Quality Leads

I want to get your opinion on the quality of leads you get from your lead sources.

I work with a company that is on almost every website out there, rent.com, forrent.com, mynewplace, move.com, apartments.com etc but doesn't use a locator service. The company I came from used solely locator services and I want to get some opinions on the difference in the leads you get from both those sources and which turn more into leases.

I have to say I really miss my locators, I miss that personal connection you have and to be able to call them and say "hey, we really needs some leads into our doors this weekend, can you keep us in mind" (which normally were followed up with a box of doughnuts)

The leads I get from the websites are many with absolutely no information, all I get is a first name and an email. Needless to say those do normally not turn into a lease while I found that the leads I got from the locator services were much better screened and in most cases turned into leases.

Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate every single lead I get no matter how detailed they are, and whatever my company asks of me I will make it work but I often feel myself really missing my locators and the personal service they offer to both prospects and properties.

Vala,

Thanks for bringing this topic up, I am very interested in how apartment leasing specialists get the best, most cost effective leads as well. I work at MyNewPlace and we are always looking for ways to improve our service.

When an apartment locator delivers a lead, what information do you receive? Do any locators actually bring potential renters to the apartment complex?

Hi Matt! I get a lot of leads from mynewplace and like I said before I appreciate and value every single lead I get! Many leasing professionals think that e-leads are a chore rather then a possible prospect and I keep finding my biggest struggle to instill in their mindset that e-leads are just as important as a prospect that walks into the door. That can be kind of hard when you are on a busy property who gets 30 e-leads a day and a constant stream of people in the door

Now as when it comes to improving services, I have always wondered why there aren't more 'required' fields to fill into for the prospects. Then I am talking about the basics as to what what size 1, 2 or 3 bedroom apartment, when they want to move, at least have the last name as a required field

What I like about the locators is that there is a local service that has either talked in person or through the phone to the prospect, narrowed down what they want and pointed them in my direction, then all I have to do is to seal the deal. I already know what they are looking for, what trouble spots they have to overcome and what they require. It takes the stress out of apartment search having a professional looking for you instead of browsing through 100's of options for 1 area.

I do really like how mynewplace sets up their search engine, you have an easy way to narrow your search down by your requirements but what about if they are looking for a specific property, can they search by name? I didn't see that option.

Vala - Glad to see you again! :cheer:
MyNewPlace.com has been our company's leading esource recently... we love it! But I do agree that there are important questions to add as information fields to gain a better undertanding re: what the prospect is actually looking for. The more info my property managers have at the get go when they contact the prospect directly, the better the outcome. My company doesn't use a locator service either, and I have never encountered a resident who said they had sourced one, so... we create the personal connection on our own (like any good leasing specialist does.) However, the more inclusive an esource can offer us re: info, needs, likes/dislikes, etc. the better!

Thanks Tara, feels good to be back I finally now have more time on my hands

I agree towards leasing professional the more information we get the better, but I can't keep thinking it from the other angle too where mynewplace and other sources want to keep their customer happy and give them option to keep their identity to a minimum.

I still do miss locator services and if it was my choice I would have both. I am the type of girl I want my cake and to eat it to!

Matt to answer your question, yes I've had a close relationship with locators where they brought me a lot of prospects where most of them turned into leases. Now then again, websites bring me a lot more of leads so it does come down to the same, it just gets frustrating for a busy leasing associate to weed out those who are half interested and those who are fully, and I see a pattern, those who fill in all the fields in the form are normally those who we get a response back from.

Vala and Tara,

Thanks so much for responding to my question, I know it was very vague and the information you have provided was great.

I am always looking how to make our service better, we want to deliver the highest quality leads to our clients, and personally i wanted to get a better feel for what the "deliverables" from apartment locator services are. It would be good to find ways to incorporate the cost effectiveness of ILSs with the convenience of apartment locator services.

If you dont have an online rental application that you can post on all your internet posting sites, I encourage to do so as soon as possible. This is why:

We own 10 apartment complexes throughout the south east. Approximately 80% of our leads come from the internet. All of our ads have a link to our 1024bit encrypted secure occupancy100 web based rental application.



The leads we gather from the our web based rental application are top notch. The best thing about it is that our property managers receive an immediate email with full contact information (name, phone number, email, and basic information about what size apartment and what length lease the prospective tenant has in mind). We require our apartment managers to respond to these leads within the hour. Our closing percentage from these leads is over 50% (if the lead passes the credit and background check).

I hope this is helpful,
Sergio Navarrete

We just started offering the rental app to other communities outside of our market and we need people to test it, so if you want to try it (obviously for free), we need as much feedback as possible.

How does this work?

We are offering the rental application for free for a month because we need to test it, and get as much feed-back on it as possible.

To be able to use our rental application, you do NOT need a property website. All we need is a contact email, and detailed information about your property (pictures, location, amenities, rent/month, floor plans, etc).

We need testers! Please if you would like to help, let me know

Leslie,
This is Blake Ratcliff. I am the president at Occupancy100. Sounds like you would like to get started.

If you have a few minutes, Sergio and I would like to have a quick call to identify the right contact(s) to work out generating some leads for your apartment portfolio.

We have had great success with the products and believe you will be pleased as well.