📣 PCRE · Prospecting, Marketing and Promoting Property

1. Which habit is most likely to hinder a commercial licensee's prospecting efforts?

1. Recording each contact and the agreed next step in a contact management system.
2. Setting a weekly target for calls to owners of buildings in the chosen market area.
3. Researching an owner's building and its market before making the first call.
4. Letting new leads go cold by not following up after the first conversation.

PCRE blueprint 3.1.3 covers best practices to generate and follow up with leads, and the activities and attitudes that hinder prospecting. Prospecting depends on consistent follow-up: a lead that hears nothing after the first conversation tends to lose interest or turn to a competitor, so letting leads go cold wastes the effort spent to find them. Recording each contact and the next step, setting call targets and researching a building and its market before calling are practices that support prospecting rather than hinder it.

2. According to the RECA Advertising Guidelines, which of the following is active online solicitation?

1. Adding a new commercial listing to the brokerage's own website for public viewing.
2. Emailing identified individuals about leasing services to form a client relationship.
3. Posting a banner advertisement for the brokerage on a commercial listing website.
4. Placing a notice about space for lease on an online bulletin board for viewers.

The Guidelines describe active solicitation as establishing active online communication, such as email, chat or instant messaging, with specifically identifiable individuals or groups to form a client or customer relationship. Websites, banner advertisements and bulletin boards are passive forms of communication, so posting a banner, updating a website listing or placing a bulletin board notice does not qualify.

3. Under Rule 49(b) of the Real Estate Act Rules, as explained in RECA's Advertising Guidelines, how must a brokerage's name appear in an advertisement for a commercial listing?

1. It may be shortened, for example R.E. for Real Estate, if space is limited.
2. It must be clearly indicated, in full as shown on the brokerage licence.
3. A franchise logo is enough, because it identifies every brokerage under the brand.
4. It may be greyed out when the team name is the main selling feature.

Rule 49(b) requires a brokerage to ensure its name is clearly indicated in the course of trading, including in related advertisements, and RECA's Advertising Guidelines explain that the name must appear exactly as it is on the brokerage licence. Abbreviations such as R.E. are not allowed, and a franchise logo alone covers every brokerage under the brand without identifying the specific one. A greyed-out name that is illegible or overshadowed by a team name is not clearly indicated.

4. Associate Elan's brochure for an office-tower lease shows his assistant Mira with the title Leasing Coordinator. Mira is not licensed. What must the brochure do?

1. Change her title to Leasing Associate to describe her role in the transaction.
2. Clearly identify Mira as unlicensed so readers do not think she can trade.
3. Stay as it is, because the brochure does not state that she is licensed.
4. Remove her picture, because advertising may not show unlicensed individuals.

Rule 46(3) and (4) require a licensee to make sure the public knows an assistant is unlicensed and to avoid any suggestion or implication that the assistant is qualified to trade, and the Advertising Guidelines allow an unlicensed person's name or picture if the person is clearly identified as unlicensed. A title like Leasing Associate would suggest a licence. Silence does not cure the implication, and the picture does not have to be removed.

5. Associate Reed has just been licensed and has no experience in industrial leasing. He wants his business cards to read Industrial Leasing Specialist. What does RECA's guidance on misleading advertising say?

1. The title is acceptable, because it describes the market he plans to work in.
2. The title is misleading until he has specialist training or significant experience.
3. The title is misleading unless the card also shows his brokerage's full name.
4. The title is acceptable once his broker approves the card before it is printed.

RECA's Advertising Guidelines say business cards are misleading when a professional holds out as a specialist without the necessary education or experience, and that a self-described condo specialist should have specialist training and/or significant experience in condominium transactions; the same reasoning applies to an industrial leasing specialist. A plan to work in a market does not supply that experience, a broker's approval cannot make an unsupported claim accurate, and showing the brokerage's name does not cure a misleading title. Rule 42(a) of the Real Estate Act Rules prohibits representations that mislead or are likely to mislead.

6. Associate Ana plans to offer landlords a free tenant-screening package, which she would pay for herself, to win new listings, and to promote it in her flyers. What does Rule 54 of the Real Estate Act Rules require?

1. Her broker must approve it in writing, though she may still pay for it herself.
2. It must be provided by and on behalf of her brokerage, not by her personally.
3. She may offer it personally if she delivers a signed statement setting out its details.
4. She may offer it personally once each landlord has signed a written service agreement.

Rule 1(1)(o) of the Real Estate Act Rules defines an incentive as anything advertised, communicated or offered by a brokerage to the public or a person to attract business to the brokerage, including a service, and Rule 54(1)(d) bars an associate from advertising, communicating or offering an incentive except one provided by and on behalf of the brokerage with which she is registered. A broker's written approval, which Rule 54(2) adds for inducements, does not let her fund it herself, because Rule 54(2) also requires the inducement to be provided by and on behalf of the brokerage. A signed statement of details under Rule 54(1)(e) and a signed service agreement do not change who must provide the incentive.

7. In a flyer for a retail plaza, associate Jin promises owners that if the plaza is not sold by a set date, he will personally cut his commission to nothing, with details in a footnote. Is the flyer compliant?

1. Yes, because the particulars appear in the footnote, so the flyer is not misleading.
2. Yes, provided Jin's broker initials the flyer before it is distributed to owners.
3. No, because only the brokerage may offer the guarantee, and a footnote does not cure that.
4. No, because performance guarantees are prohibited in commercial real estate advertising.

The Advertising Guidelines say that only the brokerage may offer a performance guarantee, and an advertisement that has an individual associate promise it is misleading even when an asterisk gives further particulars. The footnote therefore does not make the flyer compliant, and a broker's initials do not change who is entitled to make the offer. Brokerages may advertise performance guarantees if the advertisements are not false or misleading, so a blanket prohibition is not correct either.