In most any successful business, the majority of one’s sales are built on the foundation of trust. The same applies to the multifamily industry. When thinking about sealing the deal with your own prospects, you have to consider how you can first build a relationship, followed by trust.

So, how do you establish trust?

1. Make your value known

You know you can meet your prospects needs better than any other property in town. So, speak to this in your marketing and property tours. Educate your prospects on the value you could bring to their lifestyle without being too overbearing. Think about marketing your community as one that will appeal to your renter’s emotions, like promoting a stress-free living experience, increased happiness, or even more creativity. Incorporating these emotional appeals into your marketing is important when it comes to adding value to your property, as emotion is usually the strongest trigger when in the customer’s buying journey.

2. Be honest.

Your renters can tell when you’re embellishing on the details of your property, so make sure you’re always forthright with them, first and foremost. If you can’t provide a certain amenity or meet their price point, tell them! Answer their questions honestly, being as open and transparent as possible. If not, you’ll invite yourself to even more follow-up questions that you may not be prepared to answer.  So, improve your efficiency by taking the time to thoroughly address all of your customer’s concerns so that they feel confident in signing that lease. By having honest dialogue with your prospects, you’re more inclined to land the sale in the long run while creating stronger relationships and reducing turnover.

3. Prepare with the customer in mind.

By now, you should know the types of questions and concerns that renters have when seeking a new property–so, prepare, prepare, prepare! Remain empathetic to their common challenges, past experiences and hesitations and be prepared to emphasize how your property can meet them and offer a sense of peace. Remain inviting, transparent and patient so that the sales experience seems less “salesy” and more of an actual relationship, despite them signing the lease.

4. Be dependable.

Can your renters trust you to show up and do what you say? This tip is probably the most important, aside from honesty. Your tenants need to feel that they can not only trust you during the sales pitch, but can trust you to fulfill your promises. If you let them down early on during the sales process–like failing to follow up, schedule a visit or send requested information–they’ll be less inclined to trust you to handle other important things like maintenance requests, rental payments and returning their deposit.

5. Value the relationship.

Last but not least, if you want to build a great relationship with your renter, you’ll need to prioritize the relationship building experience. By understanding that you have something of value to offer the relationship with your tenants, you can easily integrate the customer-centric sales approach within your sales/marketing strategy. 

Keep in mind that relationship building takes time, as does cultivating trust with your renters. So, you’ll need to be consistent, dependable and persistent to see the impact.

Rentbot can help.

Simply put, renters don’t lease from apartment communities they don’t trust–and no one understands this better than us. We take each relationship with our customers seriously. Rentbot began with a single purpose–to create affordable, accessible website solutions for small to mid-size properties. This is why we’re committed to building modern websites with industry-specific features, personal website support, and transparent pricing. 

We’ve been trained and certified by Google to help multifamily properties manage their online advertising and grow their business. We have also earned the Google Partner badge, which certifies our advanced knowledge in Google Ad (AdWords) campaigns. It’s another way we deliver results and build long-lasting relationships with our clients.

Let Rentbot help strengthen your relationship with your renters. Get to know what we can do for your property. Contact us here. 

About the Author

Jonsette Calloway joined the Rentbot team in 2015. With a background in public relations, advertising and copywriting, she has helped a multitude of clients achieve their marketing and communications goals within various fields, but she particularly enjoys working with the apartment industry.