The Quickest and Easiest Ways to List More Commercial Properties

Time is one of the most valuable resources that you have in commercial real estate brokerage. On that basis you need to do the right things with the time that you have available each and every day.  Listing generation is part of that pressure.  Some ways of finding listings are much better than others.

(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)

The Property Pressures?

Listings, clients, and negotiations will always put pressure on your activities as you move through the day. Somewhere in the pressures of time, you will need to find the discipline and the direction to create new listings and prospect for new clients.

The quick and easy process always sounds inviting and we have choices in the things that we do as agents and broker. You need to choose the right things that can work for you more effectively when it comes to finding the listings and finding the clients. The choices that you make here are really important especially if you are looking for consistent improvement across your career and business opportunities.  Good listings create other listings and plenty of inquiry.  That is the way to get things started; that is how top agents create more listings.

How do you do things now?

Systematization is the key to attracting new commercial property opportunities. Everything that you do, how you work with your listings, how you find new properties to list, and how you connect with your clients can always be improved. That is where systematization is a valuable strategy in your business model. As you work through the business day and week, you can improve the systems and activities that you undertake, and refine every strategy for improvement.

Be careful here; you don’t need to have too many strategies running at the same time. You just need a few definite and direct things that you do to find fresh listing stock and quality clients within the location. As you repeat the things that are important to the process, you will find the new business and you will also improve your processes consistently so that the results come to you more directly and quickly. Consistency is the key to progress.

The listing plan?

Here are some ideas to help your prospecting processes and improve listing opportunities faster:

• Property ownership records – check out the property ownership records for the location on a Street by Street basis. It is valuable to check out the street before you research the property ownership detail. Take a few photographs as part of the process; those photographs will help you remember the features of the property and the elements of location including neighboring buildings and street proximity. As you move through the property ownership record process, stay organized and capture all of the results of conversations and meetings. A simple discussion today can be a property opportunity in the future. It can take months and sometimes years for a person to move to the next level of property action and decision. You want them to remember you at the right time.
• Property sale records of 5 or more years ago – go through the sales records for the location, and particularly those sales records of five years ago and beyond. The people and the businesses that have owned property for five or more years are reasonably likely to get to the next level of decision and property action. Perhaps they wish to purchase another asset; perhaps they wish to change property asset. Stay in contact with the people that have owned properties in excess of five years.
• Use the telephone for meetings and prospect contact – set aside two hours per day to make direct prospecting calls to your existing client base and prospect base. Your database should be at the center of the process. Every telephone call is a simple conversation. There is no need to pitch your services in making the calls; create meaningful conversations based on local property information.
• Ask for referrals with all the people that you know – as you get to know greater numbers of local people and grow your database, the referral opportunity will always be there for you to explore and activate. After any successful inspection, meeting, or property transaction, ask the referral questions in a polite and respectful way. It is always easier to find new property opportunity through the relationships of other people.
• Use your current listings for reasons to connect – it will not take too long to you to generate a few listings in a location. Any listing that you have on your books is a reason for a conversation. Understand the differences between open and exclusive listings and the way in which you should work with those different listing types. Dedicate your prospecting focus particularly within your exclusive listing registers. Spend more time talking to the local people about your exclusive listings. Understand the features that apply to each and every listing, and we’ve those features into the telephone conversations you are having with clients and prospects locally. A simple conversation about a listing can open up into an inspection or another property opportunity.

So there are some good things that you can do here to efficiently and positively connect with the right people that have an interest in commercial property ownership, investment, or occupation. I go back to the point that systematization will always help you to find the right properties and the right people in a direct and meaningful way. Simplify your prospecting model as you consistently and thoroughly canvas your local area.