Landlords should ask what their marketing is teaching them about a vacancy

A vacancy campaign produces more than exposure. Every suitable enquiry, viewing and declined opportunity can provide information about how the market is responding to a property.

Joe Sokolic, founder and CEO of Sokolic Property Group, believes that information should become a more useful part of the relationship between landlords and brokers.

“A landlord should come away from a marketing discussion with a clearer understanding of the property’s position,” says Sokolic. “Activity matters, but the reasons behind the response are what help us decide what to do next.”

Imagine an office suite receiving enquiries from businesses that need immediate occupation. Several viewings take place, but prospects hesitate because the premises require work before they can move in. An activity report records the viewings. A more useful report identifies the recurring timing concern and distinguishes it from objections about price, location or layout.

AI can assist with organising recorded feedback into themes. A broker can then examine whether those themes reflect the underlying conversations and whether the sample is substantial enough to support a conclusion. Three comments should still be presented as three comments. They should not become a sweeping claim about the entire office market.

Sokolic suggests that vacancy reporting should answer a sequence of practical questions. Who is responding? How closely do their requirements fit? Where does progress stop? Which concerns can the landlord or broker investigate?

That process also helps avoid changing the wrong thing. Weak response may justify reviewing the presentation or distribution of the listing. Repeated objections from suitable prospects may call for a different discussion about the offer itself. The evidence should guide the conversation.

“Before recommending a change, I want to know what problem we are trying to solve,” he says. “A new photograph cannot answer an unresolved question about occupation timing.”

The database plays an important role because useful feedback often arrives in fragments. A viewing note, a telephone conversation and a follow-up email may each contain part of the explanation. Capturing those details consistently makes a later review more reliable.

Landlords also deserve to see uncertainty. A broker may suspect that an asking rental is affecting response without having enough evidence to isolate it from other factors. A responsible report should make that distinction visible.

For Sokolic, AI creates an opportunity to make reporting more thoughtful as well as more efficient. The objective is a better decision about the vacancy, supported by evidence that both parties can examine.

“Marketing should leave us better informed every week,” he says. “If we are still repeating the same activity without learning anything useful, we need to change the conversation.”

First published on sokolic.co.za by Sokolic Property Group.

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