About the AuthorAs Chief Operating Officer of The Sales & Marketing Magic Companies,

Tami Siewruk shares more than 20 years of experience in multifam-

ily housing, encompassing leasing, marketing, management, training,

authoring, consulting, developing, and Brainstorming! For more infor-

mation on Tami’s newsletter, Sales & Marketing Magic for Apartment

Professionals; the latest Tools & Forms Catalogue; The Annual

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A PRESENTATION OFSales & Marketing Magic

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telephone leasing......................................................................................................................................................................................1

be prepared to answer the telephone .............................................................................................................................1

understand the goals from the start...............................................................................................................................1

the telephone greeting......................................................................................................................................................................2

take control from the start......................................................................................................................................................2

three types of telephone questions......................................................................................................................................3

get agreement to continue with the telephone presentation.................................................................4

what are the needs and wants of the future resident?..................................................................................4

qualifying on the telephone...........................................................................................................................................................5

paint a picture in the future resident’s mind..............................................................................................................5

close each step of the way.............................................................................................................................................................6

close each step of the way.............................................................................................................................................................6

The Final close- setting the appointment.......................................................................................................................6

ask for their telephone number................................................................................................................................................6

ask for their mailing address, fax number and/or email address.......................................................6

providing directions.............................................................................................................................................................................7

in a perfect world.................................................................................................................................................................................7

what makes a great telephone voice?................................................................................................................................8

the leasing professional’s next step..................................................................................................................................9

spend the time necessary for success...............................................................................................................................9

the best telephone technique must be practiced....................................................................................................9

handling other types of inquiries............................................................................................................................................9

all about e-mai..............................................................................................................................................................................................9

the anatomy of an e-mail message..........................................................................................................................................11

special considerations when communication via e-mail....................................................................................11

netiquette........................................................................................................................................................................................................12

netiquette for e-mail senders.....................................................................................................................................................12

glossary of e-mail and online-related terms.............................................................................................................13

summary.............................................................................................................................................................................................................15

“HANDLING FUTURE RESIDENT INQUIRIES”

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T he leasing process begins, and actually revolves around the future resident’s desire for information

about your community. Handling the future resident inquiry, is the foundation of the leasing process. Every single step that follows is built upon it and depends on it for support, all the way to the closing of the lease.

The future resident may or may not be interested in the full range of features and amenities that you have to offer. Every Community has its own set of unique leasing features. Developers design them that way. Even when you know beyond any doubt that your community has better features overall, other leasing professionals can always find some true, positive selling points about their communi-ty. For the future resident, this can lead to confusion, frustration and just plain exhaustion from listening to one leasing professional after the next spout off their community’s features. The best approach is not to lease an apartment solely on its own merits or on the basis of how convincing you can be; but rather, to determine and satisfy the wants and needs of the future resident.

Let’s first consider some of the forms that this first inquiry can take. Occasionally, the future resident simply walks in. Most often, the process begins with a telephone call.

Telephone Leasing

When you hold any position in property management that requires you to answer a telephone, chances are better than good that when the phone rings, there’s either a resident or future resident on the other end of it. For those of us that are leasing professionals, with leasing in the first line of our job descriptions, leasing is our number one goal no matter how we come into contact with the future resident — but the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of that contact first occurring over the telephone. The fact is, at least four out of every five of your residents first came into contact with your community over the telephone. This is so important; I’m going to say it again. At least four out of five of your residents first came into contact with your community over the telephone!

Let’s put the numbers into perspective and take a closer look. The statistic is that four out of five residents

began their relationship with you via the telephone. Out of all the of calls that your community receives each week, many resulting visits, at least four out of five of those signed leases first began as one of those phone calls.

How might your telephone-to-traffic, and ultimately your closing ratio, be affected if you were to truly concen-trate on turning more of those scores of calls into visits (with less lost opportunities). How much more effective can the resulting visit be if it’s built on a flawless first impression? The answer is that your closing ratio can

skyrocket, and your presentations can be enormously successful, if you use the telephone to its best advantage.

Are you taking full advantage of the opportunity that each tele-phone call represents? Do you start leasing the minute you answer? Is the telephone’s ring an interrup-tion to your day? Do you answer just to make it stop ringing? Do you take the time with every future resident to schedule a visit to your community? When you’re busy, do you rush the conversa-tion just to get back to whatever you were doing? Do you try to get to know the future resident? Build rapport? Get his or her telephone number? Qualify them? Ask how they heard about your communi-ty? Grab your future resident’s full attention? Make the conversation memorable?

Few of us can honestly answer “yes” to every one of the questions that I just asked, but I think I’ve made my point clearly: there’s more to answering the telephone than merely saying, “Good morning, Magic Apartments, this is Tami.”

Be Prepared to Answer the Telephone

Let the telephone ring two or three times. This allows you time to prepare to answer the call. Kate Good of Creative Training Partners says “Learn to say goodbye before you say hello.” In other words, say goodbye to whatever you’re doing when the phone rings, and give yourself a second to focus on the call.

Believe me, I know you’re not just sitting around all day waiting for the telephone to ring. We all have many other responsibilities that keep us jumping throughout the day.

The goals of your telephone conversation are to:

Investigate what the future resident wants and needs.

Develop a rapport/start building the relationship.

Assure them that you can, indeed, meet their specific needs.

Determine if they fit the qualifying criteria for your community.

Ask for the Marketing Source and necessary follow up information.

Schedule an appointment so that you can prove that your community offers exactly what they’re looking for.

Understand the Goals from the Start

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A ringing telephone is - more often than not - an interrup-tion, and usually an unwelcome one, at that. By letting the telephone ring once or twice more, you give yourself time to redirect your attention, adjust your attitude, and make certain that you have the necessary tools at your fingertips so that you are prepared to handle a future resident inquiry. Tools? Yes, it’s the simple things that make a big difference. The number one tool needed is a pen. Now that sounds pretty basic and you’re probably wondering if I am a bit crazy to even mention it at all; but I’ve found that I rarely have a pen close at hand when I absolutely need one, even if I had one in my hand just a few minutes before. You will also want to make certain that you have a guest card and a brochure or floor plans at your fingertips.

