Important Spare Time Activities for Commercial Real Estate Brokers

In commercial real estate brokerage you will have days where you are very busy, and other days not so.  The fact of the matter is that as an agent you really do not know how many of your working days will evolve; on that basis it pays to have a list of things to do when you are ‘less busy’.

Time is one of the most valuable resources that we have in commercial real estate; regular planning is required to ‘stay on task’.  Show me an agent that is not a good time manager, and I will show you an agent that is not earning much in the way of commissions.  The factors of ‘time and task’ go together in our industry.  When you consistently do the right things every day, you cannot fail to succeed in reaching your goals.

I have put together a list of ideas that could help you when business is slow or spare time exists.  See what you think; perhaps you can add to the list?

1. Look at current and new listings – It pays to understand just what is on the market currently and how enquiries are tracking.  Look at your listings frequently to see if things can be improved or approached differently; and also look at those listings belonging to your competitors.  You will soon see agents that are poor performers and marketers.
2. Review contacts in your database – The process of database contact and updating is a very special and personal process.  In your database you will always find new listings, referrals, leads, and commissions.  Regular contact will open those issues up.  Opportunity is around the corner for those who do ‘a bit of digging’.
3. Refresh your adverts – When you have listed a property (open or exclusive), the listing refresh process is critical in so many ways.  Revamp the advertising copy and load different professional photographs to revitalise the rate of enquiry.  Where possible, create 2 or 3 groups of adverts for use in the different portals online.
4. Call clients to give updates – All exclusive clients should be spoken to every few days.  The conditioning process and the communications that you adopt early in the listing will help you greatly when it comes to negotiation at a later stage.
5. Get into your territory – In your sales and leasing territory there will be plenty of changes and people to talk to every day.  Make it a rule to get into your patch every day for at least 2 hours to meet new people.
6. Call some new prospects – Finding people to talk to and network can be a daunting process for new agents.  Research is required to dig down into the people that really matter in your property industry and location.  Devise a system of approach to effectively find new people to talk to every day.
7. Talk to qualified buyers and tenants – When you have qualified a buyer or tenant at or as a result of an inspection, or perhaps from a direct enquiry, ongoing contact is very advisable.  Stay close to those qualified people so you can build a level of trust and respect.
8. Convert open listings to exclusive listings – Open listings are a waste of time from the agent’s perspective and also that of the client.  Open listings stay on the market a lot longer than exclusives simply because they are not marketed well and the client has little commitment to one agent and one property promotion strategy.  I like to refer to the open listing process as ‘confusion marketing’.
9. Send out ‘success letters’ around your recent deals – When you successfully sell or lease anything, tell all the local business owners and property developers about your results.  Success breeds success, so get more of those results letters into the local zone or territory.
10. Send out ‘just listed’ flyers – Any new listing can be the subject of a simple brochure or flyer.  Deliver the brochures personally locally to the businesses surrounding your listing.  Spread the message about your property.  Talk to the locals about the listing; it is remarkable how much new information you will get as part of that process.