You are probably getting a lot of views for your property listings online. As a result, you are getting a lot of phone calls and text inquiries from potential buyers or tenants.
Many prospects are booking appointment with you to view your properties. At this point, you’re getting excited that at least one of them will take the property.
However, to your surprise, you’re seeing little to no sales coming in after many prospects view your properties.
So, what’s going wrong?
Are you wasting time in showing the properties to wrong people?
Or, are your properties not good enough to impress your potential buyers or tenants?
Assuming that your properties are not in bad condition (i.e. no compulsory refurbishment is required), here are five reasons why you’re getting low conversion rate after prospects view your properties.
Reason #1: Some people who are coming to view the property are not genuine prospects.
It often happens that people lie about their intention to buy or rent a property. They just want to see the property how it looks like. And so they book a ‘viewing’ appointment with you to get a free tour of the property.
Here’s how to fix this issue to close more sales:
Although you cannot stop some people from pretending to be prospects, what you can do is screen them out before allowing them to view the property. The way to screen them out is to ask them some questions and find out whether their answers qualify them to be your target prospects.
To set up a viewing appointment for a tenant prospect, you can ask them to state their:
- Full name
- Nationality
- Occupation
- Company they are working in
- Budget – maximum rental (excluding utilities) they can afford to pay
- No. of persons to occupy the property
- Preferences, if any, for housemates (if they are looking to rent a private room in a shared apartment)
- Minimum no. of months to stay in the property; and
- Preferred date of moving in.
Those who are genuine prospects would not mind to answer these questions as they are seriously looking to rent a place. On the other hand, those who are pretending to be prospects would usually hesitate to answer all the questions and would not book an appointment for viewing.
This screening method can help you to get more genuine prospects. Although a few people can still fake the answers and pretend to be prospects when viewing the property, you will certainly get more prospects converting into tenants.
To set up a viewing appointment for a potential property buyer, you can ask them to state their:
- Full name
- Nationality
- Occupation
- Company they are working in
- Type of property they want to buy: ‘brand-new’ from developer, ‘sub-sale’ from 1st buyer, or ‘used’ for a couple of years
- Preferred facilities of the property: swimming pool, gym, etc
- Preferred furnishing of the property: unfurnished, party furnished, or fully furnished
- Looking to buy a property to stay in or to rent out
- Budget – price range they can afford to buy
- Preferred method of payment: 100% cash or bank loan; and
- How soon they are going to buy a property: immediately (within one month), within 3 months, within 6 months, within a year, or ‘not sure when’.
Again, those who are genuine prospects would not mind to answer these questions as they are seriously looking to buy a property. On the other hand, those who are pretending to be prospects would usually hesitate to answer all these questions and would not book an appointment for viewing.
Some people will still fake the answers and pretend to be prospects when viewing the property, but this screening method can certainly increase the sale of properties by filtering in more genuine prospects for viewing.
Moreover, the questions that you ask for screening the prospects can help you to learn more about their requirements and so, if they do not qualify for a certain property, you can offer them a different property as per their budget and preferences.
Reason #2: Not setting the right expectation to prospects before they come for viewing the property.
They find that the property is not suitable for them. In some cases, they do not agree with the terms of purchasing or renting the property. They realize this only after viewing the property.
Here’s how to fix this issue to close more sales:
- Post enough photos of the property in your listing so that your potential clients get a better understanding about how the property looks like and what to expect.
- Post enough information in the listing description so that clients know all the important details about the property. They would know whether the property has basic amenities and facilities that they prefer in their future home.
- Post important terms and conditions of purchasing or renting the property in the listing description, so that clients are aware of it before contacting you. For example, if a person is looking for a 6-month accommodation with 1-month rental deposit, she will not contact you when she reads in your listing’s T&C that the minimum stay is 1 year with 3-month rental deposit, for instance.
- When speaking to a prospect on phone before confirming the viewing appointment, summarize the details of the property – what are included in the amenities and facilities and what are not – and clarify the renting/purchasing terms. Then ask them if they are okay with the ‘description’ and the ‘terms’ before they confirm to view the property. This will avoid wasting time for both parties, because sometimes prospects do not read the listing description carefully before contacting the agent.
Reason #3: Prospects find similar properties at a bit lower price.