The Telephone Greeting

Catchy answering phrases seem to be all the rage with businesses lately. “This-is-Blah-Blahblah-at-XYZ-apartments-where-blah-blah-blah-and-blah-blah-blah and blah-blah-blah!” To be honest, I never remember the person’s name, much less what else was said — if I even understood it in the first place because they said it all in one breath! Don’t you hate that?

Let’s take a moment to understand what actually hap-pens when someone makes a telephone call. While the telephone is ringing, most people daydream or allow their mind to wander a bit. When the telephone is answered and a voice is heard, our attention then goes back to what we were doing. How many times have you called someone, only to realize that by the time the phone was answered, you’d forgotten why or whom you called? This happens to people every day. We are all so busy and have so many things to do that our mind naturally moves on to the other tasks whenever we have a second or two to stray from the task at hand. Keeping this in mind will help you to use your opening phrase to its best advantage. Try, “Hi, this is Tami at XYZ Apartments. I can help you!” Or “Hi, this is Tami at XYZ Apartments. We’re the New Vision for Apartment Living! I can help you!” This phrase yields several positive results:

1. The “Hi!” followed by a short pause, grabs their attention.(You can substitute “Hello.”)

2. By the time the community’s name is said, the person

calling is ready to start remembering. Remember that we have two goals here: to remind them of where and why they called, and to help them remember our community’s name.

3. “I can help you,” says that you are competent and ready tohelp. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of calling people who aren’t sure right off the bat that they can help me. If I didn’t need help, I wouldn’t have called! “I can help you!” is a positive statement, whereas “Can I help you?” or “May I

help you?” imply doubt on the part of the professional, and leave doubts in the caller’s mind.

4. “We’re the New Vision for Apartment Living” is the “tagline”

that I use consistently in both print and in the telephone greeting at my own communities. Of course, you would substitute your community’s marketing message. If you choose not to include a tagline in your greeting, it won’t make or break the call, but I’ve found that it helps to reinforce the community’s marketing message.

Take Control From the Start

Once you’ve greeted them, the future resident will more than likely ask or tell you one of four things:

1. How much are your _______ bedrooms?

2. I’d like some information about your ______ bedroom.

3. I’m interested in a _______ bedroom.

4. In a few markets they may say, “Do you have a _____ bedroom available?

Any of these questions, or any other question that is asking for your expertise, should be answered with: “Great, I’d be happy to give you that information! My name is Tami, and yourrrs?”

This lets the future resident know that you are going

Hi, this is Tami at XYZ Apartments. We’re the

New Vision for Apartment Living! I can help you!”

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to give them the information that they are asking for, and places you in control of the conversation. It may seem odd, but it’s important to roll your R’s on the word Yourrrrs, and say it in a friendly, curious tone of voice. This leads the future resident into giving their name. This is a time-honored sales technique that’s been used by many suc-cessful leasing professionals and taught by a few of the best trainers, speakers, and consultants in the country including Anne Sadovsky and Gene Chamberlain. It’s stuck around for good reason — it works! You’ll be surprised at how easily they respond with their own name, allowing you to start working on that relationship!

I realize that this isn’t the typical means of obtaining a future resident’s name, but I have a very good reason for steering you away from the usual queries. Don’t ask, “What’s your name?” or “With whom am I speaking?” Both of these responses tend to sound demanding in nature, no matter how friendly your tone of voice; and you probably won’t get much more in return than a flat “All I want is the price.” You will receive the same response if you jump right into the questions that we have all been trained to ask because we need the information to com-plete the guest card. Leasing isn’t about paperwork - it’s about people work. Guest cards are valuable, but you can obtain the information that they require as easily in pleas-ant conversation as you can by conducting an interroga-tion; and I don’t have to tell you which the future resident would prefer to be subjected to.

Recording the Telephone conversation

Write down every detail that the future resident gives you throughout your conversation and use it. Your goal is to set up an appointment and to get the contact information you’ll need in order to follow up if necessary. If you listen carefully, you’ll also learn plenty about the future resident that will help you to begin to personalize your presenta-tion and/or follow-up approach. Remember that you will need to start writing the minute you answer the telephone in order to avoid asking for the same information that the caller has already given you. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I hear leasing professionals ask the question “What size apartment home are you looking for” when I know that this information was given by the caller the minute the phone was answered. In fact I have heard the same question asked several times to the same caller when the leasing professional forgot to “say goodbye before say-ing hello.”

When you begin to answer the future resident’s inquiry, the first four sentences you speak will determine whether your future resident will want to listen to your presenta-

tion. Select those sentences carefully. I dislike scripts, but... the first four sentences should be well thought out and rehearsed to the point that they sound quite natural when spoken aloud. There is plenty of affordable technology available today to allow us to record our own telephone conversations (a $20 trip to Radio Shack® will do the trick) and play them back or even practice with a friend who can offer an objective opinion. If your community is fortunate enough to be using the services provided by CallSource, all of your telephone conversations are already conveniently recorded, providing you with a fabulous tool.

Three Types of Telephone Questions

The person asking the questions is in control of the conversation, and you have to be in control before you can effectively set an appointment and obtain the future resident’s contact information for follow-up. Much of your success will rely on effectively using three types of questions: open, closed, and assumptive. 1. OPEN-ENDED questions are designed to elicit more than a “yes” or “no” answer, in much in the same way a doctor does when he is trying to find out why you are sick. The goal of an open-ended question is to get the person talk-ing so that you can obtain general information. Common lead-ins include the words what, how, and why. You can only lease with sincerity and conviction when you have a complete understanding of the future resident’s wants and needs; and you’ll only come to that understanding by encouraging and allowing them to talk to you. This tech-nique also helps tremendously in developing that very important rapport. To practice asking open-ended ques-tions, invite an associate to play the role of a future resi-dent and advise them to answer as many of your questions as they can with a yes or no answer. Your goal is to then ask as many questions as you can to force your associate to answer your questions with a more detailed response. 2. CLOSED QUESTIONS are designed to solicit a simple “yes” or “no” answer, or very brief response. The goal of a closed question is to control the direction of the conversation or to limit talking. Common lead in words are who, when, did, which, would, are, can, have, do, is, will, and may. To practice asking closed questions, invite an associate to play the role of a future resident and advise them to answer as many of your questions as they can with a long response. Your goal is to then ask as many questions as you can to force your associate to answer your questions with a simple “yes” or “no.”

