Smart CRE Broker

8 Traits of Great Competitors

October 13th, 2014

The commercial real estate brokerage business is competitive. VERY competitive. Competition is nothing new. It exists in many facets of life and has since the beginning of time. Sometimes it is life and death. Fortunately in commercial real estate brokerage it is not quite that dramatic, but sometimes you may feel like it is. Did you see the movie Gladiator? In this post I am going to share a great article written by David Breslow called 8 Ways to Compete Like a Gladiator. The message is excellent and in my opinion directly relates to what we as commercial real estate agents go through every day. Enjoy!

8 Ways to Compete Like a Gladiator

By David Breslow

Do you consider yourself a good competitor? Top performers tend to be great competitors regardless of talent or experience. The word “compete” can be viewed either positively or negatively. Competitiveness can certainly be taken too far creating an atmosphere where the enjoyment is taken out of the “game” and there are many performers who sabotage their own efforts this way. Over competitors can literally sabotage their own efforts to perform well. People often think the competition is “out there” somewhere but the truth is:
Your toughest competition is and always will be…YOU!
Whether you are in sports, business or any other arena of life, there is always the personal challenge of overcoming your own blocks and subtle forms of self-sabotage. In this way…we all “compete”.
Becoming a great competitor is a learned skill. Learning to compete can carry you through the down or tough times and take you to the top when applied properly. You won’t always perform well or win but you can ALWAYS BE A GREAT COMPETITOR.

The 8 Traits Of A Great Competitor:

(The key message is in bold)

TRAIT # 1

Strength of character and conviction – – An honorable person dedicated and committed to your purpose, plan and path.
Are you living or playing out your purpose or your plan? Great performers identify a Read the rest of this entry »

Handling Objections in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

October 6th, 2014

Any sales professional must be able to overcome legitimate objections put forth by the prospect in front of them. It is one of the key factors necessary to keep the sales process moving toward a successful outcome. In commercial real estate, there are a few objections that we will hear repeatedly from prospects. Objections to entering into an exclusive representation agreement, objections to fee, objections to price and a few others are fairly typical in our industry. We will cover methods for overcoming many of these objections at another time, but the purpose of this post is to talk about how we handle the objection when it is raised by the prospect. How we handle objections, in the moment when they are presented to us, could be the difference between winning the business and losing the business.

First, we have to look at the timing of the objection. Perhaps you’ve made a cold call and the prospect is objecting to meeting with you because he is too busy. Is the prospect really too busy to meet with you or is this his way of telling you that whatever you’ve said up to that point has not offered enough value for him to give you some morsel of his time in return? Probably the latter of course so think about how you can then make the prospect feel that meeting with you would be a valuable use of his precious time. Express empathy for how busy the prospect is and that you respect his time, but at the same time deliver a value proposition that compels the prospect to WANT to meet with you. Then make it easy for the prospect to accept a meeting. Offer to meet before or after business hours. I had a prospect tell me that he was headed out of town early the next morning and I offered to buy him coffee at the Starbucks in the airport terminal (which he accepted).

In many cases, objections that the prospect may raise early in the process of developing the business relationship can Read the rest of this entry »

Top 5 Books For New Commercial Real Estate Agents

September 29th, 2014

If you’re on our website, you are probably either just getting started in commercial real estate or you haven’t been at it for very long. This career that you have chosen can be extremely rewarding and provide a pretty great lifestyle, but make no mistake, it is by no means easy. Commercial real estate brokerage requires competitiveness, skill, professionalism and organization. You will become better with each transaction and frankly with each mistake you make (assuming you learn from your mistakes). However, there are some tried and true business books out there that can help you improve your skills and guide you to avoid some of those pitfalls which can help you to accelerate your success in commercial real estate.

This week I am going to list my top 5 book recommendations which I think every commercial real estate agent should read if they are relatively new to the business. There are many more and I recommend you search through the ever growing list in the Smart CRE Broker Book Club, but these 5 can have a profound impact your career. *Note, to purchase any of these books either click on the link below or visit the Smart CRE Broker Book Club here.

1. Spin Selling, by Neil Rackham – The reason Spin Selling is such an important book for commercial real estate agents is that it drills down on the importance of asking the right questions in the discovery process. The progression of these questions naturally bring the prospects’ needs and desires to the surface so that you are able to provide solutions. Spin is an acronym for those types of questions, “Situation” questions, “Problem” questions, “Implication” questions and “Need Payoff” questions. Mr. Rackham and his company have done extraordinary research related to large sales methods. Also check out the accompanying Spin Selling Workbook.

2. Winning Through Intimidation, by Robert J. Ringer – This is an oldie but goodie or as I prefer to call it… a classic. This was the book I read that convinced me that I wanted to be a commercial real estate professional. The title is a bit misleading because the book does not teach you to be “intimidating”. It simply tells you how to deal with various types of individuals that you may encounter in the business and also has some great lessons on branding.

