Need help deciding my future in CRE. Currently an investment sales associate, but no deals in over a year.
To start, I'm currently an investment sales associate at a brokerage in NYC. I got the job through a friend about 14 months ago and I haven't made a sale since.

I've had 4 listings so far, but all of them were overpriced and didn't sell.

The company stresses that we go on meetings/proposals because that's the way to win business, but I feel like I can't find anybody that is looking to sell.

I know we shouldn't compare ourselves to other people, but it seems like all my peers are able to find potential sellers because they go on meetings more often than me.

I'm just starting to wonder if I'm even cut out for this anymore. I want to stay because I want to be successful in this industry and for the most part I do enjoy the company I work for and all my coworkers, but what if it's just not for me? I mean, numbers don't lie, right? Everyone around me seems to be going on meetings with their mentors meanwhile I haven't had one in months. 

Logically it feels like I must be doing something wrong. I don't know if I should keep trying or if I should throw in the towel. 

Also, might be worth mentioning, but we work in different territories/markets throughout the 5 boroughs. So the peers that are going on these meetings with their mentors work in a different market than me. I used to make the excuse that my market was tougher, but there are properties trading in this territory. We see the comps every week.
[{"id": "hjfse8q", "text": "Being a broker is tough especially when you're first starting out and don't have a book of business. If you want to continue being at a brokerage I suggest you look at other shops and work under someone with strong deal flow. I have friends at debt brokerage shops that are doing extremely well working under a senior broker with strong connects.\n\nWhat are you currently getting paid?\n\nWhat valuable skills do you have? Can you put together investment books? Equity return models?\n\nBrokerage might not be for you but understand your skillset and take a look at other sectors in the industry that may suit your skills better.", "replies": [{"id": "hjgd7mg", "text": "Currently not getting paid at all. \n\nAt our firm, the new agents focus 90% of their time on cold-calling. That's pretty much all we do. We have a marketing team for the books.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nDo you have any suggestions as to where I can look at other sectors in the industry?", "replies": [{"id": "hjgl8xh", "text": "If new agents are focused on cold calling then it looks like you're at a shop like Marcus Millichap. If all you do is cold call then you're not building any good skills that you can carry forward. \n\nDepends what you want to do in CRE: debt, equity or sales?", "replies": [{"id": "hjgnp7w", "text": "Yeah it\u2019s pretty much just like M&amp;M here. \n\nIdeally I\u2019d like to do sales seeing how I know even less about equity and debt.", "replies": [{"id": "i0gkf13", "text": "Matthews?", "replies": [{"id": "i0jfnyx", "text": "What?", "replies": [{"id": "i0z4k6a", "text": "Are you working with matthews real estate is what he\u2019s asking.", "replies": [{"id": "i11f1gv", "text": "Oh, no lol. I left the commercial side btw... \nBut it was a small firm. They were trying to be the next M&amp;M. At least that\u2019s how it felt to me.", "replies": [{"id": "i1277az", "text": "What are you doing now?", "replies": [{"id": "i159ngy", "text": "Luxury residential real estate in NYC", "replies": [], "depth": 10}], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hjglmt2", "text": "Just curious on your title\u2026are you a broker? or an agent? Typically you need to spend a period of time being an agent before you can go for your broker\u2019s license.", "replies": [{"id": "hjgnzxv", "text": "I\u2019m an agent.", "replies": [{"id": "hjhnuoe", "text": "Okay cool. Your flair had me confused (it\u2019s \u201cbroker\u201d).", "replies": [{"id": "hjk4pqj", "text": "Yeah they didn\u2019t have agent lol. So broker was the closest one", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjfy9vx", "text": "How are you looking for new deals? Is cold calling your main way of finding business? \n\nAre you focusing on a specific asset class or just cold calling your entire territory no matter what it is?", "replies": [{"id": "hjgddhy", "text": "Yeah it's all cold-calling. We focus on multi-family, development sites and mixed-use.", "replies": [{"id": "hjgnm2b", "text": "Have you tried walking/driving in your market in Brooklyn? \nWalk around and look at buildings that look run down, mismanaged, possibly vacant. Write them down and target them.\n\nDon't just call and ask them if they are looking to sell but try an approach where you walked by their building with your client and the client asked to directly reach out to them because they see upside in the building and wanted to hear if you would entertain offers.", "replies": [{"id": "hjgo9ya", "text": "I like this approach. I actually live in my territory (southwest Brooklyn) and try to do this as often as possible with buildings that look rundown. Obviously no luck so far, but definitely a good idea.", "replies": [{"id": "hjgq0fe", "text": "Southwest Brooklyn is a tough market. Lots of old school owners without mortgages that have no need to sell and with prices at a low after the rent stabilization laws and good clause eviction likely passing soon it won't get any easier.