A couple spend Saturday afternoon looking at properties. They enquire about five.
Two reply within the hour with viewing times. Three send an automatic acknowledgement and telephone on Monday morning.
By Monday the couple have viewed both of the properties that replied, and one of them is under offer. The three that replied on Monday were competing for a decision that had already been made over the weekend.
The first failure: the enquiry peak is at the weekend
Entirely predictable, known to everybody in the industry, and still the period with the least coverage.
The second failure: the automatic reply promises Monday
Which tells an enquirer that this agent is slower than the one who replied at four on Saturday afternoon.
The third failure: the obvious questions go unanswered
Availability, whether it is still on, what the deposit is, whether pets are allowed and whether the price is negotiable.
The fourth failure: no viewing times are offered
The single thing that converts an enquiry, and it requires only a diary rather than a person.
The fifth failure: the enquirer is not qualified at all
So Monday is spent arranging viewings for people who cannot proceed, which is the screening in applicant screening questions for rental properties.
The sixth failure: the same five properties are enquired about
Competing agents receive the same enquiry simultaneously, and the differentiator is response speed rather than anything about the property.
The seventh failure: the Monday backlog delays everything else
Existing tenants, maintenance and current deals all queue behind a weekend of unanswered enquiries.
The eighth failure: the property details are incomplete
So the enquiry is frequently a question that the listing should have answered, consuming a reply that could have been a booking.
The ninth failure: the no show rate is high
Viewings arranged without confirmation or reminder, which wastes staff time at the viewing rather than at the enquiry.
The tenth failure: the unsuccessful applicants are discarded
Somebody who missed one property is a ready buyer or tenant for the next one, and almost nobody keeps them.
The eleventh failure: the weekend volume is never measured
Agents estimate it as small and it is frequently the largest part of the week, which is the pattern in weekend enquiry problem.
The twelfth failure: the loss is attributed to the market
Rather than to the response, which is what makes it repeat every weekend indefinitely.
The thirteenth failure: the listing photographs raise questions rather than answer them
A listing that shows four rooms and omits the kitchen produces enquiries asking about the kitchen. A large share of weekend enquiries are questions the listing itself should have answered and did not.
The fourteenth failure: the Sunday enquiries are worse served than Saturday
By Sunday evening the enquirer has already been answered by two other agents and has viewings booked. An enquiry arriving then and answered on Monday is competing against appointments that already exist.
The fix: reply at four on Saturday afternoon
An assistant that replies immediately, answers the deposit, pet and price questions, qualifies the enquirer and collects preferred viewing times for the agent to confirm wins the viewing that is currently arranged by whoever was awake. The wider load sits in tenant questions that swamp property managers, and the capture detail in viewing requests captured properly without back and forth. Start at try, see features, and the sector view sits under property management.