How to Put More Human Contact into Your Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

In your commercial real estate career, it is hard to get anywhere without a good degree of client and prospect contact.  Your brokerage and your office location will have little to do with the little to do with the inquiries coming in.  (NB – you can get more client contact strategies in commercial real estate brokerage right here in ‘Snapshot’)

Each day you simply must get out the front door of the brokerage, and into your territory.  It is a precise process that requires a plan.  Build your real estate business around people first and foremost.  Talk to more people and take a record or notes from valuable conversations and relationships.

Facts of Time

Why think this way?  It takes about 3 to 6 months of direct prospecting to get some real momentum up and running in a brokerage career; what you want to do here is give energy and focus to database accuracy and growth.  Get to know plenty of local people.

What can you learn from this?  Your database should be at the center of your tasks, your diary, and your daily activities.  Choose a good database program that works for you and your property specialty, and then use it each day; revisit the details of earlier contacts, meetings, and conversations.  Look for those small pieces of information that could turn into a valuable discussion or new real estate business.

Human Focus

Put the concept of ‘human contact’ back into your real estate business.  While it is always easy to send an email or make a telephone call, the traditional approach of ‘face to face’ meetings and ‘drop-ins’ tend to be the best way to get traction and momentum with new clients and prospects.  You can judge the success of a commercial real estate agent by the depth of their database and the strength of personal relationships with key customers and prospects.

Contact and Communicate

So, let’s get some more focus on this concept.  Here are some ideas to help you get your ‘human contact’ plan up and running in your real estate business:

1. Door knocking local areas, businesses, and tenants – get to know all the firms in the streets and the zones that you control. It is always likely that a simple conversation with a local business owner can lead to something of value, be that in a sale, lease, or property management.
2. Meetings in a regular way – when you have established a link and relationship with a new client or prospect, stay in contact so that you are seeing or talking to them at least once every 90 days. Regularity is important to build profile and relevance.
3. Getting to know the clients comprehensively – some customers can have ongoing property needs and or challenges. Get to know their portfolios and locations.  Look for the elements of change in investment.
4. Establish a VIP prospect and client program – some of your contacts will be more ‘valuable’ for future business in so many different ways. Differentiate your customers based on value, location, capability to act, and property requirements.
5. Creating ‘leave behind value’ for all your meetings and inspections – when you have made a contact or connection, send some follow-up information immediately after the event. The information that you submit can ‘open the door up’ for ongoing communication.
6. Every inquiry or inspection is a reason to keep connecting – when the first inquiry comes in, keep the conversation and connection flowing through a series of professional processes including brochures, emails, and case studies. Local property information is always of interest to investors and business owners.  Share information that is relevant and real for the location.

Through these strategies, you can build a solid business profile as a top agent for a location and property type.  Go for the opportunities that you can sense or see.  Keep connecting at a personal level.