In today’s complex property market and economic climate, choosing the right commercial property agent is a crucial decision. With so many agents out there looking for your business property owners are often at a loss about how to select the one that will meet their particular needs. So what needs to be considered?
Business Link is a nationwide organisation offering resources to businesses and they suggest the following points are key:
- Trading history – how successfully have they marketed property in the past?
- Knowledge – how well do they know the property market in your area?
- Financial security – will they still be there next week, next month?
- Reputation – do they come recommended?
- Portfolio – have they found occupiers for similar properties to yours in the past?
- Willingness – are they keen to market your property?
Read their full document here for more information.
Although this is a comprehensive list, one additional point could be added:
- Marketing strategy - how are agents planning to market your property?
Being a commercial property search engine, NovaLoca.com is in contact with many commercial property agents every day and can see the varied levels of effort agents put in to marketing properties for their clients. Therefore it is essential for the property owner to understand exactly what the agent plans to do to find an occupier for their property as quickly and as cost effectively as possible. Do not be afraid to ask them the plan and hold them accountable to it.
Some marketing methods agents may use include:
- Direct mailing/leaflet drops
- Emails
- Fax
- Printed press/ online press
- Agents’ web site
- Online property search engines
So you know what the options for marketing methods are, but how effective are they? Some useful questions to ask include:
- How many people will see the property details?
- How easy is it for an occupier to contact the agent about your property?
- What information is given to the occupier about the property?
- Can they see the property on a map, virtual tour or photograph?
- Which method generates the most leads and is most cost effective?
Our experience has shown that traditional methods of direct mailing property details, sending emails and printed press are becoming less effective when marketing commercial property as occupiers increasingly begin their property search online. Therefore make sure the agent you choose to market your property is using the latest available technology to find an occupier.
For more information about what NovaLoca can do to help market commercial property contact us.
Recessions, Credit Crunch, Downturn
What does it all mean to you and your company? How will the global decisions actually affect you? What about your company or your family?
With companies daily announcing mass redundancies, is the future all doom and gloom?
There are so many questions to be answered with very few answers. However, there is one question which may have an answer: Should we stand in line and wait to see what happens or should we step out of line and take another approach, is now the time to be innovative and start thinking outside the box?
The answer: There has never been a better time.
It is time to embrace the technology available to us all and not let the fear of the unknown be a hindrance to making the most of what it has to offer. You don’t need to be a techno guru to make technology work for you. All you need is the vision of what you want to achieve, techno guru’s are ten to the dozen and are available to help you make the dream become a reality.
A reliance on old methods to reach customers may mean you struggle unnecessarily as you fight to get your business through these challenging financial times. Even if they do manage to see you though there’s a chance that you will have been left behind in your market place. Businesses that are innovative now and find new ways to bring their products and services to market have more channels through which to attract customers which will benefit them now, as well as in the future. Utilising the latest technology, in particular web based technology, is just one medium that will open up a host of new marketing channels.
From the outset Novaloca.com aimed to be a company at the forefront of technology, using it to open the channels to property occupiers and make marketing commercial property easy. The site you see today is the product of that commitment: NovaLoca is a company that has its finger on the button and isn’t afraid to push it again and again.
The latest button to be pressed resulted in NovaLoca taking on the internet giant that is Google and winning! Having released Street View across America, Google have been developing this technology for London for some time, but they have now been beaten to it following the implementation of Street Level View imagery (collected by Seety) in NovaLoca’s maps which allows user to ‘walk’ the streets of central London from their PC.
Companies thinking outside the box and investing in innovation differentiate themselves from their competition and gets them noticed. When companies are noticed in this way the result is more website traffic, more customers seeing the product or service on offer and as a result more leads to deals are generated meaning companies are in a better position to ride out hard economic times. Innovations and new tools like Street Level View stand out from the old.
If NovaLoca had announced it was going to take on the Google you probably would have thought them mad, but with a belief in their innovation and a willingness to push the boundaries of technology they took up the challenge and won. THE END!