How to Use Your Time More Effectively in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage
Sometimes we can get distracted and diverted in commercial real estate sales and leasing. It is so easy to be pressured into handling or resolving the property priorities of others. Is that a good thing? Not always.
That pressure is a time management problem that is all too common in commercial real estate brokerage. Success in the business is not a process of ‘luck’, but rather a product of choice in taking the right actions most of the time.
Your time is a valuable resource. On that basis it is quite important for you to regain or keep some control on things for yourself; to spend some ‘controlled’ time each day in personally finding something new to work on, that can create new business opportunities. That could be a new property, new client, or new precinct of property change or growth.
Your priority at the start of each day should be to work on strengthening your own real estate business, and not responding to the priorities of others. Know who your clients are and what your listings are doing each day but put your real estate business on the top of the list of daily events in your diary. Devote three hours to your endeavours and real estate business.
Clearing Space in Your Brokerage Diary
So, make some ‘space’ in your business day for acting on something new that can impact your real estate business in a positive way. Try these for ideas:
- Talk to 5 local business people through a door knocking process in certain streets or precincts. Make clear choices about the businesses and buildings that you canvass in this way.
- Ask for referrals as part of the regular meeting and client contact activity. You know plenty of people, so remember to ask them what they know about others who may be needing property help.
- Canvass the businesses in a set of selected quality buildings that you have chosen in a precinct or zone. It is better to refine your local business focus to a smaller selection of quality buildings than it is to do everything across a large zone or part of the city.
- Review the websites of local businesses in your city to get some information that could lead to leasing or sales discussions. Websites give you information that can be fed back into your prospecting and client contact processes.
- Know where the local listings are currently and talk to the owners of adjoining properties in the same precinct. A local property listing with any other agent is a good reason to talk to local people in the same area.
- Create a lease expiry register for a zone; over time you can tap into many different lease changes before the businesses go the broader property market. Tenants come and go from buildings, and that movement can be driven by property occupancy costs. Keep in touch with local business owners and occupiers.
- Choose a property type as a focus for ongoing research and listing focus. Specialize in what you do and know when it comes to property. That could be with strata title suites, standalone buildings, office buildings, industrial warehouses, retail sites, bulky goods warehouses, or shopping centres. The focus in this way makes the canvassing process more relevant and potentially more successful.
So, the idea here is that you can make space in your business day for something that is new and special for your real estate business. Understand the value of something ‘new’ that can lead to a listing, conversation, connection, lease or sale.
There are many simple connections here to work with. Put ‘new’ strategies into your real estate business and commercial property client list and business activities. Find something ‘new’ to focus on each day, and just do it.