3. ASSUMPTIVE QUESTIONS are asked in a way that assumes the person will become a resident of your community. As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, I prefer the words future resident to prospect or perspective resident. This implies that your relationship building efforts will result in this person becoming a resident of your community. “May I please ask how soon will you be moving in to our community?” is another example of how you might use assumptive questioning in lieu of the usual “How soon do you plan to move?” or “When do you need to occupy the apartment?” These are basically the same questions, but one assumes that the person will choose your community. Assumptive questioning plants a seed in the future resident’s mind, and sends a subtle message that starts the decision-making process moving in your favor.

Get Agreement to Continue with the Telephone Presentation

In order to continue an effective telephone pre-sentation you should request permission from the future resident to continue asking additional questions, or at the very least inform them that you are going to do so. If you fail to inform the future resident that you are going to ask them questions, you are likely to find yourself in unwelcome territory very quickly. Remember, time is one of your future residents’ most valued commodities, and if you encroach upon it without asking permission first, don’t be a bit surprised if they stop you in mid-sentence and ask you to cut to the chase and just give them the price. The chances of recovering from such a situation and continuing with the presentation are extremely slim, so do all that you can to keep the future resident “with you” as the telephone presentation continues. I have worked for years to perfecting a technique that does just that, and my greatest success so far has come from incorporating my request for permission into the marketing source question. My favorite phrase is “Sally, If you’ll please give me just a few minutes of your time to ask you a few questions, I’ll be able to tell you about an apartment that may fit your needs, but first, may I ask how you heard about our community?” Once they reply remember to say “Thank You!”

This allows you to explain why you need a few min-utes of their time, ask their permission to continue, and let the future resident know that your goal is to make certain they find the apartment that is right for them. This act of consideration puts you steps ahead of the competition and puts the future resident at ease, and it helps you to deter-mine the marketing source while you’re at it! The personal touch works every time!

What are the Needs and Wants of the Future Resident?

At this point in the conversation you have taken control and have the future resident interested in what you are going to say because you have promised to give them the information that they need. Don’t make the mistake in fir-ing off the qualifying questions until you have put their needs before yours. If you do, you’re once more in danger of losing them. We have managed to avoid demands for price so far, so let’s continue to be nice and find out what they want. Here are a few of my favorite questions for determining the future resident’s needs and wants. I am certain you will want to add your own, but these will get you started. You may use as many as you like, but you should always ask at least ask two of them.

Keep in mind that everyone has an idea or image in mind of the apartment that is ideal for them. Finding out as much about this idea or image as possible will allow you to determine how to come closest to that ideal. Asking questions, not spouting off features at random, is the only way to uncover the real needs and wants of your future resident. After all, they want you to ensure that your community will provide the specific features and benefits that are important to them — not the ones you feel are important.

This resident-focused approach will enable you to develop the rapport and relationship that is needed to effectively lease more apartments. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that meeting every want and need isn’t always possible, but it is possible to close a lease by coming close to fully satisfying the future resident’s wants and needs. If you don’t have something they are looking specifically for, that’s okay! At least you know in advance what objections

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Ask at least two! Sally, Do you have any oversized furniture that you are bringing with you?

Do you prefer a first or second floor apartment home?

Are there any special features you are looking for in your new home?

Is there a dominant color in your furniture that we might be able to complement with a specific carpet color?

In which room in your apartment do you spend the most time? Is this the most important room to your needs?

you may have to overcome. Remember that there probably isn’t an apartment on planet earth that will meet all of the needs of any resident. Even people who build their own dream homes usually have to compromise. Don’t underes-timate the value of your attitude and willingness to serve them. It’s often the single benefit that makes up for any other area in which you fail to measure up to their ideal. One more thing — try not to do all the talking.

Qualifying on the Telephone

After you’ve given them the opportunity to tell you a little about what they’re looking for, you’ll be ready to start the qualifying process and to gather the information you need for your community. This is the most difficult part of your telephone conversation because the leasing effort has already begun. It’s important to realize that in transitioning to the qualifying process, you need not change your focus entirely from the needs of the future resident to the needs of your community. Qualifying is really a mutually beneficial process that will help you further determine the needs and wants of your future resident, and will also give you an idea of whether this future resident will meet your community’s requirements. In order to preserve the rapport that you’ve worked so hard to develop, qualifying questions need to be asked in a way that will continue to develop a rapport with your future resident and reveal their unique “hot buttons.” Beware that most leasing professionals try to qualify the future resident from the start with questions like “How soon do you need it?” Beware of this approach — qualifying without developing a rapport places you squarely in the “every other community” category.

How soon will you be moving into our community? (open-ended question)

Will you be bringing a pet with you? (closed question)

What type of pet do you have? (open-ended question)

How many people will be moving in to our community with you? (open-ended question)

How much have you budgeted to spend on your new home? (open-ended question)

Why are you moving from where you are living now?(open-ended question)

Paint a Picture in the Future Resident’s Mind

Keep a floor plan in front of you while demonstrating

the apartment verbally over the telephone. You must paint an enticing

image of the apartment in the future resident’s mind

in order to get them excited and interested enough to visit; and it will be much easier for you to describe

the floor plan to them while you’re looking at it yourself. Use descriptive and inviting words that paint a picture of them

living in the apartment. Avoid the mundane or obvious and focus on the needs of the future resident. Remember you are not mere-ly leasing an apartment — you are leasing to a future resident. There’s no

need to point out that the kitchen has a stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, and garbage disposal. Most apartments have them, and if yours do not, you certainly don’t want to spotlight a shortcoming!

The technique of using descriptive words to paint a picture of the apartment and the community in the future resident’s mind is commonly called the white rabbit meth-od. For example “the sun was shining brightly with a gen-tle breeze blowing the field of colorful wildflowers. From the north a pair of floppy ears with pink insets appeared, and with a hop hop hop, the little white rabbit jumped through the air.” Those words painted a picture in your mind, didn’t they? That’s all there is to the white rabbit technique. You would apply this technique to describing

When you open the door of your new home

you will notice how bright and airy it is. That’s

because of all the doublewide windows.

