About to do my first apartment shop... My nerves are being mean.

As you guys know, I'm a newb. I love this job so far! I've done a variety already but am about to embark on a new type. I will be conducting an apartment shop, and I've read that this is one kind of shop that shoppers do get called out as being a shopper. This doesn't surprise me as it is a bit more intimate, and it is easier to get caught if the backstory doesn't fit. With that being said, does anyone have any advice or "make or breaks" I should know? Is there anyway to tell if a rep is starting to suspect that you are a shopper? Besides the obvious, "are you a shopper" and response, "no, what's a shopper," are there other ways to reel things back? Also, if there is a similar thread already covering this, I'm sorry. I did a search, but perhaps I did not do it correctly as nothing really came up.

I'm a wee-dab nervous about this one...

Thanks all!

PS: I love this forum.

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First, take a deep breath and exhale slowly.

I suggest that you remember to just let the leasing agent (LA) take the lead. She/he is supposed to ask question about your needs. So just let them do their job.

Just in case, be flexible about dates and apartment size as in:
"Well if it meant getting the right size apartment, I could stay with my sister for a couple of week."
OR " I could see where a larger 1 bedroom or one with a den could work for me, if it was available when I want to move."

Next, plan an objection that the LA can overcome. "If you allow cats, I can't take an apartment that has just had a cat in it. I'm very allergic." or "I'd prefer something that has a nicer view."

Remember to be the sole decision maker and when you have given the LA every chance to close for a lease, say that you have a couple of condos where you have appointments with the owners later in the day and you will decide then. (That lets you off the hook for knowing the names of those communities since, you would only have addresses, and those are in your GPS but you didn't memorize them, lol.

Show Time! Enjoy.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Wow! I feel for you. They're harder than reading a newspaper during a wind storm...harder than Chinese arithmetic...harder than making love while standing in a hammock...well, you get the idea.

Just kidding. While they are not my favorite shop, I've done a few and have never been killed doing any of them.

My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me.
Benjamin Disraeli

wales gave you great advice! Good luck! Just be the strong, silent type and say very little. It will feel strange at first especially if you're the chatty type but there are plenty of people who don't say much so it won't be that unusual. That gives the agent a chance to tell you everything they're supposed to. Don't forget to give them an opportunity to close so don't say early on in the appointment that you're going to look elsewhere today, say that after they've attempted the close (the sale). Good luck and let us know how you went!

Thank you, all.

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I think they are really easy.. I just got paid for two I did last month today

Like someone else said, take a deep breath. We think shops are harder than they actually are. Read the questionnaire before you go, play the part and say little unless you have to. I talk quite a bit it depends on the agent I get. I say enough to appear believable without giving them too much info. Just be yourself. After you do a few of these, you'll know when to say things and what to listen out for.

Silver Certified ~ Shopping all of Toronto and beyond

Take several deep breaths and don't be nervous. Be your awesome self and let the consultant lead the way. I don't know what kind you are doing, but don't forget to ask your Fair Housing question or make a recoverable objection. Just follow the consultants lead and listen carefully for when they ask you to lease, not lease, ask if you want to see the amenities and what they said about them. Pay attention if you are introduced to someone and what is happening inside the leasing office. Does the consultant have a name tag? Good luck!!!

Earlier this week I had a condo shop. The Leasing Agent looked me up and saw that I had visited a sister community in the same city back in June of this year.

Fortunately, having knowledge of how railroads assign jobs, I was able to explain why I didn't take the other apartment. Railroads assign jobs through a process called "Bidding". The simple version is you apply for the job and, if you have the most seniority, you get it.

The scheduler was so impressed with that explanation, that she asked if she could share it with her other shoppers.

And yes, I've seen a few female locomotive engineers, but ladies, you can always claim your husband/significant other works for the railroad.

.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei

JB,
I am confused. What was it about your explanation of seniority that deflected the leasing/sales agent's question?

Always looking for a new technique that I can use. And, yes, I too have met female RR engineers.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

As the wise cpburt once alluded to, I am still alive. Shop is over! Now to write the report. Naturally, the person I had was training, so I ended up with two people trying to sell me the apartment. Eep! But I am alive!

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It's not quite over....after the shop, "some" agents call your phone, to either thank you or "chastise you" for the report!

Yup. It happened to me...

Shhhhhhhhhhh that may never happen to Jayleighhes, don't freak her out

Silver Certified ~ Shopping all of Toronto and beyond

I got outbid the last time by someone with more seniority, so I didn't get the job, which was why I didn't move to the other community.

walesmaven Wrote:
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> JB,
> I am confused. What was it about your explanation
> of seniority that deflected the leasing/sales
> agent's question?
>
> Always looking for a new technique that I can use.
> And, yes, I too have met female RR engineers.

Whaaaa! I do not want that phone call! I did not know that could happen!! I mean, my report is honest, but there really was very little negative feedback that I had to address. Goodness. I wonder, is this the same for the tanning salon I did a shop for that I now have a month of membership with? And I've been visiting? DO THEY KNOW?! Oooh my! I'm so new... And ignorant. Sad face. :/

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not for that salon I would think. The apartment just say you got offered a better job down south out west wherever and are no longer interested. You are a mystery shopper and must learn how to lie professionally.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

If you look through the forum history, you will see some doozies with the phone calls!

Oh, and my favorite: "Never ask the agent if she is pregnant. A shopper asked if the agent was pregnant and she was NOT! DO NOT ASK if the agent is Pregnant, ever!"

In another life it was pretty common for me to be seeking apartments as part of my work. Having done that, I'm pretty familiar with the huge variety of scenarios that come with renting apartments.

My advice would be just to come up with your scenario, appear flexible, and allow the agent to do the talking. People have told me I can talk the paint off a wall, but during apartment shops I try and allow the agent to lead the discussion as much as possible. It also keeps the time invested down and gives me the best responses. Remember, these agents are trained to ask the questions so just go with the flow.

Good luck!

Evaluating and mailing packages since 1994. I am an undercover connoisseur of customer service, a master of disguise in the aisles, and a sworn enemy of subpar experiences. I blend in, observe, and report—because excellence should never be a mystery.

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About to do my first apartment shop... My nerves are being mean.

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