Specialization Builds Better Market Share for Commercial Real Estate Agents

Let’s say you are starting up in an area or a town or city as a commercial real estate agent or broker.  It is a wise strategy to focus down on a property type within your location so you can build your real estate business more effectively and directly.

Some agents do things the ‘wrong way around’, by choosing to specialize in just commercial sales or leasing, then failing to bring real property specialty to the client.  Perhaps the strategy works in a small town with limited stock, but it doesn’t work well in a city or big town.  In the larger locations there are too many agents fighting for their market share, so the only way to be a relevant and real choice for a client is to be the best agent at what you do in a property market segment.

Let’s take this a bit further.  To be a top agent you should firstly focus on a property type so you know everything there is about the supply, demand, and activities within that property segment.  From that point you can then work on sales and leasing activity with real knowledge.

The strategy of specialization I am explaining here also helps you pitch and present your real estate services in a relevant and comprehensive way; the process of pitching and connecting with clients is very easy when you are a property type specialist.

Here are some tips to help you specialize as a real estate agent:

1. Zones – Determine the zone of property activity for main focus.  That area should be where all of your prospecting and client contact efforts are directed.  Make sure that there are plenty of properties and clients to work with inside the determined location.
2. Streets – Get to know the streets in a comprehensive way including ownership detail, recent sales, recent leases, and outstanding listings.
3. Prices and Rents – Track and measure the changes in prices and rents as they apply locally.  You can do that by talking to other agents, and watching the sales records that are processed after a successful property deal.  When you know the real prices and rents you can easily negotiate on listings and transactions.
4. Marketing – There are alternatives to marketing, and some of those things will work more effectively than others.  Your job should be to understand what works with that property marketing and how to improve that process for any sale or lease.
5. Inquiry – Inquiry rates will change during the year so track all inquiries on exclusive listings.  That will also help you know what fresh inquiry is coming in each day and how it is changing.   Inquiry will have an impact on time on market, and as a result you should use the time on market activity to convince your client of realistic listing terms and conditions.
6. Property Owners and Investors – Some property owners and investors will be highly active and or dominant in a property type locally.  Get to know the right property owners, landlords and investors that are likely to bring you valuable listings and property inquiries.
7. Supply and Demand – During the year the demand for particular properties will wax and wane.  When you track the recent deals and all outstanding listings, you can see that change occur.  There are ‘seasons’ to sales and leasing activity.  Focus is required in peak times to bring in the business in a timely way.
8. Signboards – Do a regular signboard count in your location.  A weekly review will help you stay on top of recent listings.  The best time to do the review is Sunday morning when things are quiet.
9. Direct Mail – Send out ‘success’ letters, ‘just listed’ letters, and also ‘market updates’ to the people and property investors in your location.  When possible follow up the letters and brochures sent by making a telephone call.
10. Websites and Blogs – Don’t just list your properties on the industry websites and portals.  Write and supply useful articles to your community of business people and property investors.  Link those articles to Newsletters and Social Media.  That will help you be seen as a real property specialist in a segment and location.

These 10 things are very useful in building your real estate business as a property specialist.  You can add other factors from your local area to comprehensively cover your market as a top agent and broker.