Oh, by the way, Linda, all of the windows

do come with designer mini blinds, and you

can imagine what a great place this will be

for all of those plants that you mentioned. As

you travel through the living room you will

also notice electrical outlets spaced evenly

around the room so that you may arrange your

furniture in a variety of ways, and would even

be able to section off an area for your desk. If

you turn to your right down the hallway, you’ll

enter the master bedroom, which is large

enough to hold a California king sized bed, a

triple dresser and nightstand. The huge walk

in closet is so large that you could actually

put a bike in it and still have room to hang all

your clothing. This provides you with the extra

storage space you’re looking for.”

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an apartment by using words that help the future resident visualize the apartment itself. To practice this technique, grab a floor plan and walk through it mentally. Each step of the way, verbalize what you would see if you were physically in the apartment. Here is an example of a floor plan I have in front of me right now:

While reading this description above, did you get the feeling of space and flexibility? Think about the words that I used, and how you could incorporate them and others like them into your own demonstrations. Yet another effec-tive exercise to help you develop your description skills is to hand write an apartment home description, and read it aloud. Ask yourself if the description sounds inviting. Continue to work in descriptive words and phrases until you’re satisfied that a future resident who has not actually seen the apartment home will be able to develop an invit-ing and accurate image of it in his or her head simply by hearing you describe it to them. I typically do this with each floor plan in any community where I am leasing. Not only does it help me in describing the apartment over the telephone, but it also helps me to remember the special features of each apartment.

Close Each Step of the Way

Close, close, close! Getting the future resident to say yes several times throughout the verbal presentation increases your chances of getting them to say yes to the appointment. The future resident cannot argue with his or her own logic. The most successful leasing professionals give future residents the opportunity to commit to the appointment throughout the verbal presentation. After you describe the apartment ask, “Does that sound like the type of apartment you’ve been looking for?” If you’ve applied your descriptive skills successfully to paint an inviting image, they’ll be hard pressed not to agree. Once they have said “yes!” move on to providing them with a few highlights about the community that they may have expressed an interest in, again, making your description as inviting as possible. Next ask, “Does that sound like the type of community you have been looking for?” Pausing at several points throughout your verbal presentation to asking closing questions lays the foundation for your invitation to visit. If they have said yes to the apartment and then to the community, how could they say no to visiting and seeing both in person?

The Final Close - Setting the Appointment

By the time you’re ready to set the appointment, they’ll have already said yes (committed to the apartment and the

community) enough times that they’d feel foolish denying the chance to see the community and apartment in person. Come right out and ask for the appointment! “Great! ____, I’d like to invite you to visit our community and would be happy to show you this apartment today, or is this weekend more convenient for you? Would you prefer Saturday or Sunday? Morning or afternoon? 1:45 or 3:15? Give your future resident an either/or choice all the way through the appointment setting process. Notice that I offered either/or choices for every detail of the appoint except the most basic question of whether or not to visit. I’ve simply assumed that they would, then promptly moved on to setting the date. Let me give you a real life example of the benefits of the either/or choice in action. At dinnertime, if I simply ask my son Zachary what he wants to drink, the answer is more than likely to be soda. Because I want him to have something healthy, I ask him if he wants “milk or apple juice.” In offering him a choice, I give him the sense of control that is important to him; but by defining his options, I maintain control of his ultimate decision. Because I want the future resident to visit my community, the choice to visit or not to visit isn’t brought into question at all; but to ensure that the future resident maintains a sense of control over the situation, either/or choices are offered in every other option of the appointment setting process. You will also notice that I used odd times in the options that I presented in my example — 1:45 or 3:15. Odd times are easier to remember than on-the-hour or half-hour appointments, so I use this to my advantage whenever my schedule allows.

Ask For Their Telephone Number

The next step, and a vital key to increasing your telephone-to-traffic ratio, is obtaining the future resident’s telephone number. This will allow you to confirm the appointment (or reschedule in the event of unforeseen circumstances), and follow-up if necessary. You needn’t be afraid to come right out and ask for a telephone number. The worse thing that could happen is that they’ll refuse (so what?), but the vast majority of future residents are happy to help you help them! Try “Nancy, just in case something comes up, may I please have a number where I can reach you?”

Ask for Their Mailing Address, Fax number and/or Email Address

The telephone number was easy, so don’t stop there - now, ask for their address! “I’d like to send you our community’s information package so you can see the floor plan I’ve told you about. “Where would you like me to mail it?” Let’s say the future resident is going to visit the community within

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the next 24 hours and there is no way the package will make it to them in time. I then ask for a fax number or email address: “Sally, I would really like to send you directions to the community along with a copy of the floor plan that we discussed today. Is there a fax number or e-mail address where you can be reached right now?” If your community isn’t online, then of course just ask for the fax number.

Providing Directions

Always provide directions to both the apartment com-munity and the leasing center. Directions should be given slowly, allowing the future resident ample time to write them down. Provide the telephone number (even though the future resident called you) so that they can write the number on the same piece of paper as the directions. Whenever time permits, a leasing professional should fax or mail a community information package that includes a map with written directions to the community. Providing the GPS coordinates of your community can also be very helpful, considering that many late model cars now come equipped with Global Positioning System navigation capability. Visit www.mapsonus.com to determine your community’s GPS Coordinates. The same web site also allows you to create a customized map especially for each future resident. This takes just a few minutes and never fails to impress.

In a Perfect World...

