workers to "be kind to your fellow employees and commit random acts of kindness to decrease stress in the workplace and increase productivity."

When associates are healthier and less stressed, they are more likely to become long-term employees, which saves on the often-considerable expense of hiring and training new team members. And healthy, engaged associates lead to satisfied residents who are more apt to renew their leases.

In my 23+ years of working with multifamily executives, leasing teams and supplier partners, here are some of the important things I've learned about kindness and the apartment industry.

Everyone has a hand in creating a culture of kindness
Everyone is responsible for creating a culture of kindness, from the ownership group and investors to the executive leadership and onsite property teams.

Company executives and onsite team members need to practice kindness and courtesy in all of their interactions with employees. Treat each other – as well as residents and vendors – with warmth and respect. Don't just always offer constructive criticism but point out the ways in which individual associates and teams are excelling. Write handwritten thank-you notes to those who are doing great jobs. Smile. Be approachable. When someone is struggling with an issue outside of work, send them a supportive email or note. It's just common sense that associates will want to work well and work harder when they feel recognized and appreciated.

When an apartment company's leaders and onsite associates display genuine kindness and care in their everyday interactions with others, it sets a tone that people across the organization will want to emulate. It creates an atmosphere in which people can thrive and are willing to go the extra mile when someone needs them to. I'm not saying associates shouldn't be held accountable when they underperform or mess up, but I am saying they should always be treated with respect and consideration.

Give back to your communities and the neighborhoods around you
Another way that apartment companies can practice kindness is to give back to the communities and areas in which they operate. Regularly providing chances for employees to perform philanthropic work enables them to satisfy the basic human need we all feel to help others. That, in turn, can make them feel better about your company. At the same time, group volunteer outings allow team members to strengthen their bonds with each other.

Regular recognition events
Finally, regular recognition events – such as a lunch or a dinner – are a great way to honor high-performing associates, show kindness, and build team camaraderie and morale. Everyone likes to be recognized for their good efforts, and honoring strong performers in a room full of their peers has special value.

It's an everyday commitment
Kindness isn’t a one-dose-a-month prescription. Your company has to have an ongoing and daily commitment to making sure team members treat each other – as well as residents and vendors – with real warmth and respect. It may sound silly but don't ever underestimate what a simple smile, "hello" or other gesture can do to positively impact a co-worker's day.

Simply put, practicing kindness every day is one of the most effective ways to build a high-performing team and a portfolio of satisfied residents.

Creating a Great Leasing Experience for Prospects

Thu, 13 Dec 2018 22:45:41 GMT

It's a scene that regularly plays out at apartment communities across the country. A prospect who's excited about seeing a property walks into a leasing office and … it goes all downhill from there.

The leasing agents fail to stand up and greet the customer. The prospect is forced to sit at an agent's desk while the agent robotically gathers information. The community tour feels perfunctory, and the follow-up, if completed, is done through impersonal automation.

The prospect visit has got to change. While talked about, it’s still an afterthought for too many communities. Expectations are shaped by experiences, and prospects often are receiving a more inviting experience at their local bank - look at Capital One Cafes, for example - than when looking for their new home.

Every prospect that walks through your doors should be treated to a warm, authentic and engaging experience. How a community visit goes can literally make all the difference in whether a prospect decides to lease or not.

Ready to commit to creating a great onsite experience for your prospects? Follow the five recommendations below.

Have ample and accurate signage . A prospect's arrival experience begins before they set foot in the leasing office. Make sure your community has set out clear and sufficient signage to easily guide prospects onto your property and into the leasing office. A visitor should never have any doubt about where to park and where to go.

Be ready to welcome visitors . Leasing agents should be positioned within a line of sight to the front door of the office. This will both allow the prospect to see someone when they first enter the building and will enable agents to easily know when it's time to greet a visitor. However, make sure you plan your greetings so that not all of the agents are converging on a prospect at once – that can be a little intimidating and off-putting to a lead.

Create a warm and inviting atmosphere in the leasing office. Few things are less appealing to a prospect than having to sit at a leasing desk, with their backs to the action, the windows and the views of the property, while being interrogated by a leasing agent. A prospect's initial in-person contact with an agent should take place in a much more inviting atmosphere than that. Technology now allows agents to go through the discovery conversation with prospects and enter information into guest cards while they're away from their desks.

Design your leasing office so that it has an abundance of social areas where agents and prospects can sit in a relaxed setting and have a real conversation. Work with designers to buy furniture and implement a seating arrangement that facilitates conversation. Couches opposite one another and separated by a huge coffee table won't do it. Furthermore, couches that are too low and soft may look cool but aren’t comfortable for the leasing team or prospects.

