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The Great Advantages of Geographic Marketing in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

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Know the commercial real estate landscape in your town or city in both sales and leasing.

In commercial real estate brokerage, the best way to structure and implement a marketing program is to comprehensively cover a geographic location in many different ways. Don’t make the error of working with too many properties over a large location.

(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)

Drill down into smaller location with a greater level of coverage and connection. Get to know all of the property owners within a small location; the same principles apply when it comes to.

What Can You Do?

So there are two directions to consider when it comes to establishing a specific marketing program to help you win listings and client opportunities. You will always need to know plenty of clients and prospects as part of your database coverage. You also need to know the property owners by location, Street, and building type.

The research that you undertake will help you find the right people to make those very important connections. That research can take time given that some people are harder to locate and connect with.

Diligence and drive will get you through the research process. Remain on task and highly organized as you question the property ownership records and the businesses locally.

Its all Geographical

So the geographic marketing process has a valuable role to play in commercial real estate brokerage in every town or city.

Here are some ideas to help you establish the system and find the opportunities:

  • Understand the property activities in your location. Some precincts will be more desirable than others for business occupancy and investment property. Determine where those locations are, and then drill down into the ownership and occupancy factors. The property precincts will also have trends that are essential to know when it comes to prices and rentals. Look at how the transaction results have been changing over time. Local market information and intelligence will always help you as part of your prospecting model.
  • Set specific criteria when it comes to targeted properties and targeted clients. Try to focus on the best clients and the best properties so that the level of quality that you create with your listings is always desirable to the market generally. When you have a good quality property to work with from sales or leasing perspective, take the property listing personally to the location and talk to plenty of property owners and local business owners. Every property listing can give you plenty of reasons to talk to people in the location.
  • Look at a map for your location and the positioning of roads and freeways. Understand how people move in and around the city when it comes to business activities. You can set a primary zone of prospecting where most of your business will be identified and created. Outside of that zone will be the secondary zone of prospecting where you may still be comfortable in taking listings, although you may not be highly active in prospecting through that region. When you compare the two zones, you will need about 2000 or 3000 properties in the primary zone to generate plenty of property churn and opportunity. That number can also be varied based on the number of businesses and also the property types that you focus on for the region. When you set the primary zone of prospecting activity, consider those specific elements.
  • Undertake an assessment of other listings and competitors in your primary zone of prospecting. When considering the competing brokers and agents, look at why they are currently active and what property types they specialize on. Are there segments of the market that you can service more successfully? Can you do things more comprehensively than your competitors locally?
  • When it comes to property marketing you really do need to stand out in a relevant and real way to the local business owners and the property investors. Your marketing has to be of the highest quality to be seen and to activate the levels of inquiry that you need. Every high-quality property should be the subject of a well-staged marketing campaign. Every exclusive listing should be taken through that process.

So there are some valuable ideas here to implement when it comes to geographic marketing. As the local commercial real estate broker or agent, it is your job to connect with the right people in a comprehensive way. As you focus down into a specific area, you can find those prospects and clients more frequently and successfully.

(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)

 

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Commercial Leasing Agents – Strategies for Finding New Tenants Today

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You can plan your commercial property leasing strategy.

When the property market slows or changes, you need to develop specific strategies for finding new tenants in commercial and retail property.  Specialist leasing agents have ongoing tenant connection strategies for this very purpose.  Here are some tips from our bulletin for Commercial Agents.

As business and economic cycles change, tenants will come and go from the local business community.  Importantly you really do need to understand the changes and opportunities that are occurring locally.

Regular contact with business leaders and business proprietors will give you greater leverage in future tenant placement and lease negotiation.  Every day you should be talking to more tenants in the local business community.  Once the door of contact has been opened, it is wise to speak to these business leaders at least once every 90 days.  Potentially they will at some stage require some property assistance and a new lease or lease occupancy.

Here are some strategies for finding new tenants in this property market.  Given the volatility of your business community and local area, you can add to this list as appropriate.  The resultant checklist becomes very powerful in finding the right tenants for the right property when circumstances require it.

  1. When it comes to a particular listing that has remained vacant, check out all other adjacent properties in the local area.  There will be successful businesses nearby that may need to expand premises for a particular business reason or business unit change.  Use your current vacancy as a reason to talk to other local business proprietors nearby.
  2. The local accountants and solicitors are a good source of business intelligence and leasing change.  They work with the successful business proprietors needing property assistance and property adjustment.  They are more likely to know those local businesses that need leasing help over the coming 12 months.  If you can establish your reasonable level of trust with these professionals, you will find leads and opportunities being fed back to you.  The way to open the door here is to provide local market information relative to commercial and retail property.  Regular contact will see the levels of trust being established.
  3. The business franchise groups in your city may have a need for another business location.  Check out all the franchise groups and understand who their property decision makers are.  Speak with them regards the typical property needs that apply when they lease new premises.  Also ask them for a summary of the standard terms and conditions that apply in any new lease negotiation.  These facts will help you with positioning and negotiation with your landlord clients and their properties.
  4. Some tenants need to consider expansion or contraction of the business operation.  On that basis you can be contacting the business proprietors throughout the local region.  When they get to the last 18 months of their current lease, they are quite likely to be receptive to discussions on the current property market and lease or rental issues.  Providing them with a monthly update on the property market is a sensible strategy.
  5. Check out the decision makers in all the large local businesses.  They are likely to be looking for property change, expansion, contraction, or investment from time to time.  They may also purchase a property for future expected business needs.
  6. Understand the lease renewals and lease cycles that apply to all the major properties in your local area.  Tenants will seek local property information before they make choices regards moving or relocating.  Constant contact is part of the process to open the door on a potential new lease.
  7. Look for sale and lease back opportunities with those businesses that own their premises but want to release some capital from their property ownerships.

It is quite possible to find new tenants even in the toughest of property markets.  The process requires strategy and system on the part of the leasing specialist.

When the property market appears slow and sluggish, you really should look at it in reverse understanding that you have an abundance of quality listings to put to the potential tenants looking to change location.  Lease opportunity is always out there and will be a great source of commission when sales slow.

Need some more tips on how to do leasing of commercial or retail property?  Try our regular bulletin right here.