Massimo-group

Statistics overwhelming demonstrate that coaching is one of the mostsuccessful decisions of individuals looking to maximizing results.  Athletes, Fortune 500 CEOs and top performing residential agents all have coaches.  Recently a growing trend in commercial real estate is the hiring of a coach who specialized in the industry. 

The very first question we ask anyone when they contact our company regarding our coaching services is “Why do you feel you need a coach?”  This is followed up with a more telling question “What does a successful coaching relationship look like to you?”  Time and time again the inquirer outlines the main reasons our client’s desire, select and value coaching. 

1)      A coach will work with you in defining what the most important elements to focus on based on your personal vision of success.  Your role in your organization and possibly on your team has a significant impact on what is going to maximize your and/or your teams’ production or commission income. 

2)      Coaching will create clear, and more importantly, relevant metrics to measure your progress and provide the critical feedback during the journey.  Goals and vision are great, especially if they are clear and committed to, but without a metrics, they are meaningless.   More often than not, sales meetings and pipeline meetings are focused on the result or effect and not the metrics that drive the cause.  Without metrics, success is not planned, it is simply accidental.

3)      A coach should work with you in not only monitoring and providing feedback on your behavior, but should also assist in defining the actions to reach specific goals.  The bridge between planning and production is performance.  If you are going to achieve a goal you have not reached before, you must change your behavior.  

4)      The coach will highlight both the positive progression as well as any regression made.  A coach will help identify alternatives if there is an obstacle to performance or behaviors.  Without a consistent review of the aforementioned metrics, action plans and results, the likelihood of achievement on what truly drives income depreciates exponentially. 

5)      Hiring a coach is an investment in your greatest asset – YOU.  A professional commercial real estate coach will be your partner, your motivator, your confidant and your trusted advisor. 

Coaching is certainly not for everyone.  No doubt many less seasoned and less successful commercial real estate brokers look at items such as coaching, training and education as a cost.  With this perspective, coaching would rarely be successful.  Coaching is an investment.  The dividends are real, but they are also earned.  If you are truly committed to success, than hiring a commercial real estate coach may be one of the best investments you can make.

There is an old adage in real estate.  In order enhance the likelihood of closing a deal, you need to ensure you are working with a buyer, seller, user, landlord and/or tenant who is “ready, willing, and able” to consummate the transaction.  Ready, willing and able are great qualifiers when working with prospects and clients.  The ability of qualifying well is a skill procured by commercial real estate brokers after many years in the industry. And yes, it is a skill likely acquired through failure, or in some cases getting burnt by an unscrupulous client.

But if a qualified prospect or client is “ready, willing and able”, what are the 3 analogous characteristics of a truly qualified and successful commercial real estate broker?  The three keys to commercial real estate brokerage success are the individual broker must have 1) The Skill 2) The Will and 3) The Thrill.

Skill is not talent.  Don’t confuse the two.  I have worked with many talented brokers.  They were naturally charismatic, very astute in a particular element of a transaction or a good negotiator.  Many of us are born with certain talents.  No one is born with a skill.  Skills are acquired through hard work, experience (the aforementioned failures), and practice.   Show me a top producing broker and I will show you someone with skill.  Yes, they may have talent, but they definitely have the skill.

 Will is the decision to put in the hours and work on each of the many variables associated with commercial real estate brokerage to truly acquire the skill.  Think about those who are market leaders and they are most likely the hardest working brokers in your office.  If not, they certain put forth the effort early on in their career to create a platform of continued lead generation.  Today there seems to be a belief that the web is going decrease the need for hard work.  The web, if utilized correctly, can be a great source for lead generation but ultimately you must have the will to develop the skills necessary to do something with those leads.

 Thrill is the separator of all true top performers.  They love what they are doing and see every day as both an opportunity and a challenge.  Top performers don’t view the work necessary to acquire the skills as necessary evils.  They view these as personal investments in their growth.  They have the will to acquire the skill and even more so, they are thrilled to do it.