\n\nStarting in a new market is tough but might be the only thing you can do here. I work as an investment sales broker myself and I constantly take on new markets but always keep in touch with leads and potential sellers in the markets I already canvased.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjfyrlj", "text": "Brokerage is a hard life. 90% of people are in your shoes. I would use the time you have now to start looking for other teams you can join internally or externally. Having a better \u201csenior\u201d would help you. \n\nStill, if your personality doesn\u2019t fit brokerage, leverage your 2 years of experience understanding real estate, what trades (and why), and comps in the market to get an entry level job as an analyst somewhere else.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjfzxth", "text": "This is why only 10% of people who start out as a broker actually finish as a broker. \n\nFucking get out now &amp; do something you can make a living on. Leverage the experience on the brokerage side for something corporate like RE management at a bank or fund. \n\nIf you aren't generating listings in a market you are competitive in you are just spinning your wheels wasting precious time.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjgclg3", "text": "Numbers don't lie. BUT: we're coming out of covid (the rockiest market in years) and it seems that you are a little shy.\n\nWhat asset type are you focused on? Based on that you can see if there are professional groups or alumni related to this asset class that you could join to network.\n\nIf not, consider moving on. In life it's important to learn fast from your mistake to move on to the next thing.", "replies": [{"id": "hjge3a0", "text": "Yeah I actually started during COVID. I don't know if shy is the right word, but I do get discouraged if I'm not seeing results after a while. Start to doubt myself.\n\nOur firm is relatively small, \\~30 brokers, and we all focus on multi-family, mixed-use and development sites. I can ask to join another territory, but then that means starting all over again and building my leads all over again. \n\nI'm so conflicted man", "replies": [{"id": "hjgeqof", "text": "It makes sense that you are conflicted. Life's tough, especially sales, if you get discouraged easily, this is not the right alley. If you can push through, stay where you are and make it a challenge.\n\nMulti is super interesting with a ton of opps right now, just stick with it.\n\nWhat market do you operate in?", "replies": [{"id": "hjggyaw", "text": "Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. My territory is southwest Brooklyn.", "replies": [{"id": "hjh0b5r", "text": "It seems that I can help you with prospecting.\n\nWould you be interested to have a chat? Feel free to DM me if so.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hjiyvxw", "text": "If you started during covid with a focus on NYC, you actually started at the most difficult time to source deals in many many years. \n\nHopefully deal flow is starting to pick up again, but the latest report by ArielPA shows that NYC MF transaction volume at least is relatively non existent and it\u2019s been that way since HSTPA passed in June 2019. \n\nI think in this type of market, the only way you have a fighting chance is if your making 180 or so cold calls a day, every day. Even then it will be incredibly difficult. Sometimes it\u2019s not you, it\u2019s the market.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjh0qw1", "text": "What did you do before investment sales?", "replies": [{"id": "hjhafwr", "text": "I was a leasing agent in a luxury apt. building in Manhattan.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjhmd96", "text": "Leave New York, try again in some place where you'll be the big fish in the pond", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjhxgwu", "text": "I would start looking for your next job, if your not making any sales, not growing your knowledge, and you lack a mentor to have your back on bigger deals the role is stagnant.  I like the idea of an analyst position if there is an opportunity to rotate into one. \n\nThe toughest sales positions are those where sales come far and few between. You have to be tough enough to take the verbal abuse why still being patient enough for your deals to develop. Maybe try a sales role outside of your normal scope with higher volume sales just to understand what it should feel like. It will build your confidence up and allow you to make the career adjustments for a successful path forward. Worked for me anyway.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hjid36f", "text": "In my opinion, this kind of business is about relationships and relationships take time to develop. Sure you can get \u201clucky\u201d with one off deals, but to have a successful career, you will need relationships with players who will sell and buy via you many times over. \n\nTake every meeting you can get, develop and foster those relationships, over time it will pay big dividends.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]