Leasing Apartments with a Smile

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Can there be any doubt of what a smile can do for another person. When a prospective resident walks through that door, you have less than a couple of seconds to make that first impression. It all starts with a smile. Does a smile only come from your lips? Absolutely not! A smile comes from your whole body. A genuine smile can be seen and understood from our whole demeanor. Can you think of ways of how our whole body smiles? Can a genuine smile really make a difference in gaining a new resident who will lease and call your community home?

How about our eyes? Certainly they play a huge part. Make sure your eyes on focused on theirs and not anywhere else. Of course don’t be creepy about it; you don’t want to make the prospective resident feel uncomfortable. Be relaxed about your eye contact; do not come across as forced. Make sure you are not distracted by other things going on around you and remember that you are a professional. Avoid eyeing the prospect from head to toe and back. That would be really creepy. If something does demand your attention while first greeting the prospect, make sure you say: “Excuse me”, turn to the person who is distracting you, address the matter quickly, then turn back and continue the conversation.

The handshake is also an important part of the smile. That really helps translate the warmth, enthusiasm and overall happiness you are feeling towards the prospective resident. In other words, don’t give the prospect a boiled spaghetti handshake, they need a determined and firm handshake that shows that their visit means the world to you and you can’t wait to fill their apartment needs.

Make sure our smile is natural. Sometimes we can over smile. This can come across as showing too much teeth or the cheese smile. If we over smile it will be shown in our facial wrinkles. You could be stretching your face so much that appears that we are completely overdoing what should be a natural act.

One of the best ways to get feedback about your smile and its affect is to ask someone. There is only so much we can learn by looking in the mirror. Ask someone close to you to give you an honest assessment of your smile in natural settings and its power over others. Our ultimate goals are always to command the room…and it starts with a smile. Does a smile really make a difference in securing leases? Switch roles for a moment and pretend you are the prospect or consumer. What impact did a smile have on you?

Written by Jonathan Saar

In case you missed it, check out our 15 steps to telephone leasing success.