How Commercial Real Estate Brokers Can Lift Personal Performance in a Market Downturn
Like it or not the commercial property market slows from time to time in different ways, although not all segments do so at the same time. When you think about it, if the market slows you can move your focus to a new segment and or property type. A keen eye for local property activity will help you do that when needed. You can move your prospecting and client activity from one group to another.
It is a fact that many agents and brokers do not talk to enough prospects and local property identities. Asking questions will help expand market share and your client list. We work in an industry that is largely impacted by property relationships and trust.
Get Active in Local Property Activity
So there are some valuable strategies to consider when you see that one property segment is slowing or the property market is suffering a ‘hiatus’.. Think about these and how you could use them:
- Database coverage – If you have a comprehensive and good size database, there will be plenty of people in your list to talk to. Every agent should be consolidating and running a database of at least 300 qualified people and businesses (ideally over 600). Investors, business owners, and tenants should all feature in your list. As a general rule you should be speaking to all of those people at least once every 90 days.
- Local Business Owners – When you connect with local business owners, you will find lots of issues that they will potentially want help with at some stage in the future. Re-locations, end of lease, rent reviews, expansion and contraction are all factors of property change where larger businesses require help. The question is can you get a fee out of them for services offered?
- Neighboring Properties – When you have a single listing in a particular location, you can use that listing to open up discussions with all property owners and occupiers adjacent. Find out if the adjoining people and businesses are looking to move, change, grow, or adjust occupancy. Can you help them? How can you do that? When will they need help? Offer a package of services to help local people adjust property occupancy or investment.
- Local Property Investors – If you have a reasonable number of property investors in your database list, try segmenting them into groups based on property type, requirements, and timing. The segmenting process opens up each client to a discussion, and meeting. Get back into the strategy of meeting with your clients and investors. Many investors hold assets for years; others sell and change assets frequently. The issue is in understanding how they prefer to work with properties and investments.
- Previous Contacts from Other Inspections – Any person that has inspected a property with you at any stage earlier, should remain on your list of contacts for the next stage of contact and opportunity with a new listing. Stay in contact, and ask plenty of questions.
- Direct Mail Campaigns – Send out direct mail communications to people that already know you, and then make follow up telephone calls. Provide some valuable information about the location and the region relating to property.
- Signboards – Use every signboard in the local area as a point of leverage and discussion with nearby property owners and business leaders. Go out into the streets and locations and door knock the location near all of your already listed properties.
So there are some special things that you can do here when the property market changes or slows. Get out into your territory and or your property listings and talk to the local people. Soon you will find some more leads and new aspects of property change.
You can get more prospecting tips in slow property markets in our eCourse ‘Snapshot’ right here.