You've done it. Your property is finally at 100% occupancy.

It's okay… you can humble brag a little, you earned it! Reaching 100% occupancy is no easy feat. Now the question is, what are you going to do to maintain it?

There may be solutions out there that can help you keep that high occupancy rate without having to lift a finger.

Maintaining high occupancy = sales 101

Some of the first things you learn in sales is the importance of (1) cross-selling and (2) the scarcity principle—essentially making your product feel in-demand, rare, and puts a higher perceived value on your product. Both of these concepts hold true in leasing, especially if you are working on a centralized or regional team.

In 2023 every qualified lead is an opportunity to help your property group reach 100% occupancy, and help prospects find a home that they will love. Here's how.

Automated cross-selling

If a prospect inquires about a floorplan or lease that is not currently available at your property, you shouldn't be simply turning that person away, telling them to try again later. The best customer service will help that prospect find a different apartment unit or sister property that will work for them.

Cross-selling when there's no availability in your community is a win-win for both parties. Your regional group gets to keep a qualified lead, another property is a step closer to signing another lease, and you have helped a prospect find a home they will love (and that's the real goal, right?).

I know what you're thinking. "There's no way we have to cross-sell for other teams on top of everything else."

Here's where automation comes in.

AI leasing assistants make your life easier in more ways than one. Not only do they handle most of your prospect inquiries (100% of inquiries if it's a really good one), AI leasing assistants can automatically cross-sell to sister properties if it cannot find any availability.

This function is essentially free marketing for other properties in your portfolio, opening the door for prospects who might not have looked at that specific community. It also helps any prospects who are doing a last-minute apartment search by providing immediate availability at a similar property without having to sit on a waitlist.

Speaking of waitlists…

Keep demand high and interested prospects on reserve

When a prospect hears there's no availability, they will continue their search elsewhere—even if your property is a perfect fit. But what happens if a unit suddenly becomes available, and you didn't get the prospects' contact information? You're out of luck, and that prospect loses out.

This is where the waitlist comes in. By collecting prospect information on a waitlist, you save your most valuable, interested leads for the moment a vacancy becomes available, drastically cutting down on time between leases.

And here's the best part: Your AI leasing assistant should already be able to compile a waitlist for your community. In addition to automatically cross-selling to sister properties, an AI leasing assistant should be trained to ask prospects if they would like to be notified if a vacancy becomes available. If the prospect says yes, they will be added to the waitlist and automatically emailed the moment a unit opens up asking if they would like to schedule a tour.

Some AI leasing assistants will also automatically follow up with prospects on the waitlist every few months to ensure they're still interested, and will remove leads from the list that no longer wish to apply. This ensures that you constantly have a list of qualified, interested prospects ready to sign when an opening becomes available.

AI leasing is more than just prospect communication

If you want to get the most out of your AI leasing assistant, you should be working with one that has capabilities beyond automated communication. With the advanced multifamily-specific technology that's available in 2023, no leasing team should be spending time cross-selling or manually compiling prospect waitlists—they should be spending it connecting with residents and making their community a desirable place to live.

What are some other ways your AI leasing assistant is making your life easier onsite? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!