Tenant turnover is no small task. Every apartment building and brand aims to minimize vacancies when a tenant moves on and another must be found. A forward warning is best because you have time to gather leads and start lining up the next resident. However, there’s no need to only set lead acquisition goals when you see a turnover on the horizon. Most apartment buildings have a lively enough churn to be seeking new tenant leads at all times. The question is how you should set your lead acquisition goals based on your apartment’s size and churn.
Every apartment has unique marketing needs, from your target community to the number of units you need to keep occupied.
How to Set Lead Acquisition Goals for Your Apartment
An apartment building’s lead acquisition goals are based on how quickly you need to accumulate leads to keep your units filled. You will need a certain number of leads per successful lease signing, and a volume of leads to cover the regular churn of your units. Likewise, the population you are targeting will have their own patterns of moving and house-hunting to consider.
The following factors will influence your lead acquisition goals and shape your unique marketing strategy.
The Number of Apartment Units to Fill
The size of your building or complex is essential to your marketing goals. The more units you have, the larger a “churn” you will experience, and the more leads you can house in a reasonable amount of time. Larger buildings may constantly have a few units open ready for new residents, and therefore always need a steady swarm of leads for new tenancy. Smaller apartment buildings may only need to search for leads when one of a few units is about to be available.
Calculate your lead acquisition goals based on your total number of units and the number of vacant. Your building size is often a good indicator of your availability to leads who are ready to move in soon.
How Long Your Turnover Process Requires
In addition to vacancies, you will also want to calculate your turnover process. How long does it take you to clean, service, and spruce up an apartment between tenants? Give yourself the right amount of time when timing your lead acquisition. Be sure that the apartment is ready to be toured by the time you tell leads tours will be available. Your turnover time has an impact both on each apartment’s availability and how long fresh leads will need to wait before they can tour or move in.
Your Predicted Tenant Turnover “Churn”
Churn is how frequently tenants leave and a new tenant must be found. Churn is the turnover of your apartment population, one unit at a time. How many units usually move out each year, and each season? In your region, some seasons may be more likely to see move-outs than others. In an apartment building or complex large enough, you may see a few move-outs every season.
The frequency of your vacancies has a huge impact on your lead acquisition goals. Regular vacancies will mean that you want to keep a fresh and ongoing cluster of leads ready to fill those vacancies. Over time, you can even begin to calculate how many vacancies you’ll need to fill each season, and therefore how many leads to market for and prepare.
The Predicted Leads to Lease Ratio
How many leads do you need per vacancy to find a new tenant? This is your Leads-to-Lease ratio, a calculation of leads to signed tenant leases. It may take you three or four earnest applicants, or upwards of fifteen average leads to find one good lead. Look at your past experiences to calculate approximately how many leads it takes to find a good tenant ready to sign the lease. Use this essential number to help you estimate your lead acquisition goals for your predicted number of upcoming vacancies.
Target Audience House-Hunting Patterns
Know your audience. Lead acquisition also depends on the motivations and patterns of your leads. Does your typical audience want to move in quickly, as soon as they’ve seen the unit? Or is your local demographic more leisurely in their decision-making and relocation? If you are catering to a community of slow-paced decision-makers, you may need to calculate for a longer lead acquisition strategy and a higher leads-to-lease ratio. If your community is fast-paced with apartments snapped up in a few days, your only concern will be competing with other nearby apartments to close the lease.
Survivable Vacancy Rate
Know the vacancy rate you can survive. This means how many units can stand empty and the bills still get paid. The great thing about apartment management is that you can afford to have a small percentage of your units vacant during turnover while revenue from the other tenants supports the building. However, if your vacancy rate ever drops below cost, your marketing for leads becomes more than urgent.
Plan your lead acquisition goals based on balancing your current vacancies above your survivable vacancy rate.
Building Leads Per Apartment Floor Plan
Finally, consider how you can use standard floor plans to build a cloud of leads for predicted tenant turnover. For example, you may have a dozen three-bedroom units and know, statistically, that two to four units will open in the fall. You can market that floor plan with all the useful and relevant information, generating leads for one or four three-bedroom units that may become available. This safety net of leads is a great strategy and matching units allow you to provide accurate information about the listing, guiding leads to specific units as they are available and staged.
Getting Your Apartment Leads Ready for Future Turnover
Every apartment can plan its marketing based on the real-world pace of its churn, vacancies, and community. From the size of your building to the moving activity in your region can shape your strategy for lead acquisition to fill future vacancies. Don’t let your next tenant turnover take you by surprise, aim your marketing to have those leads ready just in time for every vacancy to be quickly and happily filled. For more insights on apartment management, marketing, and expert turnover strategies, contact us today!
