When you prospect in commercial real estate sales or leasing situations, you will meet with and will talk to many people on a daily basis. The more people you do this with the better. Prospecting is critical to your business growth and listing processes in any market.
It is interesting to consider what prospecting situation you find yourself most often in. The answer is different for everyone as each person has communication preferences and methods of approach that works for them over other standard approaches. It is therefore most important to prospect in the way that suits your character and business style.
Your daily prospecting method should be the thing that works for you and gives you the best results and could be any or all of:
- Telephone
- Door to door
- Networking events
- Referrals
- Face to face contact
In all respects the prospecting and meeting process will be enhanced if you refine it and use a small number of statements that gain the attention of the prospect. We call these statements ‘Prospect Value Statements’ (PVS) and they must relate to you and your commercial or investment real estate market.
Prospect Value Statements
The ‘Prospect Value Statement’ is one of a kind and should match you, your business, and your focus. It should clearly declare and communicate the fundamental reason why your organisation exists and why you’re selling or leasing commercial investment property from the prospects perspective. It is the most important thing that you can learn and use in commercial real estate. That being said, it is amazing how many salespeople in commercial real estate do not master the concept and some never even know about it. The PVS is such an important statement to your conversion process that we will spend time now on it in helping you design your own.
So why is the PVS so important? It succinctly, clearly, and precisely defines what you do and how you do it in commercial real estate. Better still, it does so in a way that your clients and prospects can see and know why they should do business with you. The PVS will tell them that you are better than the competition agents in the market.
The PVS plays a role in just about every business opportunity and prospecting situation that you come across.
Sample of a Commercial PVS
‘We assist our commercial investor clients in the industrial market at Salisbury to find new tenants that match their investment plan or cash flow expectations, and therefore enjoy a more stable occupancy. We do this by canvassing all tenant changes in the region for the coming 3 years and directing deals to the desirable tenants at the right time for our clients.’
Sample Structure of a PVS
‘We assist our commercial clients (companies, tenants, or investors) in the … industry (or business, or market segment, or location) to … and enjoy … We do this by …’
To make this work, it’s important for you to know and really understand what end result benefit you actually deliver to your commercial real estate prospects, customers and clients (be they landlords, tenants or investors). You also need to know exactly what benefit your prospects or clients actually want to gain, enjoy, achieve, or have in this market. Your PVS is matched to the end user of your services at all times.
‘Your PVS will also change over time as it will have relevance to the current market conditions and the pressures that your prospects need resolved.’
So What Results and Benefits do Prospects Need?
Before you start to create a PVS or a series of them for you and your business, let’s define some of the results and benefits that are typical desired outcomes for a client or prospect in a commercial real estate sale or lease situation. Consider your market. What are the priorities of the prospects that you deal with today?
Commercial Real Estate Lease situations:
- Stable tenant
- Good rent
- Long lease
- Major tenants
- Quality tenants
- Ability to refurbish
- Make good obligations
- Growth of rent
- Stability of rent
- Sound lease document
- Resolving vacancies faster
Commercial Real Estate Sales situations:
- Quick sale
- Higher price
- Confidential sale
- Method of sale
- Faster settlement
- Good enquiry
- Good promotion and marketing
- Comprehensive market coverage
- Sale to investors
- Sale to owner occupiers
Given these benefits and your market trends now in your location, you should be able to easily construct a series of PVS models that suit the prospects that you deal with. Ideally you should be able to quickly call on 2 or 3 of these statements in any prospecting conversation to match the needs or interest of the prospect you are talking to.
Need More Help?
John Highman is a prominent investment real estate speaker and coach that helps real estate agents and real estate brokers globally to improve their commercial real estate market share and close more sales and leasing deals. He himself is a successful real estate agent that has specialised in commercial, industrial, and retail real estate of all types for over 30+ years. the continuum
