Beware of Clients that Will Only Openly List Their Commercial Property
When you work in commercial real estate brokerage, beware of property owners that will only ‘open list’ their property with you. I say that for a number of reasons but principally because a client in not giving you exclusivity cannot in my opinion be fully trusted; they are likely to have a few other agenda’s going on that they are not telling you about. If you take the listing on you are potentially wasting your time and effort.
The best listings to work with are exclusive listings that you have secured for a reasonable period of time. In that way you control the client, the property, the marketing, the inspections, and any offer or negotiation that is going to happen.
Listing Problems
So why will a property owner only offer or give you an open listing? Try some of these for starters:
- They want to involve other agents in the listing
- Their price is unrealistic
- They are not serious about selling
- They don’t want to spend money on property marketing and vendor paid promotion
- There are problems with the property that they are not telling you about
- They do not believe that you are the ‘real deal’ and the best agent to help them
There is a very special message in all of this. You can waste a lot of time with these clients; be careful and be selective in the clients you work for as an agent in selling or leasing.
Top agents convert more exclusive listing stock and they do that through deliberate effort. They practice their pitch and presentation so ‘exclusivity’ is the only and best outcome. We all have choices and that is an important one to remember.
Get More Results as a Real Estate Agent
To get results in today’s property market, you really do need to look at how you offer your services and consider why someone would use you as the agent to help them. To win the new business it is really important to stand out as a ‘top property agent’ in every way. Your marketing and property solution for the client has to be the best by far. Relevance, confidence, and opportunity should ‘ring true’ in everything that you say to the client about how you can help them.
Now some newer agents will say that ‘open listings’ are acceptable when you can get nothing else or if you are just starting up in the industry as an ‘unknown’ agent. That may be the case for the beginning of a career but only for a short time; after just 6 to 12 months your marketing efforts and personal skills should improve substantially through constant practice and effort.
Sell your services comprehensively and focus on controlling the listing in every way. Be prepared to walk away from potential clients with open listings; your skills are only for ‘hire’ by the clients that commit to you fully through ‘exclusivity’.
