Finding tenants for your vacant buildings can be a real challenge. The fact of the matter is that most new tenants will come from the businesses in your local area. On that basis the direct personal approach to businesses tends to work more than anything else.
To be successful in commercial real estate leasing it is best to focus on the local business community and the movements that come from there. The best marketing approach for any vacant tenancy or leasing project should be biased towards the local area. This then says that the best marketing campaign can be structured around some of the following local strategies:
- Determine the ideal target market that best suits the property
- Get a signboard on to the property as soon as possible
- Personally canvass it of the businesses in the immediate location
- Circulate simple brochures into the business postal delivery service
- Review your database for any previous leasing enquiries that may not have been satisfied
- Identify the best buildings in the general precinct that may have tenant volatility. Approach the tenants in the building to see if they are looking to move.
The leasing process will always be far more successful when you orientate it towards local businesses and local properties. Your database should contain several hundred local businesses and decision makers for those businesses.
Approaching local businesses
When it comes to the occupancy of a property, local businesses tend to maintain a local focus so that they do not lose their customer base in any property changeover. The fact of the matter is that they want comfortable occupancy at a reasonable rental.
In approaching the local businesses, the following questions and strategies will help you in gathering the right facts and building on the correct opportunities.
- Are they a tenant in occupancy or do they own the property?
- If they are the tenant, ask them some questions regarding the current lease. Most particularly the expiry date of the lease will be of great value to you, and any renewal intentions that they may have.
- Are they under any pressure to expand or contract leased area at the moment? Some businesses simply outgrow their property for one reason or another.
- What can the tenants tell you about their landlord? The detail that you get here could be useful in the future when it comes to looking for commercial properties to sell.
- What does the local business owner think about the local area from a leasing and business angle? Are they aware of any businesses that may be seeking change?
Simple questions like these can help you build a great database of future opportunity in leasing premises locally. Take action today and get out into the local business community. Make them part of your prospecting model.
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