We are kicking off National Customer Service Week at TurboTenant by highlighting our fantastic Customer Experience team. National Customer Service Week was proclaimed a national event by the U.S. Congress in 1992, and since its inception, it has been celebrated the first full week of October. We all know the events of this year have been unprecedented, unparalleled, filled with uncertainty, and now we have a new normal. This year has been like no other, and by extension, neither has the way customer experience teams engage with customers. Our team helps landlords and renters solve problems they’ve never experienced, and we asked them to give us their best advice along with their most frequently responded answer or tip to help landlords be more successful.
Katie, CX Specialist:
I tend to give a lot of advice on how to improve lead generation through property marketing. I always highly recommend adding a description that is chock-full of helpful information. It’s a great idea to list the rental qualifications and criteria, whether or not pets are allowed, and any other critical information regarding the property. I always suggest adding high-quality photos that really highlight the property’s best features (whether it’s close to a downtown area, has a great pool, etc.). Lastly, it’s super important that landlords are responsive with their leads, otherwise they may lose interest or find another property. I recommend reaching out to leads as soon as possible, either by phone or TurboTenant message, then following up a few days later to see if the person has any questions!
Cole, CX Specialist:
I answer a lot of questions about how to manage leads, especially when landlords receive a lot of inquiries at once. My most common piece of advice is to only reach out to leads who have completed our pre-screener questionnaire. Those are the leads who are typically the most interested in the listing, and they show that by taking the time to fill out that form. After that, I advise the landlord to try to set up an in-person showing or phone call with the lead before inviting them to apply, just so everyone is on the same page and both the landlord and renter can feel a bit more comfortable with each other before moving on in the process. If they follow this process, the landlord usually ends up with fewer errant applications and confused renters.
Ariel, CX Specialist:
Landlords are scheduling less in-person open houses with COVID, but I’ve always liked to recommend that landlords print off several copies of the property flyer when they have an open house. That way they can hand those out to any interested applicants – it has all the info they’ll need to be able to submit an application.
Derek, CX Fraud Specialist:
As others have mentioned, the advice we give most often is around marketing and lead generation. One big thing I like to recommend is for users to post their listing to Craigslist. Like it or not, 50% of tenants are still found on Craigslist, and TurboTenant makes it easy to post a professional Craigslist ad through our HTML generation. The best part is, our lead questionnaire pre-screens every lead so you don’t have to deal with less than ideal renters!
Jordan, CX Team Manager:
In the short time I’ve been supporting TurboTenant users, one of the topics I answer questions on quite often is how to read a screening report. There is a lot of information available through our screening reports, and some of the terms can be confusing if you haven’t seen them before. Our Blog and Help Center have a ton of helpful information, including how to read a tenant screening report! By reviewing the educational materials we have available, you can really level up how you manage your properties, as well as how you utilize your TurboTenant account!
At TurboTenant, we follow The Golden Rule when it comes to exceptional customer service. We strive to hire excellent people, who then provide excellent service.
