Commercial Real Estate Brokerage – Why You Must Establish a VIP Buyers Program for Investment Property
Typically in today’s commercial property market you will be working for the sellers of property when it comes to listing, marketing, inspecting, and negotiating. Those sellers will be your clients.
There are some reasonable commissions to be converted from selling commercial property when compared to leasing commercial property (assuming average transaction sizes).
When you work for the property owners, you control the listing stock, the inspections, and the enquiry. It’s no secret that the best business is in selling commercial real estate at the top end of the market where quality listings are in high demand.
Top Quality Clients
So the sellers or the owners of good quality property assets are your best clients. That being said, you will have or should have plenty of buyers within your database to work with.
Over time you should connect with those buyers to understand exactly what they need, and encourage property inspections and negotiations when the right property match can be found.
Those buyers will not normally be your clients (unless you are a buyer’s agent) however they will influence the outcome with all of your listings.
The relationships that you strike and nurture over time in commercial real estate will be critical to the property outcomes that you seek. That being said, remember who your clients are in the process, and understand the targets that apply to those clients.
Who makes the decision?
As you connect with property buyers, know who the right people are when it comes to influencing the negotiation offer and the final decision on the contract and or the price. Encourage the buyers to make an offer.
Segment your buyers
Some buyers are better than others and on that basis should be segmented accordingly. Qualify your buyers so that future property matches are easy to achieve when the right listing comes along.
Establish a VIP buyers program as part of your commercial property database. Treat those buyers uniquely and specially relevant to their property type and purchasing capability. Here are some ideas to help you with a VIP buyers program:
- Register for pre-marketing release – Some buyers should look at listings before they are released to the market. Those buyers should be pre-qualified and of high value to the property type or location.
- Provide a buyers update each month – Whilst buyers are not your normal ‘clients’ as such (unless you are a buyer’s agent), you still need to establish regular contact with them on property matters. A buyer’s update in the form of a pdf newsletter will help you do exactly that.
- Send SMS messages to qualified buyers as soon as a property is released – Some of your priority buyers (e.g. investors) should get special treatment and communication when an appropriate listing comes up. The SMS process works very well for that.
- Property updates – Provide quarterly updates relative to property investment returns and acquisition. The buyers like to work with agents and brokers that understand where the next opportunities will be coming up.
- Website leads and registration – Place a portal on your real estate website for buyers to register their property needs and communicate with you directly by email.
- Integrate Social Media – Use social media channels to connect with all your contacts. You can put out some editorials and articles on blogs that can be integrated back into your social media channels.
Simple strategies like these will help you interact with an increasing number of buyers of commercial investment property.
