CRE Prospecting Thread - Tips, Tricks, and Questions
Starting a thread for all things prospecting. Post your tips, tricks, and strategies you've had success with. Also feel free to ask questions related to prospecting. I'll post a couple of mine shortly to kick us off! Thanks
[{"id": "is5v1o5", "text": "On Retail Tenant rep, i\u2018ve had tons of success DMing small mom/pop tenants on IG or FB. Straight &amp; to the point, \"would you consider a location a 'x' or 'y'\" nothing super crazy until they respond and the ball is rolling. \n\nRetail Landlord rep, i\u2018ve had success leveraging other listings or closed deals within my firm and talking about who is going into what (what most people do though). \n\nInvestment Sales have primarily been referral based from friends seeing me post CRE related (ish) content. I try to contact my prospects 2x a month or whenever crazy news pops up. Have more aggressive people in my office but it is what it is. \n\nA lot of my business has come from referrals, hanging out &amp; liver damage at nice restaurants + bars and just being super social. (Specialization is Retail but I do some Office &amp; Industrial from time to time; previously multifamily but i refer those out now)", "replies": [{"id": "is5wysn", "text": "I'm in the same boat as you it seems. Retail is my focus but I dabble in lots of different property types. Instagram is great for tenant rep stuff!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "iujbhuw", "text": "This is great tips for a newer broker like myself. I will have to try these out as I am focusing in on Retail, Great stuff R0ycek!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is5wrmt", "text": "Here are a couple of Costar specific prospecting tricks that I use. \n\nWITHDRAWN LISTINGS... Click Properties &gt; Select criteria (geography, prop type, size, etc.) but don't select a 'listing type' &gt; then go to the list view (top right between map and analytics) and from there select the 'changes' tab. I'll usually check this once or twice a month so hit the drop down and select within the last X days and it should give you a list of all listings that had any change. You'll be looking for withdrawn listings in hopes that a seller fired their broker and might be looking for a new one.   \nFSBO/FLBO... Properties &gt; Select criteria &gt; on this one you will select either 'for sale' or 'for lease' &gt; go back to the list view &gt; sort through the list looking for names of people as opposed to a listing company/brokerage. Then take your list of properties that appear to be listed by a person rather than a company and start dialing. You can compare those names to owner names in Costar/local GIS or wherever you get that info.\n\nI've also had pretty good luck with Instagram DM'ing for retail tenant rep deals. I just really hate tenant rep at this point so I've slacked a bit on that one but it's a great strategy. Like u/r0ycek mentioned, it's great for mom and pops because in most cases, the business owner is the one running the account so it's a quick way to get right to the decision maker.", "replies": [{"id": "is6eo2r", "text": "Not too shabby, gonna give that a whirl here", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is6cbqt", "text": "Anyone had any luck getting listings through calling owners that the property has been sitting on the market for a long time?", "replies": [{"id": "is6fue4", "text": "Yes, usually it's because finding the right number takes a really long time to find.\n\nLike some weird holding company in Cayman Islands, or an import/export office in Andalucia Spain. \n\nLots of people will give up on finding the right number after 20 minutes, and to be fair, maybe that is a smarter use of time than chasing a \"maybe\" for 90 minutes.", "replies": [{"id": "is71hw0", "text": "That said the easy numbers to find get called a lot because they are easy to find.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is6ffun", "text": "Land, so not as sexy, but here goes:\n\nKeep on top of the rezone pipeline in whatever county I'm farming\n\nSee what entitlements are coming down the pike for parcel \"x\" being rezoned\n\nSee if there are pockets of vacant land adjacent to the new land use change\n\nTalk with planners to see likelihood of further land use changes\n\nGet in touch with farmer Bob that owns parcel \"y\", get a pocket listing and shop the his parcel to whatever product type developers can fit in with the new changes", "replies": [{"id": "is6ibv2", "text": "For a pocket listing do you have a formal agreement signed or how do you be sure you\u2019ll get paid when you find someone that buy it?", "replies": [{"id": "it9o8zp", "text": "Haha, I think \"hope\" is the operative word. I really should call them handshake agreements because usually there is nothing in writing. \n\nLots of times sellers that have something really great won't give anyone any type of signed agreement, but here is the thing... \n\nIf you are a seller/buyer of industrial/MF, etc in Everytown USA, you need a good relationship with brokers, both big and small. \n\nSo I have found that even with handshake agreements, 99% of the time, people don't try to work around you. In 6-12 more months, they may need you again and want to keep the door open. There is a certain value to having access to even a little shop like ours that often has off market deals that people outside the immediate area have no clue about. \n\nBut of course, when you work like this, you can get screwed really easily, and yes it has happened. But it's rare.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is6o5sq", "text": "Anyone have tips/tricks on how to get tenants for general office or how to get tenants for medical offices?", "replies": [{"id": "is72qye", "text": "Are you saying tenants for a building you're representing or tenant rep assignments?", "replies": [{"id": "is7ev5d", "text": "For example, if I own the building and want to put tenants in vacant offices.", "replies": [{"id": "is7py5i", "text": "Well, I would always consider using a broker as they'll have the best resources, data, experience, and marketing. A good brokerage spends thousands of dollars on subscriptions and services that owners would have to pay for out of pocket. Also worth considering that if you want any brokers to bring you business you'll have to pay a market fee anyways.\n\nBut If you decide not to hire a broker, the best way to drive tenant demand (in order of importance) would be:\n\n1. Having amenities. Not sure what your product type is, but if you've read anything about the office market, amenities are what's driving tenant demand. For employees to come to an office they need to be enticed to some degree and the properties that have better amenities (gym, daycare, coffee shop, renovated common areas) are beating the shit out of the cheap C-class space.\n\n2. Listing on Loopnet/CoStar, Crexi, and any other relevant listing website in your market. Make sure to have clear and attractive photos of the building, amenities, interior spaces, and floor plans. Despite what others will say, in office leasing, you are doomed if you're not at a minimum on Costar.\n\n3. Signage. This one is probably a no-brainer.\n\n4. Outbound prospecting. Email blasts, online ads with local business journals (surprisingly effective since that's what white collar workers are reading), direct mail/postcards (don't expect instant results), and cold calling/door knocking (assuming you were willing to or hire someone to do so). If you follow #1 advertising your new amenities draw serious eyes and interest.\n\n5. Government RFPs. They're a bitch to fill out, but local and state governments release requests for proposals. Again, ton of work and low hit rate, but land one of them and theyre 5-20 yr deals and guaranteed rent. \n\nThat's all I got. Again, hiring a GOOD broker can alleviate 4/5 of these but if you want to do it yourself, there's a start.", "replies": [{"id": "is81z16", "text": "Perfect reply. Thanks!", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "is8ojhr", "text": "What market do you need?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]