Tenant Rep..when will it be rewarding? Almost have a month in.
Switched careers in my late thirties to CRE, first week of a October, specifically in tenant rep. I’ve been cold calling, cold emailing, filling the pipeline, and my take rate is probably 2%. I had a nice six figure job before this at a director level for a retail sales company, but was thirsty for change. I don’t quit, but damn this can be unforgiving.
[{"id": "isvc9le", "text": "General advice is 6 months before your gain some traction, but this varies so much depending on product type, territory, hard work, and you as a person. Give it some time, and after maybe 1 year start looking at options. Tenant rep is a tough gig that many use as a starting point to jump into better roles down the road, such as landlord rep leasing and sales. It took me about 8 months to close my first deal in industrial owner/user sales when I started out to give you reference.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nKeep in mind your typical sales cycle in D2C will be much shorter than a typical real estate transation. I don't know what you sold, but one month isn't enough time to pick your head up yet. Keep at it and see where you are in 6-13 months. Best of luck!", "replies": [{"id": "isw54xk", "text": "This is really solid advice", "replies": [{"id": "itqq7me", "text": "Who's advice is really solid?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "isyhmx3", "text": "For me it took about: Six months to secure my own tenant rep client book of business to lease office space. Forty hours later and months after, successfully completed a lease with a landlord.   \nEvery day I made 200 cold calls. I cold emailed, mailed hard copy letters, researched, walked buildings, filled the pipeline with suspects, prospects.  \nThere is no shortcut. Nothing is fast or easy.", "replies": [{"id": "it4v7fq", "text": "Every business starting takes two years to start to understand operations, marketing and sales.  \nScott Stinson my Missouri  retail commercial real estate specialist friend: My research says it takes at least two years for someone to begin to make it in this business.... unless they are lucky or have somebody handing them deals. \u00a0It is a hard slog - I came through the property management side which was a great training ground and relationship builder.  \n\u00a0Me:\u00a0Property management is a good way to relationship build for leasing  \nand steadier cash flow.  \n\u00a0  \nI then formally joined a three man medical office, sales and leasing healthcare  \nbrokerage team. We sold and leased Mob\u2019s, surgery centers, hospitals throughout  \nLos Angeles and Southern California.  \n\u00a0Strong guidance, learning from coaches and mentors is invaluable.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isvd7us", "text": "It\u2019s a hard time and even in average times it can take two years to make a decent living.", "replies": [{"id": "itqqdq3", "text": "Roll up the sleeves and grind daily", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isvgpxe", "text": "It\u2019ll be rewarding in 3 years", "replies": [{"id": "isw52m9", "text": "Count on 3 years and 2 is the absolute minimum. It\u2019s honestly easier to cold call if you have something to sell rather than saying \u201chey, can I rep\nyou?\u201d A purchase or lease opportunity makes for a much easier conversation. Getting a couple of small listings would be my recommendation. I have even used other broker\u2019s listing (in my office) to cold call.", "replies": [{"id": "isyhgg9", "text": "&gt;Every business starting takes two years to start to understand operations, marketing and sales.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "iswappq", "text": "If you sit and expect everything to come to you sure", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "isyhaxx", "text": "Every business starting takes two years to start to understand operations, marketing and sales.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isvylpf", "text": "A month in \u2026.lol", "replies": [{"id": "isxc0bb", "text": "Not even. He said october he started and the first and second were a weekend so this guy genuinely has 12 days in and is wondering about the payoff.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "isyhir2", "text": "Every business starting takes two years to start to understand operations, marketing and sales.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "itqq38j", "text": "After two years of experience I went solo sales and leasing commercial real estate broker, without the three man team. 500 cold calls, emails, door knocks later I represented the tenant in a ten year, 40,000 sf industrial warehouse space lease.