Script for cold calling landlords with vacant properties
Things to remember:
Written language and spoken language is very different. You don’t want it to sound
“scripted”. People don’t talk with capital letters at the start of sentences and periods at the end. People talk more in phrases/fragments with improper grammar and with some “uh” or
“um”s.
Find a way to set yourself up as an expert
Describe your product or service, pointing out relevant benefits
3.
What do you want from them – Set up a viewing? Send the landlord more information? Add the landlord to your mailing list? Set up a meeting? Make sure you request this at the end of your pitch
What benefits should be highlighted to the landlord? Landlords are in the main, concerned with three things. Try to mention benefits that alleviate these fears.
1.
The rent will be paid
2.
The property will be looked after
3.
There won’t be any anti social behaviour that will affect the neighbours/neighbourhood
You should try and anticipate during your conversation with the landlord, which of your scheme benefits may appeal the most to the landlord you are talking to
Try and incorporate success stories as much as possible into your pitch
Sound upbeat! And smile! Apparently it reflects in your voice if you smile on the phone.
1.
Ask for the landlord by name
2.
Say hello – “Hi! (Landlord’s name). I’m calling about the property I’ve seen advertised in
(insert where you’ve seen the ad), is it still available?
Obviously if it’s no longer available then you don’t waste any time continuing with your pitch.
Introduce yourself – “I’m (name) and I work for (name of your organisation)”
4.
Say what you do and position yourself as an expert, for example, use phrases like “we specialise in…” or “our reputation is…” or “we are known for..”
For example…..
“We specialise in creating sustainable tenancies in the private rented sector for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness”
5.
Articulate the benefits of the service you provide – don’t list them all, just the ones that you think are the “best” ones. Always start with any financial benefits.
For example….

“We provide a bond to the value of one month’s rent and we encourage our clients to save a weekly amount towards replacing the bond and creating a financial stake in the tenancy”
“We have a fast track arrangement with Housing Benefit to ensure that you receive your rental payments in a timely manner”
“We provide all of our clients with pre tenancy training so that they are aware of their responsibilities as a private sector tenant and how to budget effectively”
“You would have a named ‘Tenancy Manager’ who you would be able to contact if you needed any support or advice during the tenancy”
6.
Articulate your success stories
For example….
“We created over ….. tenancies last year with a sustainment rate of …%”
“We worked with over ……. Landlords last year”
“We created over ….. tenancies last year”
“We can put you in touch with another landlord who has used our services”
“We have landlords who buy properties for us because they have been so impressed with the service they’ve received”
7.
Ask for what you want
For example….
“So what I’d really like is to send one of my clients, (name) over to view the property, when would be most convenient time for you?”
8.
Make sure the landlord has your name and contact details
Getting round the common rebuttals:
“I don’t take DSS….”
“Do you mind me asking why you don’t take DSS?” – try to establish the reasons why the landlord has made this comment.

“I had a bad experience….” – Try and be sympathetic, “I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience in the past and I hope you don’t think that your experience is indicative of all housing benefit tenants”. Try and find out what/when the experience was. If it was a long time ago you could say that the way in which HB is administered has changed a lot, processing times have been much reduced, the recent HB cuts mean that they could receive direct payments if they offer a rent at the LHA rate and that your role is to support the tenancy. Try and convince them to at least meet the client.
“A mate of mine took one once, they didn’t pay any rent and they trashed the property, so I decided never to take one” – try to emphasise that the landlord could easily end up with a bad tenant in the private market, that tenants in receipt of benefits tend to stay on longer as tenants than their private counterparts, the financial package on offer to the landlord and the support available if anything goes wrong. Mention details of any referencing you carry out on clients.
“My mortgage/insurance company won’t let me” – this is a difficult one to get round and some landlords can use it as an excuse just to get you off the phone. Crisis does intend to do some campaigning work around this issue but first needs to find out who the perpetrators are. If a landlord says this to you, please respond by “Ah yes I’m aware that some mortgage/insurance companies stipulate this condition, would you mind telling me who your mortgagor/insurer is as we intend to do some campaigning work around this issue”. Please let Crisis know of any responses you get so that this may inform any campaigning.
“They’re homeless aren’t they? I mean they’ve got issues/baggage”
Try to emphasise that clients can become homeless for lots of different reasons and this isn’t necessarily due to any “issues” a client may have – mention relationship breakdown for example. Also mention any pre-tenancy training programme that you provide which may help persuade the landlord that your clients are “tenancy ready”.
“How do I know you’re good for your word and you’re not just going to dump them on me”
Try to give examples in this instance of all the support services you provide once the client is in the property. For example, if you perform a tenancy healthcheck after the tenant has moved in then mention this or if you work closely with housing benefit, then mention this. Mention a dedicated “Tenancy Manager” if you have this type of service.
Remember that you will get knocked back by landlords but the more experience you have in
“pitching” to landlords then the better you will eventually become!
Tactics for Letting Agents:
It is important to remember that when pitching at letting agents, you may have more success with the smaller ones than the larger branches of agents who may have a “company policy” around
“DSS”, policy that is developed in Head Offices.

The smaller local agents are likely to be more flexible on whether or not they will accept housing benefit. Many will have it as a question on the initial application form that they ask Landlords to complete. And those that do accept tenants in receipt of housing benefit do so cautiously as they want to protect their reputation with their landlords (as ultimately that’s who pays their wages).
So, for those Agents that do accept housing benefit, you should emphasise what a good client support package you provide and your awareness of the effect your service could have on the relationship between Landlord and Agent.
If the Agent you are approaching has a “no DSS” policy then your pitch may include trying to set up a meeting with them to explain your scheme and the client support package on offer in order to work strategically with them in the future. You may also wish to produce a brochure/leaflet explaining your scheme that they could give to their landlords as an option to consider.