The Differences That Drive Sales Business Today in Commercial Property

As we move into and through this subsequent new property cycle, we must change our personal activities and strategies in commercial real estate brokerage. 

This is a new property event and cycle for everyone; most things that we did previously in brokerage should now be approached differently. 

The rules have changed, but the people and the properties are still there to work on or for.  Engagement is the key to getting results in this property market.

Agent Activity Time

So, it is time to get active in different ways.  Small differences in all that you do will help you ‘stand out’ as you drive more new business. 

Your activity levels should now be considerably higher when it comes to talking to people in your territory.  The telephone is now the main business generation tool for all agents.

Structure Your Solutions

How can you structure and grow your property business now?  What are some other things that you can do? Differences matter in your commercial real estate prospecting, marketing, negotiating and brokerage.  Activities in all those categories are shifting; rules apply. 

Underpinning all facts and strategies today is the need to know the people that need your help.  How you find them and engage with them is a critical consideration for you personally.

Clients Understand Real Estate Today

The clients and people that we assist know that things have changed and will continue to do so.  The ‘standard conditioning process’ to help clients understand price and rent changes is not so important now, given that the market facts of change are plain for all to see. 

The only question for you to consider is how genuinely motivated the client is in achieving a property result and how realistic they are in getting a result.  Choose your clients carefully.

Effective Negotiation Today

Genuine clients will negotiate on prices and contractual matters; last years prices are now ‘history’.  Any buyers that you find are of high value now given that they are fewer; some can get finance while others cannot. 

So, the transaction becomes a real ‘brokerage event’ with the right people that can take action in property today.  That is our job, and that is why commercial real estate agents are so crucial in changing markets.  Top agents are made in this type of market.

Negotiation Differences Matter

To get more results in this property market, consider your differences locally as an agent and how you can build your real estate service solutions around them.  

Do not be ordinary or generic like other agents; be specific and specialized in brokerage locally given the new ways in which we have to do things.  Consider your new differences and shape them further across these concepts:

1. How you attract enquiry – your lists are now more valuable than ever before.  The people that enquire today or those that have enquired previously about a property are ‘gold’ and should be nurtured for recontact and or other transactions.  Every person that you have spoken to in recent time and over the last couple of years will be a target for ongoing conversation and review. There will be people that you have talked to previously who can and will want to transact commercial real estate today. Others will be waiting for a price or a market change. Either way, you need to talk to those people and understand their position. Use your lists of people and clients to find property situations; grow your records and ensure that they are as accurate as possible. List management is now more critical than ever before.
2. How you find people – your local area coverage of people and properties will help you build your real estate business.  Finding people now is a bit different for everyone in that you are spending a lot more time on the telephone.  Put property investors and local business owners into all your daily call contact processes as this property cycle changes.  Most agents and brokers have database lists that are either not large enough, or not accurate enough. On that basis, the records can be optimized through ongoing contact and regular activity. Take your database lists and your client or contacts inventory to another level when it comes to engagement, telephone prospecting, and follow up calls. Ensure that your records and all the information contained therein are accurate in every way possible. Do more with your lists so that you can achieve better results with people, properties and everyday real estate situations. The agents that produce results in this market are those that talk to a lot of people regularly every day and match people and properties together.   Make that the key focus in your real estate day.
3. How you promote properties – most of your marketing of properties today should be strongly supported by direct contact and online strategies.  There are some marketing tools that you can use in this changing property market, and some of them are highly effective when it comes to creating more inquiry and attracting inspections. Some people looking to purchase property in this new cycle will be highly motivated by investment opportunities. They will be selective, and the first place they go for sourcing properties will usually be the Internet.  So, the question to consider is how you can optimize any property listing online through several different strategies, including social media, case studies, websites, blogs, and industry portals. You can also vary your property advertisements to ensure that you are refreshing the marketing message about all property listings once every two or three weeks. As part of that, use professional photographs so that you can make the advertisement as attractive as possible to the active buyers in today’s property market.  The message here is that you can do more to pull in the people and the enquiries.
4. How you put negotiations together – Expect that your property negotiations will be different for some extended time. The buyers of the property market will be more selective, and as part of that, they will still need to understand the facts of the property and undertake the inspection processes.  The question for you is, how can you move the buyer towards an offer or completion of negotiation? Virtual inspections using photographs and videos are helpful.  In other circumstances, you will still need to facilitate a single inspection for the buyer while handling appropriate social distancing rules. Create some strategies where you can allow the buyer or potential buyer to inspect the property in safe circumstances so that you can advance an interested buyer to a satisfactory negotiation for your clients.
5. What you choose as the best method of sale – you have a few methods of selling and or lease to work with.  Some are better than others.  Given that the property market has changed, you can be more selective with the methods of sale to get a property to the market and optimize enquiry.  Some of the clients that we work with today will be feeling pressure when it comes to a sale and negotiation process. To help them through that, choose the best methods of marketing and the ways of sale that will facilitate more significant activity and encourage a positive result. The methods of sale available usually include an auction, negotiation at a price, expressions of interest, and selling by tender. Choose the methods that you can work with and achieve a result through. Understand the legalities of selling the property today and how you will create accurate transaction documentation through that.

From these five facts, you can shape your differences in brokerage and position yourself for more activity locally. 

Action and strategy is everything in brokerage today.  Shape your real estate future with more action and optimized differences in services.