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isw4h7n", "text": "You picked a crazy time to switch careers to CRE", "replies": [{"id": "isw5873", "text": "Lol I did it too! Being a chef wasn\u2019t doing it for me anymore, and I wanted to see what an office looked like", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "itqqb6o", "text": "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger for the future", "replies": [{"id": "itqspy8", "text": "You\u2019re right about that. Tough to break in at the moment though.", "replies": [{"id": "itqtews", "text": "Like Rock Balboa climbing up the snowy Siberian mountain to train and fight Ivan Drago!", "replies": [{"id": "itqvp04", "text": "Rocky. Eye of the tiger", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isw9xsy", "text": "Started two months ago, Success will vary a lot. \n\nYou have to get out there cold call and market in every way you can. Use all sorts of different ways to find clients. \n\nI just closed my third deal; Flooring company, 10 year lease, 36,000sqft. Got a check for 43k after the split with my brokerage. My two deals before that was a 450sf Botique and a 900sf salon.\n\nYou have to chase the deals. Don\u2019t think deals will come to you.", "replies": [{"id": "iswa6rz", "text": "Also,\n\nI have a few co workers that have quit after 6 months to a year. All closed less than 5 deals. They were never chasing deals, their work ethic was poor. It\u2019s all up to you.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "itqqf2p", "text": "Nice", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "iswhroy", "text": "A lease doesn\u2019t get signed in a month. So even if you started day 1 with a client, a space the client was interested in, and terms agreed to with the LL, you still wouldn\u2019t have closed any deals.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isxzfhp", "text": "Tenant rep broker here...hang in there. My biggest advice to finding TR assignments: providing comps. Your GOLD as a tenant rep advisor are comps and market data. Use CoStar, get comps from other brokers in your office, trade data with other brokers if you have data to trade. You need comps, otherwise you're not providing much value. Every time you get a new comp, you need to tell every tenant in the market. Eventually, a tenant whose lease is coming up in a year or two will have a ton of data to work with and it'll be highly likely they're calling you for help. Happy to chat offline if you need help.", "replies": [{"id": "itqqhma", "text": "Provide added value", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isyec5s", "text": "Think about getting in with various property management companies to be listing agent on vacant building space. If they say no, ask if you can at least put up your sign on a building to generate some leads. Property management companies also have the benefits of rent rolls to know when the leases are expiring so you can possibly act as a dual agent to show tenants other properties and earn a commission.\n\nFrom a real estate investor perspective, building owners are looking for the top specialized (i.e. office, industrial or retail) leasing broker in a region to lease up a value add acquisition. Focusing on a niche can have networking effects when you start building a network of contacts of people looking for a certain type of space and know the building owners leasing that space.\n\n\nBuilding up that network and resume of experience is tough and will easily take a year to start getting paid on bigger deals. Start small since higher paid brokers won't waste their time on small deals.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isyh3vq", "text": "For me it took about: Six months to secure my own tenant rep client book of business to lease office space. Forty hours later and months after, successfully completed a lease with a landlord. \n\nEvery day I made 200 cold calls. I cold emailed, mailed hard copy letters, researched, walked buildings, filled the pipeline with suspects, prospects.\n\nThere is no shortcut. Nothing is fast or easy.", "replies": [{"id": "iszskt2", "text": "How many hours per day? Are you leaving vmail?", "replies": [{"id": "iszu5rg", "text": "Started with four to six hour calls. Alternate vm and no vm to get a live person.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "isywg6w", "text": "Spend time in the marketplace my friend. Go out there knock on businesses give a flyer get a card back. Follow up next day find out how they are doing on space", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "iszf6oc", "text": "Are you getting more responses from calls or emails?", "replies": [{"id": "iszshpb", "text": "Honestly, c-suite cell phone seems to be my best bet.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "it0hfod", "text": "I'm a NJ CRE broker and started in the tenant rep side in 2015. I did my first deal in 2018 for a whopping $40k commission... In 2020 I did my largest transaction for a commission of $1.5M. Those first few years are easy mac and hot dogs. \n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\n* Plan your cold calls and make them **every day.**\n* Be **relentless** in your follow ups. \n* Know every building, every tenant, every owner, every lease expiration and keep your market small. You only need 500-700 good contacts to make a living.\n* Track lease expirations religiously and hound people 18+ months out. You want to be top of mind when they need help. \n* Most importantly, **provide value**. Give market information even if they don't ask for it. Provide recent comps for nearby properties. Send them a building that you think would be an upgrade... etc.", "replies": [{"id": "itqqk7p", "text": "Get commercial real estate market knowledge", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]