As a real estate agent you have to protect your time.
You should only spend time with the people that really do have the capability to do what they say they can do in leasing premises.
The same applies to businesses and business leaders as they look for new premises to move to or occupy.
Correctly qualifying tenants and the tenant enquiry is critical to your activities.
In most cases an enquiry will come to you from an advert on the internet or a signboard on the property.
They are the most effective methods of marketing in commercial property.
They will bring you enquiry.
The more signs you have placed in your territory and the more internet adverts that you have placed on the web, the better for you and your real estate business.
In simple terms you build your database from the enquiry that you generate.
It is the database that supports your entire career and the success of your real estate office.
So let's say you are generating solid enquiry from your market.
Everything is working for you well and the enquiry keeps coming your way on the telephone and via the email.
The next issue is going to be just how do you qualify them? There are two basic rules here before we go further:

• Do not spend time with any tenant enquiry until they have been qualified and given you all the facts that you need.
  
• Find out just how they located the property.
  It is useful to know how they came to call you.
  That will be relevant when you consider other property marketing in the future.
  

If you choose to meet with the person making the call, then set the appointments to your diary and not theirs.
Many an agent or salesperson has dropped everything to do a property inspection, only to find that the person really was a waste of time.
The more time you waste each week and each day, the less effective you are in your prospecting.
The out of control salesperson earns less commission.
They spin their wheels too much and get little prospecting done because other things took over control of the day.
Get the name and contact detail from the person making the enquiry before you tell them everything that they ask.
There are a couple of issues here.
Firstly it is not unusual for another agent to be making an enquiry for their own reasons.
You have worked hard for that listing, so don't give out information too easily.
Secondly the person making the enquiry should be open to giving you their name, mobile, and email address, if they are trustworthy and the enquiry is genuine.
If the person making the enquiry is closed and will not tell you the basic contact detail then you play that game as well.
If you get the right basic detail from them about their identity, then you can give information to them about the property.
Ask some questions:

1. What are they looking for by way of property?
2. When do they need the property? Do they have a lease elsewhere that is coming to an end? If so when?
3. What are the most important issues and facts that must be satisfied by the property that they move to?
4. What is their rent budget?
5. Have they leased before? Do they know the local property market? Have they looked at other property in the same local area recently and if so what are the details?
6. What improvements do they need in the property?
7. What services and amenities do they need in the property?
8. Do they want a factor for expansion or contraction?
9. How many staff do they need to accommodate at the property and in what form?
10. Do they require fitout, or will they prefer an empty open plan space to design their fitout?
11. How long do they need the premises for?
12. Do they need to be near transport, raw materials, other businesses, freeways, or ports?

So this list gets the information going and you will soon know if the property they are enquiring about really does suit them.
You have qualified them.
At this point you can set the appointment for the property inspection.