8 Ways of Mastering Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Market Share

When you consider your town or city, there will be zones allocated to you as a broker or agent, and those zones will be for generating specific new business in commercial real estate sales or leasing.  The zone or territory doesn’t need to be too big, but it does need to contain reasonable levels of opportunity that you can convert into listings and commissions.  So, do that basic assessment of the precinct before you go further.  (NB – you can get plenty of new business ideas in commercial real estate right here in Snapshot – it’s free)

When you understand the zone or precinct that you have been allocated, you can drive plenty of opportunity through fresh client connections, property listings, stale listings, and business relocations. Know the streets, buildings, businesses, and investors.  Momentum into each of the segments is quite important from a personal perspective.  You need a promotional plan to do that.

Get to know what is happening in your territory and stay ahead of the property changes and the occupancy opportunities. In saying that, get to know the buildings in the streets and all properties comprehensively; it may be necessary to chart the streets and the property locations through a mapping process and a database of contact with the right people.

Top Agent Tips

So, there are some good things that you can do here to position yourself as the top agent for the location. That location being your local territory and your precinct. Understand the property types that you specialise in, and then locate those properties within the precinct for direct and deliberate ongoing contact.

Here are some ideas to help you consolidate your market share even in the most competitive of commercial real estate markets. Create a matrix of activity around these things:

1. Signboard presence – understand exactly how many signboards you have placed on listings within your territory. Differentiate those signboards between open and exclusive listings. Compare the numbers of signs that you have currently, against those of your competitors. The only signboards that really matter in brokerage are those that are placed on exclusive listings. You cannot dominate the real estate market with open listings, so don’t bother with any open listings unless you really must. So, consider your signs on properties now. If your current signboard presence is low in comparison to other agents, then there are some things that you should do in an ongoing way to improve that ratio. Consider the strategies that you apply to the listing process and the contributions you receive from property owners for signboard placement as part of exclusivity.
2. Editorials in newspapers – the local newspaper in your town or city will still have a value in the industry from a property marketing and commercial real estate perspective. Every good quality listing that you advertise in the newspaper should be accompanied by a carefully written editorial. You can also add professional photographs to the process of placing the editorial. Newspapers today are feeling the pressure of the Internet and online property marketing. A good quality listing that is bundled with an editorial will always help the newspapers with their readership and content.
3. Feature properties and campaigns – monthly and quarterly, create a special campaign of featured properties for a location and within a property type. That campaign can be circulated both online and off-line through your database and across your social media channels.
4. Success letters – when you have completed a notable property sale or lease, get some ‘success letters’ out into the location. Tell the story from a local perspective.  Send those letters to business owners and property investors in the zone.  Tell them about the recent successful transaction, the marketing, the enquiry, and the results.  Put yourself into the message and story.
5. Social media coverage – choose a few (no more than three) channels of social media to use consistently with your listings and property market updates. Regular releases of property information will be required and that is at a frequency of at least once a week (preferably 3 times a week).
6. Case studies – every sale or lease will give you a reason to create a case study of facts. That case study can be presented as a PDF document with listing details, a photograph of the property, and a summary of the final lease or sale.  Craft your message from a local perspective.
7. Blog strategies online – one of the most powerful business tools in commercial real estate will be a blog, and that blog should contain local property facts and updates; in other words, the site should contain useful information for the location that the search engines are attracted to. There is not much value in placing a group of listings on your blog given that those listings will already be on the portals and your brokerage website.  Keep your blog for information about a location and a property type.  Try to answer the questions that most investors and business owners need help with as they seek out a new property to buy or lease.
8. Industry briefings – every quarter, you can gather a group of your most valued prospects and clients for an industry briefing. You can invite guest speakers, and provide plenty of locally based investment information that matches into your commercial property market share.  Your market intelligence is of interest to many people so use that information in a positive way; package that local information to release it in the regular industry briefings.  Put your activities and strategies into the information that you release.

So, there are some very specific things here that you can do with your real estate business.  These things can help you to consolidate your market share and client or listing activity.  Make a matrix around these things and then start building your personal brand both online and offline.  (NB – You can get our Brokerage Snapshot program right here – it’s free)