The impact of the threat of the coronavirus has set a tone and a feeling within our nation that’s been unprecedented since 9/11. However, right after 9/11 we were still free to walk around, go to events, visit shopping malls, and go to restaurants. So in my opinion, the ongoing fear, and the restrictions now set upon us, along with our ongoing concerns around the coronavirus are impacting us even more severely.
With this in mind, your clients and prospects are now stunned, wondering what this now means to their lives, their families, their income, their security, and the value of their commercial real estate, too.
So this represents an opportunity for you to now rise up and become the voice within your market for how this will now impact commercial real estate property values, the desire for people to engage in commercial real estate transactions, and the ability of tenants to even pay their rent.
Your commercial real estate brokerage competitors are going to be stunned right now just like everyone else is, and they are very unlikely to recognize the value in becoming the voice of authority on this subject within your market. So with this in mind, here are some ideas on how you can rise to the occasion and provide a service to all of your clients and prospects around this:
1) Send your clients and prospects a mailer, or at the minimum an E-mail, addressing this subject right now, and then send them follow-up communications as you observe how the impact of this subject continually evolves within your territory.
2) Create blog posts telling everyone what you’re observing on this subject, and continually create new blog posts on what you’re observing, because your people will want to know about these new updates as quickly as possible. Then send your people E-mails containing links to your new blog posts on this subject, to enable the maximum number of people to then read your blog posts.
3) Consider hosting teleconferences or online meetings featuring 2-3 top real estate investors or developers in your area, including maybe even a local economic expert, too, and having these people all give their opinions on the impact that this will now have on your market. Your people will want to hear the opinions of the investment leaders in your community who they admire, and with you being the one bringing all these leaders together, and conducting the interviews, you’ll rise up in the minds of your clients and prospects as the one broker they should probably be working with on their next transactions. In addition, you can record these teleconferences and online meetings, and then E-mail a link out to all of your people, so they can watch and listen to them, as the majority of your people will not be able to join you for the actual live events.
While the world is going through a very tough time right now, people need leadership and direction around all of this, and you are the one top expert who can provide this to them around how all of this will be impacting your market. So seize this opportunity, and be the one providing them with this leadership and direction, and don’t be afraid to tell them the bad news directly, along with telling them your long-term vision for how things may then begin changing and improving down the road for the better.