When it comes to getting a lease signed, it’s not the rates or the deliverables that stand in the way. It’s the time. And every day that passes can mean losing out on another opportunity to market properties to tenants.
“Time kills deals,” said Jessica Wildeman, director of marketing for Indiana-based Regency Properties. “If you can’t give people what they want quickly, they’ll go find it somewhere else.”
For Regency Properties, time posed a unique challenge. With the majority of their 64 shopping centers located hours away from major airports, it was difficult for national retailers to find time in their schedules to visit. Without being able to tour the spaces in person, they’d have to rely on basic architectural drawings to decide whether to move forward with the lease – and in many cases, that simply wasn’t enough.
“From the marketing side, we felt we weren’t able to provide our future tenants with enough information about the space,” Wildeman said.
That lack of information, coupled with the time it would take to gather it, meant the end of many promising deals. Wildeman knew that speeding up the process would go a long way toward setting her leasing team up for success so when she heard about ID 360 by ID Plans, she was excited about the possibilities.
She ordered profiles on 35 spaces already in Regency’s portfolio that they didn’t have any information on, and has since ordered more than 30 for new properties they’ve acquired. Having customized, detailed, and up-to-date profiles ready to share when a potential tenant calls has been a game changer in speeding up the leasing process, and it’s paid off in other ways, too:
- Construction costs. Wildeman can easily share an ID 360 with a construction company to get quotes on any necessary repairs, and then use that information to negotiate with the tenant on who will absorb the costs. Plus, the construction company won’t need to make multiple trips to the site to gather data – they’ll have it all up front so they can get started on the job more quickly.
- Better community relations. Because Regency Properties is being proactive with their marketing plans to attract new tenants and reduce vacancies, they’ve gotten great feedback from local Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Authorities, praising them on their investment in the community.
- Accurate property data. Now, instead of relying on the square footage provided by the seller, Wildeman can refer to the data collected by the ID Plans team. For example, she once had a space that was off by 2,000 square feet and her leasing team was able to go back and renegotiate the deal based on the additional square footage discovered by ID Plans. “That’s a good chunk of money we could have missed out on,” she said.
- Quicker turnaround time for tenants. Because tenants have all the information on their space early, they can get a head start on ordering signage, planning their window designs, doing any necessary renovations – and getting down to business.
- Clearer communication between departments. Everyone at Regency Properties, from the leasing team to the accounting office, can access Space Profile at any time, from any device, from anywhere, ensuring they’re all working from the same data.
It all comes back to saving time and money, and Wildeman is pleased at how much more efficient and streamlined the leasing process has become since they started using ID Plans. She’s planning to order more plans in the future as Regency Properties continues to expand and acquire new spaces.
“You can invest in a lot of things and feel like you’re shooting in the dark,” she said. “But ID Plans is something I feel passionate about.”
To schedule a demo of ID 360 and learn how it can help you market properties to tenants more efficiently,
contact us today.
