Note Taking Secrets in Commercial Real Estate Agency
In a commercial real estate agency today, you will present to or connect with many clients and prospects frequently. In one day, you could do this three or more times. All the clients are different, and all the properties are unique.
For that reason, you should have a strategy that allows you to prepare your thoughts and recommendations before you speak to the client about or respond to an issue. You could say it is all about ‘considered conversations’. It allows you to be specific, direct, and professional as an agent.
A top real estate agent knows what to say and when to say it. Practice the process; it really works. Here are some ideas to help you.
a great meeting strategy
As simple as it seems, taking notes while the other person talks is an excellent strategy for salespeople in commercial real estate. As you take notes, you can think about what the client said and how you may want to respond.
The note-taking process helps remove the problem of ‘automatic’ and ‘ill-prepared’ responses by agents.
What Are the Key issues?
In every property listing presentation, we need to think about so many big-picture things, including all of these:
- Property improvements
- Services and amenities
- Target market
- Advertising strategy
- Marketing strategy
- Competing properties
- Price or rent
- Method of sale or lease
- Other Agents
- Inspection processes
- Negotiation issues
- Timing of listing and marketing
- Recommended factors to be done before marketing
- Client requirements and needs
It’s all quite a ‘handful’ of challenges. You can easily make a few mistakes without due consideration and the right information.
The best way to navigate this is to take notes and use a ‘checklist’ while the client talks to you and gives you the property information. You can also ask lots of questions at the right time to get to the facts of the matter.
Why note-taking works
The note-taking process in commercial real estate agency practice is productive for these reasons:
- It shows the client that you are interested in what they are saying.
- You are taking the time to record their valuable comments for later review and reflection.
- You value what they are saying.
- They will not have to repeat themselves later on key issues.
- It allows you to retain critical factors that impact the sale or the lease.
- It helps you ask better questions relating to the property and the client.
- It allows you to use a ‘checklist’ approach in the conversation so that all bases and facts are covered.
Note Taking is Strategic
To look at the reverse of this situation, when a salesperson walks away from a client or prospect meeting or conversation without questioning things deeply or taking notes, the other person can feel the agent is not ‘comprehensively’ covering the property potential or challenges required. Perhaps the client thinks that the agent does not fully understand things. That is not a good outcome when trying to win the listing or the client’s attention.
Start taking notes as part of your business contact and presentation processes. It will become a valuable and strategic process to help you formulate the proper recommendations for the prospect.
