There are many benefits to weekend hours in the leasing center.

Property management is a customer service industry.  We provide, service and maintain homes for our residents.

While we do have prospects that visit the leasing center on weekdays, its generally on the way to or from, squeezed in during the lunch hour or doctors visit ended quickly.

Any one of these quick spur of the moment visits, is the foundation for the “I’m just looking around, not planning to make a decision” introduction before we even started to complete our guest card.

By acknowledging the importance of this decision, the value of the follow up visit increases.  We can schedule the weekend appointment on the calendar .  This guarantees time and attention for their future home decision. There are lots of details we can focus on, with a little more time:

• bring the significant other
• and fine tune measuring decisions..
• measure rooms.
• confirm parking tour amenities

Assisting Current Residents

Weekends are the perfect opportunity to assist our residents.

Maintenance call backs on the completed service requests.  Scheduling follow up repairs on work that wasn’t able to be completed in the previous week.

Often maintenance callbacks seem destined to the world of lost voicemails.

But weekends allow both an opportunity to call residents at home instead of at work, or even stop by.  With a quick call to confirm a convenient time, we can confirm they are satisfied with the maintenance repair that we performed for them.

Prospect Call Backs

Prospect call back is another series of calls or email that seem destined to be in the world of never  answered voice mail.  Again, Saturday may offer a more practical time to follow up with some one..  We can invite them to an event in progress and schedule another visit to answer questions.

Time continues to be a precious commodity.  Asking someone for the time to review a lease on moving day, is certain to simply be a sign here, sign here event.  Instead, try offering a separate appointment.  An appointment to review  and sign the lease provides a more focused environment for this important discussion.  Offering the lease appointment on the weekend can get a comfortable time to review the lease.

But with scheduled appointments comes the challenge of accommodating unscheduled visits.  You can truly close the office for the lease appointment.  Possibly sign the lease in the model to insure there are no interruptions.  For  the possible drop in visitor, offer the prospect options while waiting; such as access to a virtual tour.  Remember to always identify the return time.

Weekend staffing with “nothing to do.” can appear to be a stretch on staffing.  Weekend time in the office and no visits.   A day is wasted.  The opportunities for follow ups with residents for our customer service and prospects for future leasing are certainly waiting for us.  Lease renewal appointments, and even some maintenance appointments on Saturdays can be appreciated for repairs.  If we want to experience the benefits of weekend leasing hours, having a plan to deliver customer service that also benefits our residents can be the key.