MALL MARKETING & LEASING
Feldman Equities employs a two-punch strategy to turning around distressed real estate. First we upgrade a property physically to make it more attractive to the public. And the physical changes we make are all focused on one objective; driving traffic into the mall. For example, we recently agreed to convert a 15 screen Loews theater into stadium seating in exchange for the theater’s agreement to relocate its entrance inside of the mall. The net effect will be that over 40,000 people per week will walk through the mall.
Even as we are performing an extensive renovation, we begin an intensive marketing program geared to the public located in the local trade area. On some properties, we may budget up to a million dollars or more in order to establish constant flow of mall events. The standard that we set for the mall is be the most promoted mall in the marketplace.
On the leasing front, we make our upgrades known to the entire brokerage community, both national and local. In order to get these upgrades known, and to make our mall better known, we then conceive of an ingenious CAMPAIGN. By CAMPAIGN, I mean a well thought out series of continuous and effective steps that will bring about the result of a flood of LEADS, broker proposals and eventually signed leases. The key to any leasing campaign of commercial real estate is the CONTINUOUS ATTRACTION OF THE ATTENTION OF THE REAL ESTATE BROKER.
NOTE: The KEY to all marketing of commercial real estate is to acknowledge that the real estate broker is the "CUSTOMER" (not necessarily the tenants themselves). The overriding concept behind this campaign is to "KNOCK" on as many office BROKER doors as possible, continuously and effectively in order to convince them that:
a) OUR PROPERTY HAS UNDERGONE MAJOR CHANGES AND THAT IT IS NOW A GREAT and EXCITING PRODUCT!
b) The Director of Leasing of Feldman Equities services these "customers" very well by RESPONDING to all broker inquiries with GREAT SPEED and ACCURACY.
c) WE WANT THE BROKERAGE INDUSTRYTO KNOW THAT WE ARE HUNGRY FOR DEALS AND WILL AGGRESIVELY PURSUE EVERY LEAD.
d) FELDMAN EQUITIES WILL PAY COMMISSIONS IN FULL UPON SIGNING WITHOUT DELAY (A CHECK AT SIGNING) AT TOP COMMISSION RATES.THE CAMPAIGN
1) A leasing kit focused on brokers is prepared showing available vacant spaces, location map of the mall, anchors, demographics, glossy flyer, etc.
2) An intense effort must be made to prepare 2 broker lists. One should be a national retail broker list and the other should be a local retail broker list. These lists must be regularly updated and every effort must be made to expand the list on a constant basis.
3) A marketing budget should be drawn up and the cash flow for the entire campaign, throughout its duration should be sourced.
4) A series of creative, one page, glossy mailers should be prepared and sent out to the above broker lists. These mailers should go out in constant waves and should be as frequent as bi-monthly or at least monthly. The mailers should feature one of the above physical upgrades and then briefly mention the others.
5) A brief one-page cover letter should accompany the above glossy, and should be personally addressed to the individual broker. The envelopes should also be individually typed to avoid the appearance of junk mail. The feature item in the cover letter should be the Feldman Equities policy of payment in full, in cash, of a specific high commission rate. The other feature in the cover letter is that we are FAST & AGGRESSIVE responders to broker inquiries and that we value & protect broker relationships.
6) A list of broker oriented magazines should be drawn up for a series of print ads featuring the exciting changes at the property. Once a particular ad is shown to be successful (based upon broker interviews), these ads should be contracted for at least 6 months and should be half page or full-page ads depending upon cost.
7) A series of broker give-away items should be listed. These can include squeeze balls, coffee mugs, room measurement devices, or any other creative item that brokers will like and which would have the name and tel. number of the mall.
8) A golf tournament should be established for active local retail brokers.
9) A marketing calendar, with specific mailing and ad dates should be drawn up for all of the above items.
10) The Feldman Equities policy is to target to take one broker to lunch every week. The key national retail brokers should be met in person by flying to their offices and coordinating a trip to see them when going to visit a particular tenant.
