This blog was written by Brian Zrimsek, Industry Principal at MRI Software.      

For more than a decade, G5 has worked with top multifamily property management systems to build seamless integrations that pull floor plans, pricing, and availability information directly onto your websites. MRI Software is a G5 partner, and together we offer a seamless multifamily lead to leasing journey. 

Multifamily businesses know that keeping prospects engaged throughout the lead to lease process is one of the most important steps in the residential lifecycle. How you handle your leads will impact future residents’ perception of your community and influence occupancy levels. With an inefficient lead management system, your prospects could be at a higher risk of falling through the cracks and dropping out of the leasing journey, resulting in lost opportunities and even negative reviews.

As digital adoption continues to accelerate, it’s important to capture every lead and engage with prospects from the very first point of contact. A lead management solution that equips your properties with the following tools can help your business keep prospects engaged and sign leases faster.

1. Lead Tracking

While there are certain “high seasons” for multifamily property move-ins, the leasing season is still a year-round, 24/7 business. In today’s digital age, messages and leasing inquiries don’t always come in during regular business hours, and staff don’t always have the ability to answer every call from a potential resident immediately. But what if properties could capture information from every missed phone call? What if you could track all prospect interactions throughout the entire lead-to-lease process?

With a solution that logs each instance of prospect engagement in one centralized system, staff can gain a full view of a potential resident’s engagement history, and leasing agents can win more deals. The multifamily industry is a fast-paced environment, and keeping up with demand requires a tool that empowers you to track every interaction with prospective renters, including emails, calls, texts, walk-ins, and visits.

2. Online Scheduling and Virtual Tours

The renters of today are more reliant on digital services than any generation before them, prioritizing instant access and excellent user experiences above all else. With the pandemic accelerating the adoption of technology across all industries, properties that provide a complete online leasing experience in a customer-centric way can garner attention from prospects and better position themselves for success.

Providing an option to either schedule a tour at your property online or take a digital tour using 360-degree virtual unit models can empower your prospects. By presenting them with important information hassle-free, your business can make a great first impression and reach potential residents who may have limited ability to visit a physical apartment building.

3. Real-Time Notifications

The biggest threat to the lead-to-lease process has always been the speed at which a potential resident can fall through the cracks. Even with all the tools mentioned above, prospect expectations are on the rise and the multifamily industry moves fast, making timely communication with leads more important than ever. 

With leasing staff already using so much energy on value-adding tasks, your lead management system should be making communications easier for your business by serving as a real-time connection between your property and your prospects. Software that enables prospects to reach a leasing agent directly via text or email, and provides that agent with instant notifications, can help cut down on gaps in the leasing process. Without that, you could lose the attention of a potential resident.

4. Performance Reporting

Just as commercial organizations need to track their assets across their portfolio, multifamily businesses need to have a full picture of how well their properties are performing. In order to drive value to your properties, you also need to understand what’s driving occupancy, which internal processes could be improved, and how well your communities are connecting with prospects.

At their best, lead management solutions don’t just speed up the lead-to-lease process – they equip you to make confident business decisions based on accurate information about your properties, your residents, and your leasing staff performance. Gain valuable insight into marketing ROI, agent response time, and other trends with a flexible solution that also enables you to visualize leasing performance KPIs and at-risk activities, such as unprocessed phone calls.

5. End-to-End Integration

A lead management system that doesn’t play well with your existing technology can create disruptions for your team. When evaluating software, look for providers that integrate with the systems you already use to ensure a streamlined flow of information throughout the lead management process. Your lead tracking and performance reporting capabilities are only as good as the data that supports them. 

Distinguishing your property from the competition in the eyes of prospects and keeping them engaged throughout each step in the lead-to-lease process can be difficult, but utilizing comprehensive and flexible software makes managing leads easier and can drive occupancy, enabling your organization to build stronger communities. Learn how to maximize conversions and close deals faster with lead management solutions.