Business Planning Tips for Commercial Real Estate Agents

In this property market, you really do need to have a business plan when it comes to your personal commissions and listing opportunity.  You need to set some benchmarks that can take your commercial real estate agency career forward through growth and opportunity.

For many salespeople and agents the process of business planning is relatively detailed and boring.  It is not unusual to find many business plans created by commercial real estate agents and then overlooked.  Perhaps the process requires a different name to help the acceptance that it requires as a critical part of the agency process.

I like to call the business planning process that of ‘strategic growth’.  It infers that the matter is important and that it offers opportunity for the agent and the agency.  On that basis you have a real reason to establish the plan and implement its momentum.  It is a very personal process and cannot be delegated to anyone else.

So what do you need to improve your market share and your income over time?  Here are some points of focus for you:

• A good database of quality clients
• A source of future opportunity in sales and leasing activity
• Quality listings
• Dominant market share
• Exceptional skills when it comes to marketing, presentations, negotiating, and inspecting
• Referral business
• The knowledge to do the job at a high level with accuracy and relevance

To achieve these very important goals, you need to research the right information and make some key decisions.  Here are some ideas to help you get started:

1. Understand the local property market and its activities over the last few years.  Will the property market be changing over the next four or five years?  That being the case, can you service that change?  Will you require further information and knowledge?  Will the change give you some opportunity in sales or leasing activity?
2. Look at the upcoming opportunities in the market and the growth potential of the business and community segments.  Can you service those growth segments and in what way?
3. Assess the competitors that you will be working against when it comes to new listings.  Are there any competitors that will present you with challenges when it comes to market share?  What can you do to be different and better than those competitors?
4. Understand the role that technology and marketing plays in the local area when it comes to new listings.  Can you bring anything new and fresh by way of technology and marketing to your listings?
5. Your property location and market share is likely to show some trends and have relevant indicators when it comes to average deal size and average deal type.  That will then drive a commission average from every transaction.  How many transactions will you need to make from your target market segment on an annual basis to achieve your income?  Is there business available for you in that segment, and how would you tap into it?  What can you do that is different when it comes to building your market share?

Taking all of these things into account, you really do need a business plan or a strategic plan to take your listing and commission opportunity forward.  In an average calendar or financial year, you have approximately 10 months of listing and deal opportunity.  The rest of the time will be absorbed in community festivities and school holidays.  For this very reason, your plan is critical to your progress and success in the industry as an agent.  Focus your efforts in that 10 months of time so that you can build a pipeline of solid income and client growth in commercial real estate.

You can get more tips like this at our main website http://commercial-realestate-training.com/