How to Maximize Your Online Presence
B2B buyers now spend 27% of their research time independently online — and just 5-6% meeting any single vendor. How brokers can make sure that research finds the right story.
The way buyers research and choose a service provider has fundamentally changed — and commercial real estate brokerage is no exception. Today's clients are doing the vast majority of their evaluation before they ever pick up the phone. That's good news, but only if what they find represents you well.
B2B buyers spend roughly 27% of their total buying time on independent online research — versus just 5–6% meeting with any single vendor.1 By the time a prospective client reaches out, they've usually already formed a strong opinion based on what they found searching your name. Making sure that search reflects the brand you've actually built is one of the highest-leverage things a broker can do.
The Research-First Buyer Is Here to Stay
Gartner's time-allocation research on B2B purchasing found that buyers spend roughly 27% of their total buying time on independent online research — and just 5 to 6% of that time meeting with any single vendor.1 That's a research-to-contact ratio of roughly 5 to 1. Separate research finds buyers typically consume around 13 pieces of content — reviews, profiles, market commentary — before ever making first contact with a provider.2
This isn't a trend limited to e-commerce or consumer products — it applies directly to how businesses choose professional services, including who represents them in a commercial lease. When a prospective client searches your name, what comes up? Does it reflect the expertise you've built, or does it blend in with every other profile on the page?
What a Prospective Client Actually Finds
Reviews carry more weight in this research phase than most brokers assume. 92% of B2B buyers consult peer reviews before making a decision, and only 9% consider a company's own website alone a reliable source of information.3 That means your website telling your story isn't enough — third-party validation is doing real work in a buyer's decision, whether or not you're actively managing it.
For a full strategy on securing and leveraging reviews specifically, see How Online Reviews Will Boost Your Brand and Increase Sales.
Reviews are one piece of a larger picture, though. Your LinkedIn profile, your presence on Google, and how consistently your expertise shows up across platforms all factor into the impression a prospective client forms before you ever speak with them. Try searching your own name right now — what you find is exactly what a prospective client sees first.
Building It Yourself vs. Partnering
You could spend significant time optimizing individual channels — LinkedIn, a personal website, review platforms — one at a time. Or you can partner with a platform built specifically to give brokers a stronger digital footprint without building it from scratch.
TenantBase can enhance your digital presence while simultaneously generating new client introductions and commission revenue — connecting your profile to an audience of tenants actively searching, rather than leaving your online presence to grow organically on its own timeline.
Let Your Online Presence Work for You
Join TenantBase's broker network and get a profile built to be found — without managing every channel yourself.
Join as a Partner BrokerFrequently Asked Questions
- Gartner, cited in Start Some Shift. B2B Buying Statistics 2026: The 5:1 AI Research Ratio Every Marketer Needs to Know.
- FocusVision, cited in Dad's Growth Lab. B2B Buyer Journey Statistics (2026): 44 Sourced Benchmarks.
- G2 Buyer Behavior Report, cited in Dad's Growth Lab. B2B Buyer Journey Statistics (2026): 44 Sourced Benchmarks.
Get matched with tenants actively searching in your market — no separate software fee.