Commercial Real Estate Brokerage – A Simple 6 Step Formula for VIP Client Engagement

In commercial real estate brokerage the VIP customers that you find and nurture over time will likely be your best customers.  They will be the sources of referrals and repeat business across sales, leasing, and property management.

There is a well-known business formula that has been quite popular over the years called the ‘Pareto Principle’.   The concept sits well in commercial real estate brokerage and the identification of VIP clients.  Basically the formula says that a full 80% of your business will very likely come from just 20% of your clients or customers.   Many top agents would attest to such logic.  You can make use of the formula to build your real estate business faster.

Let’s Get VIP Engaged

Are you ready to find and engage with top quality clients?  Are you ready to turn your best clients into VIP’s?  To get started with this business approach you should consider the following questions:

• What type of new business will be high on your target list? – You will need to differentiate between property types, client types, and locations. When you are selective in this way you can invariably see the best people and properties to move closer to or work on.
• What size or frequency of business would you expect from a VIP? – It is wise to determine exactly what you would expect from these high value people for them to stay in your VIP category of interaction. If all the attributes are not there, you should likely move the client out into your normal prospects and customer groups.
• What will you do to differentiate your services with these special people? – They have to know that you are giving them some special focus, information, and market advantage. When you differentiate yourself with them in a comprehensive and relevant way, they will remember you when they get to the next stage of property activity.  That is exactly what you want.

So you need a procedure to make all of this work for you; something that is part of a client engagement plan.  Try this model:

1. Demonstrate commitment by keeping in touch in a relevant way – you can mix and match the different methods of approach with your clients and prospects. Use written, statistical, and pictorial content to keep your contact processes interesting.
2. Show your property speciality – stay within a defined group of property types. You cannot be an expert in everything.  A client will know when you really have no idea of what you are saying and doing; they can ‘read between the lines’.  Remember that a property marketing campaign is not an experiment.  You are the person to drive results.
3. Prove your capability – show the world what you have done locally of note in the property market. When something good happens that you have been part of, get the word out and build some marketing material around the event.
4. Give full and regular market updates – you can talk about prices, rents, supply, demand, and new property developments. You will very likely know more about the local property market than your clients do.  Share that information in a relevant way.
5. Remember what was said and done with the last contact with your clients – the client will remember what you said last time you made contact. Show them respect by referring to the things that they said and did in the last contact made.
6. Track everything in a good quality database that is cloud based – put your database into ‘the cloud’ so you can access it everywhere across a number of devices when you need to. Convenience will help you grow your database and client interaction.

From these points you can see why a VIP engagement strategy is a good idea in commercial real estate brokerage.  All of your best business will be waiting in that group of people for you to tap into.

You can learn more about client contact and CRM systems in commercial real estate brokerage in our ‘Snapshot’ eCourse right here.