In a commercial real estate agency, you will often see a salesperson talking about how difficult it is to find and connect with new clients. They are targeting only the property owners and finding it very difficult to locate the details and get in touch with the property owners.
It is a fact that many real estate investors are hard to find; they hide their contact details within the structure of a company and behind a lawyer or accountant. In other words, the process of finding the details of a property owner has to go through several people and places. It takes time and money to get the information you are looking for. Slow and steady are the words that will carry you forward here.
It should be understood that this problem does not go away. It will always be the case; What you need to do is create a series of prospecting systems in the commercial real estate agency that can be run in parallel to the challenge of finding the details of a property owner.
Here are some prospecting rules:
- Make it your challenge to identify and track down a single property owner each day. Some days you will reach your goal, and other days you may not. However, it is an achievable goal to follow.
- The easiest group to contact are the occupants of the property; tenants and business owners. It’s simply a matter of using the company’s phone book and researching the streets where the companies are located. Every day you can do a group of 10 to 20 deals in this way. It’s a given that business owners will tell you things you can work with. Asking the right questions is the key to the process. When making calls, be aware of ‘no call log’ issues that apply when calling people. Don’t break the law. It’s much easier to contact businesses and business owners at your business location.
- Ask for referrals from people and clients you know now. Your good customers will usually be happy to share their information with others they know.
- Include local lawyers and accountants in your business model. When you gain the trust of some of these people, they may share some of their customers with you. Trust is essential to get to this point. Normally, the lawyer or accountant will want to know that you are a specialist and a top agent before recommending someone to you.
When you consider the position of the average business owner, they are renting or owning the property on which they are located. They understand the local area better than you do. They know what is happening on the street and nearby properties.
This market intelligence is the easiest way to build your market share and opportunity list. Talk to a lot of people and do it every day. Asking questions and building relationships are part of the commercial real estate agency profession. Lead agents are great marketers, but they’re also often great at finding new people to talk to.
