It’s your business – What’s your strategy? - by Edward Smith

This column is offered to help educate agents new to commercial and investment brokerage and serve as a review of basics for existing practitioners.  It’s that time of year to review your past year’s performance. Like most people you probably accomplish many things – but perhaps not all your business goals. Why not? As an independent contractor you are accountable to yourself! What are your goals for 2016, and what is your strategy to achieve them? Goals need to be attainable, but also a challenge: set your standards higher than your previous achievements. Results must be visible, but may take many forms; self-improvement, accomplishment, recognition or tangible, such as a new home, a boat, a car or just more money. Once goals are determined they need to be written down. The action of writing something down etches it into our sub-conscious mind. It is our subconscious that reminds us of what we want to accomplish. We need the constant reinforcement of seeing our goals; a storyboard may be used for this purpose. Create a poster with a collage of pictures representing your goals or surround your office with pictures of what you are striving for. I like to think of the goal setting process as a time for assessment and evaluation. Looking at what we have done and failed to do is the beginning of that process. Goals need to be set for our lives, our family, ourselves and our profession. All of our actions need to interact in harmony. To take a goal to reality requires a plan; a consistent course of action. To establish a business plan you must first establish your career goals. Where do you see yourself at the end of December, 2016? Someone who has established greater recognition as “the commercial agent” in their area, the “top producer in your company,” someone who has had more time for community service and family,  and/or someone who has exceed this year income goals? A financial goal for a commercial real estate agent may be to make $100,000 in commission next year. The goal needs to be broken down into steps. Each quarter you need to earn $25,000, each month’s production needs to yield $8,333 in commissions. What specifically will be required? What are the average sale and lease commissions in your area? How many sales and leases do you need to close each month to accomplish this? How many listings do you need? How many presentations do you need to make each week? How many people do you need to meet each year? Answering these questions is the basis for your plan of action. Next you need a strategy. Daily prospecting should include “door-to-door” canvassing. Become “the commercial agent” in your area by systematically visiting each store, office or business in a specific geographic area. Introduce yourself, see if they have any real estate needs now or upcoming in the future (when did you say your lease was up), and always ask for a referral. “By the way is there anyone else who you think I may be of assistance too?” A reflection of who our customers and clients are reminds us that they are small business owners, professionals and large corporations. Where can we find many of the business leaders of our community? Consider networking by joining the local Chamber of Commerce or local service organizations: Kiwanis, Lions, or Rotary etc. Become active in these groups and get to know the other members (your future customers). Contacts result from reading the papers. Classified ads by owners, see if you can help them sell or lease their property. Read the trade papers in your area and the New York Real Estate Journal. They tell us which companies are on the move. Note the space availabilities advertised by other brokers. Developing relationships, turning our contacts into clients requires regular follow up. E-mail and texting is fine but personal contact is best; calling people on the phone and seeing people face to face. To be successful in this business is a numbers game. Plan your days to meet more people! Edward Smith, Jr., CREI, ITI, CIC, GREEN, MICP, CNE, is a commercial real estate consultant, instructor and broker at Smith Commercial Real Estate, Cambridge, N.Y.