What is Canvassing Karma?

People ask me all the time what exactly is Canvassing Karma, and I know when people ask me, that they are not systematic or routine canvassers, because if they were, they wouldn’t have to ask.

I get a canvassing karma experience at least once, if not twice a month. I remember I was waiting for a huge deal to get approved by Bethesda Wellness Center, which is the main hospital corporation or facility in Palm Beach County. The deal was going to be over 15,000 sq feet on a second floor of a retail shopping center in Boynton Beach, and I had been working on this deal for months, and months, and months. They were finally going to be presenting it to the board and I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

I literally stayed in the office for a few days after the meeting because I didn’t want to miss the call, which was a big mistake, but I didn’t know better back then. So finally, after three days of waiting, and my boss telling me that I couldn’t call them, I had to wait for them to call me, you know, some negotiating ploy, I went out canvassing. And wouldn’t you know it, when I got back to the office, and this is before cellphones, I had a voicemail from the Facilities Director saying, “Congratulations! The deal was approved, send us the leases.”

That was my first example of Canvassing Karma, I was so excited, and it’s happened a lot since. In fact, when there’s something I want to happen, I purposely leave the office, even if I wasn’t planning on canvassing, just because I know that if I go canvassing, the thing that I want to happen on a deal, will happen.

Canvassing Karma is this unscientific result of what happens when the universe rewards the person for taking extra effort to prospect; to leave their offices, to get off their butts and actually go and do something that’s hard and welcome rejection.

Pretty much no one in their right minds would not want to get out of their comfort zone and welcome rejection in their lives, so what the universe does is reward them for doing the work.

So what happens exactly?

Sometimes you plan, some times you just wing it, but regardless, you’re out of your office, speaking to people that you don’t know, giving them suggestions of properties that you could offer them for them to open additional locations.

When you get back to the office or even before that, you check your emails or your texts, and you find out that the person you’ve been waiting to call you back on that deal has called you, or emailed you, or texted you.

That’s Canvassing Karma, and the reason why it’s called canvassing karma is because, if you were to just hang out in your office and wait for that phone to ring or that email to come in and let you know about that letter of intent or lease, those calls or emails don’t come in.

Canvassing Karma is the karma you receive with the good news on the deal when you’re out in the field, playing the game of offense or doing something that is not comfortable versus sitting in your office waiting for the phone to ring.

I constantly get calls from people around the country, and emails and texts, that say, “I had a canvassing karma today!”, so I know it’s just not me, it’s probably something that’s in our industry and it makes me very excited to hear it.

How does one just go canvassing when they don’t feel like it?

The simple answer is, like Nike, you just do it.

There are two kinds of canvassing, there’s target canvassing and market canvassing. Market canvassing is when you go from shopping center to shopping center and you’re just canvassing in the market. Target canvassing is when you pick a use that you want in your shopping center, for example, a bike store, you find out that there are 23 bike stores in your county, and you try to hit all 23 bike stores in a span of a week or two. Certainly, when you’re out, if you find a bike store in a shopping center, you can canvass it, but you don’t then go to the shopping center next door to it, you continue where you left off and try to go to the other bike stores on the list.

The best way to do it is to time block. That’s what I do; my goal is to go out every Tuesday afternoon from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. I don’t always achieve that, but if I can achieve that at least twice a month, it’s good for me, considering I got a bunch of other things I’m doing now.

When I was a young leasing agent and canvassing was 80% of my job, I would go every day from about 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. I started at 10:00 am because that’s when the stores opened, and I wanted to get back to the office at around 4:00 pm so that I could follow up on anything that was happening in the office that I needed to follow up on.

So now that you know the power of canvassing karma and how to get it, create a system that works for you and GO OUT THERE AND CANVASS!

I’ll be hosting a canvassing breakfast in Las Vegas on May 19th at the Waldorf Astoria! Your ticket? Email me your canvassing and/or canvassing karma story at beth@azoradvisoryservices.com.

