The digital age has catapulted the idea “time is money” to new heights: Minutes matter to renters, and it can feel daunting to keep up with inquiries coming by text, social media, lead forms and emails by yourself. So, don’t try. Instead, maximize your leasing team’s use of a customer relationship management (CRM) system to segment and track prospects and provide immediate responses.

Deeper use of a CRM will also help your team manage daily tasks and revitalize processes and workflow, all to help land leads and close leases. Here’s more on why a CRM needs to be a core part of your marketing strategy — and how to make it work for you.

Shorten your response time

Research conducted by Zillow shows that if you respond within the first one to two minutes of receiving an inquiry, you’re 40 percent more likely to engage with a potential renter than if you wait a day or longer to reply. Wait just 30 minutes and your chances of landing that lead drops to 10 percent. The window is small and demanding, and if you and your leasing team have apartment communities to tour, applications to screen and lives outside of work, you might miss it. A CRM can fire off a templated message that will help you land that next renter while you’re otherwise occupied. While it’s no substitute for a personal reply, an automatic reply can be a great placeholder until you can follow up at a later time.

Keep the conversation going

About half of multifamily marketers don’t use their CRMs to follow up with leads, according to Zillow research, and about 30 percent follow up just once. But researchers have found that the magic formula to landing that prospective renter is to make five contacts over four days. Maintaining a strong lead response and follow-up method, with the help of a CRM, can keep potential renters on the hook and bolster your overall strategy.

The key is to personalize your messaging so that it comes across as warm and friendly. What are your leasing agency’s unique value propositions that differentiate you from everyone else? Make a list to identify these attributes and push it in your edited form follow-ups, then let the CRM reach out at scheduled times.

Connect with social media

Social CRMs let you meet potential renters on their digital turf: text, chat, email or social media. This gives consumers every opportunity to connect with you and allows you to respond using their initial method of communication (and lessen the risk of devaluing that lead).

Additionally, integrating a social CRM creates a home for all your consumers’ data, including data from consumers’ social interactions, to best anticipate the needs of potential renters. You can see who’s interacting with your brand and respond in real time to their questions, concerns and complaints — all in one place.

Used daily, a CRM system decreases your need for data entry and other menial tasks while compiling information to better understand your customers. Your workflows will remain efficient and open across all individuals utilizing the software. Time is money in this industry, and a CRM keeps your leasing team focused on their critical role: helping renters find a home in your community.