Apartment communities continue to miss 49 percent of incoming calls, and leasing agents take upwards of one day or more to get back to prospects. These stats are disappointing for the industry as a whole but particularly dismal for student housing properties, considering the expectations of Millennial and Gen Z renters. Nearly three-quarters of them expect a response back in less than 24 hours and a third of them will never attempt to reach out again if not contacted.

Student housing properties also face particularly heavy leasing cycles and tend to be staffed by students themselves, meaning employees are more likely to be part-time and have higher than average turnover.

These were the exact challenges Peak Campus, a student housing real estate company providing best-in-class property management, was facing two years ago. That is, until they allowed LeaseHawk to step in and help.

‍

The Goals

Like many student housing operations, Peak Campus wanted to:

·      Ensure guaranteed capture of all existing leads using tracking software for calls and emails.

·      Implement unbiased, automated prospect prioritization alerts and daily task follow-up.

·      Improve leasing agent performance and response time.

‍

The Solution

Peak Campus wanted to use technology to streamline, simplify and improve performance in each step of the leasing process. They implemented LeaseHawk’s multifamily Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, an all-in-one communication platform that alleviates pressure on leasing professionals by helping them organize leads, set response reminders and prioritize follow-up efforts in one central location.

Peak Campus also started evaluating employee performance — both individually and across sites — with Telephone Performance Analysis (TPA). TPA is a service exclusive to LeaseHawk in which trained analysts listen to and evaluate agents’ recorded calls with prospects and score them based on industry best practices including collecting guest card information and discussing apartment features and property amenities.

‍

The Dramatic Results

Peak Campus pilot tested the LeaseHawk software at six of its 89 properties before rolling it out to the rest of its portfolio in time for the January 2017 leasing cycle. And it wasn’t long before they started seeing results.

In just a year, Peak Campus reduced its missed call rate by 35 percent and increased its TPA scores by 20 percent. Its average response time went from 27 hours to less than seven, including times the offices are closed. But perhaps most dramatically, it reduced the amount of time leasing agents spend organizing lead information and preparing responses from 45 minutes to just two minutes each. That’s a 95 percent improvement.

Of course, time wasn’t the only thing Peak Campus saved. With LeaseHawk’s help, the student housing real estate company was able to save an average of $3,100 per property per year by eliminating mystery shopper program fees, eliminating call recording fees and reducing call tracking costs.

“LeaseHawk helped us dramatically save money, time and resources, elevating a property’s customer engagement, response time and ultimately their leasing results,” says Casey Peterson, chief operating officer of Peak Campus.   

Do you target younger renters like Peak Campus does? Check out Understanding Your Gen Z Audience.