How Asking Better Real Estate Questions Creates Listings
Think about how you might communicate with clients and prospects more effectively when you want to win new business in commercial real estate. Are you connecting at a higher level? Do you stand out as the ‘agent of choice’?
You can demonstrate your real estate comprehension, confidence, relevancy, and knowledge to the other person by the calibre of your conversation and questions.
Superior Agent Attraction
Today, there is no point in being ‘ordinary’ in commercial real estate, so your communication from the very start of the connection should be of a standard that the client will find hard to ignore.
Of course, many ‘generic agents’ are out there, all looking for listing stock. They don’t win most of the available new business, but they can frustrate your chances.
Standing Out as a Top Agent
How can you distinguish yourself as the client’s preferred agent for their property? Before you attend the customer meeting or the listing presentation, it is wise to think about the question and establish some leverage points.
Given that the property market constantly changes, the leverage you create to list properties should be real and relevant to the client. Most clients or prospects know that real estate marketing is a very specific process.
Clients understand the real estate problem or challenge that they have. They know it requires a good agent working to a plan matching the client’s requirements and the desired result. What is the result that they seek?
Ask deeper questions of the client to get to all the facts of their property challenge or requirement. Understand the result that the client is looking for in the sale or lease situation.
Agent Skills and Relevance to the Property
There are plenty of agents in most property markets. Some are not as skilled as they could be in the things that really matter when it comes to solving a property problem for a client. That “agent’s lack of skill” can become an advantage for you and a focal point in presenting your ideas. Strive to be better than the other local real estate agents, and build your real estate business around that.
Show your real estate relevance and professional approach around the questions you ask of the people you talk to. Good questions help you connect with the client at a higher level; your skills as an agent can then shine through.
So, your questions would be aligned with the client’s situation. Most agents don’t go deep on questions. The process of standing out as a top agent is easy. Ask the first question, and then ask more questions around the answers that you get. Strive to get all the facts. Make notes as you go.
Quality Target Market Questions
Given that you would have seen the property before meeting with the client, start defining the target audience for the situation of sale or lease, and then go deeper into how you will capture the interest of that target market group for the client.
Ensure that you are very specific in how you will reach that audience. Put yourself into all the recommended real estate marketing solutions.
Given the property and its location or type, here are some target market ‘channels’ you can reach into as you spread the word about the property being available for sale or lease.
- Local business owners near the subject property
- Property investors already active in the location
- Specific industry segments that may have an interest in the property (e.g., medical)
- Nearby property owners that can relate to the asset location or have an interest in the property coming to the local real estate market
- Your segmented database of qualified leads (when you do this, create a short list of people that you can talk to immediately)
So, you can use these groups to help your real estate target marketing ideas and campaigns stand out as real and of value to the clients that you serve in sales or leasing of commercial real estate.