Most prospects do a lot of research about the pricing of a certain type of property in a particular location to know the average market value. The internet makes it easy for them to find out similar listings from other realtors to get a better deal.
Here’s how to fix this issue to close more sales:
Solution #1: If the property that you are offering is of the same quality as that of competing properties, then you should request the owner to lower the price to meet the market value.
‘Same quality’ here means that the property has the same average quality of furnishing, interior decoration, amenities and facilities as that of other similar properties in the market. One good example is apartment units in the same building, with the same layout, and same kind of furnishing and decorations.
Solution #2: If the owner is not willing to lower the price, then convince him/her to upgrade the property with better furnishing, decorations, and amenities to justify the higher price.
For example, upgrading the furniture of a fully-furnished apartment by replacing the sofa-set with a new cozy one, bed and mattress in each bedroom with high quality ones (if the existing ones are old), small- or medium-sized wardrobe with large built-in wardrobe (offering more storage space), curtain in each room with new better-looking ones, and by offering more amenities in the apartment such as rice cooker, juicer, iron with board, etc.
If you are selling or renting out an unfurnished property at a price higher than the average market value, then make sure that the interior decoration is upgraded with high quality bathroom fittings, false ceiling with LED light in the living and dining space, better kitchen cabinet, and so on.
Most genuine prospects, who have good income/funding source or who can afford to increase their budget a bit, will accept the price/rental of your property being a bit higher than the market value when they can easily see and appreciate the differences between your property and the rest.
Solution #3: If the property already has better furnishing and more amenities when compared to similar properties with average furnishing and amenities, but you are still losing customers because of the slightly higher price/rental, then you should either:
- Target customers who can afford to pay higher price/rental, or
- Lower the price/rental to meet the market value.
Targeting customers who can afford to pay higher price/rental is possible through online advertising. You can target a specific group of people with qualifying parameters to show your ad for the property.
For example, the qualifying parameters for your potential property buyers/investors can be: age group 35-50, work in a senior managerial position (CEO, CFO, CMO, Director, General Manager) or own/co-own a business, and live/work in a specific place or region (e.g. within 5 miles away from the property you are selling).
If a rental property has been vacant for a few months already, then it is wise to lower the rental to meet the market value and get it rented, instead of bearing the loss of rental by keeping it vacant.
As for a property for sale, if the owner needs to sell it urgently, then you need to lower the price to meet the market value or lower the price slightly below the market price (which is a no-brainer).
Reason #4: Prospects realize that the property does not look as good as it looks in the photos.
It often happens that the prospects are not happy to see that the photos of the property in online listing do not match with the property when they view in person. And so, they move on to see another property offered by other agent.
Here’s how to fix this issue to close more sales:
- Always keep the photo album of your listing updated with recent photos. If there is a change in the furnishing of the property, take new photos of the space(s) and replace the old photos with the new ones.
- Make sure that the photos of the property are not edited so much so that they look way better than it looks in reality.
- Always use actual photos of the property you are advertising. Do not use photos of another property that looks similar to the property you are advertising.
- Make sure that the property is clean and tidy with no pest problem. If the property is currently occupied, make sure that it is reasonably cleaned. Tell the prospects in advance that the entire apartment will be deep cleaned after the residents move out from the property.
Reason #5: Prospects get a better offer (other than price) for a similar property from another agent.
The offer can be addition of one or more amenities in the apartment for rent; no restriction for a family with little kids to rent the apartment; and no discrimination on the identity of the prospect who can be a student, immigrant, and so on.
Here’s how to fix this issue to close more sales:
- Always tell the prospects that they can request for any addition to the amenities provided in the property.
- If there is any restrictions or preferences by the owner of a property that does not let a certain group of prospects to rent the property, check with the owner if such restrictions/preferences could be waived.
Conclusion
These are the five main reasons why you are closing little to no sales, despite getting a lot of people coming to view your properties.
By applying the suggested solutions (above), you will get more genuine prospects, with the right expectations set, coming to view your properties and, hence, turn them into buyers or tenants.
So, that’s it! I hope you find this article helpful to target the right people with the right pricing and offer to show your properties in order to close more sales.
Let me know in the comment section below if you have any questions or any issues you are currently facing with the promotion of your properties.