When it comes to a career in commercial real estate, there are many advantages and quite a few challenges. When taken in balance, career and industry offer significant opportunity. The level of success you can achieve is based on your commitment to various knowledge processes and taking the right personal action.

Many people enter the industry without due consideration for the hard work that needs to be put in. As with any sales related career, commercial real estate is very challenging and yet very rewarding. When the market gets tough, you find a number of sellers who leave the industry because they haven’t put the right systems in place in their personal business.

If commercial real estate is for you, then get organized and systemized. You need to plan ahead and take consistent steps every day to increase your market share and get quality listings. Talk to more people; It’s a people-based real estate market and those people need to know you as the expert. Over time you may become the agent of choice.

These are some of the key factors needed to consolidate your personal focus and action in your career. Consider how these key issues apply to you and how they can be improved. Also consider how they apply within your market and real estate specialty.

1. Sales skills are required at various levels. You’re effectively selling yourself in the first instance, and then you’re launching and introducing a number of tracks. To be an expert in this real estate market, personal confidence and local knowledge are important factors. The real estate market changes regularly with new pressures within the sale, lease and management of properties. Understand how to sell your services in these three disciplines as they change and change.
2. Prospecting will always be the most important thing you do every day. Everything else in your journal takes a close second when it comes to prospecting. Cold calling and prospecting should happen daily with new people and those you’ve talked to before. You need a business model to maintain regular ongoing contact with qualified leads at least once every 90 days.
3. Commissions will vary based on market pressures, the client, the property and the services provided. It is important to note that the commissions you charge should not be heavily discounted. Significant effort is needed to achieve results in commercial real estate today. Customers who request discounts may receive a discounted service if that’s what makes them happy. They soon understand that results are more important than discounts.
4. Quality listings should be the focus of your prospecting and networking. It is the quality listings that will give you good levels of consultation. Some low quality listings will distract you from the quality properties you should be working on. You work as a salesperson and your commissions are based on results. Results are much easier to get from quality listings. It must also be said that quality listings should be optimized for agency-only appointments. In this way, you will gain enough time that you need to cover the market comprehensively.
5. The ownership specialty is a good thing. When you focus on a particular type of property, it’s much easier for you to become the expert in the local area. Many agents initially focus on industrial property because of the simplicity of the property type. Over time, you may move to office property and eventually to commercial property. They are more complex when it comes to selling and leasing.
6. Competitive agents exist in all markets. You need to know who they are and what they are doing. It may be that they already successfully serve a market segment similar to yours, and therefore you will be pitching and filing against them frequently. Understand these competitors and the pressures they will put on your sales and business processes. Be better than the other agents that are out there. This is a skills and knowledge based process that you can work on.
7. Systematize your working day and career as much as possible. At least 50% of your day should be spent growing and prospecting for the market. It’s all too easy for this to get overlooked or put off due to pressures from your existing customers, listings, and current offers. Self-discipline and focus will help you overcome the problem.

Those sellers who choose to improve their actions and systems soon rise to the top of the market. It’s a deliberate choice that should be made early in your career.