When you sell or lease commercial property as an agent you want more quality listings in the right location. You also want a realistic property owner or landlord that understands the true market conditions and will accept reality on prices and rents. So how can you fix and satisfy these matters?
Some of those listings that you find in the property market today will sell or lease as the case may be, and some will not; on that basis you need a steady source of new opportunities to pitch for the listings in your area. Prospecting for new business will always improve that opportunity number, so let's assume that you have prospecting under control and then just look at the presentation or pitch process.
The best listing presentation is one that involves you only, and no other agent is pitching at the same time. In that case the client is not influenced by discounts and bargains offered to woo them to the other agent. In this market only about 25% of presentations will be on a single agent basis. So this says that you have to be prepared to win the clients business through a great presentation that is tuned to the needs of the client and the property.
Many property presentations and pitches involve 3 or more agents all presenting their proposal to the client over the period of a few days. The client can then get easily confused or influenced by basic things like:
- Low fees attributable to the property promotion or process
- Low commissions in the event of a sale or lease
- No marketing costs with the agent claiming that they will pay all marketing
- Open agency with little obligations or tie downs for the client
- Poorly selected method of sale or lease
- Claims that the agent has a buyer or tenant that loves the property and needs to inspect today
The reality is all of this is rubbish when it comes to the current market and how a property or tenancy has to be promoted. If the client thinks that these issues are important now to their decision process today, then they are not a client that you need. One key thing I have learned in presenting and pitching for many properties over the years, is that your confidence and knowledge in the market is the leverage to remove the hurdles.
The certainty of the market is this.
- To create a sale or lease of a property today in a timely way, it will have to be promoted well and that will take vendor funds. It is not unusual to spend 1% of the sale price on creative and well directed marketing (the percentage depends on the property price range and type).
- There are fewer buyers around now so every genuine enquiry has to be treated with care to nurture and convert it to a deal. Property pricing is critical as is the method of sale. Make the right choices here.
- The tenants in the market are selective and slow to make a decision on a property. They will check out quite a few vacant properties in the local area before making a final decision. On that basis the landlord should have a reality check when it comes to setting the rent and the outgoings for marketing the property.
- Time on market is critical; do not waste the first 3 weeks of the marketing campaign on promoting higher prices or rents to see what happens. After that short time the property will be more difficult to move. If you kill the enquiry in the first 3 weeks with higher asking prices or rents, it may not come back.
- Last year's prices and rents are irrelevant today. The offers that you get today are all that matters. The 'bird in the hand' process is more important in this market than ever before.
As simple as these things are, they should be explained in detail to the property owner in the presentation or pitch so they know exactly what is going on out there today. I have learnt to walk away from clients that are not realistic; you should adopt the same rule, as they will waste enormous and precious time. In the long term unrealistic clients do adjust; just don't let them hold back your listings and deals in the process.