From Mike Mueller:

For over 25 years, I have led a number of tech companies in the multifamily space.  I have been passionate about creating solutions that make the leasing process more accessible and customer focused.  When I created one of the first ILS’, at the dawn of the internet, my goal was to create a way for people to easily find their future home without having to spend countless hours searching using print and other outdated sources.  How times and technology have changed, but the needs of the renter haven’t.  They still want access to as much information, but now they are doing it all from a smartphone or tablet.  

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Have you noticed, in just 5 years, how much easier it is to interact with companies thanks to technology?  Think about how easy it is to book a hotel, or a flight and do your banking online.  How come the leasing process isn’t a click away?  Well, it’s getting there and a big disruptor driving the change is Artificial Intelligence (AI)!

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Our goal at LeaseHawk has been to bring emerging technologies to the industry.  We recently launched our AI Platform to provide owners and managers insight into the key areas that impact leasing success.  By using AI, we make it faster and easier than ever to identify your best ad sources, engage with prospects and measure leasing performance.

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The key solutions of the platform are LeadScore AI, Agent Performance and ACE AI.  The AI machine is trained using millions of recorded calls to properties.  It uses machine learning and natural language processing, not keywords and algorithms, to formulate conclusions.

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LeadScore AI

LeadScore AI transcribes and analyzes every inbound call to reveal caller intentions, such as if they are a prospective renter, with over 94% accuracy in minutes, without any human oversight.  Why does this matter?  When management companies can identify their prospect traffic, they can cut underperforming ad sources, as well as prioritize follow up.  The AI solution can also enable them to measure and manage missed calls.  

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Agent Performance

Agent Performance, that is coming soon, evaluates your leasing team’s performance on every first-time prospect call (as identified by LeadScore AI).  You advertise to make the phone ring, but what happens when the call gets answered?  How the leasing agent handles the call greatly impacts if an appointment is going to be set.  We will leverage voice biometrics to accurately identify the leasing agent, based on their unique voice pattern.  We will then run the calls through our machine learning models to determine various outcomes of the call – if an appointment was set, if guest card information was collected and the overall sentiment of the leasing agent.  This allows management companies to quickly identify skill gaps and training opportunities in near real time.

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ACE AI

We also know that thousands of calls come in after hours or when leasing teams are unavailable and many properties aren’t equipped with technology to answer calls 24 hours a day.  See a trend here?  We saw the trend and took our AI solution a step further by developing ACE AI, a virtual leasing assistant that offers an omnichannel experience with voice, chat and text.  ACE AI is available 24/7 to answer common leasing questions, set appointments and collect prospect contact information.  ACE is reliable, efficient and easily adaptable.  Do you have an Alexa or Google Assistant?  LeaseHawk has leveraged that same technology with our virtual leasing assistant.  

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Think about what impacts the leasing process.  Getting the maximum number of prospects and then giving them what they want is what drives leases.  67% of callers to properties just want pricing and availability, yet 49% of calls to properties are never answered.  Today’s tech-conditioned renter is accustomed to getting what they want in minutes, not hours or days.

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I challenge management companies and owners to change the way they think about leasing.  Meaning, throw out your old playbook and embrace AI to meet the needs of today’s savvy apartment hunters.  It’s time to update your expectations and your technology.