Why You Should Understand Your Commercial Clients Comprehensively
In commercial real estate brokerage, your clients will have specific targets that they are wanting to achieve with their investments over time. As the property specialist, you can and should help with that. You can work with the client’s requirements and shape the outcome. (NB – you can get plenty of commercial real estate client tips in Snapshot right here – its free)
There is an advantage to be opened here. Every client is of course different when it comes to property targets and portfolio activity. Some clients focus only in a zone, a property type, or a size of asset. Typically, their choices relate to what they can afford and also what they know.
That’s where the matching starts; your skills and local area knowledge can and should be matching into and satisfying the requirements of the clients you serve. The better your ability to do that, the larger the potential of your market share, listing conversions, and commissions. It is a simple formula to understand, and to work with.
VIP Clients and Customers
Think about your clients now and most particularly those that you would consider as VIP’s. As a VIP those clients should have been selected based on activity, intention, capability, timing, or commitment. Start to segment them into groups such as:
- Property types – segment your client groups into office, industrial, and retail property. You may also have a category for development and or land.
- Location – there will be precincts locally that generate a lot of local interest and or occupancy from investors and businesses. Work those precincts and categorize the people you serve into those targeted locations.
- Value – there is always a budget limitation for clients and prospects. Get to the real facts of what a client can afford. You can do that through canvassing local listings in any discussions you may be having. Ask pertinent questions. Soon you will know the client’s priorities and their capabilities from a value and price perspective.
- Diversity of portfolio – some people like to mix their portfolio of properties to spread the risk. It’s a simple rule that lessens the threat of too many investments in a property type that could be volatile in a market change.
- Rental expectations – some owners of property like to hold assets for a short term for income growth and capital gain. Typically, those properties will roll over to a sale again inside 5 years when the market is active and aligned. Some other owners will hold an asset for a long term. Can you pick the differences with the clients that you have now?
- Renovation or relocation activity – some investors like to get involved in property change through renovation or upgrade in size. That ability depends a lot on the amount of money they have available in liquidity, and their lending ability with their bank. The local economic sentiment will also have something to do with available cash and loan funds. A property renovation can lead to more projects and leasing or sales.
In these things, there are plenty of services and solutions you can work with. If you have reasonable skill across sales, leasing, and property management, then there are many things to do and talk about.