When listing a commercial or retail property for sale or for lease, it is easy to cut corners or succumb to the pressures of the client and their ‘special deal’ requests as part of the listing process. The reality is that the real estate agent understands the property market far better than the client. On that basis the real estate agent should be confident and decisive in the presentation and listing process; discounts and short-cuts should not apply.These three golden rules to the listing and marketing process will improve the opportunities of successful sale or lease for both the client and the agency.Vendor paid advertising is a critical component of the marketing decision when it comes to taking a property to market today. Understandably clients like to cut corners and expenses when it comes to the property sale. The reality is that shortcuts in vendor paid advertising are counterproductive and will in fact produce fewer enquiries. You would think that the property vendor would understand the importance of this expenditure at the time of sale or lease. The agent or the salesperson should therefore consistently recommend strategies of vendor paid advertising for each and every listing. As part of that process to help the client further, the agent can offer two or three vendor paid marketing packages that give the client a budgetary choice.
An exclusive listing is really the only way to take a property to the market if the client is serious in the sale or lease. The exclusive listing process gives the client the dedicated focus of the salesperson and agency for a fixed period of time. All property inspections, negotiations, and communications can be specifically constructed to bring about the best outcome in the property sale or lease for the client. Any client that insists or asks for an open list strategy is essentially wasting their own time and also that of the agency. The reality is that open listings stay on the market much longer than exclusive agencies. Open listings are simply an exercise in random marketing and generate random enquiry. On average, successful exclusive listing processes in commercial or retail property should be for a period of four months. After that time the property will have saturated the local property market; if a sale or lease has not occurred, and the real estate agent performed their duties correctly, then it is better to take the property off the market for later repositioning, pricing, and relisting.
The right method of sale or lease should be suitably chosen to give the marketing campaign real momentum, maximize and optimise the property enquiry, and clearly support the client with their ultimate property disposal targets. In any given property market, the methods of sale or lease will vary subject to the property type, the target market, and the levels of local enquiry. On this basis, the real estate agent should give the client significant and real local area recommendations to consider as part of the method of sale or lease decision.As simple as these three elements are, it is remarkable how some agencies and salespeople do not prepare well for the appropriate supporting arguments and negotiations with the client. It pays to remember that the client requires property assistance in the most timely and efficient way; cutting corners or giving concessions should not feature in the listing process. On that basis the three points above are consistently the 3 golden rules to address in listing and marketing of any commercial or retail property.