Follow these tips to ensure your shop visit goes smoothly.
Know Where You are Going
Make sure to check the address and traffic before you head to your assigned apartment location. The good thing is most apartment shop assignments do not require you to make a solid appointment time.
This allows you to arrive at any time before closing time, though keep in mind that some communities have a cutoff time for when they will provide tours. Not having a specific appointment time ensures if you run into any traffic, that you are still able to complete the shop the same day as the phone call.
Most leasing agents are there throughout the entire day. If you arrive and your leasing agent is at lunch, you can ask when they will return or complete the shop with the next available agent if it will be over an hour.
Bring Your Driver’s License
The leasing agent is required to hold your driver’s license while they complete the tour; this is for their safety.
Please double check your wallet or purse to make sure you have your driver’s license before you leave for the apartment community. Most of the time, the agent will not provide a tour if you don’t have your license, which could cause the pay on the shop to be reduced.
Take Mental Notes
Remember, you cannot take any obvious notes during the apartment mystery shop, so you will need to take mental notes.
After you complete a couple of shops, you will notice that most shops are similar. As you complete more shops, you will find a decrease in any potential nervousness you may had initially.
Trust me, it does get easier and you will be able to focus and enjoy the décor.
Blend In
Your job is to blend into their typical prospective resident demographic so that you appear to be one of them. You do not want to trigger a thought in your leasing agent’s mind that you are a mystery shopper.
This will enable them space to do what they have been trained to do, naturally!