 To succeed in this market and to be a leader in any market, you must have all three.  There is no doubt a wide range of SKILL among the brokerage community.  I assume all of you are WILLING to do this, or you would not be doing so.  Lastly, but most importantly, you must have the THRILL.  Are you passionate about your business?  Do you see each and every day as a challenge and an opportunity?

 Possess all three of these keys and you will greatly enhance your probability of success.

A few weeks ago my good friend of mine, Jim Tucker, CCIM ask me WHY I decided to form a commercial real estate brokerage coaching and consulting organization.  I immediately proceeded to share with him all the general reasons.   I, like many of you who decided to pursue a commercial real estate brokerage practice, love building an organization, working for myself and creating an environment where my personal income is only limited by my efforts and creativity.  I love working with diverse clientele and knowing every day will be different and bring both challenges and opportunities.  Sound familiar?

Jim then asked me to consider reading Simon Sinek’s Starting with Why.   The essence of Mr. Sinek’s message is simple, and yet profound.  He suggests most of us focus (and sell) the “what” and the “how” of our services and products and not necessarily the “why”.  Mr. Sinek continues on to reinforce that people don’t buy WHAT you are selling; they buy WHY you are selling it.

So, if people are buying on the why, these general reasons for being a commercial real estate broker actually hold you back from creating value for your prospects and clients.  These general reasons, if they are truly WHY you pursue a career in commercial real estate brokerage, will actually hold you back.

So after much thought and design, I emailed my friend Jim and outlined WHY I created the Massimo Group:

“We believe all brokers are inherently capable of unlimited income potential.  Exceptional business growth and performance are possible no matter one’s current level of success or experience. By providing a fresh foundation of strategic positioning our clients flourish and the results are extraordinary and lasting.”  

This is why we do what we do.  How about you? 

What are the real reasons you chose commercial real estate brokerage?  For if it is simply the independence, being your own boss and working with high net worth clients, you could have chosen a myriad of other career paths.  You could have chosen to be an insurance broker, a financial advisor, an artist or a personal trainer for example.  But WHY did you choose commercial real estate brokerage and why did your clients select you as their representative?

Watch a few of Mr. Sinek’s YOU TUBE videos and you will get picture.  Truly understand WHY you are a commercial broker and you will then understand why you are or soon will be successful.

Back in November 2009 we offered a 30 day “RAMP UP for 2010 Broker Challenge”. The Challenge consists of 30 daily, 15 minute exercises to get commercial real estate brokers of any level of experience off to a fast start in 2010.  Our R.A.M.P. structure provides participants the opportunity to both understand and develop the key success drivers to their personal brokerage business.  We believe so much in our approach, that we actually guaranteed the results.

Based on the downloading and completion of the deliverables (excel worksheets, audio casts, videos, workbooks and daily motivational material), combined with the low registration fee and the aforementioned guarantee, hundreds of commercial brokers from four countries enrolled in the Challenge.  Over 40% of the participants were broker/owners, while the rest were independent contractors/agents.  50% of the participants had over 10 years of commercial real estate brokerage experience while 20% had less than 2 years of experience.

At the end of the 30 day Challenge a vast majority of the participants successfully completed the Challenge and the feedback was beyond our wildest expectations.  Subsequently many participants have forwarded to us copies of their completed workbooks so we may assist them in the implementation of the action plan and metrics which they created for themselves during the process.

These action plans will certainly maximize their commercial brokerage income in 2010.  The Challenge was capped off with a 60 minute live webinar where many of the participants shared their specific strategies they will be implementing in 2010 to ensure success.

The most telling success metric for us was the number of participants who requested a refund.  Zero.  That’s right.  Out of the 100′s of commercial real estate brokers and agents who took the challenge, not one felt it did not meet their needs or was not worth their investment.  Not a single participant felt the program was not as advertised.

Based on the success of this Challenge, we have decided to offer the RAMP UP for 2010 Broker Challenge one more time, starting January 13^th.  The registration deadline is January 12^th.

Are you up for the Challenge?  We guarantee you are!