Working Smarter and Not Harder as a Commercial Broker
In commercial real estate brokerage today, it is very easy to get tied up in the pressures of the job and the tasks of the day. Quite soon any positive work activity will be lost in the requirements of the moment.
As commercial property specialists, we need to work smarter and not harder. That will require a high degree of personal control and focus on the tasks at hand. Most of the time there will be a significant number of people seeking a slice of your valuable working day. Consider the following list:
- Clients that you act for currently
- Fellow team members looking to you for guidance
- Team meetings
- Prospecting
- Presentations
- Inspections
- People enquiring regards current listings
- Negotiations
- Ongoing client contact
- Competing agents or brokers
So there are quite a number of things to do every day as a commercial real estate broker. Some of those things are more important than others. Importantly we need to understand the things that can really drive the opportunities and listings forward for us individually. Set your priorities accordingly.
Any broker that feels that they are in control on a daily basis will get a lot more of the most important issues completed. So your principal focus should be to develop control as part of your working day. Do the things that matter to your commercial real estate career. Avoid the things that waste your time.
Here are some basic rules that apply to brokers and agents in the industry today. See how they apply to you and your location. Here is the list:
- If you look at an average working day, you will in most cases be working long hours. It is not unusual for a top agent to be working 10 to 12 hours a day. There is nothing wrong with that, providing it is managed well. The rewards are many for those that focus their efforts.
- Understand the things that are more important than others in your career. From the list mentioned earlier, two or three of those things will be far more important when it comes to listing opportunity and closing on commissions. You need to make the right choices.
- Start the day with focus. Spend at least 3 hours every morning as part of a prospecting process. That will be with new people that you have not spoken to before. It is critical that you feed your pipeline of prospects every day.
- Test and measure your activity so that you can understand what’s working for you in building new business opportunities and leads. As you track the numbers, the growth and the trends will show you how to improve results needed.
- It takes about 20 minutes to get into any activity. To get traction and momentum in anything, you need to remove distractions from the workplace so that you can focus down into the issue and get the required momentum. It is worth noting that many open plan real estate workplaces are counterproductive for this very reason. If you work in an open office environment, it is best to find a quiet place to undertake those complex tasks and critical issues. Prospecting is another one of those important issues requiring a quiet room for concentration and effective telephone dialogue.
Simplify your day into chunks of time devoted to critical issues. Everything else can wait till the end of the day or be postponed to the weekend. Success in commercial real estate comes from taking the right actions each and every day. Habits are required to take your targets forward.