Apto Commercial Real Estate Blog

We’re over halfway through 2017, and as we head into Labor Day weekend, summer is drawing to a close. It’s time to take a pause, evaluate how things have gone so far, and plan for a successful close to the calendar year.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day pace of work and life. And often, when forced to choose between an easy task and one that requires deep, critical thinking, we choose the one that we can cross off our to-do the fastest. This can lead your priorities askew and cause you to stray from your goals.

That’s why it’s important to carve out time in your schedule for the tough stuff—the deep thinking that guides those day-to-day activities in the right direction. Here are some tips for ensuring strategic thinking doesn’t fall by the wayside so you can crush the remainder of 2017.

Have you tried LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator tool yet? It can shortcut the process of finding qualified leads and lets you play with a treasure trove of user data so that you can unearth prospects based on everything from zip code to common interests—which is far more than you can do with the regular search function.

Here are a few ways the Sales Navigator can help you prospect:

A few years ago, my Honda Civic finally kicked the bucket and it was time yet again to go new car shopping. Some dread the task, but I was excited to put my years of reading Motortrend to work. I headed into the dealership armed with facts and figures, as well as the various opinions of automotive journalists in case the conversation got serious.

A sales guy started chatting me up right away so I threw him some softball question. I was looking to connect―all he had to do was react to what I said and display some semblance of knowledge. He didn’t do either of those things. He just sort of nodded and then started talking about the car in question and various “facts” that I was able to sniff out as falsehoods immediately.

I was out of there. He was out of a sale.

I hope you haven’t done this, or I hope you’ve only done it once. Once is all it takes to learn how important it is to know your product and your customer, and to have all that information on hand when it’s time to connect. Being able to have a smart, meaningful conversation is the key to being an effective salesperson.

From cashiers to car washes, we’ve watched technology reshape industries and eliminate jobs through increased automation.

While many of us may have thought more complex roles and industries would remain sheltered from increasingly advanced technology, a recent report by Remit Consulting said 88% of the core tasks performed by real estate service firms are ripe for technological takeover.

If we were telling you about a beginner’s guide to prospecting in commercial real estate, we would talk about networking and canvassing. There would be advice about how to talk to people everywhere, all the time. You’d find tips for cold calling and email outreach, and guidance on scheduling and tracking your efforts.

But this ebook isn’t a beginner’s guide. This is for brokers who are past the struggles of the early years, where organization is still a work in progress. This is for brokers who are ready to build a scalable process that ensures their pipeline stays full and the paychecks keep coming. We assume that you have centralized technology and a CRM, not just a collection of Excel spreadsheets. (If not, start with A Practical Guide to CRM for Commercial Real Estate).

And we’re going to be honest—to become an expert, you need to put in the work. There are ways to be more efficient, but there are no true shortcuts. To make more money, you need to invest in technology and take the time to implement better processes. But it’s worth it.

As a commercial real estate professional, your workday rarely ends at 5pm. Somedays, the real work may not even begin until then, or you might just be working round-the-clock—ready to take a client call at any moment.

That’s why the way you choose to spend your time matters. You don’t get paid to sit behind a desk, you get paid when you produce. So how do you ensure your time is being spent working on deals and not on useless paperwork?

As a commercial real estate broker, you know how challenging it can be to market both yourself and your properties. There are more channels to communicate than ever before, yet it’s often harder to connect with the people most likely to do business with you.

Marketing has evolved over the years, and now the idea of “content marketing” is central to any strategy. Content marketing means “creating, publishing, and distributing content for your target audience -- usually online -- the goal of which is to attract new customers.” Essentially, information created by you is distributed to your target audience to provide value to them. It works by boosting your website in search engines and creating a brand of verifiable expertise.

When it comes to the systems we use regularly, we may see the signs that we need to upgrade or change our ways, but we often ignore them. Because let’s face it, it’s easier to keep doing what we’re doing.

This is especially true for CRM systems and the processes you use to run your brokerage.

We all have one — that co-worker that always has the scoop on the next productivity tool or app that they swear will change your life by saving you tons of time.

As a result, you have dozens of tools and apps downloaded on your device, all designed to make you more productive and efficient.

But with what we know about the detrimental effects of multitasking, are all these tools really saving us any time? Or, are they doing just the opposite?

As a commercial real estate broker,  you have to ensure you’re making the best use of your time at any given moment. Productivity and efficiency are the name of the game. And with today’s technology, there are plenty of tools that can help you get more done both in the office and on the go.