Rental Office – What’s yours like?

Did you know that your rental office is just as important as your curb appeal?  The curb appeal might get them into your office, but do you know what will help keep there long enough so you can get your apartments rented?Remember the five senses:

Touch:

This has more to do with how does your rental office feel?  Is it too hot, cold?  The temperature of your office is one of the first things people will notice.  If they are too cold, they won’t be concentrating on what you are saying and if they are too hot, they will be trying to get out of there fast…

Smell:

Now this can be a difficult sense to work with.  Men like more manly smells such as leather.  While women like floral scents.  Think about who comes into to your office more…men or women…and go with what you think they will like.  Or you can always go with a more ’spice’ fragrance.  Apple pie is something that most people love the smell of.  Coffee, cinnamon, etc. are all scents that are ‘generic’ and can work for both men and women.

Sight:

Is your office clean?  Are there a lot of papers all over your desk?  Is your traash can overfilled?  Here is a simple trick.  If you have a closet in your office, keep everything in that closet…then pull out only what you are going to be working on.  When you are done with that, go to your closet and pull out the next thing.  If you don’t have a closet, then what about a drawer…like a filing cabinet drawer.

Also, make sure your office is welcoming.  Don’t make the color too bright or too white.  A few plants and maybe even some awards.  You want your rental office to welcome people, not scare them.

Sound:

If you have an elderly property, then you probably don’t want to be playing rap music in the background.  Have music that matches your demographic.  Keep it soft so that they can hear you and you them when you are talking.

Taste:

I know this might seem like a strange one for an office, but there are a lot of ways you can bring this into your rental office.  Depending on your budget, you can have anything from muffins, donuts, coffee and tea or something not so elaborate like candy and bottled water.

If it is a hot day, offer your guest a small bottle of water…if it is cold outside, offer them a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.  Serve the coffee in actual cups…not plastic cups.  This will let them know that you care about the time you will be spending with them…

If you’re selling your home, you ’stage’ things.  You need to do the same when renting your apartments.  Stage your office in a neat and orderly fashion, with calming, neutral colors, some plants, sounds and scents that are pleasing to a large number of people.