Proactive Proposals Win More Commercial Real Estate Listings

When it comes to promoting a commercial or retail property today, the proposals that you present to the client should be well crafted and relevant to the current market conditions.  The days of the generic proposals are well gone.  Make every proposal opportunity the best presentation possible.

Get involved at a personal level to show the client how relevant you are to the sales and marketing process.  Most top agents will win a listing based on personal confidence and perceived skill.  They practice their pitch and their proposal process at every opportunity.  You can do the same.

There are plenty of competing agents that will be chasing the same listing at the same time that you  are; do not presume that you are the only agent in the ‘pitch’.  This is certainly the case if the proposal or presentation opportunity is commonly known to the market.

There will be all types of enticements provided to the client by other agents including lower marketing fees, low commissions, and inflated prices.  What you need to do here is prepare the client for the real facts of the market that apply to their property situation.  Your proposal needs to be more engaging and correct for the prevailing market conditions.  Discounts are not important when you really engage with the client.

Here are some ideas to help you:

1. Consider the competing properties that will have an impact on your listing.  Review the existing methods of marketing used in each case.  Review the improvements and the pricing strategies for those particular listings.  Take photographs of those properties to show your client as part of helping them understand your recommendations with their listing.
2. Understanding the client’s needs will help you match the proposal to the prevailing market conditions.  You can get closer to the clients requirements through a simple property walk through, and a question and answer process.  There will be certain factors of concern that will arise through those discussions.  You can address those factors in your proposal.
3. Look at the variables of marketing that can help you attract enquiry.  Some methods of marketing will be very relevant to the property and the market conditions.  Give the client some clear reasons for accepting your choices of marketing.  You can also give the client two or three alternative budgets that can apply to the marketing process.  As a general rule, always seek vendor paid marketing funds.
4. Consider the strategy of inspection as it applies to the property layout, tenancy mix, and current use.  You can show the client the way in which you will take interested parties through the property after they have been qualified.  This extra level of initiative will let the client see that you really understand the property and its features.
5. Draft a few typical advertising layouts, as well as a brochure for a potential property inspection.  Show the client those layouts with their property photograph superimposed.  This simple step is actually what is called a ‘minor close’ and moves them closer to the final decision of listing with you.
6. Condition the client with current local property information and results.  Provide them with detail relating to time on market, methods of sale, and pricing strategies.
7. Show the client the strategy of sale based on a staged process.  You can use a Gantt chart to display the stages.

So there are plenty of things to do here when it comes to preparing the property for a marketing campaign.  Your proposal needs to be aligned to the client, the market conditions, and the opportunities that exist.  Put special effort into every proposal that you prepare.