Property Management

7 Tips For Improving Your Lead-to-Lease Conversion

• by Inaas Arabi
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Hint: It’s all about the tech stack. In the five years leading up to the pandemic, property management firms began to realize the need for the right tech stack to keep their businesses competitive and, ultimately, successful. But in the last few months, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, moving processes online has become mandatory. To their surprise, property managers find the transition has not disrupted their businesses. Rather, it has brought positive changes. That includes a better online lead-to-lease experience. Traditionally, leasing real estate has been a face-to-face business. It has been tough for some property managers to see the benefits of moving their lead-to-lease experience online. From office walk-ins to showing properties to lease signing, this, after all, is a people business. It’s also been a business of phone calls and manual processes. But a lot of the day-to-day tasks that keep you busy—tenant screenings, inperson applications and lease signings and unit showings—can be automated with digital tools. So, what is a tech stack? And why is it so crucial to the lead-to-lease cycle? Tech stack is the combination of digital tools you implement that enables your business for increased units, improves revenue and reduces expenses, ultimately enhancing your net operating income. The right combination of tools will enhance conversion rates by streamlining laborious manual processes. Convenient mobile-friendly tools make it easier for prospective tenants to find your website, engage with your business and apply for one of your properties. It’s essential to integrate the tech stack with full ERP or property management systems to get the most out of your lead-to-lease process. Here are seven tips for getting set up. Get the Most Out of Tenant Lead Generation If you were asked what the most common ways to generate leads are, you would probably say signage at your properties, online listings and showings. Listings are still effective for generating leads, and putting them online has become easier with online listing widgets. By using a listing widget, property managers can create branded listings that can then be syndicated to many sites easily. Showings, however, are a little more difficult to manage as we continue social distancing practices. Even before the pandemic struck, some property management companies were already moving toward digital solutions for showing properties. Now, the demand for self-showings and virtual tours is everywhere. In March, Rently, a company that provides self-tours, saw a 30% increase in requests for their service, according to MSNBC. In that same month, Zillow reported a 191% increase in virtual 3D tours. Property managers interested in self-showings can use a solution such as Rently, Showing Hero or Tenant Turner. Social media is another great way to generate leads, particularly if you know your audience. For example, baby boomer and Gen X audiences make up a large percentage of Facebook users. Younger tenants are more likely to use Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. Don’t just post your listings. Sharing local and real estate news, tips, information relevant to your audience, and even fun memes will attract followers who want to engage with you. Those followers could turn into leads. A platform like Hootsuite can help you set up your posts, schedule them and then collect data to help you make future marketing decisions. Improve the Tenant Application Experience An online application drastically reduces the time it takes to collect and vet informationfrom prospective applicants. Most property managers aren’t allowing walk-ins right now, so emailing out applications that must be printed, filled out, scanned andemailed back is a time-consuming process. A mobile-enabled online portal provides one place for applicants to upload documents and submit all the information needed to apply. They can apply right after they see a property or even in the middle of the night. All of it is then stored digitally for easy access. The right online application portal should allow for self-service. Once applications are submitted, users can check their progress online, rather than call or email for updates. If users do have a question, the portal should allow two-way communication. Property managers can screen tenants automatically and approve or deny applications online. An online application also can help property managers cross-sell properties. If a prospective tenant applies for a property that’s not available at the time of application, or you don’t presently have something that fits the prospect’s needs, you don’t have to lose that lead. An application system with a waitlist feature keeps track of those prospects and alerts them when a property matches their needs. Streamline the Tenant Screening Process Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming more popular. Everything from your smart home device to your favorite e-commerce site uses AI to improve user experience. AI and machine learning can be applied to tenant screening too. An AI-enabled full screening package will include the usual credit and criminal background checks as well as evictions and delinquencies. The system will also assess your prospective tenant’s information not only for credit history and debt-to-income ratio but also for the financial behavior of the tenant. It will evaluate how a tenant pays their bills and predict payment behavior in the future as well. It compares that information to adatabase of other applications and assigns the applicant a score, much like a credit score. The score is transferable, which means you can track a tenant’s score over time, pre-screen tenants and upsell them on your properties. The whole process saves you time and increases your ability to accept more applicants without adding more risk, so you can fill vacant units faster. It also saves you money—savings you can pass on to your owners. Make Signing the Lease Painless and Contact-Free With the right tool, everything related to creating and signing the lease can live online. Instead of having tenants come to your office to sign (an unpopular choice while practicing social distancing) or scan, email or (gasp) fax signed leases and other important documents, the whole process can be digitized. An online lease-signing tool will generate a lease automatically