How to Take Your Motivation to the Next Level in Commercial Real Estate

In commercial real estate, most agents suffer degrees of distraction and confusion at some point in their career.  The point here is that consistency will be the first ‘collateral’ damage on a real estate day. You can’t let that happen.

Usually, it is in the first year or so that this happens to agents, and then it can and will usually reoccur at later times each year.  Your career is in your hands so consider that you can do more with your actions and your focus. Make choices in what you do every day. Make choices in how you market yourself and your services.

Stay on top of the issue, and do not let it impact your real estate life and career. Motivation should be a big part of what you do in your real estate activities.

What is the problem?  It is a common issue for real estate agents, and above all else, it must be controlled if you want to move ahead.  Fix the problem when you see or feel it happening, as it can derail your motivation and focus, then ultimately your results.

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Common Agent Challenges

The fact of the matter is that ‘real estate stuff happens’ each day and each week that you cannot control.  Clients will want a slice of your time, and the marketing of listings will also take up part of your day. When you think about things, you can save yourself a lot of stress by working only on exclusive listings and by choosing some timed method of sale such as ‘auction’. Timed methods of sale have that degree of momentum to an end result. That can be the focus of your real estate services.

Some things are challenging and can take you away from the good things that you want to do.  There is a balance here in That ‘stuff’ can also take over your thinking and impact your brokerage actions when you do not want that.  When you recognise this fact, you can do something with it.

Experienced agents know that they cannot control everything, but a part of their working day will always be available to them to do the things that matter. The question is then ‘What are the things that matter?’

So, what do you recognise here?  Understand that you cannot control all your working day or week; some things happen beyond your control and are not easy to fix or will take time.  Given that we work in an industry based around communicating with people, marketing, and negotiation, there will be complex and challenging things that we have to work with constantly. That is what a sales based business is all about. 

Commercial real estate is a balance of many things, and your ability to stay in control through your real estate career is critical to the results you achieve.

Pressure Points for Agents

Given all of this ‘pressure’, how can you stay motivated?  How can you stay on task to get the best results for your business?  The answer is simple.  Control 50% of your day and leave the balance of the day to the uncontrollable and challenging things. 

Control the first 50% of each day, and that is the time up to noon.  Beyond that daily start-up, the low priority or administrative things can be handled.  In doing that, you will feel that you are indeed in control, which will help your motivation.  Sure, there are always exceptions to the rule and what you need to do, but ensure that you remain in power in your real estate business.  Control brings real estate results and career direction.

Brokerage Motivation Stimulus Strategies

The keys to staying motivated can work something like this for you:

1. Control the first 50% each day – This should be the first four hours of the day, and the time frame will start at 8 am.  The first four hours can be directed into the growth of your real estate business and particularly so on the telephone.  During those four hours, you can talk to many people, and your lists will help you do that. 
2. Make more calls every day. Get to a high level of call consistency. In making those calls each day, you will create conversations and meetings.  Just one or two sessions of calls per day will lead to listings at the end of the week.  It is a simple ratio to work with, and it has a significant impact on your growth of market share. Use the first half of your real estate day to build your business; that is a great rule and real estate strategy to develop.
3. Meet more new people every day. It is a good target to meet at least 10 new people each day. The best way to achieve that is by dropping your business card into local businesses. Create a logical plan for that in your location. It is all about local area marketing. That is a big part of progress in commercial real estate brokerage.
4. Remember your past successes and results. Any good listing and or transaction outcome will be a boost to your mindset and should be merged into your listing presentations.
5. Testimonials are a good thing to use as you talk with clients and customers about their property situation and challenge.
6. Remove diversions as you find them – This will involve avoiding routine meetings and administrative things as well as inbound calls.  Everyone wants a slice of your time. Be prepared to say ‘no’ to the things that really have no impact on your listings, clients, and commissions.
7. Take photos of the completed property transactions in which you have been involved or instrumental in the end result. Put the photos in the ‘cloud’ and separate the photos between sales and leasing. You can use the photos in any property presentation.
8. Switch off your emails and only read them twice per day. The diversions from emails and inbound calls can be from people that are low on the priority list.  It would be best to not look at your emails first thing in the day, which will divert your thinking.  As an agent, you do not want that happening.
9. Talk to the business owners locally. It is remarkable just how much market intelligence you can get from talking to the local business people. They transact business in a location and will know a lot about what is happening in the precinct.
10. Get out of the office in the afternoon – You can visit your allocated real estate territory, walk the streets, and meet people.  When you do this, use your business card as a ‘leave behind’ when you are door-knocking local business owners.  Staying in the office has no benefit to you or your real estate business.
11. Track progress numbers and conversations – A simple strategy like this will help you see how you are improving with the things that matter in your real estate day and career.  The numbers to track should be outbound calls, meetings created, listings generated, exclusive listings and marketing dollars converted.
12. Watch how your commissions improve each month and over the year.
13. Understand your listing ratios and the change you can achieve of open listings versus exclusive listings. As your exclusive listing numbers improve, you can control your market share, and that is what you ultimately want.
14. Track your marketing dollars converted for vendor paid marketing. Any good listing should be comprehensively promoted. That is where vendor paid marketing money is so important.
15. See how your internet listings are growing and improving inbound enquiry. You can get more of your listings into the portals and as part of that get some ‘premium’ placements of a quality property.
16. Build a list of real estate achievements – This can be a list of past transactions and photos of positive property outcomes.  The list is robust in several ways, given that it helps you remember the things that were positive in result or consequence.  You can also use the photos to share with your clients about transactions and property situations as part of a story.
17. Grow your database and client lists – Watch how your real estate database grows and how you can use that growth.  Set a simple target of increasing your database by 25 people per day.   Also, call back the people you already know, and then share information about prices and rents locally.
18. Build a VIP list that can bring you more transaction opportunity. The VIP list should be no more than 25 people, but concentrate your efforts of communication into that list.
19. Use exclusivity as listing leverage – The number of exclusive listings that you have at any point in time is essential as part of growing your real estate business.  Target a specific number of exclusive listings that you can constantly work with.  Twenty exclusive listings will be sufficient as a target, and your conversions to positive results should be over 75% with those listings.  The time on the market for that group of listings be shorter than open listings.
20. Chase referrals with the people that you know now. Referrals are easier to work with. Every person that you know now is likely to know other people that could need a property change or a new investment property. Ask the referral questions and you will find the other people that you are looking for.
21. Talk to your clients frequently – The preferred cycle of contact is four or more times per year. Relevance is the basis of ongoing communication and connections with the people that you know now. Conversations with clients help you find information and identify those leads to work on. 
22. Send out some market updates. Clients appreciate the sharing of relevant and up to date market information and stories about results locally.
23. Build a comprehensive social media marketing calendar so you can post your comments and information out into the online world.

So, these strategies will help you stay motivated as you move ahead in your commercial real estate career.  You can expand these ideas and use them to stay motivated as an agent in your location. When you see numbers improve, it is only a matter of time before the income improves.

These twenty ideas can help you see how you are improving as an agent in your location. Strive for that improvment in an ongoing way.  Soon you will be more confident and optimistic about what you are seeing and achieving in your real estate day.