Thinking of becoming a commercial real estate agent? Read on as Rappaport’s best share their secrets for success!
Getting into the world of commercial real estate (CRE) can seem like a daunting prospect. Perhaps you’re getting into real estate, just starting out with CRE, or simply weighing up options for a new real estate specialty. Whatever the case, it’s overwhelming to enter a new space with no idea of what constitutes success, or how best to pursue it.
Here at Rappaport, we’ve made it our business to mentor people in exactly that position. Our goal for new agents is to help them find their feet in the fast-moving, challenging, and rewarding world of commercial real estate.
And as they do, many of them build up their own playbook of tips and tricks for being a successful agent. So, to answer your questions, we crowd-sourced advice from some of our top brokers about how to be a successful agent in commercial real estate. This is what they had to say.
Relationships are key in the real estate market
As commercial agents, we work with big deals and big money, and that makes it incredibly important to build trust and a strong working relationship with clients. Rappaport’s Director of Leasing and Brokerage, Thomas Bolen III, advises:
“As an agent, there is a level of trust and integrity that one must maintain. Some of my most lucrative clients and deals have come from years of maintaining a certain level of good character. It only takes one bad decision to ruin a lifetime of integral relationships.”
Tied into that is the need to take a consultative, rather than transactional approach. Remember that your job isn’t just to close deals. It’s to close deals that benefit everyone involved and to keep the best interests of your clients in mind.
In real estate, time is money… and reputation
This focus on relationship-building makes balancing the needs of various clients one of the biggest challenges you’ll face as an agent, especially when there are big deals on the line. In practice, that means you need to develop sharp time management skills.
While everyone’s approach to this is different, we have some tips on how to form a successful real estate agent daily schedule:
- Block out time in your calendar for essential tasks at the start of your workday
- If you have any gaps, use them to brush up on the finer details regarding specific clients or deals
- Stay flexible – your working timeline should be able to adapt and evolve as needed
Most importantly, keep some time for yourself each day. You won’t be able to deliver the level of service and support your clients expect if you yourself are feeling burnt out.
Leverage your existing experience
Another thing to remember when starting any new occupation is that there’s always something you learned before that can be applied to a new situation.
Rappaport Retail Adviser Julie Manning puts it like this: “One thing I wish I’d realized sooner was how valuable my past experience could be in my new position. I worked in restaurants for 15 years. But it took me while to ask the question: Why am I not working with restaurants and their real estate?”
To Julie’s point, make sure your new company knows you have skills in other sectors and ask to be involved in any new deals that come up where they could leverage your expertise.
Build your network
Just like building strong relationships with clients, be sure to strengthen your professional network. Connecting with other commercial real estate agents is a good start, but some of the most successful agents also look further afield. Expanding your network across other industries can have surprising results and might lead to deals and insights you weren’t expecting.
At the same time, make sure you’re investing the appropriate amount of time in building out your online presence through platforms like LinkedIn. Chances are, the first thing anyone looking you up is going to do is check your profile. If it’s lackluster, they might look elsewhere for CRE advice.
Remember that real estate is about community
In addition to the real estate agent tips above, make sure you’re leaning into the expertise and knowledge around you at your new firm. As their newest agent, you’re helping the firm expand their reach and deepen their ties with the community. In turn, they should be supporting and guiding you to success.
Here at Rappaport, our motto is about “cultivating places.” But it’s important to remember that it starts with cultivating people.
To learn more about the rest of our team, click below.
