Knocking on doors...
Im a new CRE agent and my broker is very old school. He wants me to get my feet wet by going into buildings of soon to be expired listings and talking to tenants whos lease is expiring in the next 6-12 months. How many agents still are doing this? is it better than cold calling? 
[{"id": "cvhegt3", "text": "Not many people do this. That's why it's a good idea to do it. It's always easier to turn someone away when they're not right in front of you, it's a lot harder when your staring them in the eyes. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cvhg6bj", "text": "That is cold calling...", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cvhh7q1", "text": "make sure you know your state laws here.  At least here, I could go after tenants like that, but it be a license violation to go after listings like that.  If he is sending you into soon to be expired listed buildings, I assume it is so you can try to get the listings on the entire building too?\n\nOtherwise yeah go for it.  \n\nI do that shit all the time.  Make sure you keep cards on you too.  If you are having a drink at the bar and can figure out who the owner is, chat them up, ask about expansion plans etc.  (I'm sure no CRE agents ever visit bars though)", "replies": [{"id": "cvhhcie", "text": "also when you get listings this is a good idea.  print out flyers and hit up everyone near by.  To be honest its faster than figuring out a shit ton of close by tenants and their contact information etc.  \n\nI use to know an office broker that was proud of saying \"I've either put a tenant in every building in town, taken one out of it, or been kicked out of it\" lol\n\nWhat kind of brokerage you doing?  ", "replies": [{"id": "cvhjgvm", "text": "Im in office tenant rep. So we have lists of soon to be expired listings that Im going to tackle tomorrow. 3 weeks into the business and getting thrown in the fire. Suppose thats the only way to learn. But ya, walking into these companies and asking them about their leases, if they plan to move, expand, downsize, re negotiate, etc. Drop of a business card and leave. Broker says its the best way to learn the market ", "replies": [{"id": "cvhp4qc", "text": "I've never been a big fan of expired listings unless you can get the price way down. It's low hanging fruit, IMO. I'm in a smaller market and you'll get your ass chewed by other brokers if you're poking around their expired listing. I get the whole dog eat dog thing but having good working relationships with other brokers is really important.\n\nI'm 2.5 years in and what helped me the most was a mix of cold calling and canvassing (going door to door). You need to be making 200+ calls a week. And start your database now! I didn't do this early on and kick myself for it. \n\nAttend every network event you have the energy for. Read the paper everyday and take note of who might need your services. Start building relationships with vendors (attorneys, bankers, architects, etc.)\n\nBe frugal the first few years and build up your emergency fund. It's easy to get hood rich after a big paycheck so try to avoid that. Don't forget to pay taxes. \n\nGood luck! ", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cvhjfvh", "text": "Watch this video:\nhttp://www.massimo-group.com/newtobusiness\n\nThere is some great information as to how you should be spending your time as a new CRE broker.\n", "replies": [{"id": "cvhqud4", "text": "I'm pretty sure you're with Massimo so I'll throw in a rec for ya...\n\nOP, I took Massimo's N2B class last year and it helped push my business in the right direction. It's essentially a roadmap to success and it works if you follow the plan and put some effort in. If you keep up with the plan after \"graduation\", you'll be a top producer in no time. You will have to make a lot of cold calls but it gets easier the more you do it. After so much practice, I could cold call Mark Cuban and be completely comfortable on the phone. The course isn't cheap so try to get your boss to pay for it. I paid for it myself and had to eat rice and beans for 6 months. \n\nYou should read Rod's book, Brokers Who Dominate, and check out Bo Barron's blog, he's been putting out a lot of good content lately. \n\nUnrelated but the CCIM 101 class is approaching and they offer scholarships. It's a good intro class you should have under your belt. And Bob McComb's Top Dogs course is a good program to take to learn more about CRE in general. \n\n", "replies": [{"id": "cvi1sx4", "text": "What do you use to generate call lists?", "replies": [{"id": "cvk634u", "text": "That's the tricky part and this was actually my biggest frustration with Massimo. When I asked this question, they typically danced around it or answered with \"just use your company's database\". Maybe at other firms they hand new brokers a big book of prospects but not at mine. \n\nI found the best way was to pick a target market and just start researching property owners one block at a time. I tried to pinpoint out of state owners. It's certainly not a quick process and took a ton of research hours. I'd also find a decent amount of potential prospects in the newspaper. \n\nNow that my database is bigger, I don't spend as much time researching owners. I just periodically call the same people. I should also probably mention that 200 dials doesn't necessarily mean 200 people. My goal was to make 200 dials, connect with 40 people, and make 5 appointments. ", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cvi2sea", "text": "Sometimes it is not worth it depending on the amount of time is takes. I am an analyst dedicated to 4 office tenant rep teams, and part of my job is to essentially scope \"leads\" for these teams. This includes upcoming expirations, and from what I've seen, our teams seldom go knocking. At least in my market, getting through security into a building is already one challenge, then asking to meet a decision maker at a large office is number 2 (unless you are going after very small leads).\n\nMy suggestion - instead - is to identify your leads, which it seems you already have. Next, use any databases, websites, resources possible to get contact info for the *decision makers* of those companies. After that, physically mail them a letter/marketing brochure, whatever might work best and then follow up with a call.\n\nHere is an example: There is a class B building in our downtown market that had an elevator stall (with 4 people on it) for 5 hours!!! It was on our local news, so we sent marketing packets to each tenant in that building asking how they like the buildings management and if theyd consider touring elsewhere. A lot of these companies did not like the management/landlord there. This materialized into 2 sizable deals, as contract negotiations are currently underway.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cviarj7", "text": "This is a lost art - learn it while you can. It is the most effective way to build a book of business, albeit the most labor intensive. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cvicczv", "text": "I did it for years...It works but is really challenging work.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cvx1mu9", "text": "I work for 3 old school guys as well and was originally very reluctant to do this because in my head I thought \"I can google-fu or call for 10x the information in the time it would take me to physically visit the buildings.\"\n\nI now incorporate some time each day to banging on doors, even those without expired listings or leases approaching. It has a few benefits:\n\n* Showing up in person makes you harder to turn away\n\n* Getting information on the right point of contact from a gatekeeper is much easier in person\n\n*  Makes follow up calls much easier (simply mentioning you were at their facility and how nice it was can get someone talking about their business)\n\n* You will know your market better than anyone. Every piece of construction, company moving in/out, etc. It will come in handy, I promise.  \n\nI have found my own balance between door knocking and cold calling now, and as you gain experience you will start to realize which places are better for an in person visit. \n\n\nOne last note - you WILL be turned away, you WILL strike out (a lot). Just remember you are there because you want to be a resource/help companies and it's their loss if they can't see that - on to the next one. ", "replies": [{"id": "cvzvvnm", "text": "How do you feel about cold emailing? there is a girl in my office that gets a lot of business this way", "replies": [{"id": "cvzwjrw", "text": "I will usually only send a very brief email asking for 10 minutes for an intro or letting them know I will be calling the next day. That usually gets me a few more answered calls when someone has been hard to reach. I still feel like voice and face to face will get you further though. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]