July 2025
3 Things Associate Brokers Should Be Doing During the Annual Summer Slowdown
By: Steve Chrastka, Executive Vice President – Office Services
Every year, the commercial real estate industry hits a familiar seasonal rhythm: the “summer slowdown.” Deals stall, clients disappear to lake houses, and colleagues vanish for back-to-back vacations. For associate brokers, especially those early in their careers and hungry to build momentum, it can feel like a frustrating stall in progress.
But here’s the truth: this quiet season is actually a golden opportunity.
Rather than letting the slowdown slow you down, this is the perfect time to invest in yourself, sharpen your strategy, and position your pipeline for a strong Fall. Here are three key action items every associate broker should take during the summer months:
- Deepen Your Market Knowledge
When deals aren’t dominating your calendar, you’ve got precious time to research submarkets, study comps, and learn the key players inside and out. Spend time walking buildings. Talk to property managers. Shadow a senior broker on a tour. The more intimate your understanding of the product and people in your territory, the more credible and confident you’ll be when activity picks back up. Not every broker is on vacation, so trying to tag along on a lunch or happy hour to hear other brokers in the market talk shop is a great use of your time.
- Proactively Build Your Prospecting List
Right now is the time to get strategic with your prospecting. Use these weeks to scrub and organize your CRM, research ownership changes, dive into renewal data, and identify companies likely to face space decisions in the next 6–18 months. Craft thoughtful intro emails and schedule coffee meetings. Plant seeds now that can grow into meaningful conversations in Q4 and beyond.
- Ask for Mentorship and Feedback
With senior brokers around the office more than usual (and a bit less frenzied), this is your moment to learn from them. Ask to review their marketing materials. Role-play your pitch. Request honest feedback on your recent tours or calls. You’ll be surprised how generous others can be with their time, especially when you show initiative.
Real-Life Results
Early in my career, I found door knocking and dropping of direct marketing material during slower periods was the best way to meet the people in your market and generate activity.
One summer, I handed out a flyer advertising a deal that my landlord was offering. A business owner called us almost a year later saying he saved the flyer and wanted to know if the deal was still able to be honored.
The answer was yes, and it lead to a lease being signed.
The lesson here is to connect and bring value to a business owner and decision maker that they can react to. It may not pay off immediately, but it could pay off down the road. Our deal cycle is long so the more people you talk to the more chances you will have.
Summer might be slower, but that doesn’t mean it has to be quiet for you. What you do in these off-peak weeks will set the tone for your fall performance. Take advantage of the lull, and you’ll be sprinting while others are just getting back up to speed.
About NAI Hiffman:
NAI Hiffman is one of the largest independent commercial real estate services firms in the US, with a primary focus on metropolitan Chicago, and part of the NAI Global network. We provide institutional and private leasing, tenant representation, capital markets, project services, research, and marketing services for owners and occupiers of commercial real estate. To meet our clients’ growing needs outside of our exclusive NAI Hiffman territory, we launched Hiffman National, our dedicated property management division, which provides facility management, accounting, lease administration, lender services and project services across the country. NAI Hiffman | Hiffman National is an award winning company headquartered in suburban Chicago, with more than 275 employees strategically located throughout North America.
About Hiffman National:
Hiffman National is one of the US’s largest independent commercial real estate property management firms, providing institutional and private clients exceptional customized solutions for property management, project management, property accounting, lease administration, marketing, and research. The firm’s comprehensive property management platform and attentive approach to service contribute to successful life-long relationships and client satisfaction. As a nationally bestowed Top Workplace, and recognized CRE award winner, Hiffman National is headquartered in suburban Chicago, with more than 275 employees nationally and an additional six hub locations and 25 satellite offices across North America.
