Commercial Real Estate Agents – Beware of Competitors Taking Your Listings

When you work in a commercial real estate agency, you’ll soon see that the industry is very competitive in many ways. In this economic and real estate environment, many brokers find it difficult to list quality stocks.

It is not uncommon for other agents to chase your listings, even if they are exclusive listings. It is also not unusual for some buyers or renters to approach the property owner directly in an effort to get a “cheaper deal.” Unfortunately, when it comes to quoting and trading, a client will listen to anyone who has something to say; you have to control this fact.

On that basis, it pays to let your clients know early on in their listing processes that they are likely to be approached by other agents to take their listing and derail marketing efforts. When and if that happens, you must tell the client to refer all contacts from anyone to you, the exclusive agent.

When you control the property investigation, you keep these distractions to a minimum. You control all communication and can rate any inquiry to make sure it’s genuine.

Exclusive agencies?

In the real estate industry it is always desirable for an agent to have unique or exclusive agencies. Based on that, the client will commit to your services for a fixed period of time and you will be able to control marketing and inspections.

When you factor in the type of property, the property inquiry level, and the location of the listed property, your agency’s term is likely to be a minimum of 90 to 120 days. In that time, you can market the property comprehensively and capture the right level of property inquiries through targeted marketing campaigns.

Some of the most notable problems in the competitive areas of real estate can best be summarized as follows:

• Signs for listed properties may be interfered with or removed. It is not unusual to place a sign on a property and see it disappear within 24 hours. This of course is an illegal process; you have yet to find the person who removed or damaged the sign.
• When you put up a sign on a property, the agents who compete with you are likely to approach the client directly. They will tell the client a number of things to infer that they are the best agent that can help them when the listing expires with you.
• Other agents will tell the client that they have made certain mistakes in regards to marketing the property through you and that those agents already have a source of qualified buyers ready to inspect immediately.
• The other agents will tell the client that they have some buyers who want to review the property at this time and will simply seek the client’s approval to do so. The agents infer that they are always in conjunction with you and will talk to you later (not true).

For all of the above, at the time of the sale the client tends to listen to anything and everyone when they are trying to sell or rent their property. This is a fact and a problem that he needs to control.

Stay in control as an exclusive agent

While unethical, other agents will try to bypass your listing or go after your agency appointment, and get their ‘foot in the door’ when it comes to that particular property listing. As soon as you put a sign on the property or post it on the internet, the property becomes common knowledge to everyone. Prepare the client for the pressures they will be subjected to and tell them that all inquiries should be directed to you as their agent in the transaction.

Successful agents working in the industry provide a high level of service and market insight to the established and prospective clients they work with. The best commercial agents will not adopt unfair and unprofessional business practices, knowing that the news will soon spread locally and have some impact on their image and reputation in the market.

It is best for commercial real estate agents to cooperate with each other through an established joint agent relationship. When the market is slow, this level of cooperation has general benefits, both in the exchange of information on closed deals, as well as the opportunity to introduce your clients or buyers to the properties of other agents.