How to Answer: Commercial Brokers spend a lot of time negotiating the best possible outcomes for their clients. How would you describe your negotiation skills?
Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Commercial Brokerage job interview.
8. Commercial Brokers spend a lot of time negotiating the best possible outcomes for their clients. How would you describe your negotiation skills?
How to Answer
Commercial real estate requires a lot of negotiating when it comes to contract inclusions and financial matters. The interviewer would like to see that you have the chops needed to make it in this fierce industry where every number and contract detail matters.
Sometimes, in real estate, parties are often stuck making concessions and demands on a single issue, such as price. How do you ensure that both parties get what they want?
1st Answer Example
"I would describe my negotiation skills as competitive yet friendly. I never underestimate the importance of starting a negotiation off right, with a friendly introductory phone call or a sentence or two that creates common ground. Research shows that you and your counterpart are more likely to reach an agreement if you spend a short amount of time getting to know each other."
2nd Answer Example
"I am newer to my career and, although a confident negotiator, I believe in the importance of perfecting a variety of negotiation styles. At times, I take a collaborative approach where other times I take the approach of searching for smart tradeoffs, or other times, presenting multiple equivalent simultaneous offers. MESOs is a style that I learned through a Harvard online course that I recently completed. It's been beneficial when closing deals for my clients."