Am I niching down in commercial real estate too soon?

“Am I niching down in commercial real estate too soon?”

I get this question a lot.

 

Targeting your market in commercial real estate can be tricky, especially in this current market.

It’s stressful to choose a niche and 100% stick to it when the office market is looking shaky as hell, retail can’t decide if it’s a good investment or not, and industrial zoning is so hard to find it’s becoming extinct.

I talk a lot about targeting your market in commercial real estate – it’s mostly so you can advertise to one group without going broke.  But if you’re in the beginning stages – like 3 years and newer, you might want to put the specialties off until choosing a target market becomes a no-brainer.

 

What does that mean?

 

Making a 1 offer is the easiest way to sell.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean niching down.

 

If you are a general commercial real estate agent and an investor asks, “What do you do?”  If you reply with an offer that makes sense and gives them results, you’re good-to-go.

Here are some ideas for some general offers:

One liner, “Better marketing, faster results.”

Elevator pitch, “I offer a strict marketing plan for every property I deal with, including advertising on multiple commercial real estate listing platforms, email blasting to over 100K emails, submitting every listing to major news publications, providing a listing brochure, doing a virtual tour, and tons more.  I put way more work in than a dime-a-dozen agent does, so your property will sell or lease as fast as possible.”

 

One liner, “Better research, great locations.”

Elevator pitch, “I research every angle of a potential property including your current and future space requirements, your budget, best locations available, comparable properties, and negotiating the contract to best suit your needs.  I do everything I can to make sure your next location lasts for years.”

 

As you gain experience and go through clients, deals, and get testimonials proving results, it’ll become obvious as what kind of deals you want to target.

 

When you start cringing at one kind of deal and feeling ecstatic at another, it’s time to niche.

Before you know it, you’ll have your target market!

 

If you’re 3-years in and beyond and you’re STILL not targeting, it’s time to start thinking about it!

 

When people ask me where they should target, I always ask the same question:

“80% of your revenue comes from one kind of deal.  What is it?”

At first this might barely be a niche, but it’ll be something like investor rep, landlord rep, or tenant rep.

Then you niche down to one of those.

 

Eventually, you’ll niche down to a property type.

(Or vice versa!  Property types first, then transaction type.  Just depends on your local market.)

 

If you’re at the point where you can answer that easily, it’s time to niche down your business.

If you’re still scratching your head, keep it general!

 

Riches are in the niches.  But you don’t have to decide today.

 

Making you richer with niches is just another way, I’m taking the “broke” out of commercial real estate brokerage.

 

~ Brandy