Mention the word ‘prospecting’ in polite circles and the image that immediately jumps to mind is that of a grizzly old man, ankle-deep in a stream panning for gold.  Just a few years ago, if you referred to ‘prospecting’ at a shopping center gathering, people automatically thought of a leasing person visiting the competitors’ malls, walking the streets and making the rounds of the handful of tenant rep firms/consultants.

Prospecting for tenants today seems to be little more than a search on Google.  The prospecting now involves scanning the websites of the various real estate brokers, hoping that those sites are being kept up to date, accurate and that they clearly identify the difference between exclusive representation and ‘I spoke to them on the phone once’.  And it’s all done from the convenience of the office……….and sometimes from the living room on an iThing.

Aside from being another ‘convenience’ introduced by the computer age, it has reduced the leasing representative to a clerk or order-taker. Oh sure, I’ll upset a few and I’m sure there will be several “What do you know?’ emails but having been a ‘student’ of this industry (yes, a ‘student’ because none of us knows it all.  We’re all still learning……that is, if we allow ourselves to learn) for over 30 years, I’ve seen the good, the bad and yes, the ugly.  That’s correct, some of the deals I’ve seen certainly weren’t pretty, but they got done all the same.  While many of today’s leasing people will all rant about how they are instrumental in the deals but, in fact, most of the new deals are initially generated by the brokers.  And in most cases those deals, that now can stretch into months or more, are kept ‘on the rails’ by the brokers.

It’s the broker that recognizes the expandable concept.  He/she must delicately separate the tenant’s expectations from reality and then generate an interest from landlords’ leasing department, accountants, lawyers, witch doctors, etc.

The image of a prospector today is that of a frazzled broker/juggler trying to keep a dozen or more transactions ‘in the air’ at any one time.  Ya might think of that when it comes time to sign the cheques for the service.  That’s right, it only looks easy……………..WP