For top property operators, leasing strategy is at the heart of their business success. Still, it’s no secret that multifamily landlords have faced unprecedented changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From thinner onsite teams to changing customer preferences and higher expectations, the past few years have forced property operators to find better ways to streamline their leasing efforts. As the industry evolves, more and more operators are leveraging technology to support their pivot toward a centralized leasing strategy—and the benefits are undeniable: more growth, higher retention rates, and lower costs. 

Centralized leasing combined with automation and tenant management software uses an operator’s data to help them make better, faster decisions. Put simply; it helps multifamily landlords save time and money without sacrificing the personalized service tenants expect.

Keep reading to learn more about centralized leasing and how you can leverage tenant management software to level up your leasing strategy. 

What Is Centralized Leasing?

You may have heard the terms “centralized leasing” or “centralization” many times, but what does a centralized leasing strategy look like? It’s a lot more straightforward than you might think. Centralized leasing moves repetitive administrative functions offsite—to one central location—so onsite leasing professionals have less “busy work” to worry about. 

Automation within a centralized leasing model improves onsite efficiencies and better assists leasing teams in delivering exceptional customer service. Through technology, automation supplements crucial aspects of the leasing process and completes much of the time-consuming administrative tasks that leasing associates were once responsible for—but not always able to achieve. By automating part of the leasing process, onsite teams have more time to focus on tasks that drive revenue growth, such as nurturing leads and increasing lease renewal rates. 

It’s no secret that leasing agents spend a lot of time managing leads, especially when it comes to online applications. Automation can help property operators better identify and prioritize leads that are more likely to convert to a lease. With most tenants searching for their next home online and many conducting their search outside of regular business hours, automation can also help facilitate more robust self-service methods, so no lead slips through the cracks. 

Optimize Lead Management

Lead management is one of the most underutilized functions in a multifamily real estate marketing strategy, but it shouldn’t be. Multifamily landlords must capture and accurately track all leads, regardless of where they originate. Centralized leasing technology combined with tenant management software makes it simple for leasing professionals to manage and nurture leads from one location, eliminating many drawbacks of traditional leasing CRMs, such as duplicate customer records. 

Building a personalized customer profile provides client-facing team members more clarity into their customers’ leasing journey, making it easier to respond to leads with a higher prospect score across multiple channels. Not only does this streamline the workflow of onsite leasing agents, but it also creates a better customer experience for prospective tenants.

Maximize Marketing Efforts

Multifamily is a tricky business with a highly competitive landscape. Savvy multifamily landlords know they need to focus on lead generation and conversion if they want to drive growth. The problem is, with thousands of prospects seeing hundreds of rental listings each day, it can be challenging to stand out. So how can a centralized leasing strategy help?

By definition, “marketing automation” refers to software-based services designed to streamline and automate tasks related to marketing campaigns. Adopting marketing automation through a centralized leasing strategy can boost productivity in several ways and increase both reach and engagement. Marketing automation can free up valuable time property operators might have otherwise spent researching or analyzing stacks of data manually. Instead, leasing professionals can use that time to develop new strategies, reach decision-makers more quickly, anticipate trends, or create more engaging marketing content.

By having complete visibility of the prospect-to-resident lifecycle in one place, multifamily landlords have greater transparency on the sources of their leads and access to data that can sharpen their marketing efforts while reducing marketing spend.

Increase Tenant Engagement

Let’s face it, retaining valuable tenants is crucial for any multifamily landlord. The secret to retaining tenants isn’t complicated in theory: keep them happy and maintain a positive relationship. Of course, how you go about building long-standing relationships with tenants is a whole other challenge.

Most tenants simply want convenience, transparency, and open communication. In the past, tenant communications were primarily carried out via traditional means such as post and phone. These days, technology has opened new avenues for communication — email, social media, text messaging, and more. However, in an age when communication takes place 24/7 across various channels, it’s crucial that property operators implement a strategy that centralizes tenants’ communications.

Tenant management software empowers multifamily landlords to manage tenant communications efficiently and provide the highest level of service possible. A centralized tenant management strategy can not only help take the headache out of daily communications and maintenance duties, but it can also help landlords save time and reduce tenant frustration — so no tenant gets lost in the ether. From service requests to lease renewal and everything in between, tenant management software delivers a comprehensive solution that makes it easy to manage customer relationships, increase customer loyalty, and drive retention.

Centralized Leasing for Landlords

Imagine having a centralized leasing system that can help increase leasing volume while eliminating the burdens of tedious paperwork and archaic processes. Our centralized leasing solution uses AI technology and intelligent automation to streamline your workflow and improve tenant satisfaction. Click here to learn more.