In commercial real estate brokerage, having a plan to making outbound calls is a good thing. You can convert more new business when you have that focus.
It’s all about making outbound calls to new people that you haven’t connected with before, and then also the people you already know and have reached out to previously.
Ongoing client contact is a big thing in commercial real estate today. The telephone is good for that. Use it to the greatest of frequency that your business will allow. The commercial real estate business cycle is long, so be prepared to keep up the call process in the future.
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Planning Outbound Calls
So, a plan for making calls works something like this.
- Who are you going to call? – The question here takes you into the core client types and requirements. There are many segments to work for in commercial real estate potentially. Investors and business owners are a good start, but you can go deeper into business segments like ‘medical’ or ‘pharmacies’. Check out the elements that you can see opportunity in, and then start the research.
- What is the base of the approach? – From the previous point, the client segments will have property requirements. The business segments will also have growth or change underway. Try a focus on the regularly active segments or those that are moving towards change and growth. Commercial and retail property changes are frequent, so keep a close eye on the dynamic changes and those that seem to be taking shape.
- What is happening in the property market now that you can talk about? – Usually, there are factors related to sales, leasing, and property development. Local businesses and investors like to know the trends. Shape the trends into graphs and information sheets that you can share after a meeting or conversation. That ‘sharing’ process will help you position as the active agent and the person that is aware of the property activity locally.
- What’ value add’ can you apply to the conversation? Most of the investors you talk to will have a property interest, which can lead to a service or transaction that you can offer now or in the future. Staying in contact is essential, so consider how you can reach out to people regularly with information about commercial, industrial, or retail property. The information can be spread across social media, in emails, after telephone conversations, and in meetings. Consistency is part of the ongoing contact process. Share news in a valuable way and keep the process underway. Make it interesting.
- On what basis would you want to meet with a person? – There is no point in ‘swamping’ your diary with lots of meetings with just about every person you talk to. A degree of qualification will help you know if you should be meeting someone now or in the future. To create a meeting with someone, what are your rules? Are they future buyers, sellers, or leasing related connections? You can consider just how big the transaction or interaction frequency could be from that series of questions.
These ideas and questions will help you plan your calls and your connections with people. The more people you talk to every day, the greater the chances of business growth. It is a simple formula that most agents should shape and use in their business activities.
