In commercial real estate today, your prospecting efforts should include an element of cold canvassing on foot.
This will mean getting into your territory on a daily basis and meeting with the local business owners and proprietors.
That has a couple of immediate benefits; you get to know the area, and you get to know the people.
It is an established fact that the local businesses and or their proprietors know a lot more about the local area than you do.
In many respects, they can tell you about the things leading to a future property sales, and property leases.
For this very reason, it pays to include them in a personal prospecting process in your daily diary.
So how can you go about this prospecting to make it work for you? Here are some ideas to help:

1. Split your streets are up into segments of priority.
   Those streets should contain all of the businesses in your local patch.
   The segments will relate to popular business locations, and less popular business locations.
   In the first instance, you should focus in the high priority areas and streets as part of the prospecting model.
   When you have finished those priority streets, you can move into the secondary zone.
   
2. Look at the history of the area with and the movement of commercial tenancies and businesses over the last few years.
   Look for any patterns relating to sales and or leases.
   Some tenancies will be seeking alternative occupation at the end of their existing lease.
   A questioning process will help you identify those businesses as part of your prospecting model.
   When you find businesses that are tenants, you can remain in touch for the long term.
   
3. Visit the local planning office in your local area.
   That office should be aware of and be controlling any new property developments throughout the region.
   From your perspective, you are looking for any new property developments coming up that could have an impact on the supply and demand of commercial and retail property.
   Any new and modern property developments may very well impact the market rental across your region due to greater levels of incentive and enticements.
   Most property owners involved in new developments will do everything possible to influence a tenant movement to their vacant property.
   Their incentive program will be part of the property development cash flow.
   Like it or not, new properties will impact existing properties, and on that basis, you need to prepare for the variations.
   
4. Visit at least 5 to 10 local businesses on a daily basis.
   This should take approximately 60 to 90 minutes of your time.
   There are two things that you should carry with you as part of this process.
   Your business card will be essential to the process, and can be left at every business that you visit.
   It is highly likely that your business card will be retained for future reference.
   Do not under any circumstances attach your business card to some other marketing material.
   It is quite likely that any other marketing material will be put in the bin and therefore take your business card with it.
   You can however take with you a separate informational flyer about local market trends and property prices in the local area.
   You are talking with business owners, and many of them will lease property.
   For this very reason, you should have rental information and lease information on that same information flyer.
   

Commercial and retail real estate are special parts of the property industry.
In many respects, personal relationships are more important in these segments than in any other parts of the industry.
That is why your efforts in getting in front of many business owners will help you greatly in creating more market share and market dominance.
Those business owners will tell you a lot about the local area, the neighbors, and the landlord.
Over time, they can assist you to move to the top of your industry.