There are various levels of sales pitch in commercial real estate and different reasons to do one. The stages of the commercial real estate transaction will provide many opportunities or need for a pitch by the agent or salesperson.
You will be pitching to the seller, buyer, tenant, or investor; they all have needs to listen to you and perhaps accept your offering.
Here are a few of the examples of when you will need to do a sales pitch in sales or leasing of commercial or retail property:
When you want a meeting with the property owner
When you are making cold calls
When you are explaining your services to the property owner
When you are seeking vendor marketing funds to the sale or lease of the property
When you want the listing signed so you can act on the property.
When you are negotiating the listing price or rent for the property
When you are inspecting the property with the potential buyer or tenant as the case may be
When you are negotiating the sale price to go on the contract
When you are negotiating the rent to be placed on the lease of the premises
When you want to qualify the buyer or tenant before you decide you will represent them or introduce them to the listings that you have on your books.
The principles of the sales pitch are always similar in structure. You just add the elements relevant to the deal. Here they are:
Before you start the sales pitch or negotiation, take some time to understand the alternatives the other person has if they do not agree with your offering. This is called a BATNA (Best Alternative to No Agreement).
Get the other parties attention by asking questions and seeking their ideas about the property situation they are in. Information here will give you the edge.
Restate their comments in your words so they can see that you really understand them and their needs.
Drill down on the highest priority factors that the other party must have satisfied in the property deal.
Detail how the property or your services will satisfy the core factors of concern, and tell stories of how you have done just that for other people before.
Move your main sales pitch through a series of smaller and easier agreements. Many small agreements make the larger agreement much easier.
The pitch should be more about the other party and less about your ideas. It is a conversation that is biased towards them.
When you have any form of agreement, get it in writing before you move ahead.
Simple rules to follow but they work. A sales pitch is really not a pitch; in commercial real estate it is a directed conversation of focus, ideas, and knowledge.
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