When the owner of a commercial property invites you to submit a proposal to sell it, you may only get that one opportunity to get the message of the proposal and your marketing strategy across. Unfortunately, most vendor invitations to present sales proposals are sent to multiple agents for a single property, so the message in the document must be clear and the conversion result is critical.
Before you start any proposal, ask yourself this question. ‘What makes me different in marketing this property?’ If you don’t have a clear answer, then there is a major problem.
Too many agents enter a competitive property sales proposal situation with a focus on one or more of the following:
- Discounted Sales Rates
- discount commission
- Advertising at a discount or paid by an agent
- inflated price quote
While some of this may initially be attractive to the client, it does little to sell the property and may even backfire. Why prostitute? If you are the best real estate agent in your area then show it and make sure that the message is clear in your sales proposal.
A great proposal to sell a property is strategic and is oriented to the result that the client is looking for. Everything in your document should show your mastery and understanding of the task at hand. To be the best agent to do the job, the proposal must illustrate it.
So what are the rules to adopt here? In essence, the proposal is about the property and the client in all aspects. The following will help you with the blueprint for a great sales listing proposal.
- A statement detailing the location and characteristics of the property. The market attractiveness of the property is also part of this openness to your proposal. Copies of title deeds, plans, photos, lease schedules, and liens should also be shown here.
- A summary of the client’s requirements must be made in order to sell the property. Make sure this is fairly clear so the client knows that you fully understand the summary.
- A list of customer concerns and questions that you have identified is very helpful at this point. As a direct follow up to that, you can provide answers for the client. This shows that you are really aligned with the customer’s needs.
- An overview of the real estate market and its current trends is essential. As part of this, you should position the property in question in the market you have described, and then comment on any competing properties that are currently affecting the marketing of the property.
- Clearly define the target market that you consider relevant for the promotion of the property. Then explain how relevant the property is to that target market and the features of the property that will help you in the marketing process.
- Recommendations regarding sales methods become the natural flow from point 4 above. You must give the reasons for your selection of the method of sale. Also provide the customer with some feedback on the ‘time to market factors’ that exist at the time, and the success factors of your chosen sales method. Give the customer some reassurance that you really know that the selected sales method is the best one.
- Use timelines as an illustration of where you would like to go with this property sale promotion. Illustrations are much better than words. Gantt charts are great for this purpose.
- At this point, it is best to provide an innovative marketing strategy that complements the chosen sales method and appeals to the defined target market. The promotional strategy offered must have 2 or 3 marketing alternatives that provide the customer with a choice of budgets. Vendor-paid advertising is the rule rather than the exception when listing a commercial property. Stick to this rule.
- Ad copy is useful for giving the customer an idea of what the promotional material will look like and how it will be formatted.
- A summary of the fees and costs to make the sale should be simple and clear. While costs are always important, if you’ve done your homework on the earlier parts of your proposal, fees and costs will be less critical to the client.
All of the above points focus on the property and the customer. There is very little talk about the agency and what you bring to the property for the client. Only after all the above points are handled should you move on to agency relevance and promotion matters.
Since listing commercial properties for sale or lease is a competitive process, it is important that written submissions from owners be submitted promptly. The company that has its presentation to the owners first is likely to receive the highest consideration. However, the listing agreement or contract is an important document and must be carefully prepared to ensure that all negotiated arrangements with the owners have been included.
If possible, you should file the filing in person so that you can “walk” the owners through the paperwork and immediately clarify any issues that concern you. If possible, get exclusive listings, but whatever the situation, make sure the document is accurate, well presented, and that your oral presentation complements it.
If you think you are the best real estate agent on the market to handle the sale of the property, then your proposal has to make that very clear.