Commercial Real Estate Sales Meeting Checklist Strategy
In a commercial real estate brokerage some sales meetings are better than others. In many ways the quality of the weekly sales meeting will have a lot to do with the team leader or sales manager. The meeting itself can give the team traction in business and listings, or be a regular frustration for some.
The top agencies I have worked with have a few base rules to the weekly meeting. Participation is required. Here are some of those rules:
- The time of the meeting is set early in the day around the middle of the week so everyone can get on with continuing business.
- The duration of the meeting is to be over one hour to 90 minutes.
- The flow of the session follows a strict agenda and everyone is expected to stay within that.
- Minutes are kept so progress can occur with ongoing matters.
- The meeting starts on time. (late comers are not to attend meeting – it creates disruption)
The point of all of this is that respect within the team, and agent participation are required elements of engagement in a quality weekly sales meeting. Team performance is created by staying within the simple and effective rules.
When you look at an average sales team there are many ‘characters’ to control and encourage. A good sales meeting will help do that. You will soon see those people that do not fit in or are not participating as a ‘team player’.
This brokerage marketing wall chart will also help your team meeting structure and flow of topics.
Every real estate sales person and agent should be expected to bring to the weekly meeting their report on these things:
- Prospecting activity – this is a report of what they have been doing during the week to connect with new people. Sharing experiences and strategies here helps others see what they can do or adjust to when it comes to connecting with new people. Get team members to report to their ‘sales plan‘ progress.
- Listing updates and adjustments – listings will change for a number of reasons including price adjustments, time on and off market, and marketing reports relative to the exclusive listings in your agency books.
- Competitor’s listings update – share information of what competitors are doing both in marketing and market share. Some competitors will be better than others so watch and see the differences.
- Signboard counts – this number will give you an idea of just where the market is going and how your brokerage is positioned within that.
- Internet listing counts – the internet will be a prime indicator of marketing and deal results. Compare agents on the numbers of listings placed on the internet.
- Enquiry rates – these change by location and by property type. It pays to watch and check what people are looking for when it comes to a property to lease or purchase.
- Inspection activity – on a listing by listing basis you will see that some agents and some listings attract more inquiries. From this information it pays to ask the question ‘Why is that happening?’ Around those facts you can adjust your marketing efforts.
- Active deals – when a sales or leasing deal is underway, monitor the progress so everyone knows when the commission is to be paid.
- Marketing strategies – some agents are better than others in the marketing process. Every agent can learn from others in the team. Share information about signboards, internet, brochures, cold calling, and social media. There are plenty of things that can be learnt from each other in these marketing strategies both online and off line. Also monitor the numbers relating to ‘vendor paid marketing’ for each agent in the brokerage.
As a final note it pays to keep the sales meeting as a separate process away from the administration team meeting. You can bring the entire agency or brokerage together once per month as an exception to the rule.