Apartment Mystery Shopping

What is apartment mystery shopping?

Apartment Mystery Shopping is a technique used by Sales, Inc. on every property we are contacted about working on, which enables us to quickly gauge the leasing style of your on-site staff. Whether you use on-site staff or a call center to handle phone traffic, our shopping experts are able to notice the leasing agent’s knowledge, skills, and attitude, starting with that first call. In a recent training class, we called 27 random communities throughout the country and the average call lasted 42 seconds (see article here). That’s usually enough time to give someone the price of an apartment, before quickly hanging up to take another call or get back to what he/she was doing before the phone interruption. Apartment mystery shopping is a vital tool for any apartment owner or property manager because leasing agents are often the first point of contact for future residents. The least agent, as a representative of the apartment community, will make a lasting first impression – how confident are you that your staff is making a good impression, as well as securing vital contact information to be able to follow up with a lead? A potential resident’s experience with the leasing agent during inquiries, inspection, and transactions contributes greatly to the decision of whether or not to sign or renew a lease.

Onsite Investigations

As an independent party, Sales, Inc. mystery shoppers observe how a leasing agent performs. This is one of the best methods available to property owners for measuring agent performance. Our mystery shoppers go through a tested process to record how an agent performs from the initial conversation to follow-ups and the final decision. In our analysis, we assess the agent’s verbal responses, efficiency and response time to requests, and in-person greeting and salesmanship. If your leasing process involves an online application, Sales, Inc. will test the functionality and usability of your online process. During the apartment visit, our mystery shopper will provide an objective evaluation of your leasing agent and the community. We also provide an extra service to capture the mystery shopping experience on video. We place a hidden camera in a strategic position to capture your leasing agent’s manne

Benefits to Apartment Mystery Shopping

Aside from monitoring your leasing agent’s performance, there are number of other benefits from the Sales, Inc. apartment mystery shopping service, including:
  • Pointing out strengths and weaknesses
  • Recordings show exactly what went wrong and what went well
  • Provide feedback on agent’s successes and areas they can improve
  • Observe the potential resident’s point of view during the leasing process

There are also a number of ways you can use the analysis we perform on your apartment leasing process. A few of these include:

  • Use evaluations to determine incentives
  • Spot problems before they become headaches
  • Ensure your team meets brand expectations across multiple communities
  • Compare results with team objectives, expectations and goals
Learning from the Data

When you use our mystery shopping service, you also have access to our tools, training and resources to improve any areas of deficiency. We can also provide our proprietary training to transform agents into Leasing Experts, increasing performance and occupancy rates. Our unmatched expertise in leasing and apartment marketing make us a clear choice for your apartment mystery shopping needs.

Reporting Results

Being business savvy means using relevant information to improve strategies. A business-savvy technique, apartment mystery shopping can provide the kind of insight you need to improve a property’s performance. Raw data, in the form of observation results and audio-video recordings, are processed by Sales, Inc. and reported back to you in a simplified manner.