When you work in commercial real estate sales or leasing, you are frequently contacting some highly focused business leaders and property owners. In many situations those people may know more about the local area or property than you do. On that basis you must be assertive and decisive.

Let’s make one thing quite clear; assertiveness is not ego. Ego can and will destroy an agent, especially with all the knowledgeable people in the industry that will challenge you and your thinking. Your credibility is on the table so do not speak as an authority if you are not one.

To be assertive you really need accurate information from the market, and some personal knowledge to support your recommendations. Here are some things that will help with that assertive process:

1. Keep abreast of properties that are listed for sale in the local area. The price or rent being sought, the time on market, and the improvements that make those properties unique should be understood.
2. When a property does eventually sell or lease through any other agency, then seek out the final details of the deal. In most cases the final deal will be very different than the price that was originally sought.
3. The factors of time on market will tell you just how listings are going and why things are not selling or leasing. The time on market can also be impacted by the seasons of selling and business (with due regard for disruptions to the market from holidays such as Christmas, and Easter)
4. Methods of sale or rent in every region will be variable to what is successful and how the buyers or tenants are prepared to act. There is no point auctioning a property unless the auction process works. Don’t forget that you can also put a property up for tender, expressions of interest, private negotiation, sale at a price, or sale by exchange.
5. Enquiries for properties will come in from differing sources. When an enquiry reaches you, take the time to find out how they have come to you or what started the enquiry. Throughout the year the sources of enquiry will change; ideally your marketing should be centred on the things that produce the results.
6. Keep on top of the figures that apply to prices, rents, returns on investment, yields, capitalisation, comparable properties, outgoings, marketing costs, and construction costs.

These things will help with your market confidence and intelligence; in this way you can be assertive, and you will be seen as an authority. Prospects and clients will listen to you and your offering.