How To Fail At Sales – Why Village Green Is Losing My Business

March 29, 2010 Author Adam Singer In Digital Marketing and PR

Today I’m going to share a story of how not to handle the sales process.  This post is not so much about my negative experience, but more of a lesson for your business.

I’m currently in the process of seeking a new apartment.  Not that the current place is bad, I just want to try a different area of town since I’m still relatively new to Minneapolis.

First, I did some research online to flesh out a list of potential places.  As an aside, I’m always shocked at how many aggregators eat a free lunch on hyper-local  residential real estate SERPs (but we’ll save that for another post).  As I’m friendly with the leasing consultants in my current building (Loring Park City Apartments), and the building owner (Village Green) manages multiple properties in the area, I figured it would be worth asking them for suggestions too.

They recommended another Village Green owned property – Lake Calhoun City Apartments – which was in the area I’m interested in living.  Great.  So I called them (during business hours) last week.  No answer – that’s fine, they must be out touring the properties or just busy.

This Saturday, I had a list of properties I was going to visit.  I had called and made appointments with some, but many have leasing offices with posted hours on their websites, so I figured it would be OK to swing by.  On my way out, I walked by my leasing office and the consultants stopped me to say hello.  They were pleased not only to ask how my day was going and wish me luck finding a new place, they even went a step further and gave me the spiel about the other Village Green apartment I might be interested in.

Together, we tried once again to call them, but there was no answer.  The leasing consultant here said she’d keep trying to connect with them, but that they were currently open to give tours and to try checking it out.  It says they are open on their website as well, so my expectation was I’d get the tour.  They also have giant banners on the streets surrounding the building, encouraging passer-by’s to enter and check it out.  This will become important in a second.

I took their address with the others and went about my apartment shopping.  First, my appointments, then some walk-ins (who were all happy to help if they were there – or there was simply no one there which is fine, I understand) and last on my list was the Village Green Property.

I drove over there and was pleased to see not one, but two leasing consultants in the office as I stood outside the building.  However, this is where things go downhill.

The system to dial in is the same as my current building.  I know exactly how to use it and that I’m doing it right.  But I ping them twice without a response.  Eventually, I just walk up to the glass and catch their attention and they let me in.

Once inside, it’s chaos.  There are two leasing consultants there however neither can answer the door, and they barely pay attention to me.  I felt like it was pretty rude and found it a complete dichotomy from how the consultants are in my current building.  The consultants here always take a moment to make contact with prospects even if they were already with one, and as a resident they treated my wonderfully.

So after standing there for a few moments, I decide to approach one of the consultants who looks like she hasn’t sat down all day.  I mention I am a current Village Green customer and was referred to check these apartments out by the leasing consultant in my current property.  I say how pleased I am with the current building and this is one of my top choices for a new home.  I mention I’d love to get a tour.

And…they snub me.  The response was something to the effect of:

“Sorry, we’re busy today helping other potential new residents tour the property.  You’ll have to make an appointment and come back.”

What?  I tried calling them on my own and even with one of their other consultants.  Moreover, I’m a current customer of theirs who was referred by someone else in their company.  I’m a ridiculously qualified sales lead and they don’t even want to talk to me.  My schedule is busy and I’m already there, so I ask politely if I can tag along with another prospect to look at a unit now.  No dice.

Let’s get this straight:

  • Their website advertises walk-ins to see apartments
  • The street is plastered with billboards saying to check them out
  • I am a current customer of theirs (ready to sign today – my checkbook was in my pocket!) and they can’t even fit me in

I filled out a time for another appointment, but after all of that I received an apology without emotion, as if they didn’t care anyway.

This shows:

  • The inconsistency of service between multiple business units of this company (my apartment is great, the other clearly not).
  • I was primed for purchase by a great experience in one location, however the other location did not take advantage of that at all.
  • Their leasing consultants have absolutely no sales training.  I told them I’m a current resident and they won’t fit me into their schedule?  I don’t care what their process is, I signed my current lease from 1,700 miles away so clearly I like their properties.  If they had a better CRM system they might have that data.  Not to mention the fact the leasing consultants in my building were hyping up this property and had me pretty excited about it (Village Green, if you’re reading this Lisa deserves a raise – easily your best leasing consultant).
  • They are unavailable to take phone calls and too busy to help a walk in.  You would think they would solve that issue if they are trying to fill the building.

Anyway, although I did sign up for a new appointment Sunday, I was too busy to make it.

End of story?  Village Green won’t keep my business – not from the lack of a quality product, but from not nailing the sales process.  Too much effort when I found great places that were available to talk to me on my schedule.