Commercial Property Prospecting Ideas

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If you deal exclusively with commercial property listings, you may be in need of some unique commercial property prospecting ideas. Afterall, it is unlikely for you to meet a potential commercial property seller at an open house or other similiar residential prospecting method. Even if you don’t specialize in commercial property however, these commercial real estate prospecting ideas may even be beneficial for residential agents.

Here are a few of our favorite commercial property prospecting ideas gathered from my commercial property agents:

Join the Chamber of Commerce: Joining the chamber of commerce is a good start. But there are a few other things you’ll need to do besides just sign up and pay the dues…You’ll want to really get to meet and network with people and build a business relationship with them. This includes attending functions and staying in contact with them between meetings.

Build an Email List: An email list is critical if you want to find an easy non-evasive way of contacting commercial property owners. You can use this list to promote your commercial property listings as well as find new sellers. Your list should contain selected members of the chamber of commerce, developers, builders, and investors, as well as the property manager contacts for local corporations near you.

Create an Online Presence: Not too long ago I posted an interview with the creator of AcreScout, a commercial property portal. There are several others you could join, and could also seek out forums and blogs of people dealing with commercial property that you may be able to help.

Schedule Appointments: One of the biggest things people forget is that the main goal of prospecting is to get face time with people. You’re probably going to have a rough time trying to catch the person in charge of property management or the president of a large corporation just by stopping in their office. But if you can schedule an appointment with them, even if just to explain what you do then you can get that face time to woo them over when they need an experienced commercial property agent. If you get voice mail or they’re not in, simply just say who you are and that you would like to schedule an appointment with them.

Don’t Let the Receptionist Scare You: One of the hardest things about getting an appointment with someone is getting through the gates of the receptionist. The receptionist’s main job is to make sure you DON’T bother the person you need to talk to. Be super friendly to the receptionist and don’t let on to them that you are making a prospecting call. Tell them simply you need to speak to the person (make sure you have their name).

Look for Small Businesses Too: Every area has an area of small business districts. The “Mom and Pop” shops so to speak can be a gold mine for commercial property agents. These commercial property owners usually have a lot more time to speak with you about property, and may be looking to expand or change direction of their business or even retire. Get to know them well, and before long you may have several smaller commercial property listings that could be more beneficial than just a few major commercial properties in your area.

Do you have any commercial property prospecting ideas you’d like to share? Feel free to leave them in the comments below!