Being Adaptable as a Commercial Real Estate Agent Wins More Business

In commercial real estate agency, you should be adaptable to the challenges of the property market today, and the requirements of the client.  This is really easy to do when you are a specialist in a property type and a location.

As a specialist in a property type and location you will or should understand the factors of pricing, rentals, tenancy mix, time on market, marketing, and negotiation.  You are the specialist that can take over the clients property challenge and turn it into a successful property outcome.  Specialization is the key to the process.

The clients that we work for require the right information and strategically relevant skills on the part of their agent.  If you pitch and present your services correctly, your conversion to an exclusive listing will be quite easy.

Those agents today with an abundance of ‘open’ listings are those agents that have not sufficiently branded themselves as experts in the local area.  They have no real point of difference when it comes to pitching their services.  The clients they work with can see no real benefit in exclusive listing with a particular agent.  If you want more exclusive listings, you will need to solve that perception.  I go back to the point that specialization as a property agent is essential to the process.  Top agents win more exclusive listings and that is the rule not the exception.

To be adaptable as a specialist real estate agent means that you have the necessary skills and the information required to handle the following situations comfortably:

1. A client requires a vacancy in a property to be leased efficiently and effectively.  The tenancy may have been vacant for some time.  The client therefore requires innovative solutions that apply to the leasing process.  They need that vacancy filled as soon as possible.
2. A vacant property requires repositioning in the market so that it may be sold or leased.  The pressures of the prevailing market conditions and the zoning requirements set the guidelines for the target market and the efforts that you need to undertake.
3. At commercial or retail property has reached the end of its economic life given its current and present usage.  On that basis the property needs to be subjected to a material change of use and redevelopment.  As part of that process you will need to consider the approvals and strategies behind local planning and development.
4. The client’s property may be under-performing from an income perspective.  You should know how to review the tenancy mix, lease profiles, rental strategies, lease documentation, and outgoings recoveries.  On that basis you will soon see the discrepancies when it comes to income recovery and growth.  You can add to this assessment the rules and legalities that apply to rent review negotiations, lease option negotiations, tenancy relocations, and redevelopment alternatives.
5. The client’s property today may be a future sales opportunity.  In leading to that sales situation, they may have challenges that apply to the tenancy mix and the income profile.  Over time you can help them with income modification and capital growth.

You can look at a property from a number of different perspectives.  It may be vacant, unimproved, leased, or vacant.  The value for the property can also be determined in a number of ways based on the identified potential and the prevailing market conditions.  To assess the value of the property, you can cross reference two or three methods of valuation or appraisal to see what will work when it comes to any future listing price and marketing opportunity.

The top agents in a commercial real estate agency today are very adaptable.  They understand how to move across the requirements and changes of the market.  They know how to match the client and their property to the prevailing market conditions.  You can do the same.  Get to know your market and how it is changing and growing.