Trapping the traffic: Mark-Taylor Residential converts a staggering 40 percent of its leads into leases. Find out how.

The pats on the back, the catchy phrases and the threatening chats didn't work. The managers at Mark-Taylor Residential poked and prodded the weakest links and pressured them to keep pace with the highest-performing leasing professionals. The strategy failed--Mark-Taylor didn't meet its desired goals.

So the company reversed its thinking. It instead rewarded the achievers and forced those lagging behind to improve--or else.

The changes didn't end there. Not too long ago, Mark-Taylor dropped a chunk of change on the future to increase and improve its Internet presence. The company sensed where its traffic would be driven and how potential customers might learn about its communities, and it used print ads to complement the strategy.

Nor did Mark-Taylor stop at the Internet. The company rounded out its plan with a new mentorship program devised to slow the defection of its top leasing professionals.

Thanks to all of this, Mark-Taylor continues to roll along when it comes to converting leads into leases. Last year, Mark-Taylor President Dale Phillips said the company converted approximately 40 percent of its leads into leases. Which, of course, is a hefty figure considering even 30 percent would be good. But Mark-Taylor already is eyeing a 50-percent figure, which it views as realistic.

Phillips said the numbers are a bit skewed because they include Web-based traffic. Many companies' conversion percentages are based on actual traffic to a community. Also, companies differ in how they record potential leads. But, Phillips said, Mark-Taylor's Web site has the ability to track traffic, which allows the company to determine if it led to a lease or not.

Besides, he said, "If you do everything you're supposed to do on your Web site, your closing ratio will be way up. So is that a Web-based lease or a physical lease?" In other words, if the Web site prompts a customer to visit a community and ultimately lease a home, then what deserves the credit?

Pushed to Perform

Though the Web site is the centerpiece of Mark-Taylor's operation, it's only one part of its success. Before Phoenix-based Mark-Taylor, which manages 5,000 units, could benefit from the Web, it had to alter the mindset of its employees.

"We went from being about seniority to being about performance," Phillips said. "The big message is accountability. We expect people to perform."

Previously, the company would focus on employees who weren't performing well, but Phillips said that merely "slowed the pack down." So it ditched that philosophy. Now it rewards those who are excelling.

"If you have to penalize or replace a weaker performer, that's what you have to do," Phillips said. "That's good progress for us. It's not if we like you or not, it's if you're being accountable."

The altered approach applies to all areas of business. For example, when Mark-Taylor increased its Web presence, the company wanted leasing agents to send follow-up e-mails to those who visited the community. Initially, however, Phillips said the company had an "embarrassingly low" percentage of leasing professionals who complied. Mark-Taylor researched why and found that some leasing professionals weren't comfortable asking for e-mail addresses. Others simply didn't do it.

"Some people treated follow-up as a choice," Phillips said. "But this was part of our culture and it was mandatory; top to bottom it was required. Not until we approached it from that angle did we really know what we had to do to be successful with it."

Advice From the Best

Along with the change in thinking, Mark-Taylor instituted a mentoring program called LEADERS (Leasing Excellence and Dedication to Exceptional Resident Services).

The program started several years ago when the company discovered that the turnover in its sales staff was higher than in other positions. In some cases, top sales associates would be promoted to managerial positions in which they would struggle, Phillips said, because the job wasn't what they did best.

So to keep top sales associates engaged and appreciated, Mark-Taylor created the LEADERS program. The company offers little extra money for those awarded the spots--maybe an extra dollar an hour; it's more about prestige. After all, those in the program have to be doing well. Among the rewards: trips to conferences, increased visibility in the company and breakfast meetings with Phillips.

The mentors--there are typically six and they change approximately every six months--still work onsite in leasing roles, but they oversee several sites and monitor communities' leasing performances. If a leasing professional has had a good week, the mentor likely will call and offer a figurative pat on the back. If the leasing professional has had a tough week, perhaps leasing only one apartment home out of 10 tours, the mentor will call to offer encouragement and advice.

Rather than chastise, mentors review sales calls or undercover video of a presentation and offer suggestions to help the leasing professionals consider other ways of making their pitches.

"They help you to get out of that rut," said Director of Sales and Training Tina Makssour who heads the LEADERS program.

From Home-Page to Home

And then there's the Web. Phillips said that for another company to reach the sophistication Mark-Taylor has on its Web site, it would cost between $100,000 to $120,000.

In a recent study by Rent.com, a national Internet Listing Service, Mark-Taylor's communities achieved the highest lead-to-lease conversion rate--by far--among all mid- to large-sized companies. Mark-Taylor's rate of converting e-mail and phone leads into verified leases was 286 percent higher than the average Rent.com property, according to Todd Katler, Director of Sales for Rent.com.

The company tries to drive prospective residents to the Web when they call by immediately asking if they have visited the site. Mark-Taylor also employs print advertising to drive traffic to its site.

Phillips said it designs its ads to be "bigger and better than everyone else's." That way, a reader is drawn to Mark-Taylor's ad. Sometimes, he said, that can be accomplished in two pages; sometimes it might take five. And its ads always promote the Web site.

"They have to work hand-in-hand," Phillips said. "Up until maybe a year and a half ago, I'd see some competitors not even listing their Web sites. If you're not, it's ridiculous. Sometimes our ads are just a single page of nothing but our Web site to ensure we get them to where the information is."

Prima Walker, Mark-Taylor's Director of Marketing and Public Relations, said, "Prospects, especially someone new to the area, will pick up printed guides because they feel the bulk of the information is in there. They look for something that grabs their attention and then they head to the Web site."

When Walker joined Mark-Taylor four years ago, she was told to make the Web site--already a couple years in the making--the best one in the industry.

"That commitment put the company ahead of the curve when it comes to how beneficial the Internet is for clients, prospects, leasing people and residents in general," Walker said. "Now that the foundation is laid, we can spend our time on additions."

For instance, the company's Web site offers virtual tours and interactive maps. It also has the ability to track where Mark-Taylor's Web traffic originates, which allows the company to better spend its Internet ad dollars. The Web site also creates more informed customers and allows them to lease site unseen. Phillips said by investing heavily in its own Web site, Mark-Taylor saved money for the clients whose properties it manages.

When a prospective resident visits, a detailed e-mail follow-up letter is sent immediately. The letter includes links to numerous other sites, which inform them of local school systems, golf courses or hiking trails, for example, based on a survey filled out during the visit. It highlights the benefits of leasing its properties and is designed to complement the Web site experience.

It's a crucial step in snagging new residents. And it's one that helps Mark-Taylor's confidence and conversion numbers to surge.

"It's probably the best one-two punch," Phillips said. "When we have a phone number for you, and a Web address, we have you. You have a hard time getting away."

John Keim is a freelance writer who lives in Chantilly, Va.

BY JOHN KEIM