In a perfect world, a telephone conversation would go like the one I’m going to describe to you shortly. We all know that each person we speak to will have different needs and wants, but this example provides a good model conversation to aim for. Over time and with practice, you’ll find it easy to modify for each person. I love leasing over the telephone — so much so that it’s common for the person on the other end of the line to say “You’re really good!” I hope they’ll say the same to you! Of course, when they do, I always want to say “Gee thanks! I really practiced!” but the best answer is a humble “Thanks! I really enjoy helping people find apartment homes that are perfect for them.” Now, for that ideal conversation - it goes like this:

Leasing Professional: “Hi, this is Tami at XYZ Apartments, We’re the New Vision for Apartment Living! I can help you.” Future Resident: “How much are your two bedroom apartments?” Leasing Professional: “I’d be happy to help you with that information. Again, my name is Tami, and Yourrrrs?” Future Resident: “Sally.”Leasing Professional: “Hi, Sally, please give me just a few minutes of your time to ask you a few questions so that we can see exactly which of our apartments fit your needs, but before I get started with that may I ask you how you heard

about our community?” Future Resident: “For Rent Magazine”Leasing Professional: “Thank you, I promise to make this well worth your time. Do you prefer an upstairs or downstairs apartment home?” Future Resident: “Downstairs.”Leasing Professional: “Do you have any oversized or extra furniture that you’ll be bringing with you?” Future Resident: “I do have a desk and chair along with everything else.”Leasing Professional: “Are you looking for extra space to create a home office area?”Future Resident: “Yes, I often work from home.”Leasing Professional: “Great. We even have a couple of carpet colors for you to choose from. They’re neutral, but if you can tell me what the primary colors of your furniture are, one color may be better for you than the other.”Future Resident: “I have a lot of blue.”Leasing Professional: “That’s great. You’ll probably prefer the stone carpet to the taupe, but I can show you both. Now, many people move because their current home doesn’t meet their needs. May I ask why you are moving from where you’re living now, and what special features you’re looking for in a new home, if any?”Future Resident: “I’m being transferred to your area, and I was hoping to find an apartment that has room for my home office plus a garage.”Leasing Professional: “Okay, that helps me a lot. Now just a few more questions and I think I can help you. We’re a pet friendly community. Will you be bringing a pet with you?”Future Resident: “Yes, I have a cat.”Leasing Professional: “Thank you. That’s fine. And how many people will be living in the apartment with you?”Future Resident: “Three.”Leasing Professional: “And when should we have your new apartment home ready for you to move-in?”Future Resident: “I’ll be moving at the end of next month.”Leasing Professional: “Great. I promise this is the last question, Sally. How much have you budgeted for your new home?”Future Resident: “How much are yours?”Leasing Professional: “Our two bedroom apartments range in price from eight ninety five to eleven, sixty, depending on size and features. If that’s within your price range, I’d be happy to tell you about the one based on our conversation that will meet your needs. What have you budgeted?” Future Resident: “$800?”Leasing Professional: “Okay, the apartment I think you will like most has over 989 square feet, and is located on the first floor with an optional garage. I’d like to walk you through it over the phone. Are you near a fax machine? I would be happy to fax you this floor plan while we are talking so that you can see for yourself. (Fax the floorplan,

The next time you hang up the telephone after a call to a bank, hairdresser, doctor’s office or any other service-oriented business, pause a moment and ask yourself two quick questions: (1) what memory did the voice on the other end of the telephone create for me; and (2) is this a memory I would want to create for my residents and future residents? The ingredients of a memorable and pleasant telephone voice are:

1. Alertness - Your voice should have spark and energy. Give the future resident the impression that you are excited that they’ve called, alert, and sincerely anxious to help them.

2. Pleasantness - Your voice should be smooth, and not distracted or whiny. Communicate with your voice that you are a pleasant and happy person. Can you recall speaking to someone on the telephone that was irritated or having a bad day? How did it leave you feeling?

3. Tone - You are a real human being talking with another human being. Focus on keeping your tone conversational and your language simple, straightforward and sincere. We answer the telephone so many times during the day that it’s easy to lose enthusiasm as the day progresses, but each call has to have the same enthusiasm as the first calls of the morning. The future resident needs to hear enthusiasm and a willingness to serve them in the tone of your voice.

4. Distinction - Use clear articulation and enunciation. All of us tend to get lazy in our face-to-face speech - we drop the final consonant or breeze through the middle syllables. The telephone exaggerates this tendency, so open your mouth and let the sound come out clearly.

5. Expression - Vary your tone and rate of speech. Recall a time you had to listen to a person’s presentation and found yourself wishing that they would just finish because you were bored or uninterested. That person probably wasn’t putting much expression into their delivery.

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make certain they have it in hand, and then continue.) When you open the front door to your new home you’ll immediately notice how bright and airy it is thanks to all of the doublewide windows. Oh, by the way, all the windows are treated with designer mini blinds...the desk area, blah blah blah... Does that sound like the type of apartment you’ve been looking for?”Future Resident: “Yes it does.”Leasing Professional: “Great! You’ll really appreciate our location. We’re close to shopping, and to Kinko’s. We offer lots of amenities and resident services, but to name just a few that you might be interested in, we have a community business center complete with a scanner and Internet access, a lap lane sports pool and jogging trails. Do we sound like the type of community you’ve been looking for?”Future Resident: “Yes!”Leasing Professional: “Sally, I’d love to invite here to show you this apartment! Which is more convenient for you, one day this week or the coming weekend?”Future Resident: “I can come tomorrow”Leasing Professional: “Great! In the morning or afternoon?”Future Resident: “Afternoon.”

Leasing Professional: “How about 1:45 or 4:45?”Future Resident: “4:45”Leasing Professional: “Terrific! I do have some community information that I’m sure you’ll want to see in advance. Do you have an email address or a fax number where I can send it?”Future Resident: “Yes, fax it to 727-784-7978”Leasing Professional: “I will also fax you the directions with a map. I can customize one for you if you will provide me with the address you’ll be coming from.”Future Resident: “Wow that would be great! I’m at the Hilton on Main.”Leasing Professional: “Just in case something comes up, may I ask you for a phone number where I can reach you?”Future Resident: “Yes, 727-784-9469.”Leasing Professional: “Sally, I’ve really enjoyed speaking to you and look forward to showing you this apartment tomorrow at 4:45. Again my name is Tami, and if I can do anything else for you before your visit, including just answering questions about your new city and neighborhood, please don’t hesitate to call and ask for me personally.”Future Resident: “Thank You!”

What Makes a Great Telephone Voice?

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The Leasing Professional’s Next Step

If there’s time to send a package via regular mail, then assemble one and include a personal note. Otherwise, fax or e-mail the community information, application, and map with written directions along with a quick personalized note. Include a copy of the appropriate floorplan(s), even if you’ve already faxed one for them to follow during the telephone demonstration.

