Shifting Up a Gear in Commercial Real Estate Sales Brokerage
It is easy to fall into a listing slump or an industry downturn in commercial real estate brokerage. Plenty of people will put pressure on you to do things for them and diver t your business day. As you get busier with listings, those pressures increase. All of a sudden you have little control on important issues, or you can be missing the new opportunities around you, be it in sales, leasing or property management.
Nothing is more frustrating than seeing someone you have spoken to whilst prospecting a week ago, list their property with another agent without even giving you a chance to quote on the listing.
Key Strategies to Improve Market Share
Before things take a turn for the worse or slowdown in your market, here are some valuable ideas to implement in your real estate business:
- Client contact – Stay in close contact with your clients and particularly those with exclusive listings. Help them understand what the market is doing and what you are seeing. Give them details of closed and negotiated deals. Have a face to face briefing with the client on a weekly basis.
- Refresh old listings – The listings that have been on the market for a very long time should go through a listing refresh; by that I mean a price or rent adjustment, change of photographs, revamp of advertising copy, and change of media or website portals. The buyers and tenants are always out there, so shift your target market focus with the marketing; create a different story and promotional message.
- Ask for referrals – Given that you should know a lot of people in the property market, use every meeting and telephone conversation to ask about referrals and leads to other people. It is a lot easier to grow your business through referrals than door knocking or cold calling.
- Revisit your database – On a weekly basis, go back through your database to find people that you have not spoken to before or for a long time. A simple conversation can lead to new opportunities. Repeat the cycle of contact every 90 days so your prospects and clients remember you at the right time or when a relevant property event occurs.
- Do a Signboard count – At any point in time, the traditional signboard on a property for sale or lease will always help you with building market share. Local business owners and property investors will see your name on other listings. Over time those signboards will help you with inbound property enquiry and telephone calls.
- Vacant land – Any parcel of vacant land would be a prime opportunity for a signboard. New developments or redevelopments are always happening, so check out local land owners for listing opportunity. In a fringe area on the edge of town or in any new industrial property precinct, signage presence will help greatly in getting the telephone to ring.
Don’t let a listing slump or industry slowdown have any impact on your real estate business. Do the things that other agents are struggling with. Work harder, smarter, longer, and with more focus. Soon you will find the property market leads and opportunities are still out there to be sourced and converted.