Years ago when I had the task of putting together my first leasing guide, I relied heavily on the advice of a good friend, a supervisor with years of experience and obvious selling chops. One terrific tip she shared with me was that a leasing agent needs to become adept at finding the things in each room of an apartment home that the prospect was not likely to see. She suggested that we require each leasing agent to go into all rooms of an apartment, even the baths and closets, and find at least two things that were not obvious and explain what those features meant and how they could benefit the prospect.

In the years since, I have used that great idea as a cornerstone in my training. Think about it. When a somewhat less engaged leasing agent does a property tour, they usually spend a lot of time on pointing out the obvious, if they are even interacting at all. I cannot count the number of times I have walked into a furnished model with a leasing agent I was “shopping” and been lead to a room with an oval table and six chairs while the leasing agent offered “this is the dining room.” What a master of the obvious! Why do we even waste the time and energy if we are only pointing out things that are clear to just about everyone. I have had leasing agents fall this up by steering me into the kitchen and pointing to an appliance with the comment “this is the microwave.” As a sarcastic person by nature, I usually cannot let this go. I usually respond with something snarky like, “Oh yeah! I have heard about those. Can you show me how to work it.” The deer-in-the-headlights look I typically receive is well worth it. But seriously, if your prospect doesn’t know what a dining room or a microwave is, do you really think they are going to qualify?

So many property tours lean more towards “follow the leader” than a real plan to lease an apartment. We become better leasing consultants, property managers and salespeople when we get past the obvious and uncover the little things people aren’t likely to see. I explain this in my seminars as similar to the concept of “whiteout”. Just as when driving in a blinding snow storm it can become impossible to see your path forward, a somewhat similar thing happens to a prospect looking at apartments. All the more when in a vacant, they see white walls, white ceiling, light colored carpet and often lighter cabinetry and appliances. It can be easy to get lost in the sea of white, so that little things don’t stand out against the vast white backdrop. Especially if a client has toured multiple communities and a half dozen or more units, it can be very hard to see the differences. That is where we come in. Finding those two things in each room is crucial, pointing them out and explaining why they may be useful is salesmanship. They can be simple or complex, ranging from two cable outlets in the living room to make furniture placement more flexible to something elaborate like the fact that the drawers in the bathroom and kitchen cabinetry go full depth, providing more storage space than the typical ¾ drawers found in most apartments.   

Uncovering these hidden amenities will also prepare a leasing consultant for a much more effective phone presentation. If they have these little tidbits written on their floor plan in their leasing book, as easy reminders of what to point out, they will be sure to describe the things that a customer looking online won’t see in front of them. You never know when one or two of these little items can make the difference in closing a sale. A key to successful phone selling is to paint a picture of what the customer is going to receive – you never want to rely simply on photos and floor plans on your website when an educated leasing consultant can do so much more.

For a prospect to get the most out of a tour requires an active, engaged and interested leasing consultant who has done their homework. A well-planned and researched property tour can be the difference in a wasted 15 minutes for both the leasing agent and the customer, and a fun and rewarding tour of a new home for an eager prospect by a soon to be rewarded leasing professional. Simple games of follow the leader should be left to the school yard.

Christopher Higgins is The Apartment Guy, an industry educator and owner of multifamily assets in 6 states and two Canadian provinces. His 20 years of industry experience is the source of numerous seminars and articles on the business of succeeding in leasing, apartment management and marketing. For more, visit www.theapartmentguy.net.