In today’s world, there are so many different technology options. It can be overwhelming. That’s why it’s so important to find the right stack of technologies that make sense for your communities. When evaluating what technologies make the most sense, it’s essential to consider the following types of systems:
- Prospect Management Tools
- Resident Focused Tech
- Team Support Technologies
Prospect Management Tools
Obtaining and converting prospects into residents can be a lot of work. This is why you need to have some sort of prospect management tools to help with the process. A few of the tools that are essential in this department include:
- Chatbot Technology — Help prospects get information all in one place. For example, BetterBot’s chatbot offers a place for prospective renters to find information where they want, when they want, and how they want. The bot is not only able to be seen on the property website, but it can go anywhere renters are looking, including social media, ILS pages, and so much more. The bot helps relay the most important insights about the community, which weeds out the unqualified leads.
- Self-Guided Tour Tech — Post COVID-19, more and more renters desire a self-guided interaction when it comes to touring their potential home. Self-guided tour technology allows them to set up their tour on their terms and feel safe knowing that they will have more control over their touring experience.
- Lead Management Tools — In addition to offering chatbot technology, BetterBot offers some great lead management tools. Using BetterBot for Leads, prospects are intercepted and nurtured in ways that are more likely to result in a scheduled tour.
- Marketing Tools — How are your prospects finding you? This is a loaded question. Marketing tools make it easier for your prospects to find you. This term, Marketing Tools, may sound broad but what we mean by this are tools that make it easier for prospective residents to learn about your community. This may mean using Google AdWords, Facebook Marketplace, ILS listings, or even geofencing services. You can use these tools to help attract your customers and get the word out about your communities.
Resident Focused Tech
It’s essential to leverage technology that focuses on your current residents. While gaining new prospects is great, it costs more to gain a new resident than keeping existing ones. This is why it’s so important to invest in tools that will help you retain your residents, such as:
- Automation Tools — Make it easy for residents to find information on your community website. Automation tools such as BetterBot can help residents find their portal to complete any order of business like paying rent or submitting a service request.
- CRM — Customer relationship management tools are essential to help your team keep track of crucial information. You want to make sure you have a quality CRM that maximizes every resident touchpoint. One tool that has seen great success is Rent Dynamics CRM function. Their tools offer an easy way to manage residents while still maintaining a personal touch.
- Resident Engagement Tools — Engaging the resident post-move-in can sound like a daunting task for property management teams. Teams have to get new residents lined up, but they also have to foster the relationship? It sounds like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be. Investing in resident engagement tools can help bridge the gap so that current residents stay interested and involved. Tools such as Updater, hOp, and RentPlus allow residents the opportunity to interact with the community with little effort on the team’s part.
Team Support Technologies
Finding technology that helps your property management team save time is imperative. It seems like the list of things to do just keeps on getting longer, and teams are becoming overwhelmed. That’s why it’s essential to find tools to support those teams, including:
- Time-Saving Tech — Invest in technology that will help save your team time. For example, BetterBot saves teams an average of 57 hours per month, per property, by helping provide information upfront to prospects and residents. It also saves time by providing the most qualified prospects so that teams have time to focus on what’s important.
- Reputation Management Tools — Online reputation is one of the first things prospects see when they find you online. That’s why it’s so important to have a reputation management tool that helps monitor and respond to online reviews. This also allows teams to learn what they can improve to make the resident experience an enjoyable one.
- Reporting — Being able to measure results will help your teams make better decisions regarding staffing, budgeting, and planning. When looking at your tech stack, be sure to find out which tools offer reporting so that your teams can be informed about how they are performing.
Putting together a tech stack for your communities sounds stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. When you remember to look for suitable tools, it can become liberating knowing that your teams, residents, and prospects are all taken care of. For more information on putting together a tech stack, check out our resource covering ways to know a tool is worth using.
