Are you a commercial real estate agent or broker looking to boost your sales leads? You’re in the right place! We’ll dive into some effective strategies to help you generate more commercial real estate leads. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned pro, these tips will help you connect with potential clients and close more deals.
#1 Freebie / Lead Magnet
Freebies are valuable marketing materials that include helpful information that your target audience wants to know. Examples include: eBooks, checklists, videos, podcasts, online courses, webinars, etc.
You’ll use a freebie as a lead magnet. Offer your freebie in exchange for someone to join your contact list, or reply to your cold email / text/ call.
You can automate your lead magnet with a website landing page that offers the freebie AFTER your prospect fills out a form and signs up for your list. After they sign up, it can automatically send the PDF, video, or webinar, etc., without any work on your end.
When you know you have a lead magnet that works, you can use it in advertising. Offer your freebie in places your target market frequents like the newsletters they read, online ads, website banner ads, etc. to get leads coming to you on autopilot.
Freebies are a great way to bring a fresh supply of leads hands-free. You can turn on and off your advertising of a working freebie to run traffic to it if your pipeline is too busy or starts drying up.
Not sure how to make a lead magnet? Lead Magnet Hero has pre-made freebies you can use exclusively made for commercial real estate lead generation.
#2 Newsletter
In commercial real estate, we have long lag times from when we meet a prospect to when they become a paying client. This is because we deal in larger dollar amounts than other industries. The larger the transaction, the longer it takes someone to decide who to go with.
Keeping in touch is key when you’re dealing with long lag times between first contact and transaction.
Keeping in touch is easy when your list is under 100 people. You can make individual calls, emails, and texts because it’s not that much work.
When your contact list gets above 100 people, you’ll need to switch to following up at scale. Provide value in the form of a monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly newsletter. Providing value consistently will be the easiest and best way to get potential clients’ attention and keep in their minds.
I know what you’re thinking. “How can I possibly think of a new topic every week?” Newsletter Hero has 100+ topics for a commercial real estate newsletter.
#3 Blog / Video / Podcasting
If you’re creating a newsletter like #2, you can use that content to create blogs, videos and/or podcasts.
If you don’t have the time or energy to put to build content right now, start with announcements of your new listings, link to helpful articles, videos and podcasts to get your audience interested.
You can share this content on your newsletters and social media to increase lead generation.
#4 Mailers
I’m going to be honest with you, I used to be a huge fan of mailers back when it was $0.25 for a postcard to be printed and mailed. Now it’s more like $1, I’m more reluctant to use mailing in a marketing plan.
However, the FCC is deciding whether or not to remove the B2B exception on cold calling, so we might need to give a hard look to postcards in the future.
If you must do mailers, I suggest doing small batches until you have a proven message that works. Use your cold calling list and mail out a postcard that advertises your freebie. You can give it a separate landing page so you can track how many people saw the mailer and filled out the form. Track those folks to see if they become paying clients.
#5 Local Online Advertising
Consider setting-up your business in online directories such as Yahoo!, Google, and Yelp. An enhanced local listing can increase your online viewership, get more traffic to your website, and increase your leads.
Both Yelp and Google My Business allow you to create a business profile that appears in local search results. When potential clients search for commercial real estate services in your area, your business is more likely to show up, increasing your visibility.
Having a presence on these platforms adds credibility to your business. Clients can read reviews and see ratings, which can build trust and make them more likely to contact you.
Creating and maintaining profiles on Yelp and Google My Business is free. You can also opt for paid advertising options to further boost your visibility.
Optimize your Local Google My Business Profile for SEO.
#6 Social Media
I’ve found that participating in social media can raise your website’s ranking in search engines. For this reason, alone, it’s worth it. You don’t have to post across all social media platforms to make a mark. Instead, choose one to focus on, and give it high quality content.
Regularly posting on social media helps keep your brand top-of-mind for potential clients. The more people see your name and content, the more likely they are to remember you when they need commercial real estate services.
Want to outsource your social media? Fiverr.com has Social Media managers available on a short term contract basis.
#7 Associations
Associations often host events, meetings, and conferences where you can meet other professionals in the industry. These networking opportunities can help you build relationships that may lead to referrals and new clients.
Chamber of Commerce, NAIOP, Better Business Bureau and your local university will all have events. Meeting fellow business owners and independent agents can bring in referrals and word of mouth advertising.
#8 Charity
Social involvement in churches, schools, universities, and other non-profits can bring more word-of-mouth leads.
Charitable donations are often rewarded with linking your website with theirs. This is a big deal with SEO since .org backlinks are Internet unicorns – very rare and difficult to get.
However, you’ll be shelling out some bucks regularly to get that boost in search engine ranking as most charities only keep your link for a few months at a time. But frequent donations can keep you on their website.
#9 Networking
Industry conventions are one of the best places to network.
NAIOP, CCIM and ICSC have some great events.
There also may be some great, local conventions in your area.
Also, consider events your target market may attend. For example, attending “World of Concrete” may sound boring, but if you specialize in developers, it’s worth a try.
#10 Cold Emails
Emails are the most effective forms of marketing. When directing emails to those who are not familiar with you or your services, craft a catchy but informative subject and a concise message.
To step it up a notch, email personalization is a simple method that increases the response rate drastically.
Just having personalized email subject lines is enough to raise the chances they’ll be opened by up to 26%. Some examples are: “John, increase tenant retention” “JRB Investments – Have any vacancies?” or “Katy, tour new offices”.
#11 Cold Calls
If you’re old-school, this is your go-to for hitting up sales leads. But let’s be honest with each other. Cold calling is exhausting and time consuming. Consider using some newer techniques with your cold-call routine like Mass Texting.
Did you know 26% of text messages get read? Just a message of, “Thought you might be interested in a new 10,000 SF retail center I’m listing for sale in Scottsdale. Below is the LoopNet link…” could bring in prospects.
Want some help with your cold call game? Cold Lead Hero can show you how to automate your cold calls, provides pre-written scripts and cold email templates to warm up those cold leads.
#12 Get a Website
Did I say 11? I’m adding one more.
A well-designed website can be a powerful tool for commercial real estate lead generation. Optimizing your website for search engines can help you rank higher in search results. By targeting keywords like “commercial real estate [city],” you can attract more organic traffic from people searching for your services.
If you’re ready to start working on generating leads, the first step is getting a website. Can’t scale without landing pages and integrations!
Anyone can create a pretty website, slap buttons on it and claim it’s “lead gen.”
I’m the only one offering the Sales Funnel Masterclasses to give you strategies on how to drive traffic to your website, create lead magnets that work, and nurture your leads so you can bring in more sales.
A website without the ability to generate and nurture leads is jewelry. It’s nice, but not useful.
Without a sales funnel, you won’t get long lasting results, period.
If you’re nodding along, let’s get started! Schedule a call or zoom.
I’m out to take the “broke” out of commercial real estate brokerage.
I want to start with you.
You ready? Schedule a call or zoom.