The Challenge

Existing property-centric leasing products caused leads to slip through the cracks, and made the LCOR team dig for valuable information that they needed to best serve renters.

The Solution

Funnel’s CRM and AI solution’s renter-centric architecture gives LCOR’s team the transparency they need to understand the full renter journey and focus on high-impact leasing activities.

The Results

Funnel’s CRM, AI, and automation tools gave LCOR’s leasing teams a hand, resulting in a 62% increase in tours year over year (YOY).

KEY INSIGHTS

Take care of renters, from anywhere.

Before Funnel, the LCOR team used a property-centric product that required duplicate guest cards at each individual property for a single record. “Streamlining to one guest card for one person and the prospect experience that way, has been one of the coolest things that I’ve seen,” said Heather Justice, Director of Training, LCOR. “Team members are not having to sign out of one property, and sign into another property to manage guest cards.”

14.5% of LCOR’s prospective renters signed leases at communities other than the one they inquired about. Funnel’s unique renter-centric single guest card architecture allows teams to understand renter needs across property lines and work to find the best home for that prospective renter.

“Funnel’s renter-centric architecture made it a lot easier for us to actively follow the customer journey, whereas in the previous platform we had to go into each individual property and there wasn’t a clear connection across the board,” Jennifer Bloome, Director of Marketing, LCOR. “Now, we can actually see when people are inquiring at multiple properties. It makes it easier for the renter, but it also makes it easier for our team to see everything firsthand, instead of having to dig into it.”

Software that allows leads to slip through the cracks, is not a solution

Declining demand for apartments means onsite leasing teams aren’t getting as many leads inquiring about properties, which can cause properties to slow their leasing velocity…particularly if your software essentially “lights your marketing dollars on fire” and doesn’t capture every single lead that your marketing spend influenced to inquire.

“Funnel helped us keep track of our leads, in a more efficient way, by ensuring that all the leads are captured,” said Rachel Shaw, Training + Development Manager at LCOR. “In the previous database we used, leads could really easily be missed, because you had to manually log phone calls. Previously, the only leads that were automatically logged for you were the ILS (internet listing service) leads. With Funnel, all the phone calls, VA messages, and ILSs, are logged for you.”

AI solution arms teams with information to focus on high-value interactions and meet renters where they are

Our teams love the VA (virtual agent). It’s able to weed out prospects that are ‘just looking’ versus the prospects that are actively engaging with the VA, asking questions right away, and actively looking for something to commit to right now,” said Heather Justice, Director of Training, LCOR. “The team can shift their leasing techniques based on the communication with the VA.”

Funnel’s VA solution was able to handle 86% of LCOR’s initial inquiries, giving their teams time back to focus on renters and residents. Even better, Funnel’s AI solution automatically parses conversations and records preferences to the renter’s single guest card. Additionally, all of the communication between your brand and the renter is also recorded in their guest card. This allows onsite leasing team members to know if someone is researching for their move a year from now, or wants to sign a lease this week, and communicate with the prospective renter accordingly.

AI helps LCOR team achieve a “massively higher” tour volume

“Our tour volume across the board is massively higher since launching Funnel. No doubt about it,” said Mike Hogentogler, Chief Operating Officer at LCOR.

Funnel’s bidirectional sync team with members’ calendars allows prospective renters to schedule a tour through the Virtual Assistant, without ever taking time from the human team member. Then, when it’s time for that tour, the leasing professional only needs to consult the renter’s guest card to see all communication and the renter’s preferences all in one place and tailor the tour experience accordingly. Funnel helped LCOR earn a 62.14% increase in tours YOY.

Not only are they touring prospective residents more, they’re also able to increase team members’ involvement across the company. “Syncing team member’s calendar and their Funnel calendar, has increased attendance on company-wide calls,” said Heather Justice, Director of Training, LCOR. “It’s stopped the ‘oh, I had a prospect come in,’ or ‘I had an appointment’ because it blocked off their calendar so no one could schedule an appointment.”

AI gives teams a hand

We do the same thing every day, in the sense of we lease apartments, but every day is different in how we do that,” said Heather Justice, Director of Training, LCOR. “Funnel helps keep our onsite teams organized, and I think that’s a key piece, as well the automated tasks that are set up, the automated communications that go out.”

AI and automation take many of the mundane easily repeatable tasks off teams’ plates and allow them to focus their attention on high-value interactions with prospective renters. Automated tasks and communication ensure that follow-up is impactful and that you’re making it foolproof to send the right message, to the right person, at the right time.