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It’s no longer enough to only sell homes – real estate agencies of today must be prepared to service local businesses, or face the consequences.
You’ve sold a home to a local tradie, and they come back asking you to find a shopfront.
A local business owner knocks on your door asking for help in setting up a new restaurant on the local high street.
Most residential real estate agencies would have to say no in these scenarios – after all, commercial property is beyond the scope of what most agencies offer. But are residential agencies shooting themselves in the foot?
Tony Roccisano, director of Professionals Mildura, knows the dangers of turning prospective clients away.
“If your residential clients come in for their commercial property needs, you don’t want to have to send them down the road to a competitor,” said Roccisano.
Roccisano first started offering commercial sales and leasing services in 1990, and he never looked back.
“It provides a thorough service to your clients and the dynamics of combining both market segments works well,” he said. “Commercial clients open more doors and elevate your profile in your community.”
Today, his Mildura team manages around 500 commercial properties with brands both large and small.
“We recently supported a German food chain to find a site to open a restaurant in Mildura and it’s always exciting to be a part of bringing something new into the main street,” said Roccisano.
Getting patronage from major chains may sound daunting to the uninitiated, but Professionals Granger Clark co-principal Matt Condit stated that it is best to start small.
“It might be a tradie needing premises or a small business looking for a shopfront,” Condit suggested.
“We have become a one-stop shop offering services across the whole suite,” he shared. “It has provided our business with attractive economies of scale.”
For Condit and his Perth-based team, offering commercial services has also helped ensure a strong pipeline of loyal repeat clients.
“We have several clients who purchased their home or an investment property from us and return for their commercial needs,” Condit said.
“It has worked really well with the two streams complementing each other and providing mutual benefits for our entire business.”
At the same time, Queensland-based principal Ron English warned that it’s important to master the unique skill set that commercial property requires before blindly running in.
“Commercial is a smart way to grow your business without a lot of outlay […] but a commercial real estate agent in selling or leasing requires a different skill set,” said English, who is the principal of Professionals Gladstone.
“It’s a whole other ballgame requiring an agent to have great knowledge in commercial – retail and industrial – and investment.”
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