Simple Systems to Follow as a Listing Agent in Commercial Property

If you work as a listing agent in commercial real estate brokerage, you should have just one main focus as part of your business activities. That is to identify and convert quality properties exclusively in your location.

(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)

When you work like that, you control the client and the momentum of the transaction. It stands to reason that you should focus your prospecting efforts into the better property precincts and the good quality clients for the location.

Get the facts locally

You will need to undertake a reasonable level of research to identify both of those critical issues and get the necessary information to make the required contacts in a relevant way. You will need systems to support you as an expert in the industry and as a good quality listing agent for the location.

Simple systems supported by accurate property ownership records will help you find the right property owners and the good quality listings in a timely way. Get out into your territory or listing patch on a daily basis so you can see how things are changing and in what way.

I will emphasize again one important fact already made here, but well worth repeating. Exclusivity is critical when it comes to listing and marketing commercial property today. When you list exclusively, you control the client and the momentum of the property transaction. Others (buyers, tenants, and other brokers) will need to come to you for any inspections, enquiries, and negotiations.

Set up your own listing system

So let’s get the logic sorted for this exclusive listing strategy.  The listing agent should have a number of simple targets as part of a listing conversion. Consider the following factors:

• The appropriate levels of commission should be charged for the location, the market conditions, and the property type. There is no point in discounting anything when it comes to commission listing activity today. The client wants a result more than a discount, you really do need to show them how that relationship works. If they are motivated by discounts, they are not the client that you should be servicing. Your professional skills should be regarded as relevant and superior to the other agents in the location; adjust your listing pitch accordingly. The client needs professional to resolve their property challenge in a timely way; they don’t need discounts. You can help them with that. Your skills are worth a reasonable commission for the task at hand. Show the client why you are the best person for the job.
• Convert vendor paid marketing funds as part of your listing pitch and listing process. Determine an appropriate promotional budget and strategy for a marketing campaign to take the property forward in any sale or lease transaction. Ultimately the marketing campaign must create inquiry and inspection opportunities. Avoid generic marketing recommendations. Be quite specific with your client when it comes to how the marketing can work in building inquiry momentum. Give the client two or three marketing campaign alternatives to consider. Show them the differences and provide solid recommendations in each case. The client then has a choice to make based on logic and reason.
• The pricing or the rental structure for the listing should be tuned to the current and prevailing market conditions. The first two or three weeks in any marketing campaign are the most important. So the pricing or rental structure needs to be appropriate for the target market and the expected levels of inquiry. Get those issues sorted before the marketing campaign starts.
• Make the right choices when it comes to the best method of sale or the best method of lease. Local market evidence will help you show the client the results and the strategies towards and with your recommended sale or lease alternative. Give the client some solid reasons that they can see and work with when it comes to the solution recommended for their property
• The client needs to be conditioned as you move through the listing process, taking into account their property and its placement in the local market. You will know the pressures of enquiry, prices, and rental, so share that information with the client. You will know what people are looking for and on that basis you will need to condition your client using accurate local information and facts. Gather the information from newspapers, recent sales or leasing activity, inspections, and negotiations. Support that information with photographs, statistics, and graphs. Evidence needs to be supported by visual information and accurate facts.

So there are ideas here and there is a system to follow here when it comes to the listing process used by listing agents. These simple facts are at the center of everything a listing agent should do.

(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)