Spend the Time Necessary for Success

The average telephone presentation can take as long as five minutes. Yes, five minutes. That is, unless you find that the caller is unqualified. Many studies have shown that our industry is neglectful of the power of the telephone. Many of us still respond to telephone inquiries by simply quoting our rental rates and hanging up! Our communities spend thousands of dollars each month to generate traffic to the community. More often then not that traffic takes the form of telephone calls. A successful leasing professional understands the power of the telephone and always takes the time to get the caller interested in the community, and pursues setting an appointment.

The Best Telephone Techniques Must be Practiced

Like any finely tuned skill, effective telephone techniques develop with time and experience. Keep these techniques in the forefront of your ongoing training efforts, guard against complacency, and remind yourself to view the telephone as the valuable key to success that it truly is! Your telephone is worth its weight in gold, and your telephone-to-traffic ratios will prove it!

Handling Other Types of Inquiries

It’s unfortunate that we often overlook one of the most important components of the leasing process. Though a great many of your future resident inquiries will begin with a telephone call, many of them will also come from other sources; and it’s the more passive request for information that we don’t seem to handle aggressively enough. What about future residents who write in for information, whether directly to the leasing center or through an apartment publication? What about future residents who use one of the newer telephone inquiry services, like For Rent© Magazine’s or calls that came when we were too busy to answer the telephone and ended up

left to CallSource or some other call management system to gather the information we need to follow up? What do we do with all of the information that we receive through direct mail/reply cards? Then there are the residents who casually mention the name of someone who is looking for a new home. And hey, what do we do now that e-mail has been thrown into the communications mix? Are the timing and method of our response important factors in such situations?

We’re well trained to respond to real people, face-to-face; but we often drop the ball when that person is only represented by an e-mail message, piece of paper, or the casual mention of a friend. It’s time to realize that there is a real live, living, breathing human being on the other end of each request for information; and they’re looking for a new home! Face it — every single inquiry and traffic source is IMPORTANT to our success.

The solution to making the absolute most of each inquiry lies in simple personal contact with a personal touch! If you’re lucky enough to have the future resident’s telephone number, then call it. Introduce yourself, and handle the call just as you would have if the future resi-dent called you. If you only have a mailing address, send a letter inviting the future resident to call you personally to discuss their needs and wants, schedule a tour, and enclose a community brochure. If you only have an e-mail address, reply with a friendly invitation to call you person-ally to discuss the many benefits that your community has to offer, and direct them to the community’s web site for more information.

ALL ABOUT E-MAIL

E-Mail (electronic mail) is the means by which people com-municate by sending text, data, image or voice messages between telecommunications links via the Internet or smaller internal networks. In simpler terms, it allows us to use computers that are electronically linked to other com-puters to send and receive information. E-Mail can take the form of simple text messages; pictures, sound (even recorded voice messages), and can include file attachments that contain additional information.

E-mail is so versatile that it can take the place of tele-phone calls, faxes, and written messages like memos or reports. It allows the unique opportunity to send value-added information quickly and efficiently to someone across the hall, or around the world.

We use e-mail software to create, send, receive, for-ward, reply, edit or delete, and otherwise manage mes-sages sent from one computer to another. Each e-mail user has a unique electronic storage space called a mailbox, which is identified by a unique e-mail address.

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HEADER DESCRIPTION APPROPRIATE USE

TO The recipient’s e-mail Use on all messages

address (or screen name). for accurate delivery.

CC Courtesy Copy Use when the message should

(or Carbon Copy). be sent to recipients other than

the primary addressee.

ATTACHMENTS A file that accompanies Attach only information that is

a message, for the recipients pertinent to the main message.

use or information.

Be certain that the recipient’s

e-mail program can accomodate

file attachments, and that the file

is in a format that can be ued by

the recipient.

SUBJECT Be as specific as you Bear in mind that the subject line

can about the message’s will be your recipient’s first

contents. encounter with the message,

and will often determine the

reading priority.

MESSAGE Include the primary Compose your message so that

message that you wish it is concise and easily under-

to convey. standable. Stick to the point.

The Adventures of Leasing Lynda

Following are the typical components of an e-mail message, along with appropriate use of each:

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THE ANATOMY OF AN E-MAIL MESSAGE

Using e-mail effectively requires an understanding of the basic components of each message. Because e-mail traffic may be heavy, recipients may take steps to “screen” their messages, and sort them according to priority. Senders will naturally want to compose their messages in such a way as to facilitate their being read.

Because the subject line will be your recipient’s first encounter with your message, we’ll begin by discussing the ways that you can best use your subject line to convey the content and importance of your message.

* Be specific and get to the point in the subject line. For example, instead of Hello, a more compre-hensive subject line might be Requested info about XYZ Apartments.

* If you are requesting action, ask for it in the sub-ject line. For example, your subject line might read Please call today.

* Keep subject line to 25-35 characters - the typical number of characters that will be readable on screen with-in the recipient’s e-mail browser.

* Avoid labeling messages as “urgent” in order to get attention, unless the content of the message truly warrants it. Remember the story of the little boy who cried wolf?

* Don’t use abbreviations, acronyms or jargon unless you know your receiver will understand them.

* Never leave the subject line blank. Not only is it your recipient’s first encounter with your message, but it is respectful of their time to tell them something about what the message contains.

Once you’ve composed an appropriate subject line, proceed to write a brief but clear message. You can usu-ally make your point within one e-mail message screen (approximately 20 lines), but bear in mind that what looks like a screenful to you may not transfer as a screenful to your receiver. A good rule to follow is to keep your mes-sage length to less than 80 words; and edit down to 60 words if your recipient might forward your message to someone else.

Special Considerations When Communicating Via E-mail

Probably the biggest mistake that any writer makes in any medium is to forget that a real person will read the

message. Unfortunately, it’s easy to forget that people are involved at both ends when you’re composing a message at a computer instead of communicating with a real person in real time. Ask yourself these questions:

Who will receive the message, and is anyone else likely to read it?

Why am I sending the message?

What does the receiver know, and need to know?

Why will the receiver read this message?

How will the receiver react to the message? Consider how the recipient would react if you were to relay the message face to face.

What is my relationship to the receiver?

Since e-mail is different from paper-based messages, e-mail messages require a different approach in order to be most effective. The allure of e-mail is that it requires less time in order to communicate ideas and information. In order to preserve this benefit, senders should to keep e-mail messages brief and emphasize key points to ensure their message is read and understood. Here are some other points to be sure to consider when composing emails:

* Use upper and lower case letters appropriately. Replying in capital letters is considered “shouting” and deemed impolite.

