An owner is deciding who lists a 40,000 sq ft industrial building. Before the meeting, someone on their side searches the submarket, reads two brokers' market write-ups, and finds a profile page for you with a phone number and a headshot. You are the one with the least visible knowledge, and you have not said a word yet.
Which is absurd, because you toured that building in 2019, you know what the last three comparable deals actually traded at, and you know which landlord will move on TI allowance. All of it lives in your head, in an inbox, and in a CoStar export. None of it is anywhere a searching principal will ever find it.
So business keeps coming from the same network it always has. That works until a relationship retires, a tenant rep you never met runs a search on behalf of a national account, and the requirement goes to whoever looked like the submarket expert online.
And the broker who has published a quarterly submarket note for four years is now the default answer for your market, from a desk two floors below yours.