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How to Convert Prospects to Clients in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

In commercial real estate brokerage, there will always be an abundance of prospects for you to work with and for.  You simply need to find them and ‘connect’ in a professional way.  By using the word ‘prospects’ I specifically mean the people that can be clients in the immediate or longer term.  (NB – you can get more tips and ideas in commercial real estate in our ‘Snapshot’ course right here)

Client Choices

Choose your potential clients by type and value and then tap into the market segments.  Focus on the right groups of people that you can serve and do so in a big way over time.  Create your plan to do that; it’s a personal thing, and it can’t be delegated.  There are no shortcuts to client contact and connection.

Valuable People

So, let’s find those valuable people for your real estate business. Typically, those people are:

  • Business owners operating in your territory
  • Property investors owning local assets
  • Tenants in the better buildings
  • Property related people such as Accountants and Attorneys
  • Franchise groups and franchise business owners
  • Owner occupiers looking for expansion or contraction solutions
  • Major corporations owning property regionally and locally

Within this list of prospect groups there are plenty of people to work for and earn commission from.  It all then comes down to how you reach out to them and build relationships over time.  How do you get things started?

Relevant Contact

You need a plan or a strategy to connect with local people in a logical and meaningful way over time.  Relevance and local area coverage allows you to do that.  By ‘relevance’ I mean things like:

  • Rental trends
  • Price results
  • Time on market
  • Inquiry types and levels
  • Supply and demand ratios
  • Vacancy factors, etc.

Within those facts and numbers there are plenty of things to interest the investors and business owners in your location.  Good information is valuable in so many ways.

Contact Strategy

So, let’s build that contact strategy to get things going in your property market for you as a local broker or agent.  Start things off this way:

  1. Get into your area or territory every day – set aside time every day to get into your streets, your buildings, and in front of new people. Results in our industry are largely built around local area familiarity and connections with the right people.  Sometimes we forget the importance of that, and then move off into time wasting activities.
  2. Talk to more local people – the local people know what’s happening with property around them. They can see the changes with businesses and properties.  Ask questions in all your meetings and connections.  Good questions will help you find the information that can lead to listings and property churn.
  3. Use your current listings as leverage – when you have a good property listing, use it to talk about local area activities. A quality property listing is a good reason to talk to people.  As a side issue, when you sell or lease a property locally, get some ‘success letters’ and database emails out to local people that you know of, or those that are in the immediate area.  A property result is a good reason to talk to others.
  4. Use other agent’s listings as leverage in a zone – the listings of other agents and brokers can be canvassed around, particularly with surrounding property owners and businesses. Understand if others in the immediate zone of activity would like to compete with the competitors listing.  Perhaps you can help with a timed marketing campaign off the back of the other property.
  5. Business lists and property owners – delve into the location so you are reaching out to the people that need or occupy property. It’s not hard to know who they are and where they are.  A logical prospecting model will help you connect with them over time.

In saying these things, the best way to convert more people to prospects will be through systematic repeated contact.  That is where your database becomes very important to your momentum and your career.

If you are not winning enough new business now, then it is very likely that you are not talking to enough people.  It is a simple formula to develop and work with.   Yes, I know it takes time and real effort to do the things in this process, but the rewards are many.  Are you ready for a challenge?

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