We were excited to celebrate 2022, and cap it off with a perfect informal and virtual Cadence Connect session! In addition to the annual rundown of our Top 10 insights for the year, we were able to answer some amazing questions with hot topics for the new year. And, this year we decided to forgo our typical event sponsorship, and instead use the event ticket fee in the spirit of giving this holiday season. Thanks to our gracious attendees, we were able to donate 540 meals to Second Harvest Heartland. This is a local Twin Cities nonprofit that operates across the emergency food chain to distribute healthy food, partner with community resources, and help neighbors thrive. We celebrated wins of the year, and our attendees submitted questions and topics relative to challenges as we enter 2023, and they were fantastic! They were also a true reflection of what we all might be a bit concerned about going into the new year. Here's the recap:
Market demand and leasing goals - it’s going to get competitive out there! We would caution that leasing skills in the past few years have shifted more to order takers than sales people. Chatbots & AI tools have been put in place to keep up with the prospect demand. We are very quickly going to shift to needing savvy sales skills & polished digital experiences. Que up the heavy leasing training that involves tech/human handoff seamlessly. The most important thing is to train your staff to convert and empower them to make decisions on quality leasing opportunities and close the deal.
Budget for all points of the lead generation funnel. 90-95% of leads are not resulting in a lease, so we are huge fans of converting that pipeline rather than building. Use your reporting to figure out where there are gaps in the conversion process to determine where you should dedicate your time and resources. If your sole focus is on the first contact point, you're missing the opportunity to nurture the 90% of leads that have already reached out but haven't made a decision.
Website and content accessibility options and how that could affect SEO was discussed. While accessibility features can help websites demonstrate compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other non-discrimination laws, Google doesn't actively consider these guidelines when determining search engine rankings.
Which media matters most? Matterports or Video? Replace that or with “and!” Video gets picked up in places that the matterport won’t, but matterport allows for the prospect to see the floor plan come to life. While video can be a more creative tour, and matterport is a good way to showcase a floor plan and show rooms in relation to each other. Put a little human life in your video, and you can really differentiate!
Eviction recovery & screening. In an effort to recover from delinquent rents and the eviction moratorium, we also touched on the point that screening is essential to make sure we aren’t sharing bad tenants. Some will never make it to eviction and will fall into “mutual termination.”
Social media is a big component of the marketing process. Realync is a huge asset to add to your toolbox, and it allows you to capture more video for prospects, and gives you the option to post on social media. Their new partnership with Apartments.com is a huge plus as well!
Social media can also be a double-edged sword when it comes to in-house staffing, and just adds “one more thing” to the long list of to-do’s for staff members. Remember that you don’t have to be everywhere, just do a few things really well and it’s important to remember your goal for what you want to achieve.
Launching new initiatives - It’s important to remember that when bringing on any new tool, the heavy lifting at the beginning does have a positive payout in the end. Preparing your employees and teeing up the end result and goal is important in the onboarding process.
And, as a wrap up, the new year is going to bring some amazing additions to the Cadence toolbox! Be sure to follow us on social media, and get added to our e-newsletter list. With our new online community membership service, Run Club, you won’t want to miss out. We wish you all the very best for the end of 2022, and cannot wait to see how this community grows in the New Year.