Performance Leasing: Why the Best Agents Don’t Wait for Demand

by Howard Morgan, Founder of RealService

When I started my career as an office and industrial property agent in Leeds, things were very different. No email. No CRM. No online databases.

Every morning, we would meet as a team to open the post together and brainstorm ideas about how we could serve our clients better. The office was led by the late Howard Bibby — a true pioneer of customer experience in our industry.

One day, we were discussing how to get more enquiries for a new 60,000 sq ft warehouse on Gelderd Road in Leeds.

Howard Bibby asked two simple questions:

“Who should be in this building? and Who doesn’t already have space in Leeds?”

We decided to target companies without a distribution warehouse in the city.
The problem. How were we going to find relevant businesses?

His solution was wonderfully simple!

I was dispatched to stand on the bridge over the M62 with a notebook and pen… and write down the names of companies on the sides of passing trucks. If they were running vehicles through Yorkshire but didn’t have a warehouse in Leeds, we would call them about our clients building.

When I tell this story today, letting agents often look at me as if I was slightly mad. But their clients love it. Because it makes a serious point:

Good leasing agency has never been about waiting for an enquiry to land on your desk.
- It’s about being proactive.
- It’s about curiosity.
- It’s about asking better questions.
And it’s about doing the extra work others won’t.

Over the past few years, our in-house Performance Leasing programmes with clients such as Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) have reinforced my belief that there is always more we can do to create interest in vacant property — and to elevate the viewing and leasing experience.

Even in a difficult market..... Especially in a difficult market.

That’s exactly why at RealService we created our new 1-Day Performance Leasing course.

It brings these ideas to life and equips leasing teams with practical tools to:
- Generate stronger interest
- Conduct better needs analysis
- Deliver more purposeful viewings
- Improve conversion and secure more lettings

And it works. Just ask our clients.

If you’d like to learn more about the course and how to attend, follow this link: https://www.real-service.com/performance-leasing-workshop

The commercial property leasing market may be challenging: it's the perfect time to sharpen your skills with Performance Leasing.

About Performance Leasing

Performance Leasing is a practical commercial real estate training programme designed for leasing agents, asset managers and property owners who want to improve leasing performance, reduce vacancy periods and attract stronger tenant demand. The course focuses on better needs analysis, stronger viewing experiences and improving leasing conversion rates.

Topics covered in this article:
Commercial property leasing, leasing strategy, industrial property leasing, reducing vacancy, tenant attraction strategies, leasing conversion, customer experience in real estate, tenant journey, commercial real estate training, performance leasing, asset management strategy.