As a disclaimer, I provide Location Advice to owners and occupants of industrial buildings in southern California...AKA, I sell and lease commercial real estate for a living, and have since 1984.
So, on to how video saved my #CRE deal...but first a bit of background on why my #CRE deal needed saving.
Yesterday, I was touring space, with an out of state client, who was in SoCal (for the third time in the past year). The purpose of my client's visit this time... locating a manufacturing building for his company's expansion...by next week! Should be a no brainer...right?
Yesterday was our third day of touring (on this trip)...a headache for both of us...and frankly, things were not going as expected...I was getting my ass kicked!
My client hated everything I showed him.
The top top choice from one of our previous tours, in October 2013, had been leased. This "holy grail" of industrial buildings was lost because my client procrastinated...despite my careful prodding.
My client was still "in love" with the "holy grail" and was kicking himself (as well as my ass) for not leasing the "holy grail" in October 2013.
Because, he compared each new building we saw on this trip to the "holy grail", I was scrambling to keep him focused on the good choices this trip.
We ALL know what was coming...blame the dumb broker!
It could go something like this: The broker is not showing us everything, he doesn't understand our requirement, maybe we should seek other advice, are we locating in the correct western state?...blah, blah, blah.
I believed, despite my client's objections, that one or two of the buildings we had toured the day before would work...but, my client wasn't feeling it. So, here is what I did....which saved my #CRE deal.
We pulled up in front a building that we had seen the previous day. My belief was that every amenity that my client's company required was present: square footage, freestanding, right location, correct amount of power, secured fenced outside storage, and fairly priced.
We started walking through the building (BTW, he didn't remember seeing the building the day before). I posed a question. "Why did you eliminate this building from consideration?" My client couldn't remember. We reviewed the amenities. My client started to get it.
But here is where video technology sealed the deal. My client said to me, "I'm going to take a few photos" and whipped out his IPhone 5 from his breast pocket. I responded, "may I borrow your phone?" My client handed me his phone and I proceeded to video record a virtual tour of the building for him to review later.
What happened next surprised me.
My client WAS BLOWN AWAY! He looked at the video again and again while standing in the parking lot. The wheels started to turn. On the spot, my client forwarded the video clip to the company's president in Italy. Bang...my client's phone rang. The call was from the Italian president...who, after receiving the video, called my client back immediately...even though it was after 9:00 PM (on a Friday night) in Italy. My client had found a new "holy grail"!
My client said to me...after concluding a lengthy phone conversation with the president in Italian, "may we grab lunch and discuss making a proposal on this building?"...ahhh helz yeah! BTW, I don't speak Italian, but I heard the word "bella" repeated...a lot.
The proposal was drafted, submitted, and we are awaiting a response.
So, if a picture is worth a thousand words, what must a video be worth?...at the least a closed commercial real estate deal!
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