Easily Increase Your Resident Renewals
WHEN TO FOCUS ON RENEWALS AT YOUR APARTMENT COMMUNITY?
Easy renewal conversations starts from the first day a person becomes a resident. Too many times communities have little interaction with residents throughout the lease process and are surprised to get a notice to vacate from a resident.
Our rate of renewals is really a reflection of the sum of all our interactions with that resident.
A NOT-SO-CORPORATE APPROACH
If you’ve been in the habit of printing out your typical “corporate” renewal, you may want to hit pause, especially if that renewal letter includes a rental increase.
Asking people to pay more money (without an obvious value increase) deserves more of a personal approach.
Remember, your residents are people too! If they’ve had an awful day (late for work, stuck in traffic, obnoxious boss, cranky kids) and then they come home to a renewal notice stuffed in their door WITH A PRICE INCREASE, it’s not going to be well-received.
So start by putting yourself in your resident’s shoes! Instead try putting a smile on their face with a fun renewal.
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PREPARING YOUR onsite TEAM FOR RENEWALS
HELP EVERY TEAM MEMBER BE READY FOR A RENEWAL CONVERSATION
BY PREPPING IN ADVANCE
Discuss why price increases are necessary for the financial health of your community.
Get familiar with current market rates and competitor pricing and incentives.
List out any improvements that have been made to the community in the last year.
Familiarize yourself with the current cost of moving in your area. Include costs that aren’t just monetary. For example, if your prospect has children, will they be leaving behind a school district they know and love?
Review where and why you’ve lost past renewals. For example, if there is a trend in home purchasing, get comfortable talking about the perks of renting over buying. If you see you are losing to a certain competitor, find out why.
Practice having those conversations as a team. If you are the community manager, consider letting each team member individually sit in as you handle a renewal conversation. When it’s your employees turn, sit in with them and offer valuable feedback. Remember to highlight what went well!
In your weekly team meeting, discuss how the previous week went in terms of renewal conversations. What challenges were difficult to overcome? What could be done better?
An informed team is a team that can confidently tackle renewal conversations.
KEEPING RENEWALS FUN
Flip the switch on boring renewals. Make it another moment to stand out as unique in your resident interaction. The Sprout Daily Dose Membership provides fresh renewal initiatives and designs every month. Check out some of our favorites below!
And don’t forget to thank them after they renew! It sets up next year’s renewal from day one.
