Busy season is almost here for the multifamily industry. Leasing teams are beginning to send renewal notices out and tour prospective renters, so they are busy!
To streamline day-to-day operations, the best piece of advice to successfully prepare for the busy leasing season is to prep now and be ready to scale. Here’s what we mean and how apartment virtual tours can help.
Build Your Content Library
When activities around leasing apartments are a little slower, use that time to start developing video content that you can use all year round. Whether you’re using a built-for-multifamily platform like Realync, creating 3D luxury apartment tours, or just using the video function on your mobile device, start recording.
Think about what units you can get into to film walkthroughs. Also, what amenities should you either film or refresh? If you redid your gym during the slower season, now is a great time to get some new footage.
You can also look beyond virtual tours of apartments or the physical property itself. Look to your team and staff to record introductory videos. Film them saying hello and share a little about themselves and their role on the property – especially if they are newer. Those videos can be shared all season long. You can also use your team to create fun gifs. For example, create one of the team celebrating. That’s a fun inclusion for a follow-up message that shows the property’s personality while also fostering higher and stronger engagement with the message.
Answer All FAQs on Video
Another way to scale for the busy season using apartment virtual tour techniques is to film you or your team answering your most frequently asked questions or outlining how-tos for common procedures.
Think about it–how many times do your prospects have the same questions and you find yourself repeating the answers to those questions over and over. Questions like, “what’s the rental application process like? How long will it take? What do I need to apply? What’s the rental criteria?
You’re likely answering those questions over and over. Rather than doing that each time, create a video that you can quickly personalize and send. Not only is video content consumed and retained better than written-out words, but it’s also more engaging and entertaining. When volume is at its highest, having content like this at the start can save you so much time and energy.
Have the Right Equipment
Before busy season is truly underway, make sure you have all software and equipment ready to offer prospects options to tour your community. They might want to tour in person. They might want to tour virtually. Or, maybe a self-guided tour is their preferred way of touring or it could be a hybrid of in-person touring and online.
Offering all of those options upfront eliminates most of the back and forth. It creates a more streamlined approach – simplifying the process for both renters and leasing teams. Be prepared before activity picks up to offer these types of touring options so you can easily scale through the busy season.
Audit Existing Assets
Another way to prepare for the busy season is to do an audit of all your existing assets and make sure they are up to date. Look at the website and make sure all your photos are current. Check all the links to see that they are working correctly and leading to the right places.
It’s also an opportunity to review your email templates since you’ll be using those a lot when things pick up. Is the content compelling? Does it need to be updated? Can you make the copy more engaging or include dynamic content?
While you’re at it, audit your chat tools and make sure they are answering the right questions. Look at all the forms throughout the site. Can they be shortened to create fewer steps for the prospect or resident? Taking some time now to do a thorough review of assets can be a huge time saver.
Whether you’re creating small apartment virtual tours or luxury apartment virtual tours, having your video content ready going into the busy leasing season will help you and your team feel more prepared. Look for ways to reduce the steps that people are going to have to take to reduce friction in the process. That’s going to make things easier for both prospects and the leasing team.
All of this may seem a little overwhelming – adding to an already overflowing to-do list. But, go by the adage of getting 1% better every day. Each day pick one thing to review, fix or improve upon. Just one thing per day to prepare and be ready to scale. That will help you have a more successful busy leasing season.
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Enhancing your video engagement strategy with 1:1, DIY, or pre-recorded videos will help leasing teams WIN more leases! Get DIY video tips, multifamily marketing, and leasing knowledge delivered to your inbox bi-weekly by subscribing to our newsletter!
