Hi reader, I'm Tali, a Senior Sales Consultant here at Surga Central, with 10 years of experience working alongside commercial real estate agencies. I've had the opportunity to train teams, onboard clients, and see first-hand how successful leasing agents can generate business. And I make it a point to emphasise and teach anyone that comes my way this best-practice strategy for utilising Lease Expiries in a CRM like Surga Central.
One thing I've consistently noticed when training or providing refresher courses is that agencies are sitting on a goldmine of their most valuable lead generation tools - and often not using it. The response I always get is: 'Wow, I didn't know we could do this!"
So I decided to write this article to be practical and thought-provoking when it comes to building a workflow for your leasing agents.
📧 Your CRM Already Knows Who to Call
Capturing lease expiry information in a CRM like Surga is an excellent foundation for future fee opportunities. The challenge isn't collecting the data, you should already have it from your own lease deals or tenancy schedules - the real challenge is making sure that data is loaded to your CRM and actively used.
I see it happen all the time. Agencies diligently enter lease details, but months and years later, those records sit untouched. Or their approach to using technology to generate leads is that it's too hard/confusing/time consuming etc.
So, let's look at a simple example.
1️⃣ Imagine you run a lease expiry search for the next 12 months and identify 100 tenants whose leases are approaching expiry.
2️⃣ Using Surga you can send a simple bulk email, which could say:
"Hi [Name], your lease is due to expire within the next 12 months. Let me know if you're considering renewing, relocating, expanding or reviewing current market opportunities. Let me know if you would like to know current market trends and rents. Happy to chat over coffee..." and so on.
3️⃣ From those 100 tenants, several outcomes are possible:
- 📅 Some will confirm they're renewing. Great! Update your CRM with the new lease details so you'll know exactly when to contact them again in the future.
- 🏢 Others may be considering relocating, expanding, downsizing or subleasing. Those conversations can generate agency fees.
- 🤝 Even those who don't need to take any action now still know you've stayed in touch and offered services before anyone else did.
Connecting with your network, even with a simple reminder, builds a standing relationship for future requirements.
🧠 No One Can Remember Every Lease Expiry
Think about your own client list. Could you honestly remember 100 lease expiry dates, which company occupies which property, and exactly who to contact when the time comes?
I certainly couldn't. (But then again I have my Alexa remind me to put the washing out... 🤷♀️)
I always say, if you don't contact all these people, there's a good chance someone else will.
📄 How One Lease Expiry Report Generated Two Deals
One story that has always stuck with me is when I worked with an agent who was concerned about generating enough fees before the end of the year.
So we ran a Lease Expiry Report across their tenant database.
They did a few warm calls from the report and found a retailer approaching the end of their lease and who wanted to relocate to a location with stronger foot traffic.
That resulted in one leasing fee. ✅
Because the agent knew the tenant was leaving before the landlord did, they contacted the owner and secured an exclusive listing to lease the soon-to-be vacant premises.
They backfilled the tenancy, and that resulted in a second fee. ✅
All because the information was already sitting inside their CRM.
⭐ Your Existing Database Is Full of Future Opportunities
Your client network is one of your greatest assets. Every tenancy you enter, every lease you record (whether yours or a competitor's) and every contact you maintain builds a database that can generate future business - but only if you actively maintain it.
The best agents don't rely on memory, a manual spreadsheet or calendar reminders (often left forgotten on someone's Outlook account if they leave the business). They rely on good systems, good data and a rock-solid workflow.
👀 Coming Soon for Surga Central Clients
I'll be hosting a webinar exclusively for Surga Central clients, where I'll walk through our Lease Expiry tools and put this strategy into everyday practice, including:
- 📅 Entering lease expiry information
- ⏰ Monitoring alert tasks
- 🔍 Searching upcoming lease expiries, extended expiries, rent reviews and break clauses
- 📧 Bulk emailing tenants
- 📊 Reporting and identifying opportunities
Keep an eye out for the webinar announcement - I'd love to show you how these simple workflows can help uncover opportunities that may already be sitting in your database.