Leasing Tip of the Day: Find the Right Contact for the Big Fish

Landing those big national tenants? It’s all about finding the right person. You might be a “local yokel” in their eyes, but don’t act like one! Get to the right contact—the person with real power in your market.

Here’s the golden rule: don’t just fire off an email to the top exec and hope it trickles down. Find out who the actual rep is for your area (trust me, it’s not that hard). And whatever you do, don’t spam multiple people within the same company hoping one bites—that’s a fast track to being ignored.

Start with the local broker. Most tenant reps want a buffer; they’re swamped. If you want to CC the tenant rep, fine, but respect the chain and go through the broker.

Need some leads? Try these sources:

• Retail Lease Trac for direct contacts.
• Retail Live and ICSC conferences for face-to-face networking.
• LinkedIn and corporate websites for online research.
• Or just call HQ and ask who handles leasing in your city—most often, they’ll point you in the right direction.

Be smart about who you reach out to, and land those deals by building connections that count!