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Creating the Best Outcomes in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

two business men walking in street.
Professionalism is a big part of commercial real estate brokerage.

Commercial real estate brokerage can be a highly profitable industry to work within.  In saying that, it can also be a difficult industry if the right people and processes are not applied correctly as part of a plan and targets process.

There are some rules skills to develop across sales, leasing, and property management.  There are some real knowledge challenges to address and resolve with office property, industrial property, and retail shopping centres.

Here below are some ideas from our eCourse Snapshot.

What are your targets?

The message here is that you can and should develop some real targets in your business to define and improve the outcomes of your commercial real estate brokerage.  It really doesn’t matter if you are part of a large team, or if you operate individually.  Here are some valuable targets to work towards:

  • Commissions written per transaction
  • Listings generated within a defined area
  • Exclusive listings vs. open listings
  • Signboard presence within a defined territory
  • Referral business created from every successful transaction
  • Repeat business from existing clients

Everything in commercial real estate today comes back to results and activities.  The right activities will always produce momentum, and the best activities can then be tuned over time to achieve some real momentum in listings, clients, and commissions.

Understand your local commercial property industry

Nothing remains the same in our industry, and the activities that you undertake each year should be shaped and changed based on current market activity and trends.  In other words, every broker and agent should be tracking personal efforts and property indicators.

Through a simple set of key performance indicators every broker and agent can monitor their activities across prospecting, listing, time on market, and deal conversions.  A focus on quality listings and better clients will always help boost enquiry levels; database growth can be part of that process.  A good quality listing will always encourage the players within the local property market to display their hand and connect with you.

Why struggle?

When an agent or broker is struggling in the property market it is usually because they have not focused on the best listings locally.  They are also avoiding the importance of exclusivity in listing conversion.  You cannot dominate the property market without exclusivity.  You must control the quality listing stock and the clients that you work with.  Those simple rules need to be remembered at all times.

Identify the strengths and weaknesses in your property market, and then adjust your business efforts accordingly.  Improve your skills were required, and start talking to the property owners locally.  You must control your listing stock and your clients.

Where are the opportunities?

Look for the opportunities and look for the weaknesses in your local area.  Understand what’s happening when it comes to property investment, occupancy, and business sentiment.  Consider the following questions:

  • What segments of the market are showing the most enquiries?
  • What are the tenants and the buyers looking for when it comes to property occupancy or purchase?
  • What is the supply of property today and how is that being impacted by current and future demand?
  • How are prices and rents trending in today’s terms?
  • Are there any threats on the horizon when it comes to commercial real estate in your town or city?

So there are some valuable questions to consider here as you establish your commercial real estate business.  Undertake a regular assessment of market conditions and relate those market conditions to your personal skills.

Practice and improve your processes at every opportunity.  Soon the commercial real estate precinct in which you operate will start to present opportunities that other agents and brokers have overlooked.

You can get more tips about commercial real estate brokerage growth in our eCourse right  here.

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Goal Consistency in Commercial Real Estate Agency

commercial real estate agent climbing ladder
Set your targets in commercial real estate agency.

In commercial real estate agency today, you need to be consistent as a salesperson or agent with your goals in sales and leasing.  The actions that you take each and every day should be planned and directed towards the key performance indicators in your business.  The goals that you set should be central to the performance indicators.

Far too many agents struggle when it comes to listings, commissions, and market share.  The main reason for this is usually centered on a lack of focus.  That being said, every agent can take charge of their current situation and improve significantly in personal performance.  They simply need to create the necessary focus and drive.  It all comes back to goals.

Many things have been said regards the requirements of goals and business targets in our industry over the years.  The same rules still apply in commercial real estate today as the market goes through its changes.  Every calendar year or financial year there will be seasonal adjustments to listings and enquiry in sales and leasing situations.  Top agents understand how to read the signs and adjust their services accordingly.

Here are some tips to help you with goal establishment and management.

  1. In the first instance, you really do need to know that your property market has identifiable growth in sales, leasing, and property management opportunity.  Review the history of the area to understand exactly what has been going on over the last five years.  Research the number of new properties coming into the market today and new developments under consideration.
  2. From the previous point, you can identify the segments of the market that are growing and that will have the best opportunity for you as an agent.  From that segment identification, you can develop specialized skills and the knowledge that will help you stand out as a top agent in the local area.
  3. Review the number of competing agents that will have an impact on your market segment.  Are some of those competing agents regarded as top performers today, and what has made them stand out in that way?  You can learn from these other agents.  Look at their marketing strategies, their prospecting processes, and their personal branding initiatives through the region.  In many respects, you can replicate the good things that others are doing.
  4. The goals that you set should be based on key performance indicators.  In this way you can see improvements and adjust accordingly when necessary.  The indicators to track should be based on your prospecting processes, listings, meetings, property inspections, successful transactions, and size of commission.  Pay particular attention to the quality of the clients and listings that you are involved with.  Top agents usually focus only on quality and will walk away from listings and clients that can waste their time.

When you set the right goals as part of your agency business processes, be prepared to adjust them on a monthly basis throughout the year.  Things will change in the local area.  Look at the market with open eyes and clear thinking processes.  When something works, do more of it.  When something is not working, change it.

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Commercial Real Estate Agents – Goals to Improve Your Market Share Faster

two business men walking and talking
Top agents know all about goals.

Goals in commercial real estate agency are a good thing.  They help you understand where you are headed and give you some benchmarks to achieve the results that you seek.  Unfortunately many real estate agents set goals at the beginning of the year that have little or no relevance to their performance throughout the year.  Here are some tips from our Newsletter for Agents…..

If you as an agent are about to embark on a personal business planning process, goals will form part of the overall strategy.  That being said, you will need to hold yourself accountable to the required actions and benchmarks that your business plan requires.  Far too many agents establish goals for the purposes of personal and convenient satisfaction at the beginning of the year, with little regard for the actions and systems to back them up.

It should be said that your goals and targets should be reviewed weekly so that appropriate adjustments can be made when necessary and any achievements or opportunities can be optimised.  Top agents do that all the time.  A systemised approach to the industry is required.

Throughout the year there will be significant changes to the industry and your local market.  It is impossible to predict all the changes and pressures that will occur to the industry throughout the year.  Your goals and targets program can be the one consistent thread that can keep you on track, providing you make the required adjustments as the market changes.

Here are some ideas to help you with the targets and goals that you require.

  1. Review the local property market to understand what has happened over the last two years to your specialised property type and geographical territory.  You do need to know what’s going on locally before you can set your own benchmarks and targets.
  2. Check out all of the competing agents that cover your territory and property type.  Some of those agents will be better than others.  With careful attention to the top agents, seek to understand why they are so successful and determine the factors that can be replicated.
  3. Understand where your property type or speciality is heading.  Check out the supply and demand throughout the local region.  Review the business demographics as part of that process.
  4. You will need to set targets when it comes to listings and commissions.  It is an established fact that any quality property will produce better enquiry.  For this very reason the top agents in the industry tend to focus on the quality properties and only take exclusive listings.  In this way you can attract the enquiry and control the listing stock.
  5. Determine the ratio of listings between agents locally.  That should occur both in signage counts, and Internet listings.  When you have both of these numbers, you can review the time on market when it comes to your region and speciality.
  6. Your database is the backbone of your personal real estate business and market share.  Review the database that you use currently, and its existing quality.  Over time you will need to improve this database, so systemised prospecting should form part of your marketing effort.

You can add to this list based on your local area.  When you have the correct information, your goals and targets become more relative to the future income and listings that you require.  Set your goals and targets with the future in mind.

You can get more tips like this in our Agents Newsletter.