VAMACON Speaker Karen Gladney: What Visiting 100 Apartment Communities in 100 Days Taught Me

What Visiting 100 Apartment Communities in 100 Days Taught Me
By Karen Gladney, Power Pro Leasing and the president of POWER Apartment Leasing & Marketing Inc.
2021 VAMACON Breakout Session Speaker

 

In 2019 and 2020, before the pandemic arrived, I set out to visit 100 properties in 100 days. I wanted to get a truly informed understanding of the in-person experience that prospects are having today. I wanted to see where the opportunities for improvement are and where leasing teams are knocking it out of the park.

I genuinely went into my visits as a blank slate not quite sure what they would reveal. So often I hear people make broad, sweeping statements after visiting only a handful of properties, as if those limited experiences represent the industry standard. My intention in visiting 100 communities was to see what the industry standard really is.

So I set out on my adventure and to say I was surprised at what I found would be an understatement. I was quickly and vividly reminded that the in-person leasing experience often is less than ideal for visiting prospects. I also humbly realized I had personally committed several of these leasing blunders myself.

The properties I toured were all high-end apartment communities from coast to coast. These are typically the properties that are the early adopters of the latest and greatest practices and technologies that the rest of the industry eventually follows.

In-person visits and tours are obviously somewhat limited these days because of COVID, but as 2021 unfolds and the pandemic (hopefully) begins to fade, my experience should provide valuable lessons as communities begin to ramp up their on-site leasing activities.

I will outline my experiences in detail in my "What Visiting 100 Apartment Communities in 100 Days Taught Me about the Modern Prospect Experience" session at the upcoming VAMACON. The session will take place on Wednesday, April 28, at 1:45 p.m.

In the meantime, here are some of the experiences and surprises that occurred on my visits: 

Greetings and First Impressions: About 10 communities into this project, I called one of my co-workers and said I feel like I am treated more kindly when I check into a hotel for a one-night stay than when looking for my next home. Offices had packages, sticky notes and file folders everywhere, and they too often were in general disarray.

Associate attire overall wasn’t polished or coordinated, and there were very few people with name tags to help me remember who I was talking to. I definitely felt like interrupting the leasing teams more often than not, and I did not feel like a priority.

Nearly 50% of the time, I had to wait for someone to help me or I was sent away because I didn’t have an appointment, the office was closed or a myriad of other reasons. It quickly turned from a project I was excited about to one that felt more daunting. And I must say, when looking for an apartment you get really thirsty and even hungry. And although I appreciated being offered anything, repeatedly being offered water and coffee got old quickly. 

The Discovery: After being asked to sit at the desk, where most people wanted to sit me down, which is not inviting and, frankly, felt cold and impersonal, the biggest surprise came to light: STICKY NOTES! Oh my word, I truly had no idea we were still using sticky notes for guest cards at all – much less on A+ lease-ups.

It was also surprising how few questions I was asked to figure out the best apartment for me. Most of the time I was just asked about my move-in date, the apartment I was looking for and price range. Everyone seemed to want to know my budget. I am more than just a price range.

What about the floor I want to live on? The direction I want to face? The kind of view I want to have? The type of layout? Color schemes? Many times it wasn’t until we got in an apartment and I asked about a particular feature that the team member said, “Oh! We have that, let’s go see it.” If I had just been asked more specifics about my wants and not just my budget in the beginning, we could have gone to the right apartment home immediately. 

Tour and Wrap-Up: I can say this: there are some fabulous WOW fridges out there. It felt like everyone had one but in actuality, it was about 40% of the communities. The interesting thing was when I would open it the leasing associate always said, “Yes, that’s our WOW fridge,” but most of the time didn’t invite me to take anything. And since the fridges look like works of art, I can see how a prospect wouldn’t take anything from them if they’re not invited. Maybe there should be a sign saying, “Drink Me” - ha!

At the end of it all, the stats indicate I was shown an average of two apartments per tour. I definitely feel like I impacted that and that the number easily could have been higher if I had left things completely to the onsite team members, who often seemed more focused on showing me lots of apartments instead of the ones they thought were actually a fit for me.

I'm looking forward to discussing my experiences in more depth during my upcoming VAMACON session.

Our industry is filled with wonderful associates who are working very hard. But even well-intentioned and conscientious associates can make the kinds of mistakes discussed here and unintentionally undermine leasing efforts.

For now, l want to say I hope these general observations are an opportunity for you to pause and ask yourself if your leasing teams are truly providing the ideal experience for prospects.

 

Karen Gladney is the co-founder and president of Power Pro Leasing and the president of POWER Apartment Leasing & Marketing Inc.