It is Brokerage 101 to learn a market and product and just stick with it. In a tough climate and a tough region, only a select few will survive using this approach.

So if a broker is extremely proficient with a product type and has a large market share of the desirable class-A product, this approach may still work.

A good example of this is our retail specialist who has quality, well-located product and represents strong national tenants. He has continued to thrive even in a down market by combining his deep national tenant relationships with the ability to attract smaller retailers to his high-end shopping centers.

However, depending on the broker's product type and/or level of expertise, this approach can be limiting in terms of revenue.

If a broker in the Sacramento market can only do suburban office on behalf of landlords, they are going to find that in a challenging market, their earning potential is slim. Survival in down periods often comes down to diversity, client loyalty, and in rare instances, hyper focus on product type.

The Sacramento market has an overall vacancy at 17%, with sub-markets at more than 20%. If a broker focuses only on landlord representation in those markets with high vacancy, surviving the down period may be untenable.

The Entrepreneurial Approach

In a more entrepreneurial environment such as Voit, brokers can find work in a variety of geographies, and a variety of product types and represent either side of the transaction. In addition, being opportunistic is taught and encouraged.

As an example, when the Sacramento market slowed, several of our brokers utilized relationships they had developed with asset managers at banks, as well as with entrepreneurial buyers who had both the wherewithal and the appetite to invest in a riskier environment in order to create higher gains.

Two of our brokers in separate product types have benefited by focusing on each of those strategies. Each achieved Sacramento NAIOP Broker of the Year status in 2012. They were both able to continue to be effective and to take the larger share of market, even though the overall market had diminished.

In this example, while our investment team had been focused on selling high-quality properties in the $10 million to $30 million range, they were able to successfully adapt, shifting to distressed assets in the $1.5 million to $10 million range. Each deal may not be as lucrative, but they have worked hard, and closed many deals. In fact, this just earned the top position in Greater Sacramento for investment sales at the NAIOP event in 2012.

The economy continues to recover, and we believe that Sacramento has reached bottom. The outlook is brighter overall for more brokers as we move into 2013.

We have been pleased to see that through hard work in an entrepreneurial environment, our team has managed to hold its own through a difficult period, and we believe this model of diversity and opportunistic focus has worked for the entrepreneurial brokers in each of the hardest hit markets. In the end, it will make all of the surviving brokers stronger and more skilled in the commercial real estate field.

Kevin Sheehan is a managing director of the Sacramento office of Voit Real Estate Services. The views expressed are the author's own.