Massimo-group

In our last newsletter we offered the five P’s to commercial real estate success.  Planning, Prospecting Performing, Persistence and Presence – which all leads to Production.  We received several suggested additions, such as Patience and Practice, but more so we received strong opinions on the value of prospecting versus presence.  Which is more important, having a strong prospecting plan or a solid market presence?

It seems the “old school” traditionalist feel that prospecting is the ultimate tenet to CRE success.  Cold calling, letter campaigns and email campaigns are the core direct prospecting tools used by most.  Prospecting, for our purposes, are the activities associated with directly communicating with a targeted audience that can benefit from your services.  While others felt that presence ultimately defines one’s level of success and market position.  Let’s face it, with the deluge of promotional and marketing outlets that exist both today (both physical and digital), those who establish and maintain a market presence have the advantage of being “top of mind” with prospective clients.

The fact is prospecting and presence are complementary.  They are synergistic.  When prospecting, would you rather have your audiences say “who are you” or “oh yes, I heard of you”?  A strong market presence makes your prospecting efforts easier and more effective.  Likewise having a market presence is great, but you must have a targeted and proactive prospecting plan behind it.  Certainly a strong presence will generate more direct leads and inquires, but most brokers can’t rely strictly on potential clients calling them because of their presence.  That’s simply unrealistic for the majority.

Last month I called on a prospect to inquire if they were open to me visiting with their brokerage team while I was in the area – for a fee of course.  The prospect, a regional manager of a national brokerage firm agreed to both my visit and my price.  This was the first time I had called on the prospect, so I was curious as to why he agreed to have me come in.  It turns out, the company’s chairman had earlier read and subsequently distributed a white paper I had authored and placed on several commercial real estate portals.  Both the chairman and the regional manager were impressed with what I wrote.  This had helped establish a presence.  However the regional manager did not call me – our meeting was set because I called him.  For me, Prospecting is #1, Presence is 1A.  Then again, I am old school, with an appreciation for the new marketing methods.

When I was young my mom forced me to eat peas.  Even today my wife “strongly encourages” me to eat them.  I don’t like peas.  Yes they are nutritious, full of vitamins and essential stuff, but for me far from delicious.  Some peas are simply harder to swallow than others.

When it comes to commercial real estate brokerage, it is also essential that you take your peas, or in our case your “P’s”.  When you look at top performers, you quickly recognize that they implement a daily regimen of P’s.  Here are the top five P’s that every commercial real estate broker should follow if they want to grow up to be big and strong, or more applicably, become a top producer in their respecting market.

1.       Planning – need I say more?  You can’t simply “wing it to win it”.

2.       Prospecting – you cannot “tweet” your way to long term success.

3.       Presence – #2 and #3 complement one another.  They are, not opposites.  There is no greater force for securing new business and for clients to find you than the synergistic meshing of prospecting with presence.

4.       Performance – it’s great to plan (#1), but you won’t produce without performing the tactics and strategies outlined in your plan.

5.       Persistence – There is a fine line between persistence and  a pain in the butt, but very few brokers come close to ever crossing it.  Push the envelope, without becoming the pain.

Practice the 5 aforementioned P’s and you will find you will more easily acquire the most important P of all… production.