How to Pitch for a Commercial Real Estate Listing Today

When it comes to pitching for the commercial real estate listing, you really do need to have up to date information about the prevailing market conditions.  In only this way can you shape the thinking of the client to create a marketable property.

Most commercial real estate listing opportunities today are quite competitive.  Other agents will be attempting to influence the thinking and decision facilities of the client.  Enticements such as marketing and commission discounts are quite common.  The fact of the matter is that any discount provided to the client is a false economy.  They really want results, and discounts do not generally provide the right results.  You need to show them that fact.

Agents that provide discounts are driven from a different motivation, and are less likely to have the client as a high priority in their business and marketing effort.

What’s Your Value and Commitment?

One of the targets in your sales pitch or presentation for the listing should be to show the client real value and commitment when it comes to shortening their time on market, and achieving a positive outcome.

Top agents do not discount their services given that they are property experts, and they sell their expertise effectively and directly.  Most clients do not want to be an ‘experiment’ in property marketing.  They want the best people with the best strategy and the right level of confidence to take the listing forward.  That is how you sell yourself.

So how can you put all of this information together?  Here are some tips that can be applied to your presentation or pitch for the listing.

1. Give the client some solid information about the local area when it comes to time on market, prices, and competing properties.  These facts will be quite specific to the property type and the subject listing.  Given that the existing property market can be quite difficult at the moment, show the trends and shifts in the market through some form of graphical display.  The last two or three years will provide some industry trends that the client cannot refute.  Evidence is everything when it comes to listing the property.
2. Show the client that you really understand the property type in every respect.  Give them some history of other properties that you have worked on that are similar.  Tell them of the strategies that were adopted when it came to marketing, inspections, and negotiations.
3. The improvements in the existing property listing will attract a particular target audience.  Defining the target audience to the client will help the listing process.  Tell the client how you will be attracting the enquiry from the recommended marketing processes.
4. Feedback is everything in this property market today.  Most listings will only generate a small amount of enquiry and the agents will have to convert the enquiry as quickly and effectively as possible.  This means that the client should be conditioned and prepared for true market conditions as you see them today.  If the property market is slower or difficult, then the client needs to understand that fact.
5. When you look at your local property area and territory, there will be some properties that sell or lease more effectively than others.  Determine the criteria that will create that positive result.  Show the client how their property will need to fit inside the criteria.
6. Every property will have a preferred method of marketing and a preferred method of sale.  The same principle applies when it comes to leasing.  Solid recommendations need to be made to the client so that they do not make any mistakes when it comes to those factors.
7. Make sure that the method of marketing is correct for the property type and the location.  You should get vendor paid marketing funds as part of the process.  Also focus on the exclusive listing process so that you have the commitment of the client to a lengthy period of time on the agency appointment, and your preferred marketing campaign.
8. If you are the best agent in the local area, they will not hesitate in giving you an exclusive listing.  Sell your expertise and relevance to the property and to the client at every opportunity.  That will be key part of your sales pitch and presentation.
9. Tell the client how you will be inspecting the property with any enquiring parties.  Give the client a distinct strategy relating to the inspection and the improvements on the property.  Tell the client how you will be featuring certain aspects of the property to influence the inspecting party.
10. Lastly it should be said that every client should be prepared for the potential negotiation that should follow as a direct result of the right property marketing.  Give them the complete facts relating to the local area and the local market so that the future negotiation will be supported by that conditioning process.

Pitching and presenting for a commercial or retail property listing does not have to be hard or difficult; it just needs to be based on facts.  Sell your services based on facts.