CRM Basics Part 3: Answering Communications, Walk-Ins, Tasks and Appointments
Respond to leads and residents faster than ever, wherever you are, with the LeaseHawk CRM
Last Update:
January 9, 2024
CRM
Video
Respond to leads and residents faster than ever, wherever you are, with the LeaseHawk CRM
This video will provide a brief overview of how to manage communications and relationships within the easy to use, LeaseHawk CRM.
CRM stands for customer relationship management. It's a web-app that helps you manage all your relationships and daily communications in one place to make your life easier and more efficient.
This video will show you how to answer an incoming phone call, text or email, add a walk-in, manage multiple communications at once, and perform other actions such as setting up an appointment, creating a task, or deactivating a contact.
Say that you're beginning your day and have already logged into the CRM app, the first thing you do is check your 'Action Required' box on the home screen. As a reminder, your goal is to reduce the number of action required items and leads down to zero before logging off at the end of the day. You view your action required and begin working through your list responding to missed calls, emails or text messages.
What happens if you receive an incoming communication from a contact while you're working? What does an incoming phone call look like on the system?
The call will pop up in a small white box on your computer screen. It has a hawk image on it and will ring until it is answered or goes to voicemail. You can set your notification preferences as you like by clicking on settings from the menu bar. When the call comes in, you can simply click on the popup call box and answer within the CRM. When you click on the box, the guest card immediately pops up. Click the green circle to answer the call and edit to start the guest card. As you speak to the contact, you can begin gathering information and filling out the guest card, including their name, phone number, address, reason for calling, email address, and any other information.
If you prefer to take the call from your desk or office phone, you can still create a guest card - just click on the popup box and click edit. When you're finished, click done.
If LeaseHawk integrates with your property management system and the guest card is a prospect or applicant, it will automatically push to your PMS. You won't have to create another guest card in your PMS system.
So what happens when there's an incoming text message?
With a text, you will see the same type of white box pop up on your screen and you will hear a hawk screech. In this case, just click on the white box and you will be taken directly to the text message. From there, you can decide if you want to respond. You may choose to send a reply text message using your keyboard or you can choose no response required; click the box with the check mark at the bottom of the screen to close out that communication. Either way, you will need to select one or the action will remain on your 'Action Required' list. Also, keep in mind that all text message history is part of the timeline, so that means written messages are visible to everyone in your system and can also be accessed in reporting.
While text messages may be a more casual communication format, it's best to stay friendly but professional when using them.
If you're working in the office, you often encounter walk-ins who need assistance. After greeting the walk in, go to the menu bar, which can be found on every page of the CRM in the upper right hand corner of your screen. It is symbolized by the three horizontal lines, which are sometimes called the hamburger button.
From the menu, select 'Add a Contact' and fill out information while the person is there. When you add a contact in this way, you will need to include some extra information. You will need to select the 'Ad Source' and the 'Com Type'. Also, remember to change the relationship status.
There may be busy times when you are managing many inbound communications: phone calls, emails and text messages all at once. With your new CRM system, this is very easy to do.
For example, while you were speaking with the walk in, say you received a text message and a phone call, but are not aware of this yet. When you're done speaking with the walk in, you should get into the habit of refreshing your data using the refresh data icon in the upper left hand corner of your screen. This will update your system, ensuring that any missed communications are visible.
You can do two things, you can look at action required to see any updates or actions that you need to complete or, you can check your notification panel, the small bell at the top of your screen. The notification panel is a very convenient way to view a list of everything that happened while you were away, including any task or reminder that you need to be aware of. Just click on the item that you want to see, and it will take you directly to that missed inbound communication.
While you're responding to the missed communications, let's say that a resident sends you a text message that he's adopting a puppy and needs a ground-floor apartment. You will hear a hawk screech and notice a white box pop up on your screen. You click on the box and are taken directly to the text message screen. You decide you need to respond, so you send a text message back. He writes back and says he would like to set up an appointment to come into the office.
To set up an appointment, go to the contact's timeline and click on the calendar icon at the far right bottom of the screen. When the calendar opens, click on the plus sign to add an appointment or a task.
For an appointment, click appointment and type in the date and start and end times. You can also set up a reminder that will pop up at whatever time interval you choose, such as 15 minutes before the appointment. You may also assign the appointment to someone else, and add notes for context.
A task can be set up for anything, like following up with someone, walking the grounds, or putting out more signs.
One of the reassuring qualities of using the CRM is that it's really hard to make a mistake; the system will prompt you if you need to enter more information. Even if you're not used to a CRM, this system is easy to use and intuitive enough to guide you through. On the resident's timeline, you can see the appointment has been added.
You will see a single person icon that shows all appointments and tasks assigned to you only. Click on the team icon to see any appointments or tasks related to this contact that may have been set up by all team members. You also can toggle between tasks and appointments.
Often you will get a lead and it is challenging to get back in touch with them, they may not respond at all. You will need to use your own company protocol in deciding how long to keep them active.
One option is to move them out of the lead bucket to the other bucket, and set up a task to follow up. Click on 'Add Note' to include any information that will be helpful, such as, Chris called and he's looking for an apartment. You may also choose to send them a text message.
Often contacts do not know that they can text you, but once you send them a text, they may feel more comfortable communicating in that way.
One other feature to learn is how to deactivate a contact, whether they're a lead, prospect, applicant, resident or vendor. Once you delete them, they are gone from the CRM system.
Go to the contact's guest card; remember, you can search from the menu. Once you open the guest card, click 'edit contact'. Click on the 'Active' button to deactivate the contact. A screen will pop up that asks you to confirm the deactivation by selecting yes or no. It will also provide a list of reasons to choose from that are pulled from your property management system. Add any notes. The contact will be deactivated in the CRM, so you will no longer see them as a contact, but the information will still stored as part of the back office reporting data.
In this video, you've learned how to handle multiple inbound communications, add a walk in, and perform extra functions such as setting up appointments and tasks and deactivating contacts.
If you have questions or need help, contact training@leasehawk.com or support@leasehawk.com. Thank you for watching.
