Sales
Follow Up
Follow up can be equated to the gold mine of all gold mines in property management. Ask any leasing consultant worth his or her salt and they would all tell you that following up yields them some percentage of additional sales that they would not have otherwise booked.
It Matters
Two Saturdays ago I made an unscheduled trip to my local urgent care – yeah, pneumonia. Prescription – get more rest.
To the point – that was a Saturday; the following Monday afternoon I get a call from a strange number. I don’t answer and they leave a voicemail. Guess who; yes – a nurse from urgent care. Just checking in on me to see how I was feeling. Took all of 2 minutes to make that call and leave that message.
Two minutes that – god forbid I have to go back – insured that I will return to do business with them in the future. That is despite the fact that I don’t know anyone at the urgent care. Not enough to call them friend or otherwise.
Caring Matters
It boils down to Care. Now one could argue that it’s superficial. Okay – but it is effective.
Take away – pick up the phone and call someone you do business with and see how they are doing. Just check on them with no mission in mind. Work on securing some loyalty down the line.
Your follow up on someone today multifamily maniac,
M
Abolish Leasing Commissions
I am 100% convinced that leasing commissions need to go away.
They are a long survived sacred cow and serve no real purpose in the way of motivating people to lease more apartments or more importantly – serving people.
My solution – pay people a fair wage and tie 10% of that to your companies year over year same store revenue growth or some like kind metric.
Best kept Apartment Leasing Secret
This ranks up there with answering lead medium whatever they may be (telephone, text message, facebook post, email, etc..) following up and asking for the sale:
Selling – One for All Apartment Professionals
Apartment friends and family, it is no secret that selling starts with the ability to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself then you haven’t the slightest chance of getting anyone to love you back. And, in my head, getting people to fall in love with you first and your content second is the master-key to riches when it comes to selling.
Master Key to Riches in Four Steps
1. Love your heart [Read: Stay away from those that would bring you down. And, get real close to those who amp you up].
2. Love your mind [Read: Think well enough of yourself to read literature that makes you think deeply. Talk to people who challenge your intellect and blow you away].
3. Love your body [Read: Eat well and exercise regularly].
4. Love your soul [Read: Find purpose. Find meaning. Find mindfulness. Find that deeper meaning that amps you. Find that deeper meaning that gives cause for you to wake without the aid of an alarm despite the early hour. Find that thing that keeps you on task and in motion despite any and all setbacks].
Bonus Step: Get clear on the definition of riches. Hint: It has nothing to do with money.
Your – in constant practice of the four steps – multifamily maniac,
M
Sales, or something like it
I have never been in a position where I get more cold calls than now. I guess that is what happens in marketing. I have to admit, I have been super busy and my patience level is incredibly short. Probably the reason I have been furious lately when my phone rings.
However, some sales calls I get super excited about. Here is my advice to sales people – not only in multifamily. Some of them happen to apply to our leasing associates as well!
11 Sales No No’s.
(FYI, all of these things have happened to me in the last week or so)
- It’s about a relationship, stupid. Please don’t be fake.
- Do not cold call me with no knowledge of my company or what we do. At minimum, please use Google.
- I do not respond well to threats or super pushy marketing tactics like name dropping or insulting our current efforts.
- If we, or I, determine your product isn’t right for us (now or even in the future), don’t bully me to change my mind – that really ends the possibility of a future relationship.
- Don’t send pushy emails copying my superior, especially when I still don’t know why I should care about your product.
- Don’t request me on LinkedIn before we have had a positive conversation/interaction or any at all.
- Please be prepared. I don’t want to wait on the phone for 2 minutes while you look for your earring back or listen to your uncomfortable pauses and sighs when you aren’t sure what to do next.
- NEVER ask me what we pay your competition for their services. If you don’t know what your product is worth, I do – $0.
- Call a million times a day without saying why I should want to call you back, you will likely not get a call back if I have no clue why I am calling you. Its super weird for me to call you and say “Hi this is Melissa, I have no idea why I am calling you but please, pretty please, sell me something.”
- By the way, NOT COOL, when I finally begin to try to have a conversation with you (warranted or not), that you berate me for taking so long to call you. Give me a reason first and I will respond more quickly!
- This one is too hard to explain, so here is the actual email. Don’t do this, ever, and at least spell my name correctly!!!!!!! I have never interacted with her (I think she left me some empty voicemails)…
“Haven’t given up Melisssa…
Certainly don’t want to be a “thorn in your side,” so I’ll try & make this as painless as possible.
Eager to know your level of interest in our training offerings. Please check an option, promise no hard feelings : )
___ YES, send me a FREE DVD preview of your latest & greatest training programs, __customer service __leadership
___ I prefer to preview online, set me up with a FREE demo with your web-based platform.
___ Training doesn’t fall under my umbrella, try contacting ___________________________.
___ My plate is more than full, better timing would be ___later this year, ___ early 2012, ____ never darken my
doors again.”
The Best do these things. Short and SIMPLE and it doesn’t waste my time or yours.
- Interact with our company on our social media platforms in a meaningful way (not name dropping your company), we like that and builds trust.
- Start conversations, not sales pitches.
- Be an expert in your field and help us when possible – without our business at first.
- Go the extra mile.
- Help our company and teams increase efficiency.
- Use email at first then move to the more personal phone call. Refer to number 10 above.
Final Thought:
Above all else, do us all a favor, and LOVE what you do and what you are selling. If you don’t, why should I?
Thank you for listening to my rant. I really want to like sales people (I will always love ours though :)), but for some reason only a limited few really get it. Does your team?
I would love to hear that these things happen to other people, so please tell!