Don’t Be the First to Say No

Most of us are silently saying no to prospects before we’ve asked them a single question. “They won’t be interested.” “They’re too small.” “They can’t afford our rates.” These thoughts show up automatically, and we listen to them without even realizing it. I think this comes from how we’re raised. As kids we hear no constantly, and we’re taught to just accept it. So as adults, we do everything we can to avoid hearing it again. One way we do that is by saying no on someone’s behalf before we ever give them the chance to answer for themselves. The flip side is just as damaging. When we do hear no from a prospect, some of us swing the other way and refuse to accept it, pushing and pressuring until it feels like a hard sell. Neither reaction serves you. Both come from the same place, an old discomfort with the word no that has nothing to do with your business today. The fix is simple, even if it takes practice. Ask the question you’re avoiding. Let the prospect answer for themselves. If they say no, thank them and move on. If they say yes, you just found a deal

July 20, 2026

Ask What They Do Now

Early in my career, a man called about my vacant 6,000 square foot end cap in Lake Worth. He said he wanted to open a video store as a prototype before franchising it. I laughed, told him the space was built for a restaurant, and filed his info a year out. I even wrote “Video Store, Ha!” on the sheet. That man was Wayne Huizenga. One year later his video store had 40 locations. It became Blockbuster. I didn’t lose that deal because of the space. I lost it because I never asked one simple question. From now on, ask every prospect these two questions before you do anything else. What do you do now? What made you call on my center today? These two questions tell you in thirty seconds whether you’re talking to a time waster or your next anchor tenant. Don’t skip them just because a prospect sounds unusual or too small to matter. Rockstar Tip: Never assume you already know how a call is going to go. Ask, then listen.

July 13, 2026

Stop Answering For Your Prospects

My first day in commercial real estate, my boss left me alone in the office with a pile of onboarding papers and zero training. I didn’t know a rent roll from a hole in the ground. I just knew I was supposed to prospect. So I called the only company I could think of with more than one location, a print shop I’d passed on my drive in that morning. I asked if they were looking to expand. They said yes. We signed them for their new corporate headquarters, and I went from rookie to Leasing Agent within weeks. I got that deal because I asked the question and stayed quiet long enough to hear the answer. I didn’t decide for that prospect that they weren’t interested. Most agents lose deals before they ever pick up the phone. They see an established business and assume the owner is happy. They see a struggling business and assume it can’t afford to expand. They see a national brand and assume it already has a broker. Every time, they’ve said no for a prospect who never got asked. Your job is to ask, not predict. Every business on your route is a lead

July 6, 2026

When You’re on a Deadline, Change the Game

If you bought a shopping center with a short-term loan—bridge, mezzanine, or hard money—you probably have one mission: increase NOI fast so you can refinance. When that clock is ticking, your leasing strategy needs to change. The first mistake I see owners make is misreading the market. If the market rent is $15 but you’re holding out for $20 because an online report told you that number, you’re wasting precious months. When you have a deadline, you must know the real market—by walking properties, talking to leasing agents, and confirming vacancy levels yourself. If the market is soft or vacancy is high, sometimes the smartest move is to get aggressive early. For example, you might offer a discounted first-year rate that steps up over time—$8 in year one, $12 in year two, and market rent by year three. This helps you fill space quickly and grow NOI, which is what your lender cares about. You can also create urgency with your leasing team. Instead of the standard commission, offer short-term “bounty” bonuses for specific spaces that must be leased by a certain date. Large REITs use this tactic all the time to move stubborn vacancies. Finally, remember that timing matters.

June 29, 2026

Beth's Resources

Beth has established a reputation for “giving back” and creating a legacy of helping others. To support this mission, she offers a wealth of FREE resources for individuals in the retail leasing industry, whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned professional. Her collection includes case studies from her nearly 40 years of experience, providing practical insights and guidance. With Beth’s resources, you’ll gain valuable tools to navigate the complexities of retail leasing and achieve your professional goals.

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