* If the future resident has provided his first or full name, address the e-mail as you would a letter, beginning with “Dear <name>.” Mr., Mrs., or Ms. <lastname> is preferred, but in the absence of a last name, “Dear <first-name>” is acceptable. In the absence of a name, begin simply with “Thank you for your inquiry...”

* Stick to the point. The future resident likely chose e-mail as the preferred method of communication because of its convenience and speed. Respect his or her time accordingly.

* If your community has a web presence, direct the future resident to your web site for more information. Provide a link to the site if your e-mail program allows.

* If the future resident made a special request (i.e. asked for additional information by mail, or specially asked if you allow pets) be certain to answer appropriately.

* Pay careful attention to spelling, grammar, and

wording. Remember that your written reply will create the future resident’s first impression of the community, so ensure that the image you send is a professional one in every respect. Remember, e-mail is still a business correspondence.

* Don’t ignore the fact that your reply is a leasing opportunity. Take advantage of the chance to lease your community. To help ensure the best promotional response, you or your marketing manager may want to compose some “form” e-mail to be used as a base for correspon-dence. These can be “cut and pasted” into the message and then personalized, just as you would a form letter.

* Include your full name, title, the community name, your telephone number, and fax number. The purpose of your message is to invite the future resident to con-tact you by telephone or in person, and he or she can’t tell who you are or how to contact you by your e-mail address alone.

Netiquette

The word “Netiquette” is a play on words - a pun of the words “Internet” and “Etiquette” used to describe appro-priate behavior online, and particularly in online interper-sonal communications.

Netiquette for E-Mail Senders

Ask permission before you forward someone else’smessage, even if you are forwarding only selective components of the message.

Don’t reply to a message unless you have something to contribute.

Send messages only to those who need to know theinformation.

Remember that every message you send creates workfor someone else, even if they will only be called upon to read the message.

Respect the recipients’ time by keeping messages relevant and concise, and clearly identifying what is fact and what is merely your opinion.

Limit emoticons, smileys and other devices that showemotion. They can be useful in conveying the intent or

spirit in which a message is given, but a little cuteness goes a long way.

Send personal messages only if your organization allows it, and keep them to a minimum.

Do not copy the sender’s message in the reply unlessyou need to reference specific sections. “Cut and paste” only what you need.

Don’t cry “wolf” by marking all your messages urgentor important.

If you are sending messages outside of your companyor community, identify who you are, what position you hold and who you represent.

Know your audience. Remember that you lose control of your message the moment that you press the send key, so be certain that a message will be clearly under-stood by the recipient before sending it. E-mail misun-derstandings can be messy, and playful sarcasm is a common culprit.

Be aware that you may be held responsible for whatyou say, especially when your message is sent in repre-sentation of your company or community. E-mail mes-sages may remain in the computer system for up to five years. What you write may very well come back to haunt you, if not immediately, possibly in the future.

Netiquette for E-Mail Recipients

Reply promptly to all messages that warrant a reply.Don’t waste your time or your recipients’ by replying to messages that don’t warrant one.

If a message angers you, react slowly. Once an e-mailmessage is posted, it may be impossible to retrieve. Remember that e-mail has its limits, and the intent of a given message can be easily misunderstood. Give the sender the benefit of the doubt; and in any case, respond courteously.

Before replying to any message, consider whether e-mail is the best way to reply. Often, the performance of a requested action is an adequate reply in and of itself.

If you receive a message intended for someone else,don’t delete it. Make sure that it gets forwarded to the

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intended recipient with an explanation that you received it in error. Be aware also that changing someone else’s message in the process of forwarding it may be illegal.

Glossary of E-Mail and Online-Related Terms

You may hear the following terms used when people dis-cuss e-mail or other means of communicating via computer networks, including the Internet:

Addressee(s) - The person or people to whom the message is directly addressed. (See also cour-tesy copy, and blind courtesy copy below).

Attachment (or File Attachment) - A com-puter file that is transmitted along with an e-mail message to provide the recipient additional information or useable data.

Blind Courtesy Copy (BCC) - A copy of a message that is sent to a recipient other than the primary addressee(s), without the primary addressee’s knowl-edge.

Browser - A software application or component that serves as the user’s viewing and managing interface with his or her computer and the informa-tion that it provides, including e-mail or sites on the world wide web.

Courtesy Copy (CC) - A copy of a mes-sage that is sent to someone other than the primary addressee for purely informational pur-poses.

Digitized (or Digital) Images - Graphic images (including pic-tures and illustrations) converted to a digital format so that they may be viewed, manipulated, or otherwise used in a computing environment.

Download - The means by which a recipient transfers a file from network space (including e-mail file attachments), to personal computer space. E-mail file attachments have to be download-ed before they may be opened and used.

Electronic Chat (E-Chat or Chat) - The means by which people conduct interactive, simultaneous “conversations” online electronically, in real-time.

E-Mail Address - The unique electronic location of your e-mail files. A mail address usually consists of two parts: the name of the host computer where the e-mail system is located and the user’s specific mailing address. For example: jsmith@abccorp.com might be the mailing address for John Smith at ABC Corporation.

E-mail Header - The first part of an e-mail message con-taining the address information (To, CC, Subject and

Attachment lines) of a message.

E-Mail Policy - A clear statement of guidelines and boundaries that clarifies the corporate or community view of e-mail, including how users will implement it as a communications tool, and potential penalties for misuse.

Emoticons (Smileys, etc.) - Visual shorthand substitutes for the nonverbal “emotional”

clues that e-mail does not otherwise allow. Emoticons use punctuation marks to resemble

facial expressions. For example, a smile is repre-sented as :-), a frown as :-(, or a wink as ;-).

Encryption - The means by which messages are “scrambled” or encoded to ensure privacy.

FAQs - Computer shorthand for “Frequently Asked Questions,” typically about a soft-ware program or other computer-based activity.

Firewall - A barrier between an internal and external net-work that screens incoming messages and allows only authorized users access to the internal system.

Flaming - The act of sending an angry or unfriendly mes-sage via e-mail to another user or group of users. A flame contains derogatory or embarrassing information that may include insensitive, profane or obscene language.

