Drumming up new business.
What do you guys do to find new customers/ clients?   I'm fairly new to commercial real estate and am working as an agent under a senior level broker at a very boutique shop.

He primarily works on large industrial buildings in the tertiary market of DFW and has no prospecting system in place for the smaller deals I will be working on. What can I do to get myself out there and find new prospective customers?
[{"id": "cuqklde", "text": "Also, what are some day to day activities I should be getting used to doing ? ", "replies": [{"id": "cuxdg5i", "text": "Walking the market, talking with people face to face. Identifying and tracking the new contacts, and developing a method to follow-up with them... ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cuqph2e", "text": "I used to work in industrial leasing for years.  What I did is I would take a listing from my office or anothers office and take off the other brokers info and put mine on it.  Then I would print up 50 copies of the listing (1 page usually in my area).  Then I would canvass all the industrial parks in that area, literally door to door.  My goal when I walked into a new business was to get 4 pieces of information.  Who's the decision maker (their info), how many sq. ft. are they in, when does their lease expire, and how much are they paying.  If you get these 4 pieces of information for 5 different contacts every day you'll end up with some good contacts.  Go put those in your database at night and sent an alarm to call them (usually 9-12 months before their lease expires).  It's hard work and you'll have holes in your shoes and you may not see it going anywhere - but - in 6-12 months you'll have tenants who are either looking to move/expand or renew and that's how you make money.  The other thing I did when driving around these various industrial/business parks is look for what I call \"indian signs\" and that's a company that has too much product and not enough space and they're spilling out into the parking lot.  Those guys will need to move soon and get a bigger spot.  You need to know your market, what rates for different sized buildings are going for, what's available nearby so that you can quickly discuss it and what's leased/sold recently.  ", "replies": [{"id": "cuqqu47", "text": "This is how it's done.  But, when you put your name on another broker's brochure make it clear it is not your listing, you are merely presenting it.", "replies": [{"id": "cuqr6hx", "text": "Agreed - most of the tenants in our area (Bay Area) are about as loyal as a politician.  ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "cuw79m4", "text": "I typically staple my card to my senior broker's brochures when passing them out. That way they can usually tell who came in and can pull it off and keep it for later.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "cuqr89j", "text": "This is basically exactly what my broker said he did when he was fighting in the streets and something I think would work best. Face to face.  I've been using xceligent (kind of like costar) and doing tenant searches and literally calling random people on a listing I have to see if they're interested. The gatekeeper is always the hardest part to get through. Have any advice or keywords to use to get to the decision maker in a face to face scenario ?   \n\n\nThanks a ton for the response and advice.", "replies": [{"id": "cuqrnpy", "text": "Get out there in the streets - don't be afraid.  ", "replies": [{"id": "cur2bs0", "text": "10X this, not only are people generally more welcoming in person, but you'll learn tons about the market. Stuff will stick in your head years later from walking through a building. There is no substitute for really knowing a market", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "cuv17t0", "text": "Face to face is crazy important. I'm fairly new and I've learned that if I happen to get a tenant interested in finding space, meeting with them face to face as soon as I can (before anything really) is imperative. \n\nLooking at the deals I've closed and the ones I'll be closing, they have almost all involved an early face to face meeting. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "cuw7kyo", "text": "Always befriend the front desk/secretary and write her name on the back of their business card. Ask really easy questions like hows your day, what do you guys do, hows business, any office talk about expanding or moving? Then leave, don't linger around. Next time you walk in call her by name, say you were in the area and just stopped by then ask questions like the decision makers name etc. \n\nI also once thought about asking them to collect brochures from other brokers that stop by (vs throwing them away) and every month or two trade them a $10 Starbucks card for the brochures so you can see who is actively canvassing the market. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cuqu0yw", "text": "Step two: As an investor in MF, send me a deal and don't sweet talk me. Know your numbers and get them ALL to me asap. If you get my email, it is because I want you to send me anything of interest. It's not spam when it is my job too. If I write you back, I want it unless there is something to prove otherwise. Just get me the facts. I am sure there is a lot of overflow there for your field. Industrial guys should be like me on steroids.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]