Commercial Real Estate Agents – How to Rise Above the Competition and Win More Listings
How to Stand Out in a Noisy Commercial Property Market
If you are currently working in commercial real estate brokerage, it is likely that you will have some competitors to work against with listings and clients; the property market will be ‘noisy’ with competitors fighting for the same properties and clients. Some presentations and listing situations with clients will be decided on preferences on things such as:
- Price or Rent
- Marketing Approach
- Testimonials
- Track record
- Commission rates
- Personal relationships
It is sometimes very hard to know what ‘buttons to push’ when seeking to attract the attention and business of a new client. There are also limits as to how far you should go in ‘positioning for a property listing’.
Avoid Discounting Your Fees
Discounting commission is all too common as a basic leverage tool to help win new property business, especially when pre-existing personal relationships with a client are non-existent; the result for the agent is not overly positive, as most listings take significant effort to market and negotiate to a sale or lease.
Remember that a commission is always reward based (you only get paid from results), so you shouldn’t be offering your listing and marketing services based on a discount (there is no need). It is far more important to a client that they achieve a faster sale or lease resolution at a good price or rent.
You can convert more listings if your pitch or presentation is based on determined factors that help the client achieve a ‘timely result’. Pitch and present your property services accordingly.
The best way to win new business in today’s property market is to stand out as the agent of choice when it comes to property skills, knowledge, and market coverage. It is very hard for a client to ignore a top agent showing total control across all three of those factors.
Unique Strategies for Each Agent
So let’s look at some ways where you can stand out as that top agent in any noisy or busy and competitive property market. Try some of these ideas as part of your personal marketing package:
- List your properties competitively with a bias towards exclusivity. When you control the listing stock, you control the enquiry, the inspections, and the negotiations. The client is your client and on that basis you should be protecting your client from the confusions of the property market.
- With every high quality listing, ensure that you are securing a reasonable amount of vendor paid marketing. Those marketing funds allow you to attract enquiry, and more importantly they allow you to promote yourself and your skills as an industry specialist for your region. That personal brand will create greater levels of enquiry and conversions over time.
- The database that you create for your region and within your property specialty should be quoted and referred to as part of your listing pitch to new clients. As part of a presentation you can short list from the database a number of tenants or buyers as the case may be to inspect a freshly listed property prior to a public release through a marketing campaign. It is difficult for a client to ignore the opportunity for inspections and enquiries early in the listing phase of their property.
