Commercial Real Estate Agents – 10 Key Skills That Drive Listing Success

As a real estate agent for many years, I have seen some very special skills that require performance excellence if you want to be master of your real estate sales craft and a top performer in your local area. It is these special skills that bring you the business and allow you to convert more listings and commissions.

It is not the agency that you work for that brings in the business. It is the individual salesperson that finds, converts, controls, and closes the business.

Some real estate salespeople are master of a few skills on the list; rarely will you find a salesperson that can do all to an exceptional level. They can however be practiced, developed, and refined to your property situation and market. There are no hurdles here, just opportunity should you choose to do the work required.

In order of client and listing involvement they are:

1. Prospecting for new listings from the local property owners, investors, and business owners
2. Presenting your services and offering to vendors, landlords, and business leaders
3. Inspecting a premises for sale or lease with care and detail
4. Preparing listing documentation with accuracy and due diligence
5. Target Marketing of each property into its own market and unique enquiry base
6. Client conditioning in keeping with market trends and conditions
7. Negotiating and Closing the separate parties to a sale or lease
8. Documentation accuracy to reflect all elements of the contract or lease
9. Follow through to settlement or occupation
10. Attention to detail with entry into your own database with regard to all prospecting and client or prospect communications.

Such a list takes real focus and deliberate practice. The seasoned salespeople in the property industry will take years to develop these skills through attrition. They can however be fast tracked in just a few short years should you choose to do the personal practice and take the action required.

Commercial property covers a broad selection of property types, each with its own list of elements, improvements, and investment criteria. That is why many seasoned salespeople choose to specialise on one or two property types. In this way they can bring real facts and strategy to the sale and listing process. If you choose to specialise in real estate services and skills, then do this first:

• Understand what property types in your market offer the most future sales or leasing activity and listing opportunity.
• Check out the known changes to property, population growth, business movement, and new constructions or developments. Are there any threats of contraction or change on the horizon? If so avoid that segment of the property market.

This information will tell you where to specialise your sales skills and efforts in the commercial and investment property industry. The future awaits the person that does the hard work and the practice.