Virtual Leasing Agents = Real Life Leasing Agents’ BFF

We’ve heard it once and we’ll hear it again, your teams are stretched thin, overwhelmed, and they need a hand. 

On any given day, they’re drowning in a seemingly never-ending list of to-dos. They need to answer all inquiring prospective renters’ questions, respond to residents, handle walk-ins, and schedule tours…and they don’t have the bandwidth. Plus, they don’t have any insight into what their fellow team members have already shared with the inquiring renter. So, instead of being able to pick up any conversation, they repeat questions…whoops. Not exactly the stellar customer service experience that many top companies take pride in delivering. Not only are they hamstrung to create a smooth customer experience, but they’re also bogged down following up with all the leads that came in when the office was closed, scheduling tours, and working with current residents to meet their needs, too. 

To handle all of this they’re logging in and out of several tech platforms to manage these tasks, answering the phone, taking in-person requests, reporting on monthly performance metrics, giving tours, and getting vacant apartments filled with ready to rent renters…

It’s no small task because these are small vital tasks. 

A virtual leasing agent (VLA) is an overwhelmed, stretched thin leasing professional’s new BFF. 

Through AI and automation, they can take many of the repeatable tasks off your team’s plate, leaving your team available to focus on providing excellent customer service instead of these easily repeatable, commonly asked questions. 

Skip the small talk, automate robust prospect conversations

A VLA is uniquely suited to create automated, repeatable, scalable, robust conversations with prospective renters through email, SMS, and website chat. The truth is, that while renters are unique, many of the questions they ask simply aren’t. Often leasing agents are asked the same questions multiple times a day. Making information that prospective renters want easy to access via quickly answered questions helps you craft a modern shopping experience for renters seeking their next home. They can share detailed customizable information about the community, schedule tours, and present similar available units that match the renter’s preferences in sister communities. They do this all while enriching the guest card with detailed renter preferences within the CRM ensuring that prospective renters never get asked the same questions twice. 

How can a VLA have these superpowers? Glad you asked. The VLA’s question-answering ability is powered by machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) which means their responses get better over time as millions of prospective renters ask trillions of questions. But, we understand that the customer relationship is at stake. So, when the questions are a bit too nuanced for the VLA to answer, it will automatically disengage and hand the conversation off to the on-site leasing professional along with the history of the communication and the renter’s preferences, creating a smooth clear handoff. 

A VLA is your entire leasing team’s new work bestie (and your company’s burnout antidote). Not only do they take on all the mundane tasks (without complaint), they never call in sick, and never need any kind of day off. Instead, they handle all of the repeatable rote tasks day and night, leaving your team free to handle all of the relationship building with prospective renters and current residents. 

It’s pretty simple, but we’ll say it: happy teams provide better customer service. Renters are humans and emotions are contagious. You want your teams to deliver enjoyable, genuinely helpful, interactions with renters.

Keeping your leasing agents feeling well equipped at work, and engaged in the work they’re doing ensures that they find more enjoyment from their work. It’s pretty simple, but we’ll say it: happy teams provide better customer service. Renters are humans and emotions are contagious. You want your teams to deliver enjoyable, genuinely helpful, interactions with renters. Grumpy, hurried customer service experiences don’t earn five stars. 

The tech platforms your company selects can make or break this customer experience.

The tech platforms your company selects can make or break this customer experience. If you select platforms that automate workstreams and free their leasing professionals to create a genuine, helpful, human-centric customer experience, you will win. 

The VLA proof is in the numbers.

Here are some of the results our partners are seeing today.

• 38x the capacity
  Handle 38x the capacity while converting more leads to tours than a human agent.
• 196% faster
  Reduce your average response time by 196%
• 94% of leads
  Funnel’s VLA handles up to 94% of all inbound leads.

Choose the platform that crafts a renter-centric experience 

Create the apartment shopping experience that delights renters, and keeps your teams happier in their roles, by choosing Renter Management Software to take care of all renter-facing business functions. 

Learn more about Funnel’s sophisticated AI and automation by scheduling a demo.