Leasing Agent Response Time Matters

Tenants Want Instant Gratification from Your Customer Service

I think the internet has a significant impact on how we access information today. I grew up relying on encyclopedias—my dad often said, “Let’s look it up.” Now, you can find information instantly on your phone without waiting for outdated printed materials.

I’ve noticed this change with my kids, who instantly turn to their phones for research. I was surprised by how quickly they adapted and how little interest they have beyond phones or the internet. If I suggest going to a library to pick out some books, their response is often, “Why would we do that?”

I still enjoy books but now prefer reading on my phone or listening to audiobooks, especially while driving. On a recent trip, I listened to a book, which I enjoyed and found helpful for passing the time. Overall, I think our society has become accustomed to wanting everything much quicker than before.

A Delayed Response is Lost Interest

When apartment tenants call for assistance, it’s important to respond quickly. Delayed responses can cause tenant interest to drop—often within three minutes. If you don’t engage quickly, another property will capture their attention. I’ve personally experienced this with chatbots; if I see a chat window pop up and the bot doesn’t respond within a few seconds, I simply move on.

People often have a lot on their minds and are juggling multiple tasks at once.  If you don’t respond promptly, they will likely lose interest and shift their focus to another apartment community until they find one that has a responsive, interactive, friendly leasing agent ready to help them.

If You’re Using Chatbots or Technology to Handle Your Inquiries, Be Ready for Push-Back

Interestingly, when people make the effort to call a community, they quickly want to know whether they’re speaking to a live person when they call customer service. This desire for human interaction often contrasts with our technological advancements. Curiosity about talking to a real person spans various age groups, including those over 30 and even over 40.

For example, in Phoenix, Arizona, where many residents are over 40, it’s crucial to understand your market. An approach that works well in an apartment community in downtown Los Angeles may not be effective in Phoenix. If you move too quickly or implement technology that isn’t user-friendly for your tenant audience, it could lead to a negative customer experience.

Customers Don’t Call Back After a Negative First Impression

I recently wrote down a list of apartments I needed to call. After trying them via phone, if I didn’t get an answer, I moved on to the next one. I did leave messages, but some of them still haven’t responded, and it’s been almost a week!  I can’t help but wonder why people do that. It creates a negative first impression. It’s frustrating for everyone involved. If a community leasing agent is dropping the ball this early while handling leads, I can only imagine how the entire community would operate in the long run.

Yes, Sometimes You are Busier than Normal

You may feel overwhelmed, especially if in the past you had two or three people on your leasing team and now you’re down to just one. As you monitor your leads, it’s important to respond quickly since you have multiple channels to manage—phone calls, walk-ins, and online inquiries. You need to prioritize these channels effectively, especially if you’re understaffed.

For instance, when a new tenant walks in, they should be given priority. I believe current tenants who came in or called should have been asked to hold or told that we would call them back later because we were busy with people in the office.

Overall, it’s crucial to triage these situations. New leads and walk-ins, along with phone inquiries, should take precedence over current renters. Unfortunately, that’s the reality we face.

Make Lead Responses a Priority in the Morning

Don’t you feel like follow-up phone calls or responses are essential? To me, that’s number one. When you walk into the leasing office in the morning, turn everything on, start the coffee pot, and sit down; the first thing you should do is review the leads that came in overnight via online inquiries or voicemails. You also need to follow up with the tenants you spoke with yesterday before doing anything else.

Most of the tenants we survey prefer a phone call because they’ve already received automated email and/or text responses. They want a real person to call them. I believe that relying solely on electronic communication isn’t effective anymore. If you want to excel and provide excellent service, you can’t afford to wait too long to follow up with the tenant via a phone call from an interested, friendly leasing agent at the apartment community.  People are becoming overwhelmed by automation, and it’s important to recognize that and simply pick up the phone.

It probably only takes about an hour at the start of your day, so just get it done right away, using your cheerful morning voice. Get to it before you have to force a smile into your voice at the end of the day.

I’ve spoken with some agents who aren’t very productive in the morning but perform better in the afternoon. The problem I see with that approach is that if a new tenant lead comes in overnight, people expect a response first thing in the morning, not the following afternoon. They don’t want to wait a whole day for a response.

We don’t get another chance to make a good impression.

Understaffed May Mean Missed Opportunities

I believe that sometimes you have to work around technology. In certain situations, it may mean having more staff available, depending on your apartment community’s location.

From my experience, I’ve heard discussions at various meetings suggesting that you don’t need your community to be fully staffed daily. However, I’ve found that this approach can lead to chaos if there aren’t people on-site who care about the apartment property and can monitor it effectively. The demands change significantly between a brand-new property and one that has matured. While it is possible to operate with fewer staff as the business stabilizes, having a robust team while occupancy is low makes a world of difference.

If staffing is an issue, it’s often a good idea to use a call center to answer inquiries. However, I would argue that I would trust an experienced leasing agent over a call center any day to handle new tenant inquiries. Leasing agents generally have a deeper understanding of operations and the community and are not solely focused on making a sale.

While it might seem like a cost-saving measure to rely solely on technology for phone calls and customer service, many people still prefer speaking to a real person, especially for transactions. Basic requests, such as asking for a payment link or checking balances, can often be handled automatically, but when it comes to making sales or addressing more complex questions, human interaction remains vital.