7 Mistakes that STOP You from Getting the Lease

Mistakes prevent leases. Correcting mistakes will allow you to lease more apartments if you admit you make them. with the right leasing consultant training, avoiding mistakes is easy.

Here are 7 of the biggest mistakes that property managers and leasing consultants make and the Leasing University Tips that will turn them into leases.

Only think of yourself. The mistakes you made this morning are your opportunities for greatness this afternoon but only if you admit them. If you have the guts to rate your own reality. It’s just you and me here so be honest with yourself.

Mistake #1: Not asking the right questions. An apartment is leased, or the prospect is lost based on the questions you ask. Leasing University Tip: Ask renters questions that make them evaluate their current living situation versus their ideal situation. Questions that get them to understand the “gap” between their current state and desired future state. Ask questions that separate you from other apartment communities and leasing consultants.

Mistake #2: Showing an apartment before needs have been established. Why show and tell the prospect anything about your apartments or community until you understand what is needed? Sounds elementary, but at this moment millions of leasing consultants are doing it. Leasing University Tip: Develop a standard framework of needs assessment. By the way, “a two-bedroom apartment” is not the need. You must have a system for understanding what is most important to your renter, why it is important. You must understand what they want to see first and why they want to see that first. You need to know them better than any other property management professional. Sound difficult? It’s not, we will teach you an easy system at LeasingUniversity.com

Mistake #3: Lack of knowledge about how your apartments benefit people. Not a bunch of boring features and amenities. Real-world information. Leasing University Tip: Get to know your residents and your community inside an out. You can learn more by asking what people who live there like best about the property than you can on 1,000 property tours.

Mistake #4: Talking about your apartments, not the renter. Not saying how you help. Know the kinds of problems your apartments can solve. Know the types of needs you fill. Sell that. Leasing University Tip: Tell stories about how other residents have improved their lives by living there. Don’t be afraid to bring up how other residents had the same objection or didn’t like something. “You know most of our residents said the same thing about the closets and what they found is living in such a great location more than made up for the smaller closet” Don’t worry about getting the lease, think about how much better your apartment will make their life, the lease will follow.

Mistake #5: Talking too much. Leasing Consultants are under the huge misconception that they have to talk a lot in order to rent an apartment to someone. Nothing could be further from the truth. They must give the prospect a chance to buy. They must ask a lot in order to sell the apartment. Nobody likes to be “sold” but everybody loves to “buy”. Leasing University Tip: Ask questions at least 50% of the time. Draw out responses that keep the renter dominating the conversation and giving buying signals.

Mistake #6: Being too pushy. Pressing forward makes the prospect doubt you and run for cover. People who feel that they were pushed into renting the apartment only renew 6% of the time. This means that if you are pushy you will have to turn around and do all the work over again to re-rent that apartment in a year 94% of the time. It’s no wonder some communities can never break past 98% occupancy. There’s a fine line between a “close” and a “force.” Leasing University Tip: Relax. Backoff. Ask more questions to involve the prospect, and help him buy. Check out the Leasing University Closing System for a way of getting the lease that is never pushy or high-pressure and works just about every single time.

Mistake #7: Not making it easy to rent. Prospects don’t want to wait while you search your inventory, you are a professional and should memorize what you have available before you start work each day. Renters don’t want to spend any more time filling out applications or forms than is 100% necessary. Customers don’t want (or need) to know your problems. Don’t let your situation interfere with the ease of renting an apartment from you. Leasing University Tip: Do it all. Whenever possible fill out every form, don’t keep anyone waiting, personally deliver on all your promises. “I’ll take care of that.” is your new motto.

I have a lot more tips like this because these are the exact types of problems we help leasing consultants solve at Leasing University so if you want to see more videos like this just let me know in the comments.