Congrats on the 100% Phone Shop.

 

You Still Lost the Lease.

Let’s have an honest, unvarnished talk about phone shops and scoring rubrics in our industry.

I’ve spent 30 years in this business. I’ve studied the psychology of human behavior. And I’ve spent decades watching how we evaluate leasing teams.

Do you want to know what a 100% phone score actually measures? Script compliance. Not human connection.

The "Pet Question" Absurdity & Cognitive Narrowing

Picture this:

Leasing Agent: "Do you have any pets?"

Prospect: "Yes! I actually just adopted a rescue dog last week, he’s a total handful!" 

Leasing Agent: "And how did you hear about us today?"

Wait... WHAT?!

That isn't a conversation—that's an interrogation with a clipboard.

The agent didn't even acknowledge the answer. They didn't even say "great." The prospect handed them a golden nugget of emotional connection, and the agent completely steamrolled right over it.

Why does this happen? It isn't a lack of warmth; it’s a psychological state known as cognitive narrowing.

When people are under high stress—like fearing a failed mystery shop that threatens their evaluation or job security—their brain tunnel-visions on survival. They are so hyper-focused on checking off the required questions in the right order that they literally don't even see the opportunity to engage. Their brain filters out the prospect's humanity because it’s entirely consumed by the rubric.

Now, don't get me wrong: I am not against asking questions, collecting data, or holding teams to clear expectations. We don't need to throw guidelines and standards to the wind. Data matters.

It’s not what we’re doing—it’s how we’re doing it.

Why "Features and Benefits" Are Failing You

It doesn't stop at the questions—we do the exact same thing with the sales pitch. We train teams to regurgitate "features and benefits," listing them off like a grocery list.

Features and benefits don't cut it anymore. Listing them off is just another checklist exercise.

Every single feature you sell only matters if it anchors directly to a core human need on Maslow's Hierarchy.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Nobody buys a feature just because it's on a bulleted list. They buy the Comfort, Peace of Mind, and Social Belonging that the feature connects to in their actual life.

If you aren't positioning features to hit basic human emotions, you aren't selling—you're complying.

The Survival Trap: Maslow’s Hierarchy Works Both Ways

Now let's look at Maslow's pyramid for our own team members.

Job Security sits right at the foundation of human psychological needs. Yet, we’ve tied a leasing professional’s livelihood to whether they rattled off a phone script or a list of questions accurately enough. When someone fears for their evaluation (and their paycheck), their brain enters survival mode.

And a brain in survival mode physically cannot access high-level functions like active listening or empathetic connection.

I have spoken to leasing professionals who were reprimanded—actually scolded—for staying on the phone "too long" with a prospect.

As a vendor in this industry, I can assure you of something alarming: it is getting nearly impossible to reach a real human being at a property. Phones are ringing out or dumping directly into automated systems.

And why wouldn't they? We’ve created an environment where answering the phone feels like walking into a trap. If every call carries the threat of a failed mystery shop or a reprimand for "wasting time" on rapport, dodging the call becomes a self-preservation mechanism.

Let that sink in.

We’ve stopped teaching people to enjoy the art of leasing—to enjoy those rich, genuine human connections that led them into our industry in the first place. We’ve sucked the heart right out of this business, and frankly, I am tired of it.

Moving is consistently ranked in the Top 5 most stressful life events (right up there with divorce and changing jobs). Prospects are anxious and looking for reassurance. And we are literally driving our teams to avoid the calls or rush through them out of sheer self-preservation.

What are we actually doing here? We demand "emotional selling," but punish the very behavior that creates it. It is completely, totally bizarre.

The Fix: Becoming Intentionally Human

Technology has evolved at warp speed, but human psychology hasn't changed a bit. If your phone process is so terrifying that your humans hide behind automation, or so rigid that it sounds like an AI, you’ve already lost.

A computer can give a price, list features, and check availability. An AI can log a pet status in the CRM.

What AI cannot do is hold space for a human being in transition.

We are literally selling home. Shelter and comfort sit at the absolute base foundation of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This isn't software or consumer goods; this is the single most emotionally charged, core-need product offering on the market. We are dealing with people operating under high stress and heightened anxiety because they are uprooting their lives.

A machine can process an application. It cannot offer comfort, calm an anxious soul, or build genuine, empathetic trust.

The future belongs to what I call, "Connection Capitalists"—talented sales professionals who understand a fundamental truth: The deeper the connection, the higher the value.

It's time to drastically overhaul how we train and score.

We need to stop grading people like machines and toss out the rigid rubrics. Instead, let's facilitate real, in-person learning opportunities where team members can actually practice, make mistakes, and grow without a threat hanging over their heads.

It’s time to start leading humans with a little more human touch. Quite frankly, we need to rediscover the joy in leading our team members and watching them succeed. Let's bring the heart back into leasing—and start being intentionally human.