Making good impressions with tenants
Heather Blume, Owner/Operator of Behind the Leasing Desk Consulting Services, has this to say about making a good impression on prospective tenants:
Humans are judgmental. Going beyond cultural lines, beyond family, beyond age, and beyond any other conceivable grouping, across the board, humans as a species are judgmental. We learn tolerance at a young age, but tolerance isn’t the same thing as acceptance. The most recent statistic I read on the subject said that when meeting a new person, you have 8 seconds to make a first impression that they will base the rest of their judgments on your character from.
On top of only giving you 8 seconds to make an impression, the human psyche also requires almost 10 interactions of a vastly different nature to change someone’s initial opinion about you. This means that even if the resident rents from you, they could be well in to the 3rd, 4th or 5th month of their lease before they decide that you are not, in fact, a jerk or lazy.
She suggests the following:
- Stand to greet your potential new resident when they enter the office.
- Have a clean, well groomed appearance.
- Shake their hand with a nice firm handshake while you SMILE.
- Wear a name tag and introduce yourself.
- Brush your teeth and make sure your breath stays clean during the day.
So how does your property management team rate? On a good day? How about a bad day? Both answers are extremely important!