Save Time Online
Commercial Investment Real Estate
August 2004

By William Dylan Powell

Technology can help busy commercial real estate professionals achieve more work in less time. Online applications in particular improve productivity and profitability. Three of the top timesaving tools on CCIM's STDBOnline (www. stdbonline.com) are no exception. Learn how these new products can help you market properties and increase your bottom line.

Quick Customer Response
In the information-driven commercial real estate industry, practitioners can spend hundreds of hours compiling data, creating one-of-a-kind responses to client requests, and customizing sales presentations for prospective buyers. By streamlining these processes, you can impress clients with your rapid turnaround time and boost your profits by closing more deals.

STDB's Express Pack helps users quickly assemble and replicate customized property profiles, including maps, demographic data, and other reports. The program offers myriad data on all property types, and users can package the final product in nine profile templates or create custom Express Packs, which can contain up to 16 different reports and maps.

One morning I received a call from a client looking for 10,000 square feet of industrial space, says Phillip Crane, CCIM, of Roalson Interests in San Antonio . She wanted a big-picture profile of a half-dozen sites as soon as possible. It was already 10:00 a.m. , and I had a lunch appointment with another buyer.

Using Express Pack, Crane created a detailed industrial property report for his client before the close of the business day, despite his previous commitments.

I just typed in the address [and] then chose the kind of data I needed for the report in this case, area business information, crime statistics, neighborhood demographics, and a few different kinds of maps, he says. Express Pack let me choose how I wanted [the profile] to look with my logo on it and everything. At one time, putting something like that together would've taken me a week. I've done a few more deals with [the client] since then, and I can't help but think it's in part because I turn her requests around fast.

Available only on STDB, all Express Pack features are free resources for CCIM Institute designees and candidates.

Property Promotion With a Bang
Commercial real estate professionals dedicate vast amounts of time to making themselves and their deals more appealing to the marketplace. But when considering online marketing, a lot of brokers worry that they'll get bogged down in technical or administrative details, leaving little time for selling.

STDB ProMotor, an Internet-based marketing tool, was created to maximize brokers' time while streamlining the online property promotion process. ProMotor offers 20 different templates that users can tailor to create effective online promotions. With these promotions brokers can showcase properties online using their own personal branding. In addition, brokers can determine which prospects have visited specific promotions and for how long, so they can approach each buyer interaction with as much information as possible. The tool also allows users to send mass e-mail promotions on individual properties and track who views the messages.

Creating these online marketing presentations lets brokers make the best possible use of their selling time, increasing overall profitability. I'm a deal maker, not some office information technology guy, says Joel Kahn, CCIM, of Equity Alliance Corp. in Bedford , N.H. But a lot of times I need to be able to point clients to property information somewhere online. My competitors have teams of Web designers working on that stuff, but I'm on my own. If I'm not on the phone or hitting the bricks, I'm losing money. So I can't spend my time designing Web pages, he says.

Kahn uses ProMotor to build polished online property promotions without having to learn new technology. Now clients can view property details and photos along with his contact information and photo on Flash-enabled, menu-driven pages.
Visit www.stdbpromotor.com for promotion samples and more information.

Deals From Above
Available via STDB, Keyhole's online aerial photography database gives users access to bird's-eye property views in a number of different markets. Showing clients prospective sites using high-resolution aerial photography complete with measured-out distances, latitudes, and longitudes is an invaluable selling strategy. Keyhole's aerial technology provides up-close views, while saving brokers and buyers expenses and time on site visits. Users can zoom in on a property with resolution of a few meters close enough to see a spot of motor oil on the street.

Whether it's a $500 million or $500,000 sale, your client has to envision personal and professional success through the deal you're putting on the table, says Dewey Struble, CCIM, of Sperry Van Ness in Reno , Nev.

For example, A retail client needed a mix of consumer and business-to-business property prospects along with a very specific kind of site context, he says. I picked some locations when she saw the [aerial] for one of them, it all clicked. Prior to that, she wasn't very keen on that spot, which happened to be a better deal than the other [locations]. Some people just need the visual structure to get a sense of the place.

Keyhole recently expanded its database of images, serving nearly 175 markets and doubling the number of aerial images available. Now many mid-size markets, which represent tremendous commercial real estate growth potential, are covered.

CCIM designees receive free access to basic Keyhole HTML mapping. More advanced features, such as Keyhole Pro, can be purchased for an annual subscription of $599. Learn more about Keyhole online at www.keyhole.com.

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