ID Verification, Flexible Touring Options, and Secret Shop Reports Provide Property Management With Everything They Need to Improve Leasing Team Efficiency

Knock, the leading CRM for multifamily property management companies, announced today that its newest product—Knock Tours—is now available to all property managers and leasing teams across the United States.

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Knock Tours offers video-guided touring. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Knock Tours debuts as multifamily’s most comprehensive leasing platform built to ensure prospective renters receive a high-touch experience from the moment they schedule the tour to signing a lease for their new apartment home. With agent-guided, self-guided, and live-video options, the new platform provides touring flexibility to match the needs of any prospective renter. It also combines a guest-card-integrated ID scanner, leasing agent workflows, and community content into an exceptional user experience for leasing teams.

“The need for self-guided and video touring technologies accelerated during the pandemic and have become an essential component of leasing operations today, even with in-person tours back on the climb,” said Vik Chawla, partner on the Real Estate Technology Investment Team at Fifth Wall and investor in Knock. “The operators who are seeing the most success in this new landscape are those who harness diverse touring capabilities for both tenants and agents with a flexible tech stack, which is precisely what Knock Tours does.”

Knock’s data science team analyzed 2 million tours from the 2021 leasing season and uncovered a correlation between flexible touring options and higher conversion rates. While some types of tours consistently convert better than others, prospective renters who utilized multiple touring options were much more likely to convert.

“When renters are able to tour a community through multiple channels, they’re almost twice as likely to sign a lease,” said Demetri Themelis, co-founder and CEO at Knock. “Increasing accessibility—no matter how a prospect wants to tour—means more options for prospective renters and more opportunities for leasing agents to convert them to signed leases.”

Property management groups such as First Communities, Western Wealth, Knightvest Capital, Roscoe, GoldOller, and RAM, have been among the first to test Knock Tours, already seeing significant improvement in leasing experience and efficiencies, and higher conversion rates.

ID Verification helps keep qualified leads in and fraudulent renters out

Knock Tours begins to provide value from the first moment an agent scans a prospect’s ID. According to data from TransUnion, fraudulent activity increased as much as 48% during the pandemic, with 41% of property managers saying they were unable to detect the fraud until after the applicant moved in. Factoring in lost rent, eviction costs, legal fees, and other turnover expenses, fraudulent renters can cost a property owner an average of $7,500. For a 5,000-unit portfolio, this can add up to more than $500,000 in losses per year.

“Fraud can take a big bite out of the bottom line,” said Pauline Houchins, Executive Vice President of Development and Property Operations at First Communities. “Anything you can do to equip your property teams with front-line fraud detection will make a tremendous impact on your entire portfolio performance. Knock Tours has already helped us screen out several prospects who could have cost us thousands.”

On-demand recommendation engine for more leases signed on the spot

Once verified prospects are on property, Knock Tours acts as an on-screen guide to help leasing teams navigate the tour, ensuring they ask the right questions at the right time so that they can showcase the unique aspects of their communities. Based on guest card data, Knock Tours allows the agent to generate personalized unit recommendations, complete with additional community selling-points, including property maps, amenities, unit availability, current leasing specials, and more.

“Knock Tours has really helped us optimize the leasing experiences of our onsite teams and prospective renters because everything our agents need is right in the app,” said Allison Crawford, Director of Operations Support at Knightvest Residential. “Now, when prospects have questions during a tour, we can answer them on the spot instead of making renters wait and giving them the option to fall in love with another property. ”

Intelligent guest cards streamline leasing efficiencies and workflows

Knock Tours is a fully-integrated companion to Knock CRM, which allows teams to keep a historical record of every ID scan, conversation, interaction, tour note, quote, and workflow - all in one guest card on a single screen. By integrating the tour into the manager’s complete tech stack, Tours streamlines communication and ensures that no opportunity to convert falls through the cracks.

“Because everything is integrated, follow-ups and tasks are also automated, which makes our teams incredibly efficient and gives them more time to connect with prospects and residents,” said Bevan White, Director of Marketing at RAM Partners. “The reporting has given corporate teams a detailed view into leasing consultants’ day-to-day operations, along with clear, actionable data on lead attribution and advertising costs. For us, Tours + CRM is a win-win.”

Intelligent data augments secret shoppers to boost performance gains

Multifamily operators have typically used secret shoppers to evaluate which agents, procedures, or processes might be falling short. Secret shops are helpful, but their limited sample size runs the risk of skewing management’s perception. Knock Tours amplifies the benefits of secret shopping by providing comprehensive insight into every leasing interaction—not just one.

“Knock Tours gives us immediate visibility into data points across every tour, not just the shops,” added Houchins. “We have an accurate 360-degree view on our leasing operations to immediately help us zero in on improvements. This data has also added significant performance value. During our initial pilot, communities using Knock Tours had a 63% higher visit-to-lease rate than those without it. It was a no-brainer for us to expand.”

Knock continues its quest to improve every step of the leasing journey

Knock was born out of its founders' deep dissatisfaction with the typical leasing journey and inefficiencies in converting prospects to renters. With the addition of Tours, Knock continues to execute on its founding vision to improve the renter journey and, in the process, provide value to multifamily property owners and managers.

“Knock’s ‘One Team’ philosophy continues to be written into the DNA of every technology solution we create for multifamily,” said Themelis. “We work with our customers to deliver tools that are purpose-built to optimize the leasing experience for both managers and their residents. When renters are given flexible touring options and leasing agents are empowered to provide them the best experience possible, everybody wins: the resident, the agent, and the bottom line.”

Tours is available starting today for all property management companies in the United States. For more information on Knock or to schedule a demo, visit www.knockcrm.com.

About Knock

Knock is an award-winning CRM and performance management platform for residential property management companies. Hundreds of the leading apartment managers and owners across North America rely on Knock’s automation, integration, and data transparency tools to improve occupancy and renewal rates. Knock is based in Seattle and was founded in 2014. For more details, visit www.knockcrm.com.

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