20 CRE Broker Tips

20 Things I Have Learned in the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Business After 20 Years in the Business:  

1. Don’t get emotional about the deal
2. Make calls every day
3. Have a good CRM system
4. Keep good communication with your clients
5. Return every phone call
6. Don’t judge some one by the sound of their voice when on a call
7. Don’t be greedy or let your client get greedy
8. 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing
9. Co -operate with fellow brokers
10. Train/teach new agents about the business
11. Network constantly
12. Be a good referral source
13. Massage the first offer - often the best
14. Make a win-win deal for both parties
15. Continue to learn and grow
16. Adapt to changing markets
17. The neighbor is often a great buyer
18. Know your market inside and out - be the expert
19. Become a master story teller and negotiator
20. Master CRE valuation

Looking ahead

21. Never stop marketing yourself/properties

Emotions:  Learn to take your emotions out of the deal and only focus on the deal points. Don’t think about your commission while negotiating. Don’t let a poor response or bad email or phone call get in the way to make the best deal for you client.

Calls:  Making calls and meeting people on a daily basis is critical to your success as a commercial real estate broker. Your network is your net-worth. Get to know and meet as many people as you can. Make it a daily habit

CRM: I started with ACT when I first joined the business. I would stay late and input the names of everyone I met and spoke with. It makes it easy to find and track your clients, prospects, investors, bankers, attorneys etc. Saves a lot of time.

Communication: Keep your clients posted on activity. They want to hear from you. Don’t be afraid to tell them there is no news (sometimes there is nothing). But, let them know you are working on their behalf, give updates whether good or bad. Share the news.

Return Calls: It surprises me how many people (especially brokers) don’t return calls on a timely manner. I make sure to always return calls, 24 hours at the latest. I know what it likes to leave messages and not get a call back - nobody likes that, so be courteous and return the call.

Judgement: I once picked up a call and the man had a very strong accent and I had a hard time understanding him. I nearly gave up on the call until I realized the person I was speaking to was worth hundreds of millions of dollars and wanted to make an offer an a large listing.

Greed:  Greed kills so many deals, just don’t be that person or you and your clients will lose deals.

50% vs 100%: Learn to cooperate, work deals with other agents in your office or in the brokerage community. It’s better to get part of one deal than a whole lot nothing. People will remember that.

Cooperation: Be respectful of the other brokers, return their calls, cooperate on deals.

Training: We all started not knowing anything about the business. I was lucky to have great training and a great mentor for the CRE business. It’s nice to help others starting out and pass down good knowledge.

Network:  This is so important. You must constantly meet new people whether in person or virtually. Keep showing up, let people know what you do and be excited about what you are sharing.

Referral Source: Learn to help others. When a client needs an attorney, or inspector or ________, know the right people to connect with. Think how you can help those in your line of work. Make introductions to attorneys, bankers or CPAs, they won’t forget you.

Massage the First Offer: I really like this concept because I often find the first offer (but not always) is the best offer. There are lots of factors to consider but take the offer seriously, reply with a good counter proposal and discuss it with both parties.

Win/Win: We have all heard this before. We really do want both parties to feel like they are getting a good deal. Leave something on the table for the opposing party to be happy with. You can’t make a good deal with a bad person no matter how good the offer looks.

Learning: In the CRE business, in life or any business it is important to continue to grow and learn. Keep improving yourself, your skills and your knowledge no matter how many years you have in the business.

Adapt: Markets change all the time. Learn to move with the market If your sector is changing or dying out learn to shift to where the market is going. Ask yourself what do investors want? What do Landlords want from a broker? What knowledge should I have now that I didn’t have years ago? What can I do differently today?

Know the Neighbor: This is very true when selling commercial real estate especially for industrial property. The neighbor is often a great buyer. They might need to expand or they simply want to grow their portfolio and owning an adjacent property is an easy way to do that.

Know The Market: Without question, you must be an expert in your market. Know the COMPS, know the lease rates, know the players, know the streets, and buildings, Know trends, new development, laws, who’s coming in, whose leaving.

Become a Master: Learn to tell stories. “Facts tell, but stories sell.” ( Bryan Eisenberg, @TheGrok). This couldn’t be more true. Yes it is important to know the facts of the market and the deal as mentioned above. But, when “selling” and marketing and negotiating - knowing how to tell a great story will win business over the person that simply shares facts.

Valuation: It is important to know how to value a property. Learn to look at a property from multiple directions. For example what happens if the property is vacant? What if we increase the rent, what if we look at the land only? There are too many factors to discuss here but one must know who to value real estate.

Marketing: On going, continuous and across multiple platforms. Keep yourself and the properties you work for exposed to the market.