Commercial Real Estate Agent – Client Meeting Success Systems
In commercial real estate agency today, it is important that you get in front of as many new clients and prospects as possible. This should be a daily event. I would expect every new agent to make prospecting a central part of their diary process. Meeting bookings and results should be benchmarked as part of a performance process. Those agents that are failing to establish new meetings with qualified prospects are the agents that are beginning to fail. Personal performance modifications and skill development will help with the problem.
It is interesting to note that those agents that struggle in the industry are usually those that avoid the prospecting process at every opportunity. Make no mistake, the commercial property market offers significant rewards for those people that work hard; prospecting is part of that process. That being said, you will have a daily challenges when it comes to some difficult issues and getting the work done.
If you want to rise up in the ranks of the industry, make the prospecting process a central component of your business diary. As part of that activity, you should be meeting with at least two new people every day. That is a workable and yet significant target that will help you grow market share and commission opportunity. To achieve this goal, you will need to modify your efforts.
Assuming that you have been making the contacts, here are some rules to apply to that first meeting with a potential client.
- Check out the client and any properties that they may own. Understanding the property activity will help you when it comes to relevant conversation and market information.
- Get to the meeting on time and turn off your mobile phone. It is quite unprofessional to answer a mobile phone during a meeting with the client or a prospect.
- The marketing process in commercial real estate is relatively simple. The client or a prospect does not need to be bombarded by reams of marketing material and generic office testimonials. Whilst you can carry these things with you, the best marketing tool that you have is your business card. Making the right impression and leaving your business card at the meeting is really all that you require to set the scene for ongoing contact. It is quite likely that your business card will be retained by the client or the prospect.
- Stories from the market will help you attract the attention of the client or the prospect. It is a known fact in professional selling that stories from the market will be listened to and remembered far more significantly than any sales pitch or presentation.
- Show your real estate knowledge and experience through creative conversation. Be prepared to talk about property trends, prices, rentals, and availability. In doing so, remember that the meeting is primarily to identify the needs and the intentions of the client or prospect. On that basis your conversation should be centred on the client for at least sixty per cent of the time. That will help you in establishing trust and relevance.
At the end of the meeting, be prepared to leave ‘the door open’ for future conversation and connection. Ask the client or the prospect for the opportunity to do so. From that point onwards, at least once every 90 days you should be talking with that person. It is a known fact that the 90 day cycle of contact is highly effective in building listing opportunity in commercial real estate agency.