It is important to know your competition. Everyone on the staff should be shopping the comps on a quarterly basis. This should include your maintenance staff as well. Market surveys should also be done a consistent basis so we always are aware of what is going on in our market.
Having a good rapport with the comps can mean several things for your community.
1. It is a great way to share information regarding traffic sources.
2. Where is your traffic coming from?
3. What community events are you doing to engage your current residents?
4. It is also a great way to get referrals.
Sharing information can mean that you have friendly competition as opposed to your comps bashing you and not being honest about their current occupancy/specials.
Knowing where the competition's traffic is coming from can better assist you in knowing where to concentrate your outside marketing efforts.
Community events help create excitement and can lead to higher resident retention.
Referrals from the comps mean that we have successfully built a relationship and they feel comfortable sending people out way.
Team Butler
Great posting. Word of mouth is really important, people tend to rent from places they have already heard good things about.
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