Hotlink (or Link) - A web site address that is embedded into an e-mail message in such a way that the recipient can reach the web site by clicking on the address within in the message.

Cyberspace : A term coined by William Gibson in his fantasy novel,

Neuromancer, most often used to describe the Internet and the people

and information that populate it.

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.jpg (pronounced “jay-peg”) - A graphic file format preferred for transmitting digital images via e-mail and on the Internet. The relatively small file size, as compared to most other graphic file formats, enables faster transmission, shortening the time that it takes to upload or download an image, or for it to appear on the recipient’s computer screen.

List Service (or Listserv) - An e-mail forum that users subscribe to in order to regularly receive e-mail on a specific topic of interest. Messages are generally informational in nature. Since list service subscribers do not usually respond to the messages that they receive, the resulting dialogue is typically “one way,” as opposed to the interactive dialogue that results from participating in a Newsgroup (see next page).

Local Area Network (LAN) - A computer network that links computers together at a single site, such as a company, department or building. LANs allow users within a defined system to effi-ciently share hardware, software and data, and to communicate with each other electronically via e-mail.

Monitoring - The checking of online mes-sages by companies/communities and their system administrators for the pur-pose of determining policy conformance.

Multimedia - A term used to describe information that is enhanced by com-bining text with audio, video, and other graphic elements.

Netiquette - A pun on the words “Internet” and “etiquette” that refers to appropriate interpersonal behavior in cyber-space.

Newsgroup - A newsgroup is a place within a LAN or WAN (there are thousands on the Internet) where discussions on a particular topic take place. Users can send and receive articles from the newsgroup. The resulting dialogue is much like participating in a List Service, but far more interactive.

Online Services (or Internet Service Providers) - Commercial electronic subscriber services such as America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy, by which users access cyberspace.

Public Domain - Information dedicated by the owner to be

free of copyright restrictions, and able to be openly shared. The Internet is populated by both proprietary and public domain information. Be aware that formatting, sequenc-ing, comments and even summaries may remain copy-righted even if general information is not.

Real-Time - Refers to any electronic operation or communi-cation that takes place simultaneously. For example, elec-tronic chat is a real-time communications medium, as it allows two or more users to communicate with each other immediately via the internet in much the same way that

they would face-to-face or via the telephone. Conversely, e-mail is a more passive communications medium, since messages are sent to a recipient who can access them in his or her own time.

Server - A computer that shares its resources, such as printers and files (including the hypertext files that populate the world wide web) with other computers on the network.

Signature File - A short blurb of information that can be speci-fied within an e-mail program to automatically appear at the end of each message that a user sends. Signature files typically include the sender’s name and contact infor-mation, and frequently include a link to the sender’s web site.

Snail Mail - Traditional mail (surface mail) sent through the U.S. Post Office, so named because of its comparatively slow speed of delivery.

Spam - Unsolicited or unwelcome e-mail, particularly mes-sages of a commercial nature that are mass-mailed to extensive lists of e-mail addressees.

Surfing - Browsing the information available on the Internet or any other wide area network.

System Administrator or Operator (SysOp) - Electronic-system operators responsible for maintaining and securing net-works. Also sometimes referred to as the e-mail overseer, gate-keeper or referee.

Thread - A central theme or message topic.

Internet - A worldwide system of wide area networks that enables the sharing

and transmission of data.

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User’s Agreement (Terms of Service or TOS) - A contract that outlines the expectations of a service provider, the rights of its users, and establishes guidelines for proper use and security of the system.

Wide Area Network (WAN) - A computer network that links computers together in a wide geographical area. A WAN functions the same as a LAN, but allows wider distribution of data.

World Wide Web (WWW) - The most pervasive and rapidly growing component of the Internet where information exists for public access in hypertext form. By clicking on a highlighted word or phrase, a user can move from one web site or related information component to another.

Summary

A. Be courteous and friendly and sincerely interested in thecalling party when speaking on the telephone.

B. Good messages should be taken when necessary anda standard system/form must be used in order to insure effective communication with the entire community team.

C. Be a professional every time you answer the telephoneby using good manners. There is nothing worse than being on the telephone when someone is carrying on another conversation or yells outs to another person while speaking with you. In fact it’s rude. Focus on the person at the other end of the line just as if they where standing right in front of you.

D. Answer the telephone on the second or third ring. Thisgives you plenty of time to both prepare for a profes-sional telephone conversation and promptly respond to the future resident’s request.

E. Create a favorable image when speaking on the tele-phone by smiling and sounding enthusiastic. Thesepositive inflections are easily detected by the future resident.

F. When answering the telephone, always introduceyourself by stating your name and the name of the apartment community. It may also be helpful to include a welcoming phrase such as this “Hello this is Tami at McNeil House I can help you?” or “Hi, this is Tami at McNeil House, the New Vision for Apartment living. I can help you!”

G. Determine the needs and wants of the future residentprior to qualifying. This approach develops a rapport with the future resident.

H. Qualifying questions should be asked of all telephone inquiries. It is especially important to obtain the future resident’s name, email or mailing address and telephone number so that follow-up phone calls or messages can be made if needed.

I. Provide an inviting visual description of the apartmentand community using the “white rabbit” technique.

J. Use the Welcome/Guest Card during the telephoneconversation to record responses to questions as the future resident provides them. This will help you avoid asking repetitive questions when the future resident arrives, and saves information for the follow-up if future resident does not show up for the scheduled appoint-ment.

K. The goal of the telephone conversation is to set upan appointment with the future resident to visit the community. The fact of the matter is that people are looking for apartment as far out as four and five months, with most looking 60 days out. How these inquiries are handled and the information that is gath-ered will determine the number of potential residents the community has in their “leads” file when the apart-ment becomes vacant or is placed on notice. Note: We encourage companies and communities to require at least a 60-day notice to vacate and actually prefer a 90-day notice because future residents are looking for new homes up to 120 or more in advance of their move in date. This allows communities to more accurately reflect availability in their advertising efforts. Advertising changes frequently require 30 or even 60 days notice. A 30-day notice to vacate doesn’t allow the community enough time to react to the upcoming availability, and therefore vacancy loss is increased.