Commercial real estate calling playbook for brokers

What this playbook covers

Commercial RE prospecting is asset arithmetic: buildings with events, principals with calendars, and data as the only credible currency. This playbook covers list building, block structure, the roll-date cadence, comp delivery, dispositions, the three-line workflow, and KPI ranges against production reference points.

List building and hygiene

Rows are buildings. Each carries the asset type, ownership entity, and the event that makes today’s call sensible: a trade on the street, an assessment change, a tenancy shift, an expired listing. Event freshness is the first sort; a comp from last month still proves the street, a comp from last year proves nothing. Hygiene rules:

• Ownership verified from public records; the entity’s registered contact dialed where the owner is unreachable.
• Internal do-not-call suppression before import, honored across every list, because the National Registry does not reach B2B calls and your list is the only stop a principal’s never-call-me has.
• Recording consent treated as universal: Washington (RCW 9.73.030) and California (Penal Code 632) require all parties to consent, and the disclosure runs everywhere the firm dials.
• Time zones confirmed per row; a cross-country block that rings a principal at 6 a.m. their time costs the market’s opinion of the firm.

Call block structure

Early block, 8:00 to 9:30. Principals before their day starts. Ownership facts and hold-plan questions land best before the meetings do.

Midday block, 11:30 to 1:00. Property managers and asset managers who know the rent roll; also the comp-confirmation window.

Late block, 4:30 to 6:00. The second principal window and the block where comp deliveries and confirmations get honored.

Between blocks: comps go out, roll-date tasks get set, and AI summaries are edited while the asset facts are fresh. A broker who leaves summaries unedited is writing next quarter’s wrong questions.

The roll-date cadence

Four attempts around the call event:

1. Day 1. The fact opener and the hold-plan question.
2. Day 3, different daypart. The catch window.
3. Day 6. Voicemail with the comp offer; the comps email goes out the same hour regardless.
4. Day 9, final. Last live attempt with the honest exit and the standing offer: you hear from me first when a buyer circulates.

After four, the lead exits to the roll-date queue: a dated task [number] months before the lease rolls, with the asset facts attached. Owners decide on events and dates; attempt caps in the dialer enforce the stop so the market never learns the firm as the one that hounds.

Comp delivery discipline

The comp sheet is the firm’s currency, and the discipline is simple: delivered the same day, built from real leases and sales, pull date visible, one line of context per comp, no valuation opinion attached. Weak comps get conceded fast when challenged, because the broker whose data can be checked is the broker whose next number gets believed. The same discipline governs claims on calls: no invented comps, no buyers circling unless one exists, no valuations promised without the rent roll.

Dispositions and what they mean

• Owner interested, meeting set: the walk booked, confirmation emailed, roll dates on the calendar.
• Tenant expansion noted: the tenant’s requirement logged; expansions are listings before they are headlines.
• Wants comps or market data: delivered same day, follow-up dated; this group is next year’s meeting.
• Other broker of record: loyalty flag logged, data help stays available, no re-pitch this cycle.
• Not now, follow up next year: dated to the roll or the assessment cycle.
• Do not call permanently: internal suppression the same day, across every list the entity touches.
• Wrong contact or company moved: row corrected or retired on first confirmation.

The three-line workflow and AI summaries

Three lines fit CRE prospecting because connects are deep and the list is narrow: one connect at a time, the fact opener spoken with the asset on screen, the hold-plan question answered before anything is offered. The AI summary carries the event used, hold plan, occupancy, roll dates, offers accepted and loyalty flags, and it is edited before the next connect because the roll-date task is built from it. Recording disclosure on everywhere; the disclosure is cheap, the statutory exposure is not.

KPI targets

Ranges against production reference points. In production use across 3-line sessions over 90 days, the median operator ran about 85 dials per active hour and roughly 600 dials per operator day, with person connects around 17.8 percent. Planning ranges for CRE:

• Dials per active hour: 50 to 80; asset research makes connects expensive and worth it.
• Principal contacts: 8 to 18 percent on ownership-entity lists.
• Meetings booked: 8 to 15 per 100 principal contacts on event-fresh lists.
• Comps delivered same-day: 95 percent or better; the metric is the reputation.
• Roll-date queue health: every conversation ends with a dated next event or an honest no.

These figures are measured in production use, 3-line sessions, 90 days; they are reference points, not a promise of results.

Compliance guardrails

The TSR’s DNC provisions do not cover B2B calls per FTC guidance, but state telemarketing statutes can apply, and recording consent has no B2B exemption anywhere: Washington (RCW 9.73.030) and California (Penal Code 632) require all parties to consent to a recorded call. Hours stay inside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local as internal policy, mirroring 16 CFR 310.4(c), and the internal do-not-call list honors every principal’s stop request even where the National Registry does not apply. DialBreeze enforces your internal DNC list, quiet hours and attempt caps. This guide describes rules, not legal advice.