Article
6 Skills That Will Make You a Top Commercial Real Estate Agent
October 4, 2019 2 Minute Read
Want to know a secret? Not every commercial real estate agent began their career in CRE. In fact, most didn’t. Spend an afternoon chatting with CBRE employees and you’ll find everyone from ex-professional poker players to former academics.
So how do you become a top commercial real estate agent? You stand a good a chance if you like a challenge, have a great memory and a passion for prioritization.
Curious if you might be a good fit? Read on to find the six skills that make an ideal CRE professional.
You never forget a face
Commercial real estate is all about making connections, and lots of them. You need to be comfortable cold calling a stranger, chatting up someone you’ve just met, or earning the trust of a client you hardly know.
It’s not all about building new business. You need to maintain relationships in and outside your company so you can execute a marketing plan, move a business or address a project management issue better than any of your competitors.
Personal touches matter. If you’re someone who loves to meet and engage with a wide range of people, you could have what it takes to be one of the most successful agents in a high-performing brokerage.
You have a head for numbers
Love combing through data? Get excited building your own database, formatting your latest spreadsheet or figuring out how to create mind blowing macros? Successful commercial real estate agents set themselves apart by providing clients with market demographic studies, local research and financial analysis they won’t find anywhere else.
The best commercial real estate services firms have agents, researchers and analysts who know that understanding a local market is essential to staying ahead in a competitive industry. Your passion for data will help you identify trends that get your clients ahead of the curve.
You never give up
Making sure that your client gets the next great 10,000 sq. ft. office space in a highly competitive market isn’t easy. Persistence is the difference between a good and a great commercial real estate broker.
From finding new sales or lease opportunities, to threading the needle between competing landlord-tenant priorities, you can’t stop calling until you get the best outcome for your clients.
If you like a challenge and aren’t put off by difficult odds, you could be a good fit for a job that requires a lot of patience, and an allergy to the word “no.”
You like odd hours
Don’t want to work a 9-5 desk job? You’ve come to the right place! Commercial real estate professionals are constantly travelling in and out of the office, studying rent rolls one minute and visiting an exciting new development the next.
If you’re drawn to the idea of a dynamic career where you can set your own hours and get back as much as you put in, this could be it.
You know how to prioritize
Any commercial real estate professional will tell you that every day on the job is different. That means thinking on your feet and being willing to change a plan at a moment’s notice.
Maybe you thought you were going to be researching industrial real estate, but a tech company needs help with an unplanned expansion? Time to rearrange your schedule. The best brokers juggle several priorities at once – and they never drop them.
You’re naturally curious
A good commercial real estate agent is keenly aware that what they don’t know is just as important as what they do. Having the best local market knowledge is an important advantage, and that knowledge comes from asking the right questions.
If you’re the kind of person who has a mental list of questions ready to go, who jots down notes when others are speaking and pursues learning opportunities in and outside the workplace, you might be a good fit for CBRE.
Working at CBRE
At CBRE, we welcome top talent from a wide range of backgrounds and industries to pursue careers in commercial real estate.
Our last three Canadian CEO’s started in the research room and worked their way to the top job. We empower employees to take their career where they want it to go.
If you want to work in a flexible, inclusive and collaborative environment, look no further. Check out CBRE's latest careeer opportunities today.
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