Let it go to voice mail. No big deal, right?

RentLinx studied over 30,000 phone calls from renters and uncovered some shocking statistics. Only 51% of calls were answered by a person, another 19% of the callers were greeted by an automated system that allowed them to navigate to a person. 30% of renters were not able to talk with someone – anyone – during business hours – while responding to a paid ad.

Overall, only 10% of incoming phone calls resulted in the caller agreeing to a property tour. Guess what improves the odds of getting the renter onsite?

1. Talking to the caller! Yep, just talking with the caller resulted in a tour appointment about 20% of the time.

2. Answer the phone! When a person answered the phone (instead of an automated response system), the odds of getting an agreement to tour the property increased to 24%.

3. Invite them to tour! Yes, just ask! Inviting the caller to come and view the property resulted in a 83% rate of onsite tours appointments! Ask, ask, ask!

The proof is in the numbers. It is a big deal if you let your calls go to voice mail because 83% of them won’t leave you a message. And, most will never call back or email you either. The combination of answering the phone and inviting the caller to come in for a tour increases your odds of getting the renter onsite from 10% to 83%. That’s huge.