For multifamily communities, creating an apartment tour experience that stands out is a must.
Whether the tour is in person or virtual, equipping yourself with powerful leasing tools to pull a prospect in and feel comfortable / confident with their tour experience is key in finding leasing success. It won’t matter if it’s their first apartment tour on their search or their fiftieth – they’re only looking for one place to live, and therefore it’s the one they will remember, and the one that matters.
So, how can leasing teams create a perfect tour experience that will leave a prospect either wanting to learn more or ready to sign their lease? Here are our top five, must-have elements to create the perfect apartment tour.
Personalize the Tour
To kick off the list of perfect apartment tour elements, let’s talk about personalization. For it to be the perfect apartment tour, the tour must be relevant and specific to THAT prospect. It must hit everything on their individual apartment tour checklist. For example, show them the actual unit. That means showing the prospect the exact apartment unit they’d be living in, rather than a model or a stock rendering or floor plan.
However, take it a step further. Not only should you show the exact unit or model, but answer their apartment tour questions. Show them the closets if they want to see them. If it’s a pre-recorded video tour, call the resident out by their name in the video, or switch to the even more personal route and go with a live virtual tour. Regardless, make the tour their tour by adding that touch of personalization.
Accessibility
For an apartment tour to be the perfect tour, it must be something a prospect can access wherever, whenever and without the physical in person requirements. When touring apartments, this may mean something different to one person while it means another thing to someone else. For example, some prospects may want to see the space in person. But, more often these days, some prospects want a virtual option. Or a hybrid option for in person and virtual.
So, a key element of a perfect apartment tour is being able to send a tour to the prospect. The accessibility component is a huge wow factor. Meaning leasing teams can create a virtual apartment tour wherever and on whatever device.
Accessibility goes a step deeper with ensuring that your virtual tours are device-agnostic and viewable on any browser, but also accessible with captions, narration, translation services, and much, much more.
Showcase Your Community’s Amenities and Culture
Go beyond the walls of the unit. Showcase all of the other aspects of your property, such as:
- Amenities
- Team introductions
- Resident testimonials
- Community events (socially distanced, of course)
Now, this element can seem obvious in small apartment tours or studio apartment tours. But, even for many modern apartment tours or luxury apartment tours, part of the draw is what comes alongside the actual unit. A pool, gym, or other community space can be an enormous draw. Or, are you invested in creating a great local art collection in the lobby? Show that! Ultimately, this helps build out the vibe and sentiment of what it would mean to live in that community.
Get Out Into the Neighborhood
It’s so important that an apartment tour shows the neighborhood the apartment building is a part of. This is particularly important if this is a virtual apartment tour since they won’t have the experience of actually driving up to the property. This would be a great time to personalize the tour and show your prospects what it’s like to drive up to the community. Next, let them see the nearby area. Show off restaurants, coffee shops, parks, grocery stores and markets. Show off whatever will sell about the surrounding area but also keep in mind what is important to the prospect.
Be sure to remember the details when getting to know your prospects. Such as, do they have kids? If your apartment community is close to a park, show that off. Whether it’s on a prospect’s apartment checklist or not, the surrounding community makes a big difference.
Don’t be Afraid to be Imperfect
What should you always bring to an apartment tour? It’s simple… bring the realness. The perfect apartment tour isn’t “perfect.” Embrace being real, raw and transparent when giving apartment tours. Overly produced virtual tours, 3D tours, 360 tours or augmented reality, isn’t as highly desired when it comes to actually leasing an apartment.
Prioritize realness, authenticity and transparency when you’re showing apartments to rent. Show the apartment and community as it stands, don’t hide anything. If this person moves in, they are going to see it anyways. Be open and transparent through the entire experience. Show everything as if they were there in person.
While many of these elements may not specifically be on a prospect’s apartment hunting checklist, nor is it an all encompassing list, they will help you check those boxes. By using the above elements as a foundation, you’ll be giving prospects a unique, impactful apartment tour experience they’ll remember.
Let Us Help You!
Close more leases, market more effectively, engage with residents and, as always, keep it real. Do you have a question or suggestion? Or want to learn more about what you read? Email us at contact@realync.com. We’d love to hear from you!
