city at night

How to Develop a Competitive Edge in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

In commercial real estate brokerage, there will be plenty of competing pressures across your property market and within your territory.  There will be other agents chasing your business and your clients; your clients will quite likely be influenced by the confusing pressures of the property market and the economy.  They need help. 

Keep control of your listings and your clients through a strategic approach of service, information, negotiation, and contact.

Each year, the real estate market will be changing due to local pressures of prices, rentals, supply, enquiry and demand.  All factors need to be monitored and tracked; you can use that information to your advantage as part of any listing presentation or negotiation.

real estate desk and computer
Get your free commercial real estate course here.

As you pitch and present ideas and concepts to your clients and prospects, adopt a visual approach with graphs and statistics to explain the changes in all those market trends and factors. Show the client what you see, what is happening, and how their property challenge can be resolved.  A strategic and confident approach is wise.

In any town or city, there will be priority precincts of activity with both sales and leasing opportunities.  There will also be property types that are more attractive hence potentially boosting inbound enquiry, and others that are nearing redundancy.  All of the variables can be worked with.  See a property and the property location for the opportunities offered.  Put yourself in the opportunities.

Your Local Property Landscape

To understand the competitive landscape in your property market, here are some indicators to watch for and work with:

  1. Identify the many media outlets covering and reporting across the business community in your town or city. Monitor those media outlets each day.  The newspapers and the Internet will offer plenty of information that you can interpret and work with when it comes to business change, targeted companies, and industry placement.
  2. Undertake a market assessment monthly. That will involve a signage count, a listing count, and an Internet review of other websites and listing activity.  When you know the numbers in each case, you can compare your market share to your direct competitors and across the targeted property types.
  3. Certain industry segments will be more active than others when it comes to property use and occupancy. Certain industries and those related to local resources will be important to watch, and particularly so when it comes to labour force changes, profits, and expansion.  Understand how the local industries operate, where they operate from, and what they need when it comes to property occupancy.
  4. When you fully appreciate the major industries in your town or city, there will be secondary businesses to watch for, that integrate into economic activity and commerce. Know how the primary and secondary businesses locally integrate with each other.  Explore the links, the referrals, and movements across business and service segments.
  5. Make it a point of your business day to connect with property developers and investors that are active in your location. They have different but converging priorities. You can connect comprehensively with both. What do they need? What is the status of property for them currently?
  6. The Internet and the opportunities of the global economy are impacting communities and consumers; that then feeds back into the business sectors and the property owner plans of investors. Everything is linked, so be prepared for the changes and churn.
  7. Some of your competing agents will be more specialised and successful than others. Look for those agents that stand out as the top agents of the local property market or the property types.  See what they are doing with prospecting, marketing, and client services.  Build your plan and approach using the strategies that have been proven to be successful by others.

From these things, it is easy to see how a strategic plan is important to help you engage with your clients, listings, and peers.

Get Free Agent Resources Here....

* indicates required
Email Format

Similar Posts