A major part of excelling as a leasing agent is constantly looking for ways to improve your leasing agent skills. The industry is far from stagnant so you have to stay on your toes.

That means staying up to date on industry trends, changes, and the market in general. It also means finding ways to improve on what feels like smaller, more personal leasing skills – how you talk to prospects, how you find out information about them, and how you’re positioning your property.

With so many leasing agent skills and qualifications to master, it may seem like adding even one more thing is too much. But, these tips are easy to incorporate, learn, and they will be massively impactful.

Here are three easy ways you can take your leasing agent skills to the next level.

Ask Open-ended Questions

One of the best and easiest to improve your leasing skills is to master open-ended questions. Hone in on asking questions that require more than one-word answers and then use those answers to craft your sales pitch or determine what information is going to get that prospect further down the sales funnel.

Examples
Ask questions like, “Tell me more about your experiences in the last place you lived? What did you like or not like about it?” Rather than saying “Do you like the style of this kitchen?” ask “What are your thoughts on this kitchen style?” You’ll have more of a discussion and conversation rather than one-word responses to your rapid-fire questions.

Currently, you likely walk into a meeting with a prospect with a list of multiple questions, many of which are yes or no. However, by taking a look and editing that list, you may be able to get all the information you need and more by asking fewer questions but questions that are open-ended.

Ultimately, you want your prospect to do the majority of the talking. Yes or no questions aren’t the way to do that. Asking one, good strong question can get you much more information than 10 yes or no, simple responses.

Review Your Own Work

Another simple tip to improving your leasing agent skills is taking the time to review your work. If you’ve recorded any of your leasing activities, go back and listen to how you sound.

Examples
If you’re using a video leasing platform like Realync, you’ll have access to all your pre-recorded and live tours. Pull those up and watch them, listening and watching how you’re showing the property and interacting with your prospects. You can do the same with recorded phone calls, review them, and listen to how you present information. Could you change a word or two like changing “what is…” to “tell me about a time…”

Then, work toward correcting anything that sounds off, any verbal tics or even the frequency you pause and ask for questions. What did you say that sounded great? What got across and truly resonated with the prospect? And what did you say that you may need to work on?

While this isn’t something you necessarily need to add to your leasing agent daily checklist, setting aside some dedicated time to revisit your work is a great way to find areas you could improve upon. Add it as one of your SMART goals for leasing consultants. You may be surprised with what you find out!

Seek Out All-Stars

Another one of our favorite ways to improve leasing agent skills is to reach out to all-star sales people. Seek, find, and ask questions of those who are stellar at what they do – and take plenty of notes! While not everything they do may work for you, you’re likely to find some good knowledge.

Examples
Keep in mind that this can be someone within your own company or property, but it doesn’t have to be! You can look to another property in your group or even go outside the multifamily industry. That can be a great place to get inspired. Find someone in software sales or professional services business development, for example. Or, subscribe to a popular newsletter either in Sales or Marketing to get inspired.

Find those rockstar salespeople, in and outside of the real estate realm, offer to buy them coffee – in real life or virtually – and pick their brain for tips you could use. Look at how they are messaging their product, how they are positioning their sales pitches. Take any advice they offer and find ways to make it work for you and your work.

The multifamily leasing business can be tough and competitive, but it can certainly be rewarding. Using the tips above, you’ll see your leasing skills improve and you’ll close more leases as well. A little persistence and effort can help you set and reach even high level performance goals for a leasing consultant. Before you know it you’ll be the rockstar leasing agent people are looking to for advice.

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