Proven Strategies to Sweep Aside the Competition in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

In commercial real estate brokerage, you really do need to know how to work through and around the competition when it comes to listing conversions, and property marketing activities.

(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)

Fact

You cannot be generic when it comes to working with your client’s properties and the listing activities locally. You need some specific strategies to stand out as the agent of choice in a relevant way above the other competing agents in the location.

Look local

In most towns or cities there are always degrees of competition coming from the other agents locally to interfere with listing conversion and listing retention. It is always better to find the listing off market before any other agents locate it. You can then design your marketing strategy accordingly.

So have a serious look at your prospecting activities first and foremost. Understand what you’re doing when it comes to connecting with the right people, researching the levels of property activity locally, and drilling down into the business community to help them when it comes to relocation, property change, and property acquisition.

Most of the results you get in the property industry today will come from your personal efforts and one-on-one contact. You will need a plan to achieve that. Everything else is a factor of luck in the industry, and luck really doesn’t work when it comes to commercial real estate brokerage over time.

What’s your plan?

Establish your plan to help you find the new business opportunities or leads from the market segments, the property types, and the clients that you really want to work with. Make the right choices and then drill down into those segments deliberately and directly.

So some questions here……  Do you know your targets in the industry today? You understand exactly where you are headed and how you will achieve the momentum required?

Here are some specific ideas to help you with brushing aside the impact of your competitors in today’s property market:

• Stop listening to your peers in the industry. There are plenty of people who will flood your thinking and activities with negative comments and unnecessary observations. Master your own property market through your own observations and experiences. Learn from the best, but ignore the average agents in the area that may be simply seeking to support their own poor performance through irrelevant reasons and market observations.
• Fast track your listing opportunities through a cold calling model and business process. Make plenty of calls each day into the local business community. Some of those business owners will be tenants whilst others will be owner occupiers. A simple telephone call will help you understand who the business owners are that need help when it comes to property change, relocation, or upgrade. A professional cold calling process will help you drill down into the requirements of property investors and business owners.
• Through regular ongoing research, develop various packages of market evidence that you can call on when it comes to many conversation, meeting, or presentation. A simple chart, checklist, advertising campaign, or set of photographs can help you grow a conversation into real listing momentum.
• Be yourself and improve yourself as an industry professional. You cannot reinvent the wheel when it comes to your personal character and business history. You can however improve your presentation and your presentation skills to deal with property types and the clients in your town or city. You can never really know enough about business communication today, so start practicing at each and every opportunity. Learn how to put the right words and phrases to well selected resources and presentation material. Be prepared to show the client exactly how you are the best solution for the location and their property challenge.
• Understand exactly where you are headed when it comes to new business opportunity and listing activity. You will need to use a business plan as part of that process, and that business plan should be structured on real market evidence that you have research over time. Look at the location and assess the property activity for the last few years. Understand where you can fit into the predictable property churn and activity as an industry professional in each and every way.

So there are some things to do here as part of positioning yourself as an industry professional. Take your business to the next level through deliberate ongoing daily activity. Most of your competitors will be rather ordinary when it comes to marketing, client contact, and competition.

Simple changes

A few small changes in your business focus and local market evidence will help you convert client to accept your professional services at the right time in the right way.

(N.B. these ideas are also sent out to regularly to our friends in Commercial Real Estate Online Snapshot to help amplify brokerage results…. Get your access here)