The Perfect Cure for Leasing More Commercial Office Space

In commercial real estate today, the leasing process will offer a typical agent or broker with many leads and opportunities servicing local landlords and property investors.  Over time that leasing arrangement can be the precursor to selling properties for the same client.

So the smaller commissions earned in the leasing process, can give you the opportunity to move on to a sales commission with the same client in the future.  One thing can lead to another when it comes to working with different clients and high quality properties.  Be selective when it comes to choosing the right properties to lease.

Establish long-term relationships

Commercial real estate is all about building relationships with the right people, and the leasing service that you offer today can help you start that.  Be selective when it comes to establishing long term relationships with the right property owners.  It stands to reason that the quality of your leasing service can help you convert more clients over time.  To find those clients in the first place, it is a matter of understanding the factors of attraction when it comes to office leasing.  Why will someone use you as a local property leasing expert?

Here are some ideas to help you build on that opportunity cycle in a professional leasing service; to help you work for those high quality for property owners and investors in your local area:

1. The size of your tenant database – It is a fact that the size of your database of tenants will help you attract landlords when they require a vacant property filled.  Market your services to landlords using your database as a factor of attraction.
2. Property pressures – Some tenants and businesses will be put under pressure when it comes to property occupation; changes in the economy or business sentiment can do that.  You can find those tenants by staying in constant contact through a direct approach, be it in cold calling or door knocking.   Look for those businesses that are under pressure.
3. New People – Generate leads and opportunities every day in your local area; make it a priority to meet new people in your territory.  When visiting one property or business in any location, leave your business card with nearby businesses inviting future contact if they have a property pressure issue or need to relocate.
4. Lease expiry – As part of building your database, track the upcoming lease expiry and option dates in every major office building and with every good quality tenant.  The only way you will know those dates is in making the regular cold calls to local businesses.  When you know an upcoming lease expiry or option date, you can work the tenant in the 12 months leading up to the critical date.  Relevancy is a way of attracting their interest; they will have a need to understand market rents, vacancy factors, new property developments nearby, and lease incentives.  A tenant will seriously consider relocation if the current pressures of occupancy are high; that can be in rent levels, available space, car parking, transport, customer locations, and occupancy costs.  Ask the right questions and you will soon find some pressure points that may interest them.
5. Current vacancies – Some landlords will have a problem with current vacancy levels or upcoming vacancies.  Look for properties that appear to be under vacancy pressure; contact the owners directly to see if you can help.
6. Rental and leasing strategies – When you know a lot about lease and rent structures you can offer real strategy as part of leasing a property.  Some landlords have little understanding of the ways to improve property returns and cash flow through a lease; they will just focus on finding a tenant.  You can explain to the landlords that you serve how a gross or net lease can bring benefit to their property returns, and you can add some strategy around rent reviews, options, relocations, renovations and occupancy costs.

So as you can see it’s quite easy to offer a professional leasing service to landlords in your area.  Lift your leasing skills and market yourself as the property expert that the landlords and property owners require.