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6/19/08
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By Bob McComb, Top Dogs.
While it's certainly true that when it comes to commercial property valuation and finance commercial real estate is a numbers game, but when it comes to brokerage it most definitely is not a numbers game anymore. Here's what I mean; way back when, commercial companies hired new agents and told them this is a numbers game, make a certain number of calls and you get a certain number of leads; then you make a number of presentations and secure number of clients. They carefully explained to the new agent that this is a business in which you eat what you kill. Many commercial real estate brokerage houses still use this arcane hunter/convincer strategy. And many of these brokerage houses are struggling today. Why? Simply put the answer is consolidation.
Throughout the 90s and continuing today, there are fewer and fewer property ownership entities. Real estate investment trusts and other portfolios have been absorbing more and more properties, moving down the hierarchy from prestige trophy buildings to community commercial properties and smaller complexes.
Entering into this market, the new emerging broker is ill prepared to secure accounts. They don't know the language of commercial real estate, the right questions to ask and they are lacking in the core competencies to operate at the portfolio level. It's a serious mismatch, one that costs them and their employing brokerage big money.
With fewer individual investors owning property, there are fewer accounts for the new agents to cut their teeth on, as the expression goes. Newer agents need to get up to speed very fast to get going in the business today. That means learning the language of our industry, developing great needs analysis skills, being capable of laying out a clear course of action for clients and the know-how to get the job done.
Expecting the new, under-trained and under-skilled agents to aggressively pursue accounts is unrealistic for two important reasons. First is that each failure jeopardizes future business with high lifetime value accounts. Secondly, after a few failures the new agent becomes painfully aware of their lack of competency and in a mixed blessing they simply stop pursuing any new accounts until they have learned more about the business. Learning about our business this way often takes years and accounts for the high rate of attrition for emerging brokers.
The solution is obvious, new agents need to get on a fast track to learn the fundamentals of the business, learn how to conduct in-depth needs analysis and deliver services in a manner that harvests a high lifetime values of accounts. Piecing all this together from on-the-job training or runner positions is too painfully slow and only fosters the “starve until you make it big” anthem chorused throughout our industry.
Fortunately now there's a better way. Top Dogs recently released its newest program, entitled How to Fast Track Your Expertise in Commercial Real Estate. It provides a full immersion boot camp approach using accelerated learning techniques and action assignments that integrate the learning into the local market. The DVD series and 540 page companion manual is instantly deliverable and repeatable until true mastery is achieved. For more information go to www.tdogs.com or call 888 894 5772.
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