I just finished listening to a Gary Vaynerchuk podcast. He’s awesome! If you don’t already, go follow him and listen to his thoughts. Although he’s not a real estate guy, his content helps us because our industry is inherently entrepreneurial.
One thing he said that really pertains to our industry is “go where the fish are.” If you are filling shopping centers with local independent retailers, go where all the locals are.
I go to chambers of commerce. The average chamber across the country has 300 members. Of those, usually, 10% are people who lease space: the local chocolatier, the sign-o-rama, the insurance people. They rent space from shopping centers and are usually very involved with their business.
I notice at the Chamber breakfasts that there are NO landlord leasing agents!
If you go, you will be the only CRE person there.
The challenge is that you need to be persistent and consistent with the chamber. Go six times in a row so they know you are not a fly by night member. I get two deals per year on average from the chamber.
It usually begins with someone approaching you asking about “help for a friend” doing a renewal. Provide them with market knowledge and be an expert for them. Don’t pitch them on your centers! Just provide them with knowledge and cement yourself as the commercial real estate expert of the chamber.
The second thing I picked up from Gary was “do the reps.” He was talking about social media. I was thinking of it in leasing terms. We need to hit the canvasses, hit the cold calls, hit the Facebook prospecting every day and get your reps in.
During one of my first big projects, a 400,000sf center, I hit 100 prospects per day for six months before I got anything leased. But then it all fell into play… because I did the reps. That was my first $100,000 year. HIT YOUR REPS.
