“The truth is, we could spend hours touring spaces and discussing each of its differentiators—its square footage, its room for growth, etc. While these are important factors, clients are coming into a property tour with a few top priorities in mind. We should identify those priorities before ever stepping foot into a prospective building,” says Currie.

To give as simple example, if a client has identified a certain submarket or type of building that they desire, brokers should focus tours only on properties that fit the criteria. Knowing the market backwards and forwards also allows the broker to give their client the best property tour possible.

After the broker has shown the client several properties, the days and weeks after a property tour are about providing specific follow up to the differentiators and key factors that seemed to stand out to clients when they were visiting the space. Clients will likely have additional questions after the tour and it's important for brokers to be prepared by having their technical research done and plus be prepared to easily communicate the numbers to them, Currie says.

“Once a client has narrowed down their list to a few properties, we like to send Request for Proposals, which allows us to compare apples to apples of what each property is willing to offer in the way of a deal. This is a good first step to see where you stand with each property,” says Currie.

At the end of the day, accessibility is key, so brokers should try to make themselves as available as possible to clients as they walk through the crucial steps of identifying and—hopefully—signing a lease with them and their firm.