Running a business requires frequent communication and conversations to bring in new customers while keeping current customers happy. A problem, when there is only so many hours in the day. To better improve productivity, it is beneficial to leverage technology to assist your operations where it makes sense for your business. Let's look at an example.

Take, for instance, a real estate firm or landlord in search of a tenant for a building or apartment. I use this example because I myself am a landlord and found renting apartments as an owner to be cumbersome, mainly due to the repetitive questions I go over with each new applicant. The problem isn't generating leads, Zillow or Craigslist will send a handful of clients my way. The problem became vetting these potential tenants, as responding to each and scheduling a showing proved to be time intensive and broken. If I forgot to ask a question like "Do you have kids under 5" and they show up with their kid for a showing at the apartment that is not deleaded, I end up wasting time on my end plus theirs. Please forgive me if that was you, it has unfortunately occurred on too many occasions. 

The solution became apparent after these failures and examining which tools could fix this. So an automated email inquiry flow was designed and configured, using the tools available in our ERP and Email packages SBO sells to its customers. Instead of manually responding to each new inquiry, set up an email account like Rental@sbo.tech and configure incoming emails to receive a reply email with a survey starting the vetting process. 

The applicant will receive the response in about 10 minutes, which can be configured to your liking. The reply message contains a link to a survey to continue filtering for appropriate applicants. The applicant follows the link to a simple survey, displayed below.

Finally, should the applicant meet the applicable laws like no lead in the house for children under 5, they are presented with a link to schedule a visit to the apartment.

Once scheduled, I receive a calendar invite to my email, effectively filtering qualified candidates and a meeting set up, without spending any time on correspondence prior to meeting in person.

The applicant's name has been masked to preserve their privacy. If you have any comments or questions, please reach out and let's chat! We are here to make your business operations run smoothly and in the best manner possible.