Marketing Response Mechanisms in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

The marketing response mechanism is something that can be used effectively in commercial real estate.  The object of the process is to make it easy for people to connect with you regards the property or their real estate needs. You can match the marketing response process to the property you are promoting or the property speciality in which you concentrate.  So what response processes do you have available today?  Here are a few:

• The office telephone and the mobile telephone remain the most active when it comes to capturing enquiry.  Your telephone numbers should be well displayed on all listings, and signboards, internet advertising, and direct marketing pieces.  Make it easy for people to contact you at any time of day.  When the initial call is made to you as part of a property enquiry, always follow through your messages quickly and effectively within a few hours.  Don’t let the client or the prospect move to another agency or brokerage with their enquiry.
• It is interesting to note that some brokers and agents refuse to take and make calls on weekends.  This is a fundamental error when it comes to growing market share and transacting sales and leasing opportunity.  We are in the business of working with people.  We simply have to be available every day of the week within reasonable hours of access.  Be prepared to talk to people within business hours and after hours seven days a week.
• Your personal Email should feature on all property advertising.  Many prospects prefer to use the e-mail for the initial point of contact, thereby preserving anonymity.  In responding to an e-mail request for property information, be selective in what you provide so that the person must make contact directly again to take the matter further.
• In the case of a major property campaign, you can use auto responders as part of your e-mail marketing and support programme.  That will then simplify the contact and despatch the property information quickly and effectively.  Any major property listing will create substantial enquiries in a short period of time.  You can use the auto responder to send emails to people with basic property information.  That will then give you time to make telephone contact to move to the next stage of enquiry.
• The traditional signboard remains the most effective marketing tool that you have available.  When placed on a property, it will generate enquiry from the local area.  Every exclusively listed property should feature a special signboard as part of the marketing campaign and be vendor paid in the process.
• Some investment properties require confidentiality.  Only the very basic of information can be provided at the first level of property marketing.  When the property enquiry comes into you, it is a matter of qualification and then the exchange of a confidentiality agreement to take matters further.  In such cases, you should be meeting with the enquiring party to establish genuine identity.
• For some major projects today is wise to establish a specific website featuring complex property detail and marketing information.  This can be easily done and is an affordable marketing tool to consider.  The website will also incorporate that capture point for leads and opportunities leading to a specific database and auto responder.
• For the more ordinary properties for sale or lease today, the listing will be placed on a number of industry portals and websites.  Don’t repeat the same advertisement or wordage across the different internet portals.  Write different advertisements and use alternative photographs wherever possible across the different portals.  Maximize the opportunity of greater levels of enquiry with this marketing approach.  You can talk about the same property in many different ways.  Any exclusive listing deserves this complex marketing approach.

In the case of most commercial real estate agents and brokers the handling of the marketing of any listing is far too generic.  When you have spent a lot of time winning the confidence of the client and obtaining the listing, it stands to reason that you should specifically focus on a diverse and direct marketing approach.  Use the best marketing response mechanisms in each case.  Make it easy for people to connect with you and move to the next stage of property inspection and negotiation.