Virtual Tours:
The Best Way To Do This
By Paul Bergeron
e
Apartment operators spend thousands of
dollars and thousands of hours training their
onsite leasing professionals. Faced with the new
(temporary) normal of reliance on virtual leasing
tours, there’s no reason to rely on guesswork and
your agent’s smartphone to get this right.
Virtual tours are not the same as selfguided
tours and certainly aren’t the same
as walking tours. Those points were made by
Apartment Expert Lisa Trosien during a recent
40-minute webinar on the topic as part of her
Speedy Solutions program. It was hosted by
the Triad Apartment Association. And while
recent statistical data from RealPage, CoStar
and Zillow each show that traffic is picking up
again, this doesn’t mean that virtual tours are
winding down. These types of tours will remain a
desired alternative in the future for out-of-town
prospects, or for those who might still be hesitant
to relax social distancing.
Practice, Practice, Practice
There are many commonsense points that
apartment communities might be overlooking if
they haven’t adequately thought this through.
“It’s not just walking around with your phone
taking video,” Trosien says. “You need to plan.
Storyboard it. Practice it.”
Virtual tours can be recorded or be conducted
as live walk-throughs with the leasing professional
communicating to the prospect every step of the
way. That’s the ideal situation, Trosien says. The
tour can include walking the prospect through
your website or a pre-recorded video, if
it’s feasible.
“With a live virtual tour, go out of your way
to show them that during these challenging times
you are doing it for them,” she says. “They will
appreciate it and remember you for it.”
For in-person virtual tours, always ask the
prospect: How much time do you have? And be
sure to honor that. (Recorded tours should not
go beyond two minutes. Really, about 1 minute,
45 seconds is the sweet spot, she says). Ask the
prospect ahead of time what type of device they
will be using to view the tour so you can plan
accordingly.
“Remember, the tour is about them; not you,”
Trosien says. “They need to feel comfortable
about what device they want to use. For a lot of
people, taking part in a virtual tour is a real shift
for them. Think about how awkward it might have
been for you the first time you joined a Zoom
call. You don’t know what buttons to click and
when. You don’t how to turn on and off the video
or audio." Accessibility and accommodation are
other components to address when delivering
a well-executed virtual tour. By customizing a
live virtual tour, persons with disabilities can be
shown accommodations such as ramps, parking
spaces and interior fixtures such as accessible
apartment homes.
For persons with hearing disabilities, audio
can be replaced by captioning. Live tours are more
authentic because they are more interactive and
conversational, she says. It starts with a warm
welcome where the prospect can see the leasing
professional’s face. “Let them see who you are,”
she says. “Make that personal connection at
the start.”
Trosien says introverts and even extroverts
really need to ramp up the personality while
giving the tours. Yes, extroverts, too.
“You must by ‘on’ the entire time,” she says.
“Ask questions throughout the tour after your
points are being made: ‘What do you think of
this?’ “Are you okay with that?’ ‘What do you
think so far?’ ‘Do you have any questions?’ Keep
it moving.
“Having this interaction is so important
because you cannot see them; you are not
getting your usual body-language cues and facial
expressions to help you gauge their interest or
displeasure.
“However, don’t turn your virtual tours into
a creativity contest for your staff. This is not the
place for this. Be creative about how to market it,
such as on social media. But if you try to be clever
during the tour, it can become a distraction for
the prospect.”
Before the tour, Trosien says to list things that
the prospect has shared that they are interested in
seeing and be sure to include them.
“If they want a ‘western view’ then give them
one,” she says. “And right now, balconies are
hugely popular, especially for prospects who
didn’t have one before. During shelter-at-home,
this might be there only (or primary) window to
the world.
“And even if they didn’t emphasize the
kitchen, you should. Spend extra time in the
kitchen. During this pandemic, people are doing
more cooking and baking from home.
Highlight that.”
22 | TRENDS JULY 2020 www.aamdhq.org