Smart Shortcuts to Finding More Retail Tenants to Lease Vacant Premises
Retail shop leasing is a common segment of our industry where you can make good commissions. In saying that, there are rules to the process and it is important to stay focused on good quality properties and premises.
It is a fact that trying to lease smaller shops in stand-alone locations can waste a lot of your valuable time; the rent achieved from leasing a single shop in a residential location is not normally that large. For that reason focus on prime retail locations and shopping centres where tenants and customers are attracted. In the higher quality locations the rents are also more substantial and therefore the potential of a larger fee is improved. Be selective on the shops that you take into your listing bank.
So let’s say that you are to lease some vacant properties or premises inside a shopping center. Here are some tips to help you shortcut the locating of potential tenants:
- Press Release – If your property or vacancy is part of a newer retail project then you have something to talk about. On that basis you can do a press release and distribute it to the media outlets and newspapers. If you can put a local twist into the story, it is likely that the press release will be published.
- Fact Sheets and Flyers – Create fact sheets that you can provide enquiring tenants or give to owners of nearby businesses in other shopping centers. The fact sheets should talk about the success of the property, the customer base, some history of the area, and the rental and leasing packages available.
- Signs – Strategically placing signs on the property and in the premises will help with leasing. If your property is a retail project then you can boost enquiry with a larger ‘leasing’ board on the property boundary.
- Other Tenants – It is a fact that the current tenants in your property, and those in other properties will know of businesses that may have an interest in leasing vacant space. Talk to other tenants; ask for referrals to other successful business people. Provide a ‘spotters’ fee for successful leads that are converted to a lease.
- Franchise Groups – There are many good franchise groups around that are on the lookout for space to lease. Understand the ideal franchises that would be a match for your customer base. These types of tenants usually require a special lease to suit their franchise agreement and operating conditions.
- Industry Groups – There are certain publications that are accessed by different classes of retailers. Advertise your leasing services and available premises in those publications.
- Website Portal or Blog – If you are a retail leasing specialist in a town or city you can and should create a special page in your website so you can provide regular and relative information and details about local retail leasing. Focus on the local area, as that will give your site greater exposure to search engines and hence better enquiry. The same rules apply to a blog.
- Business Telephone book – You can create a lot of leads from the business telephone book. Systematically call businesses within categories in your town or city. You will find leads and new tenants by doing that.
All of these processes are successful ways to create tenant enquiries and leads. They do require a degree of preparation and hard work at a personal level; that’s why you are a retail leasing specialist! If you are going to lease a vacant shop or something similar in a shopping centre, make sure you have an exclusive listing to help you commit to the process. On a final note and as mentioned earlier, stay away from stand-alone vacant shops in residential locations; they will be hard to lease and waste a lot of your time.