We’ve given you our tips on digital prospecting that can help you get your foot in the door with local businesses (see what we did there). While we could never discount the value of meeting someone in person, we’re sharing the significant benefits of starting your canvassing process online, saving you time and effort on manual administrative tasks, and making your in-person visits more efficient and effective. 

Identify the use

First, start off by identifying which types of businesses would be a good fit for your vacancy. Let’s use the example of a former coffee shop. You can use Resquared to target coffee shops, smoothie shops, ice cream shops, or any other business that could utilize a similar space.

Build a list 

Next, build a list of all the local businesses in your market that fit the use you’re looking for. We suggest aiming to visit 5-10 per day.

Send an email or social media message

Then, send a message to the businesses in your list. Once you get a few replies, you’ll know who is actually interested and a visit to their shop wouldn’t feel unexpected. You can also identify the businesses who opened your email several times but may have not responded yet and put them on a secondary list to visit after you go to the ones who did respond.

Map your route

After you have a solid list of interested businesses and some secondary options, map your route so you’re not driving back and forth across town. Because you know we’re all about efficiency here. 

Go visit your list of businesses

When you go visit the businesses who responded you can let them know, “hey, we spoke over email!” and they’ll know who you are right away. For the secondary list who saw the email but didn’t respond you can let them know, “I sent you an email but wanted to make a visit in person to see if you might be interested.” We’ve heard from our customers that this works great because the business owner is already familiar with you.

There is still so much value in meeting a person face-to-face, but in today’s digital world Resquared gives you the ability to save time and effort on all the admin tasks leasing representatives spend so much energy on. We recommend making this process more efficient by first sending a message to the business owner to get an idea if they are interested, and maximizing your time with a prepared list and optimal route.

This process will work in your favor because the business owner will already be familiar with you, and will appreciate your effort to respect their time by not interrupting their busy day-to-day operations with a surprise visit. Reach out anytime for a demo and we'll be more than happy to show you how it works!