Does Anybody Care About How a Building is Dressed?

The Broker was sailing along in his upscale German car on the way to an appointment that he thought would most likely result in a Listing on an office building he had been working on for months.  Although usually dressed in business casual attire he had on a suit and dress shirt with imported Italian tie.

While zipping up the freeway he glanced at the clock and saw that it was after 1 p.m. and he didn’t need to be at the appointment until 1:45. Great News! There was time to stop and get a quick burger and fries, satiate himself and then get to the appointment.

Everything was moving along nicely. It was just past the lunch crowd, he could walk up to the counter place his order and sit down for a few minutes.  That’s just what he did after he picked up his lunch order at the counter.

The burger was perfect, he bit into it and the taste was just what he dreamt about.  Then it happened. Splat, splat splat.  He didn’t want to look but he did and there was musturd and ketchup and juice from the delicious burger on his new yellow Italian silk designer tie.  A distincly American pattern that said “slopply eater” was facing him.

Salesmanship 101 tells you that you must dress for success to get ahead. Can you walk into a Lisiting meeting with stains all over your tie and expect to walk away with a Listing. The answer is:maybe you can and maybe the client doesn’t want to deal with a slob.  The more competative the market is the more likely the client will be turned off by a potential representative that can’t manage to stick his lunch in his own mouth.

Well, the same principal applies to commercial properties.  Times are tough and leasing is tougher these days. It is not easy putting money into vacancies and waiting for a tenant. It is so much nicer to keep the money until a tenant wants the space and then fix it up accordingly.

The only problem is that with so much vacant properties on the market it is vital that when someone looks at yours it shows better than the competition.  Price is really king today but the reality is that many people want a good price on a really good space to lease. That is they want exceptional value, not a cheap rent on a junky property.

The salesman has to get the food off the tie, buy another tie, or take off the tie completely and try to look hip.  Showing up with huge stains is simply not an option.

Why do property owners then, leave suites with ruined carpeting, unpainted, broken window coverings with the hopes of fixing it  when they finally get a tenant.  Unfortunately they often don’t get a tenant even after multiple people have visited it.

Really good value is not found in a junky property at a low price. Tenants and buyers know that and so do the owners.  It is no good pretending otherwise.

Remember salesmanship 101 and dress your property for success.