Presentation is More Important than Ever in a Down Office Market

As a real estate broker since 1984, I have seen two “boom and bust cycles” in commercial real estate. Starting in 1986 office vacancies in the San Francisco market hit 18% and 24% when you included sublease space. It took twelve years until 1998 for the vacancy to slowly work its way down to 12% before the next “boom cycle” began.

During my first experience in a “down” market we did not have computers, email or many presentation tools available to service our clients. Everything was put together manually. In order to set up a proper tour for a client it would take several days just to identify the properties, let alone set up the tours.

With so many choices, the clients then and now want to see as many alternatives as possible. The problem is that after a few tours the first tour presentation becomes almost meaningless, because all of the spaces begin to blend together. It was not uncommon to have numerous tours and then the last space, on the last day, of the last tour, was the space that a client would take.

In the end, the broker and the client wasted hours of productivity looking at spaces that they quickly forgot about in the long process of previewing space after space.

Now, with so many tools available to a broker, it is important not to make the same mistakes in today’s soft market. First, you must have a solid tour presentation package. Most brokers today will include a photo of a building and a brief description of the property. They may also include a floor plan. To better service a client, a parking survey and nearby services should also be included. Using Yahoo maps, all of this information can be found in minutes. There are mapping services online that also provide aerial shots of a building or area for free.

Second, you need to digitize each space. Today, digital video or picture cameras can fit in your suit pocket. Taking numerous pictures of each space and making sure that you properly catalog these pictures to make sure that your client can retrieve them at any time for quick viewing is key. I-Photo (Mac users), Eyecron, Kodak and Epson all offer free or very affordable cataloging and viewing tools to prepare your visual presentations.

Third, you need to prioritize the interest level of each property after completing the tour and then compare the top choices against future tour choices. This may seem obvious, but more times than not brokers do not take the time to put this in writing. Verbally discussing these choices does not help a client focus on choices as well as visualizing them.

Finally, getting either the building to make initial offers or you creating and presenting the initial offers on top choices early sets the stage to begin focusing on certain properties quicker. Even if your client wants to continue to see more choices, beginning the process on targeted buildings early gives you the chance to educate your clients on the overall process, realistic pricing and concession strategies. Also, create a level of competition between buildings to insure your client the best deal possible. Once a client begins the process of negotiation, at this stage he is more likely to focus on making a deal than continuing to wander.

In this competitive environment we are in today, the real estate brokers that take the extra time to use these great tools that are available to them will be the next top producers in our field.