In the Property Management industry your community's reputation is everything. It is your bottom line. It is far more challenging to increase your occupancy rate when you have to contend with bad ratings or reviews. It plays a large role in whether or not you will make occupancy quotas and generate new residents, as well as maintain your good residents. Occupancy is going to be the driving force for your apartment community in order to make a profit. As a leasing agent, you must overcome bad press and protect the reputation of the owner's property. This ensures high profits and your job security. If you are fearful that your reputation as a leasing agent is falling short, or your apartment community is being devalued, you need to follow the suggestions below to overcome the negativity.

How can I overcome a bad reputation?

The first step to overcoming a bad reputation is to act positively. As a leasing agent, you need to create a plan. If you have current residents that love their apartment homes, ask them to write a helpful review. You would be surprised at how many people will jump at this idea. Reviews can be 50 words or less as long as they portray the community in a positive light. Next, you need to respond to bad press. Get online and be social on your social media pages. If someone said there is a maintenance issue, or an issue that you can directly resolve, get it done. Draft a simple message saying “ We apologize for the inconvenience. I will send you a private message to quickly resolve any issues”. This shows all readers that you are compassionate and willing to fix a problem. You cannot overcome anything if you stay stagnant. When you are stagnant, your occupancy rate will be stagnant. This is a bad press generator and will leave you with very low occupancy rates.

How can I increase occupancy?

Increasing occupancy is not as difficult as it sounds. If you take the necessary steps to overcome your bad reputation, you can build a higher occupancy rate. As a leasing agent you need to start enacting a few of the following things to secure high occupancy rates.

● Utilize Social Media - You should be advertising at least 3 times per day, and posting daily news items local to you area. Stay in the loop with the community. You should respond to all negative or positive press. Show that you are active and engaged. Be professional.

● Marketing - While this may seem like an obvious solution, you need to analyze current trends. If you’re only doing a single type of marketing, you need to switch up your game. In order to increase occupancy, you need to be as visible as possible. Most of the options are free. Have fun with it and take advantage of all free tools. You can even contract with local businesses to provide them traffic if they give a lower rate to your community and residents!

● Scope out the competition - If you want to increase your occupancy, you have to know what competing apartment communities are up to. Are they marketing? Are their prices at market rate? What type of signage are they using? If you know that a community is performing better than yours, you need to find out why. Once you have your conclusion, get to work on making yours better! You don’t need to copy people. You need to focus on improving what you have. This research can be used as a simple tool to better help you to understand the area and market that you are in.

● Community Events - Get involved with your community. If they are having a local food drive, encourage your residents to participate. As long as the event is beneficial and won't negatively impact your occupancy, you should start doing it. This will help to build a sense of community within your community.

A bad reputation is nothing to be proud of. You will not improve your occupancy unless you work hard for it. You should immediately start analyzing what you are currently doing and find ways to increase growth and positive change. There is no better time to focus and rebuild than now. Go over webpages, increase your marketing and respond positively to anyone feeling hurt by you as a leasing agent or property manager. Do your best to ensure quality and have a little fun with it. Stay positive and keep social media professional. Remember this is not your site, it is for the company. All of this advice should have you working towards the best community possible.

Good Luck!