Prospect Follow-up for Multifamily

Hy.ly surveyed 50+ properties in Spring 2018 to evaluate the state of Multifamily automation for new prospect follow-up.

According to our survey, 90.6% of the big REITs send nurturing prospect follow-up. Pretty impressive.

Yet, a measly 12.5% of 3rd Party Managers did the same.  Ouch.

Before you start judging 3rd Party Managers too harshly, you need to consider the facts. Most 3rd Party managers’ operations are not structured to scale and they are severely resource constrained.

Without a digital workforce, it is just about impossible for a 3rd Party Manager to keep up with prospects, residents and on-site maintenance.

We believe this is a big problem and want to help Multifamily understand how to nurture new prospects using Autonomous Lifecycle Marketing (ALM)!  

Before we jump into the Prospect Zone, here is a refresher on the concepts behind ALM:

• A playbook is the complete guide to automated customer lifecycle marketing. It maps out personalized content to engage customers from the time a prospect fills out a guest card until they move out.

• A zone defines where the customer falls in the customer journey.

• A play is designed to move customers from one lifecycle stage to the next. 

What is the Prospect Zone

The Prospect Zone covers customers from the moment they fill out a contact card until they sign a lease or become inactive for 60+ days.

The purpose of the Prospect Zone Plays is to excite and inform prospects about your property. Thereby, making them more likely to sign a lease.  

Why Should I Program It?

New apartment search platforms like Apartments.com, Trulia and even Google’s Apartment Knowledge Graph give your prospects more options than ever. In turn, making it harder for your property to stand out or remain top-of-mind. It’s easy for your property to end up loved and lost in the shuffle.

That is why your prospect follow-up processes need to be strategically automated.

Lifecycle Programming sends the right content at the right pace to the right people. The best part is your agents only need to program the system and the digital workforce takes care of the rest!

Let’s take a look at the benefits of automating the Prospect Zone.

Benefits

By using automated drips and triggered alerts, you provide prospects with consistent and informative follow-up.

As a result, your company will be in the top 12.5% 3rd Party Managers!

Plus, by reaching out to them several times, you stay fresh in the prospect’s mind.

By programming the Prospect Zone, you get more prospects in the door without agent involvement.

Also, it gives your prospects more opportunities to qualify themselves as ‘interested’ by clicking through an email. Let's take a closer look!

Prospect Zone Playbook

Prospect Pre-Tour Play

Start State: New

End State: Toured

Goal: Get a new prospect to take a tour

Once a prospect fills out a guest card, they should be added to the Prospect Pre-Tour Play to educate them about the property. This play showcases the property's amenities, features, and the neighborhood to spark prospect interest.  

Prospect Post-Tour Play

Start State: Toured

End State: Nurtured

Goal: Educate prospects who have toured your property about the next steps to sign a lease.

After a prospect tours your property, give them everything they need to sign a lease with the 'Prospect Post-Tour Play.' Show them your floor plan availability, notify them about any price-drops and invite them to community events.  

Prospect Closing Play

Start State: Nurtured

End Date: Leased

Goal: Get nurtured prospects to sign a lease

Once the prospect has scheduled a tour, they are moved into the 'Prospect Closing Play' where they receive an extra nudge to sign a lease. This play provided a variety of timed offers like a waived amenity fee alert, a waived security deposit alert and a half-off your first month's rent special offer.

Conclusion

Automating your lead nurturing gives your prospects consistent and helpful content and frees your agents to build personal relationships with both prospects and residents. 

Your Turn. What would you do if you could automatically nurture leads?

Next. We are taking on lead Win-Back, autonomously.