PPC Blog and News

My sister is a leasing consultant for a gorgeous apartment and townhome complex in Charleston, SC. I’ve always been envious, because I feel as though she works in paradise. It seems like every time I go to see her at work, the sun is shining brighter than ever. The complex has intricate landscaping, spectacular floral arrangements and countless palm trees. There are 2 swimming pools – one being an innovative salt water pool – and a state of the arts private gym. And not to mention the first class staff she works with…they’re incredibly helpful and friendly!

If I didn’t already own a home, I would move there in a minute. I would feel as though I was on vacation each and 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, had listings on all the rental websites, and posted to Craigslist daily.

Plus, it seemed everyone that actually scheduled a tour of the facilities signed a lease, so the problem wasn’t in the complex itself. It simply was a matter of getting the word out and bringing more people onto the premise. So my sister and I sat down one night to devise a plan.

Hopefully a grand plan!

Though the apartment complex is located in a very popular part of town, it’s not terribly visible from the street. In fact, that is a selling point for the complex, as the bunch of trees that surround the facility mute outside noise and keep things quaint and quiet. But these trees also hide this gem from the public eye.

Our plan for spreading the word was to purchase a custom sign and place it out along the main road that you turn off of to enter the complex. The custom sign design simply featured the complex name and a gorgeous 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!

So why did a custom sign work so well, compared to radio ads and online 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 if they weren’t interested in living in that particular neighborhood. That is wasted advertising coverage!

And while rental websites and Craigslist allow you to specify your neighborhood of choice, photographs and descriptive summaries simply can’t sell the way seeing the place in person can. Plus, nothing is more convenient than stopping by for a facility when you’re already just outside the door.

And here is what shocked 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 comprised of people who were not actively searching for a new place to live yet, but since they knew their current lease was running out in several months, and they knew they wanted to remain 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.!

Now people were actually requesting rental reservations even five months in advance!

So now my sisters is not only is my sister lucky 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!

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