Advantage – Making it Harder For the Brokerage Competition

In commercial real estate brokerage, there will always be a reasonable degree of competition around you.  On that basis, prepare for every client presentation and ensure that you have the best marketing solutions on hand to spread the word about the listing and its availability. 

Top agent status in brokerage is achieved over time with ongoing daily effort.

Strategies and stories take the listing to the client in a very positive way.  They will allow you to create a professional alliance and bond with the client.  They will allow the client to see what can happen in engaging your services.

Stories and strategies are messages that can support the successful listing process and your recommendations for ‘no matter how long it takes’.  

Agent Commitment and Strategy

You are then not just another agent seeking to win the listing; you are committed to the property process and the client can see that.  To take that idea further, here are some things that you can do:

1. Comprehensive real estate signage coverage – it is hard for a client to ignore an agent that has plenty of local signage and lots of local listings.  Within that fact, you have the ultimate decision as to whether you want ‘open’ or ‘exclusive’ listings to build that signage presence.  Make the right listing choice based on your location and your specialist property types.
2. Database list of depth – your client list and prospect list are your tools to use in any listing presentation.  The database is the foundation of your real estate business; ensure that you have a system that you are comfortable with and can use every day.  Each day your lists should be growing through outbound telephone calls and meetings.  If you are segmenting that list, it will be easy for you to quote the database as part of your property listing presentation.  Use the facts and opportunities in your database to sell the idea of ‘getting results’.  Talk about your lists in any property presentation.
3. Staged marketing campaigns – it is not just a matter of listing a property for sale or lease on the internet.  You can step or stage the promotional strategy and the marketing message.  You can also change the formats and advertising copy to build unique words or vary the property messages.
4. Early inspection activity – decide who you can get to the property early in any promotional campaign. Initial inspections are always a useful leverage point in the listing, but also a good ‘barometer’ of market interest.  I go back to the point here that your database in the listing presentation can give you significant leverage.  Prepare every client discussion around that fact.  Create a shortlist of prospects that can inspect the property early.
5. Personal marketing to the targets – this is something that is overlooked by many agents because it is time-consuming.  It is precisely the marketing of the property to the local area and investors or businesses.  It takes telephone calls, conversations, door knocking, direct mail, direct email, and a lot of other things.  Most agents don’t do this well.  That can be a major point of difference in your marketing approach with all your listings.

So, these things will give you the edge in any property presentation.  They will help you show the client that your property solutions are superior in many ways and that you can have a real dominance in marketing the client’s property successfully.  Use that to your advantage.  Make it hard for the brokerage competition to match your style and recommendations.