Cold calling tips
I’m reaching out to companies ultimately trying to find out two things:

1. When their lease expires

2. If they want to change amount the space they are currently occupying (contracting or expanding their blueprint)

How can I do this besides saying hi I am ___ with ___ and was wondering when your lease expires? 

It’s day 3 for me, so I am still really new but when I am on the phone I am having trouble providing information or something useful to these companies because I am so new that I don’t have any past experience or any substantial market knowledge to offer. So what could I say to preface my line of asking when their lease expires and if they have an interest in moving? 

Thanks
[{"id": "el52f6o", "text": "Offer some value such as some info into what's going on in the market first. Once you've warmed them up a bit ask those questions.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el5393m", "text": "I called 93 office tenants today in my area. I realized I wasn\u2019t giving them enough info and that\u2019s why they weren\u2019t giving me any. So I made up a story. \n\nI told them I might be buying an office building in their area and I wanted to know if their lease were up soon (if so when?) also how much they were paying. \n\nIt\u2019s pretty hard to get this info sometimes, people act like you\u2019re asking for their credit card or social security number when you ask basic questions like \u201chow much SF do you occupy\u201d or \u201cwhen does your lease expire\u201d.", "replies": [{"id": "el69eyi", "text": "I love the story. That\u2019s great.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "elou5hp", "text": "What\u2019s your follow up after saying sometbing like this?  I assume your end goal is to acquire them as a tenant for tenant rep or to move them into one of your listings. \n\nWhat would the next round of calls look like after you have that info?", "replies": [{"id": "elrctyu", "text": "The next round of calls would be to further build rapport. I\u2019d try to meet with them in person bring them coffee, express to them their options and how I can help. Sometimes instead of calling I just walk into large office buildings and speak with some companies directly that works 5x more than just cold calling.", "replies": [{"id": "emnuufb", "text": "My question on this is when you are essentially cold calling in person, what do you say to the companies? Just drop of a flyer and business card and introduce yourself or do you have some specific strategic approach you use while doing this form of cold calling?", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el5a3g0", "text": "Be sure to give them some information in the market... what deals you're doing, what kinds of tenants are out there, info about a new development... etc. Find one piece of info and call the 100 tenants closest to that info... the next day, find something else out. One thing that worked for me was asking them if they're not completely happy with their current office / location and what kinds of things they would change. This is more of a qualitative instead of a quantitative question and, since no one is ever happy with EVERYTHING, this will spark a conversation.   \n\n\nSometimes people want to move, not because of the size or expiration of their lease, but that they need a different location or want their building to provide something different. You can always pick up the sublease on their space after-the-fact.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el5b2f2", "text": "I\u2019m kinda slow here: why do you want that info? Do you want their spot or are offering one?", "replies": [{"id": "el5f4w0", "text": "So I can be Johnny on the spot and reach out to them a few months before their lease expires so I can represent them in signing their next lease", "replies": [{"id": "el6aypl", "text": "You get a cut but why would they need a rep if they have already secured the space? Are you going to negotiate in the same spot or show them new spots?", "replies": [{"id": "eloub2h", "text": "New space", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el5miho", "text": "This is a prospecting issue... Try and get your hands on some salesbooks \n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nOr find a private wealth management guy ...they dial for dollars all day long", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el5rfdh", "text": "What worked for me was trying to establish rapport, quickly. Follow some of the influencers on LinkedIn. Cold calling isn\u2019t dead, but you need to bring value and help them solve their problems. They want to stay in their location and get the best lease possible. You can help them get a great lease rate with your market experience, help them get longer than market lease terms if they do not want to move, help negotiate landlord concessions, etc etc.\n\nA huge help would also be to find a great mentor and buy them coffee once a month and pick their brain.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el5v6az", "text": "Always cater to your tenant: ex.(calling medical tenant) I work / have been working specifically with tenants in the medical space located in (be specific on region or city) in helping them find new space. I just had a few questions to see if I might be able to help you etc etc Obviously tweak it for every situation and sound confident but that\u2019s just some basic stuff", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el5wc50", "text": "From being on the other end of the phone, a lot of the details in the lease are confidential. Even if the Landlord doesnt insist on it, the tenant company likely will, hence the hesitation to give away that information. \n\nAlso, the tenant likely knows and is tracing their lease expiry, a few months before expiry is too late for me to want/need a broker. Asking me what the companys future retail presence will be like, if there are any general areas of interest, their struggles/challenges or future projects, etc. will open the door to building a relationship and can lead to multiple deals as opposed to just offering to negotiate someones renewal for them. \n\nHope that helps.", "replies": [{"id": "el7ud88", "text": "Awesome, lots of help thank you", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "el6vhlm", "text": "I think an important thing to keep in your mind is that, sometimes you're just not going to get the info you want from people. You cannot take that personally and think that is a reflection of your skill set. \n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nThat being said, most of the info provided in this thread is great.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "em0l4yc", "text": "My 2 cents as a former broker.\n\n\\- You're right, tenants are not going to share information with you, just so you can call and bug them later based on it.  \n\n\\- You're not ready to be making calls if you don't know how to add some value in the conversation.  The key thing you need to do, is come up with a strategy/hypothesis and call based on that.  Here are some ideas:\n\n&gt;\\- Your team has done lots of deals with XYZ industry. You call everyone in that industry and give them context on the work your team has done for that industry and what their competitors are up to.  \n&gt;  \n&gt;\\- You learn something about a particular landlord/tenant and provide that info. to the relevant tenants.  \n&gt;  \n&gt;\\- You canvass a building and determine what's going on with the tenants.  You tell the tenants about possible expansion space in the building, or perhaps the threat of a larger tenant that may have an option on their space.\n\n\\- I should mention (selfishly), that A LOT of this is made MUCH easier by having access to good comp data, and being able to proactively search for expiring leases, comps in a particular building, deals by industry, comps from a particular landlord, tenant, broker, etc. You can find all of this on CompStak - [www.compstak.com](https://www.compstak.com). It's free for brokers.  You share comps to get other comps out.\n\nP.S. You should find a senior broker to show you the ropes. If they're not giving you this kind of guidance, find someone else.  It's a two way street. If they want to be brought in on the deals you source, they need to teach you how to do the job.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]