4 Steps to Creating More Leads in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Today
Commercial real estate agents really do need to generate leads and opportunities on a regular basis and plenty of them. There is a specific strategy to the lead generation process and over time the easier listings and commissions will be to capture and convert.
In simple terms, plenty of people must know you as the property expert so they remember you at the right time. Some clients and properties can take years to reach the point where a sale or lease should occur. The same delay factors occur in commercial and retail property management although the strategy is a bit different.
To generate plenty of leads in commercial real estate brokerage, your daily actions and focus should centre on the property market in a specific an ongoing way. Spend plenty of time talking to new people and researching property activity.
On a street by street basis work through the local area understanding what is happening when it comes to occupancy and property change. Focus your efforts on the activities of local property investors and business leaders. Look for the elements of change and churn in both groups of people.
The best way to create a pipeline of activities and a greater volume of leads will centre on your prospecting model. Each day your prospecting model needs to evolve and activate in a consistent way.
Direct your prospecting efforts so that you are comprehensively covering properties personally in every street; find out what the property owners and business proprietors are thinking and doing when it comes to investment and occupation. Use your business card in every contact that you make.
Creating More Leads as an Agent
Here are some ideas to help you in this process:
- Split your database into a number of distinct categories. Those categories should be devoted to sellers, buyers, tenants, and landlords. Some of those people will be active in more than one category. Ask the right questions at the time of initial contact so that you know how to accurately categorise new people that you talk to. When a quality listing comes in the market, you will want have a list of correctly qualified people to talk to directly and quickly. Within each of the contact categories, you will have separate subcategories to consider relative to your area and property type. Those subcategories will deal with the issues of price, rental, location, improvements, property type, and timing. It is then a lot easier to find the right people for the right level of enquiry and property type.
- Talk to all of the people in your database at least once every 60 to 90 days. That will require organisation and focus at a personal level. Track the results of the conversations and the meetings that you create. Repeat the contact every 60 to 90 days so that you are building a level of relevance and experience with the people that you talk to.
- Understand and watch for the other listings coming onto the market with other agents. The other listings with other agents will be reasons for you to talk to surrounding businesses and property owners. Some of those people will have an interest in property activity and information. Some may also like to compete with the nearby competing agents listing. It is remarkable how many listings you can attract and convert through competing with nearby properties.
- Integrate your database into your business model. The database program that you use should be at the centre of everything including marketing, meetings, telephone calls, and emails. Every communication that you send out should be linked back to your database for future reference and review. If you send out any listings or newsletters, they will be reasons to talk to some of the people in your database. Conversations and connections help build familiarity. In our industry trust and familiarity are big factors of relevance if you are trying to build market share.
Leads and opportunities are always available for commercial real estate agents to find and activate. It is a matter of using your database efficiently and directly with new people each and every day.
