How to Get More Commercial Real Listings for Less Effort Based on Trust
In commercial real estate brokerage, the levels of trust that you create with the right people will always help you grow your listing opportunities. Whilst many people may know you as the local broker or agent, they may not know you well enough to trust you when it comes to dealing with a property challenge. On that basis, part of your prospecting model should be deliberately focused into strengthening and consolidating trust and your professional image. Market your skills and ideas as an industry and property specialist for the location.
(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)
Trust Equation
So how can you get this trust factor underway? There is no point in being ordinary and average when it comes to commercial real estate brokerage. There are just too many other agents and brokers around any city or town competing for the same clients and listings. How do you compare?
The top agents for the location stand out as unique and special. Those top agents frequently display their ideas and recommendations into the target market to attract new business. It is a deliberate marketing strategy.
Set Your Strategy
Here are some ideas to help you merge more professionalism and trust into your commercial real estate branding and marketing:
- Watch the local area for changes and opportunities. Understand the factors of supply and demand that will place pressure on investors and business owners. New property developments will do that.
- Work a zone of buildings or properties geographically. Make specific and direct contact into property precincts and particular buildings. When you drill down in this way, your conversations can be relevant and real to the people that you connect with. You can be more specific about property changes and property comparisons. You can talk about prices, rents, and future supply. Those numbers will help you build your credibility.
- Stay in regular contact with the people in your database. Frequency of contact will always help you consolidate your brand and your professional skills with the people that already know you. It is sometimes difficult to understand when a property or precinct change is about to occur. So you really want your clients and prospects to remember you at the right time when those changes create pressure and activate movement or relocation. That’s why a strategy of regular contact will always be a wise business initiative. At an absolute minimum, contact every person in your database at least once every 90 days. Build more trust through that process.
- Provide relevant localized information to the people that you know. There are many ways that you can present and provide property updates, both online and offline. Some brokers and agents fail dismally when it comes to providing such important updates and relevant property information. So what can you do here? Think about the variations of information display that you know about now; consider how you can display that information in graphs, charts, statistics, special reports, social media, websites, and case studies. Get the message out.
When you have achieved some level of success with a property sale or lease, or a marketing strategy within a precinct, take the time to tell the property investors and business people in that local area. The personal marketing process is really important in commercial real estate brokerage; your branding is critical to your momentum and your listing conversions. If you are the specialist for your region, you must get that message out effectively and directly.
If you are struggling to find new business opportunity now, take a serious look at your personal marketing activities. Also consider if your clients and prospects really trust you enough to engage you when they are under some investment or business challenge.
(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)