subject: Fill To Capacity With Custom Signs [print this page] My sister is a leasing consultant for a beautiful apartment and town-home complex in Charleston, SC. I've always been envious, because I feel as though she works in paradise. It seems every time I visit her at work, the sun is shining brighter than ever. The complex has beautiful landscaping, floral arrangements and palm trees to boot. There are two swimming pools - one being an innovative salt water pool - and a state of the arts fitness center. And not to mention the first class staff she works with...they're friendly and helpful as can be!
If I were looking to rent, I'd live there in a heartbeat. I'd feel as though I was on vacation every day!
But contrary to my assumptions, my sister and her staff were struggling to keep the complex even half full. And they simply couldn't figure out why! They were running daily commercials on the radio, were listed on all the rental websites, and posted daily on Craigslist.
It seemed everyone who actually toured the facilities signed a lease, so the problem wasn't in the complex itself. It was simply a matter of getting the word out and bringing more people onto the premise. So my sister and I sat down one night for a brainstorming session and devised a plan.
A grand plan, I hope!
Though the apartment complex is situated in a very popular and convenient part of town, it's not terribly visible from the street. In fact, that is part of the appeal, as all the trees that surround the facility muffle outside noise and keep things quaint and quiet. But these trees also hide this gem from the public eye.
Our new plan for spreading the word was to purchase a custom sign and place it out on the main road that you turn off of to enter the complex. The custom sign design simply featured the complex name and a beautiful photo of the paradise-like neighborhood.
And to my sister's delight, in a matter of no time, the phones were ringing off the hook, and people were signing leases like crazy!
Why did a custom sign work better than radio ads and internet listings?
With a custom sign, your potential tenants are right outside your front gate! We soon learned that with radio ads, even people who were planning to move in the very near future were tuning out real estate advertisements because they simply weren't interested in living in that part of town. That's wasted advertising coverage!
And while rental websites and Craigslist allow you to specify your neighborhood of choice, pictures and descriptions can't sell the way seeing the place in person can. Plus, nothing is more convenient than stopping by for a tour when you're already in that neighborhood.
And this is what surprised us the most: While people looking on rental websites typically are searching because they have an immediate rental need, my sister suddenly had a whole new market of people touring her facility. This market was made up of people who were not actively searching for a new place to live yet, but since they knew their lease was running out in several months, and they knew they wanted to stay in the same neighborhood, they were motivated to check the apartments out as they were passing by the custom sign on their way out to run errands, go to work, grab a quick dinner etc.!
My sister was now actually having people request rental reservations a whopping 5 months in advance!
So not only is my sister fortunate enough to have a work environment comparable to paradise, she's also lucky to have a job where a custom sign does all of the work!
