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When it comes to commercial real estate or retail real estate we tend to focus on the features of the property as part of the marketing process. We inspect the property, review the target market, and build on the features that we determine are important to the marketing process.

Whilst this process works quite successfully for listed properties, it also needs to work successfully for you personally. Consider these questions:

• Exactly what are the features of the service that you bring to your customers and prospects?
• Why are you any different than any other agent in the local area?

To be a top agent in this industry, you really do need to determine some solid points of difference and features that you bring to your clients and prospects.

There is no point in being the same as every other agent in the local area.

When you ask an average agent about their relevance to the client and the listing, and perhaps even seek some guidance on the points of difference in their service, they will usually give you one or more of the following comments:

• We have been in the area a long time
• We understand the market
• We are better than the other agents in the area
• We have done the deals
• We have a great team of professionals
• People trust us to do the job
• We know what we’re doing
• We have a significant amount of knowledge and experience

Whilst these statements may be relevant and correct, just about every competitor in your property market will say the same thing. Clients get bored in listening to generality and soft marketing pitches.

There are no real points of difference in any of the above comments for the client to choose you as the best agent or salesperson to help them as opposed to any of your competitors.

Real points of difference are driven from strategy and confidence. Both of those are personal traits that can be incorporated by you into every pitch and sales presentation. This is an individual thing and that is what makes a top agents stand well and truly above everyone else in the market.

You can pick a top agent in the presentation and connection that they make with the client; they connect with relevance.

Cut out the ‘Generality’

The client doesn’t want to hear generality; they need to be convinced that you truly understand the best way forward to produce the best results for them in the shortest possible time. Those facts will always be built around strategy and confidence.

To solve the client connection problem, try answering the following questions for the client in your sales pitch or presentation:

1. How can we approach the market uniquely to achieve a better rate of enquiry than that which applies to competing buildings currently?
2. What will be the target market and how will you attract the target market to the property?
3. What makes the listed property stand out as unique and special to the target market segment?
4. How would you inspect the property with qualified prospects so that they fully understand the features of the property?
5. Given the features of the property and the improvements as they currently exist, how will you encourage negotiation and the process of going to contract or lease?
6. What challenges can you help the client with now as part of consolidating the listing and marketing process?

These questions are far more relevant to the client in the listing process than the generic statements that we spoke of earlier. If you can address these five questions specifically in your listing and sales pitch, it is quite likely that your chances of attracting the listing will be significantly improved.

You are actually the product or service that needs to be sold first; when you do that well, the listing becomes easier.

They say practice makes perfect, and when it comes to commercial and retail real estate in today’s market, the statement remains very relative. Take the five factors above and refine them into a specific sales presentation process covering your property specialty and property service.

Many people do not understand that you can negotiate when you buy a house too. Just because the amount is huge or because the people opposite you look formidable, you don’t have to be scared to negotiate. In fact, most of the salesmen quote a slightly higher rate as they expect you to negotiate.

Most of the new high rise apartments have a price tag + a price for floor rise. For example, the rates currently at Khandivili (Mumbai, India) are around Rs 6000 + Rs 20-40 per floor rise. So, a house at the 10th floor would be around Rs 6200-6400 per square foot.  

Recently, I was talking to a salesman of a reputed builder, who happens to be a friend of mine, about what negotiations go on and what results. Though I knew he wouldn’t disclose all, he gave away one secret – most builders do away with the floor rise during negotiations. So, you should not worry about floor rise prices when you desire higher floors.           

Apart from this, you can also negotiate for the price per square feet. However most builders are not comfortable doing this as they feel it would lead to a falling trend or a reduced image for their company. The price is not the only thing that you can negotiate. There are heaps of other costs that you will incur relating to your house and you can try your hand in negotiating for them too. For example, 

i)   A reduction in the price of the parking that you purchase

ii)  A reduced booking fee

iii)  A reduced cancellation fee

iv)  A request to bear the stamp duty and registration fee. (Many resale dealers accept this !)

v)  If your builder is an interior decorator/ has experts on his payroll, you can negotiate and get him to make modular kitchens/ bedroom cupboards etc. for your new house. My brother-in law has got himself such a deal for his new house in Chennai.

So, don’t limit yourself to negotiating only for the price of the house. If things don’t work well in that dimension, try the other ones I have listed above.

Do you have anything more to add to the list that has helped in your real estate negotiations?