3. How To Master the Art of Selling, by Tom Hopkins – There are more books on how to sell than you can count, but Tom Hopkins may be the preeminent authority on selling when it comes to real estate. Granted, he built his brokerage career in the residential world, but the strategies and tactics he outlines in How to Master the Art of Selling are universal. This is an excellent book for anyone in sale and a necessity if you are in commercial real estate.

4. Think Like a Champion, by Donald Trump – Say what you will about The Donald, but the guy has built an incredible brand primarily through investment in commercial real estate. He may not be the most popular fellow with the people he does business with but he offers some terrific advice for maintaining a winning mindset in Think Like a Champion.

5. Fearless Cold Calling for Commercial Real Estate Agents, by Dan A. Colachicco (you didn’t think I’d leave my own book off of this list now did you?) – If you are in commercial real estate, the most effective way to develop new business is the good old fashioned cold call. This seems to be the toughest skill for new agents to embrace so I wrote a “quick read” guide to help you overcome some of the obstacles many agents face when trying to build their client base.

Digital Marketing For Commercial Real Estate Brokerage (Part 3)

September 22nd, 2014

In this third and final installment of Digital Marketing for Commercial Real Estate Brokerage, we will look at how to use Social Media in your marketing and branding efforts. Many people don’t realize how many social media outlets exist on the web. Of course everyone is familiar with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. But there are actually hundreds if not thousands of sites that can be defined as social media sites. Perhaps you have also heard of Pinterest, Flickr and Instagram? But what about DeviantART with over 22 million registered users, Flixter with over 63 million registered users or Netlog with 95 million registered users?(*stats taken from Wikipedia “List of Social Networking Sites”) The concept of social media has permeated our culture and our lives to the extent that we consider them our digital communities. As with most things on the Internet, you will have to filter through the massive jungle of noise to find the social media outlets that will be most effective for your intended purpose, which in this case is marketing and branding for your commercial real estate brokerage business.

Certainly the social media site that has emerged as the premier source for business networking is LinkedIn. LinkedIn like most social media sites is free to join but they also offer a Premium account that gives you a deeper set of data and more flexibility. Having a well presented profile on LinkedIn is becoming almost crucial in the world of business networking. I know that when I am interviewing for new agents or other key personnel, one of the first things I do before meeting them is pull up their LinkedIn profile so that I can get a flavor for how they perceive themselves and what they have done in their career. The LinkedIn profile almost serves as a sort of online resume or “About Me” page. Of course, connecting with people you want to do business with is one of the primary benefits of utilizing LinkedIn. It is easy to search by company, keywords and geography when seeking out people to connect with. Once connected, you generally have specific contact information and you are able to communicate directly with your new contact. Be very selective in whom Read the rest of this entry »

Digital Marketing For Commercial Real Estate Brokerage (Part 2)

September 15th, 2014

This is the second in a three part series discussing Digital Marketing For Commercial Real Estate Brokerage. In Part 1 we discussed how to effectively establish an online presence through the building of a dynamic website. We also discussed the power of strategic email marketing to keep yourself in front of clients and prospects. This week we are going to get even more pro-active and talk about branding yourself as a “trusted authority” within the commercial real estate brokerage industry.

Imagine two scenarios where you are exposed to the same information. First, you see an ad in the newspaper or in a magazine. The ad is from a commercial real estate brokerage firm and the headline of the ad is “ABC Commercial Brokers Grand Opening….Full Service Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Seeking New Listings” or something to that effect. It may get your attention and the message is clear.

Alternatively, you see a post when you do a Google Search for commercial real estate in your city. The post is from Yahoo News or Newswire or some other “news” source on the web. The headline reads FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: “ABC Commercial Sees Growth Potential For Anytown, Enters Market With New Office”. What follows is an informational article with quotes from the broker discussing all of the positives related to the commercial real estate market in your city and how this growth has led them to offer their acclaimed commercial real estate brokerage services to new clients Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Commercial Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate Brokerage, Commercial Real Estate Marketing, Commercial Real Estate Prospecting

Digital Marketing for Commercial Real Estate Brokerage (Part 1)

September 8th, 2014

My client was a global executive suite company and we were negotiating on a 10 year lease for a 22,000 square foot space in Atlanta. “We can’t sign the lease until we know when our Yellow Pages Ad will come out. Our opening needs to coincide with when the Yellow Pages books are delivered.” We had missed the deadline by 5 weeks so our expansion into the Atlanta market had to wait until next year. That’s how important the physical Yellow Pages Ad was for my client in 1992. Why? Because in 1992 the Yellow Pages Book was the “go to” source for finding products, services, restaurants and any other type of local business you were looking for. That was then….this is now.

Delivery methods for marketing messages are dominated by digital communications. You may be reading this blog on your laptop, desktop, tablet or smart phone but you are most likely not reading it off of a sheet of paper. So it goes with modern marketing and branding. Commercial real estate brokerage is just beginning to catch on to the idea. We take for granted that a search for information about a company, an individual and yes, a property is but a few clicks or taps of a digital keyboard away. If the connection is too slow (meaning it takes more than about 5 seconds to show up on our device) we grit our teeth in frustration.

