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Commercial Real Estate Broker: Best Referral Sources

Who should be sending you clients, and the rooms they are already sitting in. Tell us where you are and we will send the list.

Get your list

The rooms for commercial real estate brokers, the next meeting dates, and who to ask for when you walk in.

Your top referral sources
  1. Business Banker
  2. CPA / Accountant
  3. Commercial Lender
  4. Attorney Business & Corporate
  5. Restaurant / Food Service
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Start here

Your one-page action plan

Five partners, what starts the work for each one, and the three rooms to be in. Print it and keep it in the car.

Networking plan: Commercial Real Estate Broker

The five people who should be sending you clients

  1. Business Banker (Two-way)
    Shared trigger: an investor or operator buys a commercial building
  2. CPA / Accountant (They send you work)
    Shared trigger: an owner sells the company
  3. Commercial Lender (You send them work)
    Shared trigger: an investor or operator buys a commercial building
  4. Attorney Business & Corporate (Two-way)
    Shared trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location
  5. Restaurant / Food Service (Two-way)
    Shared trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location

The three rooms to be in

  1. Vistage: Your partners are in this room: business bankers, CPAs, and business attorneys.
  2. Your city or county chamber of commerce: Your partners are in this room: business bankers, CPAs, and commercial lenders.
  3. LinkedIn groups & local B2B communities: Your partners are in this room: business bankers, CPAs, and business attorneys.

Don't confuse this with networking: NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate Development Association). Learning and supplier access, not referrals.

Or have it emailed to you ↑
The people

Who should be sending you clients

Ranked by what starts the job, not by who sounds close to your trade. When something happens that makes people need commercial real estate brokers, who else gets a call that same week?

Match strength is how much of your work starts from the same event as theirs, scored out of 100. Higher means you are more often called into the same job in the same week.

  1. 1 Business Banker Two-way Trigger: an investor or operator buys a commercial building 74 match strength out of 100
  2. 2 CPA / Accountant They send you work Trigger: an owner sells the company 72 match strength out of 100
  3. 3 Commercial Lender You send them work Trigger: an investor or operator buys a commercial building 70 match strength out of 100
  4. 4 Attorney Business & Corporate Two-way Trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location 70 match strength out of 100
  5. 5 Restaurant / Food Service Two-way Trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location 67 match strength out of 100
  6. 6 Commercial Property Manager You send them work Trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location 67 match strength out of 100
  7. 7 IT Services / Managed IT You send them work Trigger: a business signs a lease or opens a location 62 match strength out of 100
  8. 8 Business Broker They send you work Trigger: an owner sells the company 62 match strength out of 100
  9. 9 Real Estate Investor You send them work Trigger: an investor or operator buys a commercial building 59 match strength out of 100
  10. 10 Hard Money / Private Lender You send them work Trigger: an investor or operator buys a commercial building 59 match strength out of 100

Knowing the names is half of it. We will send the list with what to say to each one. Send me my list ↑

The rooms

Where those people actually are

Ranked by how many of your best partners are in the room, and how much work each one can send you. Give someone nine choices and they pick none, so we have marked the one to start with.

  1. 1 Vistage Your pick Your partners are in this room: business bankers, CPAs, and business attorneys. Paid peer group · Monthly · $2,000+/yr · ~8 hrs/month Chapter finder →
  2. 2 Your city or county chamber of commerce Your partners are in this room: business bankers, CPAs, and commercial lenders. Chamber of commerce · Monthly · Under $500/yr · ~4 hrs/month Chapter finder →
  3. 3 LinkedIn groups & local B2B communities Your partners are in this room: business bankers, CPAs, and business attorneys. Online community · Always on · Free · ~3 hrs/month Chapter finder →
  4. 4 BNI One seat per category, so your competitors are excluded by rule and the seats around you are the partners above. Structured referral group · Weekly · $500–$2,000/yr · ~8 hrs/month · One seat per category Chapter finder →
  5. 5 LeTip International One seat per category, so your competitors are excluded by rule and the seats around you are the partners above. Structured referral group · Weekly · $500–$2,000/yr · ~7 hrs/month · One seat per category Chapter finder →
  6. 6 Network In Action One seat per category, so your competitors are excluded by rule and the seats around you are the partners above. Structured referral group · Monthly · $500–$2,000/yr · ~3 hrs/month · One seat per category Chapter finder →
  7. 7 Master Networks One seat per category, so your competitors are excluded by rule and the seats around you are the partners above. Structured referral group · Weekly · $500–$2,000/yr · ~7 hrs/month · One seat per category Chapter finder →
  8. 8 An independent local leads group One seat per category, so your competitors are excluded by rule and the seats around you are the partners above. Structured referral group · Weekly · Under $500/yr · ~5 hrs/month · One seat per category
The competitor trap

NAIOP (Commercial Real Estate Development Association)

Most commercial real estate brokers join this room first. It is also the one most likely to be the wrong pick. Everyone in it does what you do. Join it for the training, the licenses, and the ties to manufacturers. Do not join it for referrals, and do not join it instead of the rooms above.

Let us be straight with you. For commercial real estate brokers, a weekly referral group is not the best pick. Your partners gather in professional groups instead, so spend your time there. We would rather say that than sell you a seat you do not need.

These rooms meet on real dates. We will send you the next ones for your area. Send me the dates ↑

Your seat

Is your seat open?

Prime Time takes one Commercial Real Estate Broker per chapter. Put a South Florida ZIP into the form above and we will show you which seats are open.

Add your ZIP code in the form above to see which seats are open. Go to the form ↑

Want this as a list you can act on?

Send it to yourself: the partners above, the rooms ranked for commercial real estate brokers, and the next meeting dates for your area.

Send me my list