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How Well Do You Know the Competition?

Do You Know the Competition

You better believe every tenant who visits your website, calls your phones, or walks across the threshold of your leasing office is doing the same thing with at least a handful of other properties. They are using social media, searching the Internet, watching video tours on YouTube, and talking to everyone they trust about referrals. They know the ins and outs of your competition. The question is: Do you?

To know your competition is to understand how your own property is positioned in the market and how prospects are bound to view your offering. So, to say it’s a paramount effort is an understatement.

Need some assistance? Following are 4 tips to help you “keep tabs”:

  • Keyword searching—At least on a weekly basis, it’s a good idea to do a keyword search for your company name, as well as general searches for “[neighborhood name] apartments” and “[city name] apartments.” This will tell you if other properties are coming up in searches for your property’s name, and how your property stacks up against the competition in general keyword searches.
  • Website trolling—One of the best things about the Internet is how easy it makes it to get your hands on the type of information that once was quite hard to come by. Now, by only using a few minutes out of your schedule a month, you can stay updated on the announcements, prices, amenities, and more of your competitors.
  • Google alerting—Did you know that you can set up an alert using Google Alerts that will notify you by email any time a keyword of your choosing is posted online? Simply enter your property’s name as well as the names of your biggest competitors, and you’ll stay updated on any of them receives a mention—good or bad.
  • Secret shopping—Even with the ease of research provided by the Internet, it’s sometimes necessary to get out and actually pound the pavement by having secret shoppers visit the competition to experience the actual sales pitch.

The most important thing to remember is that your property does not operate in a silo. It’s affected directly by what the competition does and does not do, and you need to fully understand those factors on a continuous basis in order to compete effectively.

Need some additional help? The professionals at Class A Management would appreciate the opportunity to help ensure you’re always “in the know” and your property is positioned accordingly. Contact us at 817-295-5959 or by email to info@classamgmt.com.