As technology continues to evolve at a dizzying pace, we as commercial real estate brokerage professionals will need to harness the tools available to us so that the marketing and branding messages we put out to the world remain relevant and dynamic. This will provide commercial real estate agents and brokers a competitive edge almost as important as their skill set.

This will be the first of 3 posts where we will layout the most basic fundamentals and Read the rest of this entry »

Figuring Out Where To Start

September 1st, 2014

I was asked to provide some coaching and guidance to a young man (we’ll call him Tim) the other day. He had been asked to meet with a prospect (a friend of the broker) to discuss a possible sale or redevelopment of several parcels of land. Tim had spoken to the prospect when he set the appointment but got the basic information about the property and the assignment from the broker.

“I don’t know where to begin. The prospect is going to ask me what I think he should do. What do you think I should tell him?” he said.

I asked Tim what he knew about the property. “It’s over near the stadium. On West Street”. That’s a start. I asked Tim if he had been to the property and he said he had not.

So let’s dissect the answer to Tim’s very first stated dilemma….”I don’t know where to begin…” First we will look at the information we have and what we know.

We know the address of the property;
We know the owner’s name (or at least one of the owner’s names);
We know that the owner is interested in taking some form of action related to the property, i.e. selling it or redeveloping it;
We know that Tim has an appointment with the prospect at 9:00 tomorrow morning.

What can we do with the information we have? The very first thing we want to do is physically visit the property. Take some photos for future reference. Make notes or use your voice recorder to Read the rest of this entry »

Presenting The New Business Proposal as a Business Plan

August 25th, 2014

One of the key catalysts for every commercial real estate agent to keep their pipeline full is the presentation of a steady flow of new business proposals. Through a strategic series of discovery questions, the most skilled commercial real estate brokerage professionals will uncover the wants, needs and problems that represent an opportunity for them to offer the services necessary to meet the clients’ needs. We can’t underestimate the importance of presenting our professional services and capabilities to the prospect in terms that directly relate to the solutions and outcomes that the client hopes to achieve. Too many times we are on our own agenda, telling instead of selling, touting our track record and making promises to dazzle the client with our sales skills, but falling short on directly correlating those skills to the benefits that will help the prospect. The proposal should not be defined as an elaborate dog and pony show that we use to ask for the business. A truly effective proposal should serve as a business plan or road map that demonstrates to the prospective client that you are acutely aware of what they need to achieve and you have designed a strategy for making it happen.

The process needs to start with a thorough discovery. Gather every pertinent piece of information related to the property and the prospects’ requirements. At that point a professionally created new business proposal should be constructed which will not only highlight your professionalism, but also clearly show the prospect that you are in touch with their needs, you are proposing solutions to those needs and you are the very best person to deliver on what you have promised. Utilizing a checklist and compilation system such as the one provided by the Commercial Real Estate Edge Proposal Generator assures a complete and impressive package that covers all the bases. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t Be Short Sighted When Evaluating Commercial Brokerage Relationships

August 11th, 2014

I was speaking with a coaching students today who was struggling with a decision about whether or not to bring a current listing with her to her new firm. The listing was a leasing assignment for the last remaining space within a 36,000 square foot office building. That space consisted of 2,700 square feet. All lease renewals for the remaining occupied space were not included in the assignment. My student explained to me that the building owner was a large REIT and they required extensive reporting on the progress of the marketing for the space which my student was required to do on a weekly basis. She explained how time consuming the reporting was and that the client had expressed some dissatisfaction with the signage and marketing materials that were produced by her marketing department. As you’ve probably guessed, she was struggling with whether or not it was “worth it” to take on all of this time consuming work for such a small assignment (which of course carried with it a relatively small fee).

How do you see this situation and what would you do? The real question to ask is “what is the desired payoff for all of the time and effort required of this assignment”? Many commercial real estate agents would calculate the potential commission and immediately come to the conclusion that the fee simply does not justify the time investment required by the client. Focusing strictly on the paycheck that correlates with successfully closing the transaction is very short sighted. Keep in mind who the client is. The client is a large REIT who is a significant player in the market. If you have never Read the rest of this entry »

Build Confidence by Celebrating Small Wins

July 28th, 2014

Think of a time when you were supremely confident. What made you feel that way? What made that voice in your head say “I got this”? Think about how you carried yourself in that situation. Your body language. Your tone of voice and your overall attitude. Can you feel it coming back to you? No try to remember the reaction of the people you interacted with in that situation.

Confidence is something that projects an image of who you are in that moment. It sends the message that you know what you’re talking about, you’ve done this before and you are worthy of listening to. As commercial real estate brokerage professionals our long term success relies on our ability to persuade prospects to act based on the merits of the information we are presenting to them. It is human nature that we will make both conscious and subconscious judgments about what we hear and see based on the way it is delivered. If the information is presented in a meek tone of voice that reflects uncertainty and lacks enthusiasm, we are simply less likely to believe it. If the information is presented in a strong, enthusiastic way that reflects conviction, self belief and passion, we will naturally feel more confident in what we are hearing. It is more likely that your prospect will trust and Read the rest of this entry »

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