We’re not just here to help tenants and our landlords, so we wanted to give a little bit of advice to the landlords out there who rent their own properties. Let’s first start by talking about emails and how to reply to enquiries. It’s easy enough on the phone to come across how you want, but more and more tenants are emailing or sending messages via social media. It’s so important to get those replies correct, and to get across the information you want in a short paragraph. This is the moment you can make your first impressions on a potential tenant or group (or house buyer, if you’re an estate agent!).
So you’ve had an enquiry about a property, perhaps it went something along the lines of:-
Hi, I’ve spotted your house on South Road, is it still available? Kind regards, Kerry
How not to respond…
Please don’t reply with:
Hello, Yes it is. Regards, Mrs Butler
Now – I have GENUINELY had replies like this for houses myself, and it’s actually infuriating. All I learn from this is yes, the house is still available. How do I go on from there to book a viewing – do I even need a viewing? Does the landlord want my questions? Does the landlord want my custom?
How you could respond…
You should expand and reply a bit more along the lines of the below, in my opinion, it’s still too short and not very welcoming. It does however open the question of viewing the property or room, which is more likely to get a reply from the potential tenant.
Hello, Yes it is available, would you like to arrange a viewing? Thank you, Mrs Butler.
How we’d respond…
What you want to achieve is a welcoming, friendly email. You want the potential tenant (or enquiry, this doesn’t just pertain to lettings) to feel that you actually do care about them and their questions. They might become the best tenant you know and stay with you for years. They might one day own 7 houses in Aberystwyth and then go to a letting agent that makes an impression. So, we always reply with a vague structure to our emails:
- Thank them for spending the time to email you
- Reply to their query and ensure you ask questions to create an open dialogue
- Have more option that they might be interested in? Upsell! They might not have seen it.
Our reply would be something along these lines:
Dear Kerry,
Thank you for spending the time to email us. I can confirm that the house on South Road is still available, would you like to arrange a viewing? We find that afternoons are our most popular viewing times, however we are available Monday to Friday from 10am. Please do let me know a convenient time for you and I will check the diary.
We do also have another house which is of a similar budget and also has 6 bedroom located on North Parade, please see the link below. Would you be interested in viewing this house too?
I look forward to hearing from you and please don’t hesitate to ask any questions,
Kind regards,
Mrs Butler.
We’ve been friendly, answered the query and also opened the dialogue to discussing other properties and also viewing times and dates. From a letting agent point of view, we find that offering alternative properties works very well, as more often than not the tenants find you based on one property and might not have spent time to view all of your available ones on the website. It’s the same as browsing in a shop – if you go somewhere with great customer service, you’ll often find that the attendant will upsell or suggest a second item. Treat your potential tenants in the same manner.
Great customer service starts with that initial enquiry – treat it like gold dust, who knows when the next one will be!