Setting Up Better Business Systems in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

Throughout the year there will always be shifts and changes in the commercial property market in any town or city. That being said, there are always some reliable business opportunities to be obtained in those changes, if you know how to look for them.  Don’t let the pressures of the property market frustrate your progress and listing activity in the property market.

So what can you as the agent do here?

It is best if you establish a prospecting system that you can work to in finding that new business.  The same rules apply across sales, leasing, and property management.  Real Estate conversations create opportunity.  Connect with new people and build the relationships in a positive way.

So let’s get this prospecting system underway.  Understand your property specialty and associated disciplines, and then develop the three strategies mentioned here as ways to open up a good flow of new business leads and client contacts. Build your real estate business on the back of contact and communication.  Put your contacts into your database so you can keep in touch in a meaningful way.

Real Estate Strategies and Systems

These three strategies generally work reliably for brokers and agents in commercial real estate; they work at any time in an ongoing way.  Yes, there is some work involved here, but the results are rewarding for those that apply themselves and establish the right contact systems:

1. The business telephone book – you can use this list of local businesses as a raw source of prospecting information. The best way to use the list is by business type.  For example, you could call down all the local ‘car retailers’ or ‘supermarkets’ to see what they are doing and thinking when it comes to property ownership or occupancy.  You can do the same with just about any business type using the business telephone book as the starting point.  Record your progress and the people that you talk to in your database, so you understand who you have spoken to, what they said, and when.
2. Associated professionals in the industry – the best groups to tap into here are the property accountants and attorneys in your town or city. Both groups have clients that are active in property activity and will need help.  If you are the local property expert for a property type or service, then it gets easier in marketing your ideas and services to those industry professionals.
3. Canvassing property owners – get a map of your location, your town, or city. Split the map up into zones.  Determine the zones that are ‘high priority’ and those that are more ‘ordinary’.  You now have a ‘hit list’ where you can research the streets and buildings.  Identify the high quality buildings and the larger businesses in the zones.  They should be on your ‘A’ list.  Get names and start calling them down.  Connect and call about local property activity; have something to talk about, particularly so with listings, sales, rents, and new developments.  A conversation can be easily created from local property information.  Center that information around your property experiences and results.

So there are three simple things here.  You can win a lot of new business if you let these systems give you the momentum and market penetration that is possible.  Yes, there is work required here at a personal level, but the rewards at brokerage level are significant to those that work hard and smart.