Make sure there are refreshments offered in multiple places along the tour path. The leasing office needs to have a pleasant scent, nice music playing and inviting items to touch and see. You want the office and the entire tour path to offer a welcoming sensory experience that targets all five senses.

Focus on having actual, transparent conversations . Leasing agents don't need to start their conversations with prospects by asking for their phone number and email, but many of them do. Begin by asking prospects bigger-picture questions about what they're looking for in their next apartment home. Encourage leasing agents to collaborate and facilitate rather than block and tackle. Often the leasing agent can end up being the biggest roadblock due to lack of knowledge and/or poor customer service.

Customize your follow-up. One of the biggest mistakes a leasing agent can make after a prospect leaves their community is to send out automated, templated follow-up messages. That's the quickest way to destroy any genuine relationship you've established with a customer.Imagine if a prospect tells you they're waiting on a job offer before making a decision, and you send them a templated email that says, "Thank you so much for visiting our community. It was a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to you renting from us." The prospect is bound to think, "Did they even listen to anything we talked about?"

Make sure your follow-up communication is focused on the specific floorplans the prospect has interest in. Send them customized brochures that detail the amenities and features most important to them.

In every possible way, show them you listened and understand exactly what they're looking for and what they need out of their next home.

These five tips just scratch the surface in creating an engaging leasing experience. I could go on for awhile on this topic – and I probably will in subsequent blogs. There's so much ground to cover, and I'm passionate about this issue.

Retaining Leasing Associates in a Booming Job Market

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:48:48 GMT

When you get down to it, an apartment management company faces few tasks more important than assembling and retaining strong leasing teams.

So how can you motivate and retain top-notch leasing associates? Below are some suggestions.

Cover the basics. To start with, apartment operators have to make sure they're paying a competitive salary and offering good benefits. Medical insurance, personal time off, paid holidays, retirement plans, housing discounts and bonus programs are all components of a benefits package that will encourage team members to stick around.

Support them with the right technology. Great leasing agents are relationship-minded people. They thrive while interacting and connecting with others, and building a real rapport with prospects and current residents. This is what makes them love their jobs.

So to keep them around, operators should make sure leasing agents are able to focus their time on these personal interactions and are not tied to their desks with a ton of cumbersome data entry and lonely administrative tasks. The right technology can make these tasks remarkably efficient and can even allow agents to fill out guest cards while giving prospect tours or otherwise interacting with leads while away from their desks. Minimizing the amount of time your extroverted, active leasing agents have to sit in front of their desktops can be an important way to boost their job satisfaction.

Build a forward-thinking company culture. Millennials and Gen Z'ers, who make up such a high percentage of today's leasing agents, have grown up in a world of innovation. And they want to work for companies that embrace technology and are dedicated to being on the cutting edge.

To attract and retain today's leasing associates, your company should commit itself to being at the forefront of technology and innovation. Strive to be an organization that isn’t about doing things a certain way because that’s the way things have always been done. Show your potential hires and your current associates that your company is committed to being a leader in the multifamily industry and to enhancing the experience of its leasing agents.

Show them the path forward. An apartment operator should be clear from the very start of an employee's tenure about the opportunities for advancement and what the associate needs to do to earn promotions. Knowing they will have the chance to grow and move up the corporate ladder will make leasing agents more inclined to stay with your company for the long haul. And today's technology allows operators to more closely track a leasing associate's performance and communicate to them in a clear and transparent way how they are doing and what they need to improve on.

Communicate, don't isolate. If your company is lackadaisical about communication, it's all too easy for leasing agents to feel isolated from the corporate office and company leadership. This, in turn, can chip away at the satisfaction and bond they feel with their employer.

In this day and age, communication is paramount. Regular company-wide conference calls, e-newsletters and a robust internal communication platform are a couple of ways to keep leasing associates in the loop about corporate plans and make them feel a part of something bigger. Company executives should also make a point of regularly visiting their properties and meeting with their onsite teams.

And communication absolutely cannot be a one-way street. Listening to the feedback of leasing associates is critical; it helps them feel invested in the company to know that their voices are heard, and their input can often be the springboard to operational improvements.

How Bad Data Is Hindering Your Leasing Efforts

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 22:51:24 GMT

Each time a prospective resident shows interest in an apartment community, data is generated. But this information is usually poorly captured, and the community and apartment owners lose valuable data as a result. In a recent guest column for Multi-Housing News, Power Pro's Ian Andrews outlines the reasons for insufficient data collection, the impact it has on apartment operators - and how they can better at collecting needed information.

Multifamily: Finally Embracing the Digital Age

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 22:53:37 GMT

Over the years, the apartment industry has developed a reputation for being a laggard when it comes to technology. However, as a Multifamily Executive article quoting Power Pro's Karen Gladney details, that reputation may be outdated.