We are SO excited to share a portion of the insightful interview our team had with Patricia Zafferese, Vice President of Specialty Leasing at Urban Edge Properties. Patricia has been using Resquared for over six months and has seen significant time back in her schedule so she can focus on closing deals. This quote gives you a sense of the passion Patricia has for the industry and the positive changes that have come from Resquared:

“The beauty of my job is that I work with smaller mom and pop business owners, and I have the opportunity to watch them grow and expand their businesses and benefit their local communities. Resquared helps me get the job done even better and faster by connecting me with more local businesses – so it’s a win-win for my team and the communities we serve.”

Read on for more on using Resquared from a VP of Leasing’s perspective:

What was your prospecting process like pre-Resquared?

Prospecting pre-Resquared was a time-intensive process! A lot of the time I would start out canvassing on foot so I could get a sense of the market and try to map out what businesses are in the area I’m working with. Depending on the verticals I was looking to fill, I could sometimes spend whole days driving from shopping center to shopping center gathering information and noting which businesses are advertising on billboards.

I would spend time searching for the right businesses on social media and Google, searching key phrases like, “top large businesses in Paramus, NJ” and then taking those companies and narrowing it down by use. I would also investigate directories for nonprofits in the area and research their tenant lists.

Then, if it’s a use that I feel will do well at the shopping center, I’ll look into Google and Yelp reviews to get a sense of the customer feedback from the businesses. This ensures my team is bringing in a customer that serves the community well and has a good, loyal customer base. If all of this checks out, I’ll reach out to the business.

My favorite method to reach these businesses is Instagram because I typically always receive a response, and even if it’s not directly from the owner, I still feel like my message is being acknowledged. I can’t say the same for a cold email where you have no idea if it’s ending up in their junk mailbox or not.

The whole process has endless possibilities and we tried to get as creative as possible wherever we could.

What are the top three problems Resquared has helped solve for your team?

1. I think the biggest benefit to Resquared is that it frees up our time. Prior to using Resquared it would take my team a week and many hours out of every day to reach 100 businesses. With Resquared, we can reach 100 businesses in a matter of ten minutes or less. It’s been incredible to see our productivity increase significantly and that we are reaching more businesses than we ever could have imagined. The platform has saved us countless hours of time and has allowed us to focus on how we can do better and get ahead of our peers.
2. It helps us better manage the use cases that we reach out to.  We have much more control of the caliber of the businesses we reach out to through Resquared. We can keep track of which use cases have been successful and which have not so we can learn from that for the future.
3. It keeps our team much more organized. It has been such a relief to step away from the Excel sheets and have one place to track our prospecting efforts. Another great impact from this is that there is no duplication of efforts – so no time wasted!

Have you found businesses are more likely to respond to you on Resquared?

Yes! Prior to Resquared I would estimate 9/10 times we wouldn’t get any response. Now, we are seeing every other email getting a response. We have also really loved the feature that tells you how many times someone opens your email. We had a doctor open our email about potentially expanding nine times, so we just picked up the phone and gave him a call and now we have a meeting with him scheduled. I can confidently say we wouldn’t have this meeting if it wasn’t for Resquared.

Are there any other platform successes you’d like to share?

One that comes to mind is when I was looking to fill an opening in one of our centers with a Taekwondo use. I searched on Resquared and within 5 minutes of sending out emails, I had two very interested prospective tenants. The center is unfortunately under construction right now, so we had to push off the date until January 2022, but I’ll definitely be reaching back out to both of them then.

What would you say to someone who is skeptical of giving Resquared a try?

It’s a no brainer that everyone in our industry can benefit from Resquared! I don’t think any developer out there can confidently say that they are so ahead of the game that they don’t need any help from new tools! As a department head, I believe the tool increases the productivity of my staff plus it elevates the quality and caliber of businesses my team reaches out to. It gives me the visibility into the exact businesses my team reaches out to which allows us to be a better, more in-sync team.

Looking to level up your prospecting game like Patricia? Request a demo below today!

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