Let’s face it-the average apartment tour is pretty boring isn’t it? It can feel far more transactional than relational-with the leasing associate asking “check-off box” questions designed to get information (which is good) but not often delivered with any kind of real energy and attempt to connect. I get it. After showing hundreds (maybe even thousands) of people apartments over the life of your career, it can get old!
Or, you might be new to this whole industry and you’re just trying to develop your selling style. You may have discovered, like I did, that even if you were successful in other industries, property management is a whole new beast, with a very different set of rules and expectations from customers. So your apartment tours may be a lot more sterile in an attempt to make sure that you hit all of your points, avoid Fair Housing issues, and just get through it as soon as you can, so that you can return to the mountain of work waiting for you!
If your tours are a little stale what can you do to jazz them up?
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I would recommend you watch one of those ubiquitous home finding shows like House Hunters, Property Brothers, and Fixer Upper (I’m a big Chip and Joanna Gaines fan.) Let me be clear…I am not suggesting you to go into an apartment and tell your customers that they need to install “shiplap” on the walls, or just bust open the wall and install a french door-on their dime of course.
I am suggesting that you watch a home finder tv show that you like and watch how the stars show the homes to people. Chip and Joanna are really great at helping people see the true potential of a space. What I think House Hunters does well is that they tell a narrative of the people looking for a home and that narrative serves as the focus for the show. In short, the producers discover the story of the home buyers that is driving them to look for a new home, and then tell that story to the viewer. Viewers love good stories, so they make sure to give them one.
Take note of specific phrases they use to peak the interest of their clients. How do they address a flaw or objection in the home. How do they help their clients make a decision? What questions do they ask? When do they lead and when do they get out of the way? How do they bump up the “sex appeal” of four walls a ceiling. What phrases do they use that you like?
Let me tell you one phrase that I discovered through a tv show-“open concept.” I know it’s a pretty well-known phrase today, but back when I first heard it, it was a revelation! I was familiar with the term “great room” to describe a space where the living, dining and kitchen blended into each other, but using the phrase “great room” in a 600 square foot apartment just sounded pretentious to me. “Open concept” though, could fit whether the home was a 300 square foot micro-apartment or a 3,000 square foot home in the suburbs! So, I used that one a lot in both my sales tours and then afterwards when I created marketing videos for apartment communities.
So tonight fire up the TV, grab a pen and paper and learn from the TV pros! And then let me know what you’re going to try out (or have tried out) in the comments below!
