Marketing Commercial Real Estate Is Not All Created Equally

The main reason that most of the marketing in Commercial Real Estate is not created equally is for the main reason that, in most cases, it's never created in the first place. Commercial Real Estate does have major differences than its younger brother, Residential Real Estate; however, many of the same rules apply when marketing Commercial Real Estate.

1. Photos are worth 1,000 words. We have all heard the same adage, yet most agents just don't care. Here's the deal, "Jack of all trades" should ALWAYS be followed by "Master of NONE." Agents should not snap their own photos of a property. A good photographer should only run $200 to $300, MAX. Furthermore, it leaves more time for the Sales agent to be doing activates that sell the property.

1. Don't hide the bottom line. If the buyer can afford the property, they can afford the property. Bottom line. The price needs to be clear and displayed. There should be no reason to hide the price; if the sales agent has done the legwork to justify the asking price, then let it be know to the world.

1. Add some pizzazz! So many of the marketing pieces that I see are missing "it". I have heard many colleagues claim that Commercial Real Estate is sold on numbers, unlike Residential. While it may be true that the numbers play a big role, sales are still based on emotion. A property trading at a 10 cap might not have the hottest sticks 'n bricks in town, but even ugly properties have someone who wants to buy them. Think of it this way... agents are being paid to market a property and should put the same amount of effort into each transaction. If the agent doesn't have a passion for the property they shouldn't be listing the property.

These 3 points can honestly be summed in one, very simple word... Passion. I see many agents finding reasons why not to do these things, but if the listing agent would put the same amount of effort into doing these 3 steps, as opposed to finding reasons not to, they would sell so much more. It boils down to finding the niche that works for each individual agent and sticking with what they know. Many agents I have met are afraid to turn down a listing. In most cases, turning down one listing outside of the agent's niche will provide more listings in the agent's niche referred by the person the agent turned away.