In the previous article, The Art and Science to responding to requests, we discussed how to instruct your computer to automatically react to a potential tenant first e-mail request, how you handle your next communication with him through "solid and dirty answer "how to build an FAQ to save time and energy, and when communicating via email or telephone.
Now that you've carefully and enthusiastically provided your renters with a clear, honest and comprehensive details about your wonderful property and region, how can you ensure that all that investment of time and effort will translate into firm bookings? In other words, sales specialists who expressed it, how can you "close the deal"?
In this article I will also give some tips on how to screen your visitors before firming up your bookings.
Benchmark and track
Let us begin this discussion by taking a step back. Start keeping statistics now, so you have a clear picture of where you stand. Benchmark, how you doing today and in the coming months, see your progress - the number of requests versus the number of bookings - as you integrate the communication techniques posted here. Every time you lose a reservation, try to find out why and what you can do better.
Target the right clientele for your property
If you lose your bookings today, the problem may simply be that you are not aiming at the right tenants for your property. Have you taken the time to thoughtfully reflect what the profile of tenant your property will naturally attract? Have you stood back to look at your property objectively, in cooperation with your region, through the eyes of a tenant?
You can not hope to have a high proportion of bookings vs. studies if you shoot too broad, as with a bee-bee gun - you can hit a few birds, but because there is nothing strategic about your approach, you are wasting precious ammunition (your time and energy). It is worth taking some time to position and mark your property so you can attract the right tenants through fine-tuning your communication.
Here is a tutorial to guide you through this process:
1. Start by studying the profile of your guests - describe this group, in writing. What have they in common? Review what they have said that they appreciated about your property - these elements may prove to be points that you want to highlight in your communications.
2. What type of travelers who usually visit your area? You should be able to obtain statistics and a visitor profile from your local tourist office. Visit the regional tourism sites and inventory the type of activities are available in your area - they target families, sports-minded couples, culture freaks?
3. Who would you really want to be hiring? For example, you decide you'd prefer to rent to couples without children or with small groups, even if your home can accommodate a larger number.
4. Explore all the features of your property - who are they best suited? A "romantic spa" and a "high-tech gourmet kitchen" can not send the same message as "child friendly swimming pool into a large, secure, fenced backyard."
5. Your Rental Rates help to place your property within your particular vacation rental market.How do your prices compared with the other properties in your area? Inflated prices restrict the pool of interested tenants, while rates are too low compared to similar properties in your area may create suspicion (what is wrong with this house?) And attract bargain-hunters. Investigate regional levels and make sure that you are appropriate for your target clientele and region.
6. Have you thought about growing your tenant pool by changing some of your policies - to include pets, for example?
Enhance your communication to suit the target clientele
Now that you've done this important work positioning, are you ready for next step: Determine your current communication with your tenants - ads, FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), email and verbal communication - and make the necessary adjustments to content and language .Ask yourself questions like:
- Is my content and specific choices of words, working to attract my target clientele?
- Are any of my claims confusing and contradictory in this age group?
- How can I submit my offer, thus deterring potential tenants that I have excluded from my audience?
- This is a work-in-progress, so you need to review your communications on a regular basis and keep making adjustments. You'll find that it is more profitable to cut down on the number of unwanted solicitations in order to make more time to invest in potentially enjoyable, profitable business relationships.
Play an active role in your tenant's decision-making
Not just wait passively for a tenant to make its decision. There are several ways you can influence this decision in your favor. When a tenant is faced with two or three equally interesting possibilities, it often goes the extra mil ", which can vary the situation in your direction.
- Respect best practices: Remember you are competing with other owners of properties that take their hiring as seriously as you do. Then handle all inquiries in a timely and professional manner - to review our development of best practice in our April issue. Your tenant's comfort will be affected by your overall approach and your personality.
- Like a good Boy Scout, Be Prepared! Always be ready to call - which of course will come at the most inconvenient time! Keep your FAQ and booking calendar up to date and handy - near your home phone with you in the car, in your briefcase at work - so you can quickly tell whether the desired week is available or not. Be prepared to suggest other dates.
- Always follow up: So many landowners do not take the trouble to follow up on requests. If they do not hear back from the tenant, they assume she has chosen another property - which may not be the case.
Take a moment to reflect on how you respond to a tenant's silence ... Is it not possible that the tenant can simply be overwhelmed at the office, occupied by a child's illness, or waiting for her procrastinating husband to give feedback on a short list of properties? Your timely, thoughtful call tilt the balance in your favor, because it will bring you and your property back top-of-mind and give you a second opportunity to remind the tenant of all the benefits of renting with you. In short, you can call just save the day by making it much easier for your tenant to make its decision. If you can create a comfortable, trusting relationship with her in that call, your chances of closing the trade within a couple of hours, multiplied.
- Give your guest with a decision making tool: Now that you have spoken to your prospective tenant and have listened to her carefully, particularly her subtle in-between-the-lines messages that you have a much better understanding of where her hesitation lie. You might want to try making a homemade tool like the one below. Send this chart along with a note: "Hello, Jane. After our conversation, I have given some thought to the concerns you expressed, and have prepared this little chart for you, in the hope that it can help you make your decision more comfortable. Let me know if I can be of any more help. "
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