11) Major brokerage offices that have more than 2 or 3 brokers should be specially focused upon and a traveling road show should be undertaken to their offices. The Feldman equities ownership actively participates in such effort. These traveling road shows should include a catered lunch or dinner or cocktails at the individual broker’s offices. The key is to make sure that these presentations are timed during the broker’s weekly sales meetings. Usually, these meetings require mandatory attendance by all of the brokers, including the top producers.
The number one successful action for the Feldman Equities Leasing campaign is to become a TRUE friend to as many retail brokers as possible and to constantly expand those broker relationships. FELDMAN EQUITIES IS EXTREMELY TIME RESPONSIVE AND HONEST WITH BROKERS.
Once a broker brings us a lead, we then make sure we know who ALL of the KEY decision makers are at the tenant’s company. We BECOME the best friend of each of these KEY contacts and if the meeting is important, we ALWAYS insist on FACE-TO-FACE communication with these guys.
At the beginning of these relationships, we do everything POSSIBLE TO ACCURATELY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT the tenant’s needs and wants are. The Feldman Equities policy is to BE FULLY prepared to tell them WE DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT PRODUCT FOR THEM if that is TRUe. And finally, perhaps the most important policy that we employ in dealing with tenants and brokers is to use HUMOR WHENEVER POSSIBLE, PARTICULARLY DURING "TENSE" PORTIONS of the negotiations.
The following is a typical Feldman Equities leasing toolkit checklist:
a) We get the name, address & tel. number for every active retail real estate broker in the local and national leasing market on a computer mailing list. We then charge an administrative person with the responsibility of regularly updating this list.
b) The Director of Leasing for Feldman Equities must have an exact written breakdown of all mall space inventory. Vacant spaces should be listed by suite number with rentable footages. Prospective expansion areas should also be identified on leasing plans.
c) The director should have a plan of the entire mall that shows all spaces by tenant name and lease expiration dates.
d) The Dir of Leasing must be a great friend of his exiting tenants. He should take them to lunch regularly even when IT IS NOT time to renew their lease. IN SHORT HE MUST STAY IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE EXISTING TENANTS AND STAY INTERESTED IN THEM. HE SHOULD ASSIST THEM WITH any special problems they may be having. THE NUMBER ONE FAILURE OF LEASE RENEWALS (and this applies to all businesses) IS TO LOSE INTEREST IN YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS.
e) The Dir of Leasing for Feldman equities should be a GREAT "NETWORKER" with the office BROKER community. That means LUNCHES, GOLF tournaments, parties, etc., etc. These should be planned out months in advance and well promoted. It alos means that the Dir of Leasing should go to broker events and seminars and luncheons. He should also try to be a speaker at these events.
f) ABOVE ALL, THE DIRECTOR OF LEASING HAS TO BE PERSISTENT, PERSISTENT, PERSISTENT. A no response from a broker or a tenant should be met with a call. If multiple calls don’t work, TRY a fax. If faxes don’t work, show up at their offices without an appointment. Be aggressive and never accept "NO" for an answer that you in your heart believe to be the wrong answer for the good of the tenant. STAY cheerful and persist even in the face of a repeated "NO" or no response.
g) In order to assure the long-term viability of a mall, a major push should always be placed on obtaining the strongest drawing tenants that will drive traffic for rest of the tenants.
h) A strong push should be to obtain the Lease-up of any missing tenant categories; e.g. cosmetics, electronics, sporting goods
In order to monitor the success or failures of the campaign, the Director of Leasing for Feldman Equities keeps a weekly report of all renewal and new leasing activity. The report should show the following:a) VACANT inventory by suite and total.
b) All renewals in the next 8-12 months and for very large renewals for the next 24 months. The policy has always been to negotiate renewals as far in advance as possible.
c) The number of all new leads generated versus the prior week with the name of the broker, telephone number and name of prospective tenants and all names and telephone numbers of those key decision makers at the tenant.
d) A brief status report of each lead in writing and the next step required to bring about a lease.
Recommended Web Sites:
http://feldmanequitiesofaz.com
http://www.feldmanequitiesofny.com
http://www.shopfoothillsmall.com
http://feldmanequitieshistory.com
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