Years ago I was coaching someone who had been in commercial real estate brokerage for approximately 14 years, and he typically was grossing about $300,000.00 in commissions a year. Then, within the first several years after we began doing our coaching work together, he began grossing approximately $1,500,000.00 a year.

Then my phone started ringing and emails began coming in from from his competitors, asking me what the heck I had done in working with him, because now he was one of the most successful, elite, and admired brokers within his territory.

But then the economic downturn came, and the transaction volume for brokers went down by about 50%. But something very interesting then happened to the broker who I was coaching…His gross commission revenue went down by 50%, down to about $750,000.00/year, but now he had risen up to become the number one producing broker in his office, something that he did not accomplish when he was grossing $1,500,000.00 a year.

The reason I’m mentioning this to you, is because while I’m hearing that transaction volume for brokers is down again by about 50% in many areas right now, your own volume may be down, too. But if you’ve risen up, relatively speaking, with respect to where you stand on the totem pole of gross commissions earned in your office, or in your territory, when compared with the other brokers, this is something to give yourself a little pat on the back about accomplishing.

It’s not going to help you to pay any of your bills easier, but it will show you that what you’ve been doing in this market, has had you rise up and pass some of the other brokers in your territory in your relative level of production to them, and this is to be commended.

With this in mind, when transaction volume shrinks substantially in any given territory, suddenly all of the brokers are chasing after a smaller overall pie of the total number of transactions that will be closing in the territory, and there’s not going to be enough pie for everyone.

One shocking statistic that I remember reading from a very well-known publication within our industry, revealed that between the years 2007-2009, the total dollar volume of commercial real estate transactions closed within the U.S., went down by a whopping 93%! So this shows us just how severe things can really become in a downturn.

In addition, when we experienced the downturn that happened during the first half of the 1990s, I was thinking that I was having a tough time myself with the amount of income that I was making in brokerage. So it was January, and I was playing golf with one of the most successful brokers in the entire country, and we began chatting about what we were both experiencing within our businesses. Then when I told him the amount of money that I had just made in the previous year, a number that I was crying the blues over, he told me that if I had been working for his brokerage company, a very recognizable and major one, that I would have finished in the top ten in the entire Western United States with that amount of commission income.

So while everyone wants to still make the same amount of income that they did when the market was on fire, sometimes it can be helpful to notice how you’re doing with respect to everyone else, when you’re in a market, and in an economy, like the one that many brokers are experiencing right now.

In addition, if you’re someone who is doing better than many of your competitors right now, feel confident in knowing that when the market heats up once again, by applying those same principles and taking those same actions that you’re taking right now, that you’re going to be making great money once again!

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If you’re interested in one-on-one coaching, having me do a one-hour strategy session with you, or in having me lead a webinar or a training for your organization, send me an Email or give me a call!