Who’s Really Making the Decisions in CRE? A Guide for Smarter B2B Outreach

If you’ve ever tried to build a B2B CRE relationship, you’ve likely asked yourself: “Who’s the right person to talk to at this CRE firm?” Whether you represent product vendors, architects, specialists, a security firm, or another business, reaching out to another business can feel intimidating.

You’re not alone in this. 

The key to building B2B relationships in CRE means having an understanding of the structures of other companies. This includes not only targeting specific job roles that are relevant to your industry, but also understanding their buying process. And depending on the size of the organization, all of these groups may differ from one another. A Forrester survey estimated that 13 people are involved in the B2B decision-making process — this is also known as the B2B buying committee. You can start to understand how overwhelming it can feel to prepare for B2B business development. 

The right contact, for your organization, is the key decision maker who selects the businesses their organization works with. In this blog post, we’ll talk about how to identify these decision-makers and what goes into their final decision of whom to do business with. 

B2B Decision-Making Process

B2B decisions aren’t made all at once. There’s a lot of time and invested parties that contribute to the ultimate “buying decision” of two businesses working together. This includes:

• The initial person who identifies the other business 

• The departments that are influenced by the B2B business decision

• The key decision maker (or makers) who decides whether the business deal happens

• The department responsible for financing and negotiating the terms of the deal

• The individuals who will use your business’s products or services, or work directly with you

Understand, it takes time to close a B2B sale. According to a 2024 B2B Buyer’s Survey by Demand Gen, the average B2B buying cycle lasts around 11.3 months. With so many hands that a deal has to pass through, closing a sale will take time, persistence and patience. 

Complexity of Commercial Real Estate Firms

CRE B2B sales are particularly complicated because of the multiple functions that organizations have. 

To illustrate this complexity, let’s imagine a CRE investment firm that’s involved in acquiring and selling properties. On top of investment, they also develop, manage, lease out, and maintain the assets in their portfolios. 

Your business supplies paper products at scale. Odds are, reaching out to the VP of purchasing at the CRE firm won’t result in success, as this individual is responsible for asset procurement, not liaising with suppliers. Instead, you’ll find more success talking to the property managers of the assets that the investment firm owns. 

Beyond this example, you’ll notice a lot of internal consistency of role titles between firms. A manager at an investment firm may have very different responsibilities from a manager at a self-storage facility. 

Common Mistakes B2B Teams Make

One of the most common mistakes that B2B teams make is reaching out to the wrong contact, or having the wrong intent for the contact. The most common example would be contacting acquisitions when, in fact, your organization should be talking to operations. 

As we illustrated earlier, a C-level executive may have the final say in a B2B sale, and it may feel intuitive to go right to the top to close a sale. But if your goal is to make the other organization aware of your business’s services, this is probably not the first person to contact. Instead, you may want to get into contact with the department that will actually use your product or service. 

Another common mistake is to approach a CRE firm like a typical corporation. Unlike tech or finance companies with centralized decision-making, CRE organizations often operate in silos based on region, asset class, or property type. For example, a lead list that isn’t filtered by asset type might point you to someone who specializes in industrial when you're offering a service tailored for retail. Tools like Biscred eliminate this guesswork. With filters for industry, asset class, and seniority, you can zero in on the right people in the right departments. 

Read more about unique challenges CRE companies face when doing business together. 

Finally, a common mistake is to rely too much on a generic, or outdated lead list. CRE is a dynamic industry. Companies grow, shift focus, or pivot strategy, and static data can't keep up. A better option is to use a constantly updated, human-verified database gives your team a living, breathing picture of your target market. You don’t just find contacts — you find the right contacts.

Who’s Who at a CRE Company? (Breakdown by Department)

Development — Handles construction, remodeling, and other building tasks. Employees in property development are more hands-on than other departments. This department is good to contact if you’re an architect, general contractor, or consultant. 

Property management — Responsible for a property’s upkeep, leasing, and maintenance. Sometimes, property management companies won’t own the assets they manage, instead having a specific monthly budget. This department is good to contact if you’re a facility vendor, maintenance, security, or supplier. 

Asset management — Not to be confused with property management, asset management involves the value of commercial real estate as an asset in a portfolio. Asset managers maximize the profit of a property and asses other properties for potential profitability. This department is good for forming a strategic relationship, especially if your service supports portfolio growth, financial performance, or investment analysis. 

Acquisitions — Focused on identifying and securing new property investments. This team conducts market research, financial modeling, and due diligence. Relevant for data providers, investment analysis tools, or services supporting the transaction process.

Dispositions — Sometimes separate from acquisitions, this team handles selling off underperforming or non-core assets. Useful to target if you're offering services like property marketing, brokerage support, or transaction management tools.

Leasing — The leasing department may have some overlap with property management, but at larger CRE organizations, there will be a separate department just for handling leasing. Leasing handles assessing potential tenants, negotiating the terms of leases, and handling the signing. The leasing department is relevant for marketing teams, signage companies, and tenant-related vendors. 

Construction management — This department handles CRE construction projects from initial concepts to the development and construction of properties. This department also oversees a project’s budget and makes sure the building is in compliance with local laws and regulations. It is most relevant for architects, engineers, and build-out vendors. 

C-suits & owners/operators — The executive suite is responsible for managing a firm’s strategic priorities, negotiating contracts, and managing the finances of a corporation. C-suite professionals and owners are responsible for the growth and health of an organization, and are most relevant for strategic partnerships, long-term deals, and high-value pitches, not necessarily for day-to-day purchases. 

Marketing & communications — Especially in larger CRE firms or REITs, there may be a dedicated marketing team responsible for branding, property marketing, digital presence, and tenant engagement. If you offer services related to content creation, branding, digital tools, websites, or lead generation, this is a key audience.

Finance & accounting — Handles budgeting, forecasting, taxes, and financial compliance. Relevant for financial software, audit services, or anything involving expense control and ROI tracking.

Legal & compliance — May exist as a separate team or be outsourced. Critical for contracts, risk management, and zoning/legal approvals. Relevant for legal consultants, contract management solutions, or due diligence tools.

Sustainability / ESG (environmental, social, governance) — A growing area in CRE. Teams here manage energy use, certifications (e.g., LEED), and ESG reporting. Highly relevant for energy management systems, green tech, or sustainability consultants.

How BDRs, SDRs, and Marketers Can Identify the Right People

We’ve offered general insights about identifying the key decision makers and influencers in the B2B buying committee, but what do you do with that information? Building B2B relationships in CRE is not always about how to find the right decision makers in a company, but what to do once you've made contact. 

We’ve developed an eBook series dedicated solely to growth strategies, business development and marketing outreach for CRE companies. Schedule a demo to see how Biscred works. Then, peruse our library of CRE eBooks, and get ready to kick off the best business development campaign your sales and marketing teams have ever seen!