It’s leasing season! The phones are ringing off the hook and your leasing staff is feeling the pressure.  We know that missed call rates in the multifamily industry hover near 50%. That means your team is missing opportunities to lease. And those opportunities are going straight to your competition.

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Properties often turn to a call center to help pick up the slack. Initially this seems like a good idea—callers don’t like leaving a voicemail and they certainly aren’t sitting patiently by the phone waiting for your busy leasing agent to call them back. The perceived view when the caller reaches the call center employee is that they are talking to the property and are getting the specific information they are looking for from a reliable source familiar with the community.

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The reality is different.

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Call center employees are not your employees.

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Your callers may be faced with the following:

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• Long on-hold time with elevator music. Studies show that 60% of callers believe even one minute of hold-time is too long.

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• Lack of service options. Many prospect callers are looking for self-service options. Automated attendants who get to the point with relevant information and self-service tour options are trending.

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• A completely scripted, inflexible dialog where the employee drives the conversation in an often lack-luster fashion.  

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• Unhappy employees on the other end of the line. Call center staff is often exposed to excessive call monitoring, low salaries and angry callers, causing stressful and oppressive workplaces coupled with high turnover.

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In addition, process changes at your property can be implemented quickly and monitored for effectiveness. Making any changes at the call center level takes time and training that is not under your control.

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If you are wondering about options, you might consider utilizing a virtual leasing assistant.  ACE AI, LeaseHawk’s virtual leasing assistant, leverages AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology for a cost-effective way to handle high call volume traffic and back up your leasing team when needed. Affordable and customizable by the client, ACE AI harnesses the same technologies that Google assistants and Amazon Alexa use to provide a smooth and convenient conversation based on the specific needs of the callers.  

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To learn more about this innovative use of AI, visit leasehawk.ai.

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