Leasing Agents Business Blueprint

When you have a shopping center to lease or some retail property vacancies, your working plan or new business blueprint will be critical to progress.

Simply put, you should know and engage with many retailers and local business people. Here is a plan to help you with that.

What is the target of retail shop leasing? To be clear, it is to find the right tenants for the vacancy, whether in a complex multi-tenanted retail property or a stand-alone vacancy. Skilled leasing agents do that.

Local Property Market Conditions

A fact to know and understand is that the shopping centres and retail properties in your location will have plenty of vacancies throughout the year.

Talking to landlords and tenants will help you find business and leasing opportunities. You can stay ahead of the leasing or vacancy curve.

Blueprint for Leasing More Retail Shops

Know the people and know the properties if you are a leasing agent. You cannot get more specific than that.

Yes, a good degree of personal organisation is needed with the information that you identify. Ongoing contact is also required to keep things moving ahead in shop leasing.

Landlords need leasing assistance throughout the year. Some tenants are better than others, so be selective when negotiating a lease over a vacancy.

Shop Leasing Workplan

Do you want to lease more properties? Here are some strategies and steps to becoming a successful specialist leasing agent.

• Franchise groups: The franchise business model is a valuable part of the retail shopping landscape, but caution is required when working with these groups. It is a matter of whether a property, person, or location would suit a franchise brand. The franchise brand has special needs for occupancy, and the lease they require will or should match the duration of the franchise agreement. The franchisor will likely find a franchisee for you or put you in touch with one if you have an open spot. The question will remain as to the suitability of the franchisee for the property. How experienced is the franchisee in “retailing”? Some franchisors are not very “selective” when expanding their brand and may introduce you to a potential tenant with little relevance or experience to your property or vacancy.
• Merchandise groups: This merchandise consideration is worthwhile when considering how the retail landscape is changing. Some merchandise groups are becoming less relevant to a shopping centre, whilst others are growing as “factors of attraction.” So the merchandise groups you consider for a property or vacancy will be the ones that can work in the tenant mix.
• Other shopping centre tenants: When you look at other retail properties in your location or ‘regionally’, some tenants will stand out as ‘successful’. Most shopping centre landlords will not give lease options, so tenants in occupancy always look for better locations to move to at the lease end. In saying that, a shopping centre owner will usually try to negotiate a fresh lease with any successful tenant in their property. That could mean relocation, expansion, or contraction for the retailer. You can work with these factors of occupancy pressure.
• Successful local retailers: Know your location and all the ‘stand-alone’ retailers that are successful in merchandise groups. Organise the retailers into segments, and track the upcoming lease expiry dates.
• Anchor tenants: Every successful shopping centre will require an anchor tenant that helps encourage customer visits and sales. Supermarkets are a prime example of that, and some supermarkets will be ‘brand’ positioned. So think about the anchor tenants that can work for you in any shopping centre, and start connecting with them frequently. Conversations with these businesspeople are useful. Finally, they will require discounted rent or special rental structures, given the larger space they lease over the longer term. How long should a lease be with an anchor tenant? The common lease term would be 10 years with an option for another additional term. The question will be how the property improvements will stand up to the supermarket pressures and customer visits.
• Landlords and Property Owners: These people are your clients. They can also be repeat customers for shop leasing agents. They should feature in your ‘call plan’ for retail shop leasing. Know the landlords, what they own, and when vacancies are coming up. Keep in regular contact.

Shop Leasing Strategies

So, there are plenty of things to do here with shop leasing and establishing your work plan or shop leasing blueprint. It is all about strategy and consistency with landlords and tenants.

You can have a lucrative leasing career if you specialise in all the above points or strategies. The opportunities are large.