Please play the audio/video below to hear what your commercial broker peers think about the market, their company and the tools they use to run their business. Don’t forget to select the full screen icon to the left of the Yellow and Blue “G” on the audio player.
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Thursday June 23, 2011 – Thursday June 23, 2011
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The objective of every prospecting call is to get a meeting. So how do you conduct your phone call in order to secure the opportunity to introduce yourself, deliver the impression that you are an expert and ultimately position yourself and the only service provider worth meeting with?
At least this was one of several opinions I received the past two weeks when I asked some 800 members of our Linkedin Group – CRECoach – why they thought commercial real estate brokers are so reluctant to invest in themselves.
We had a robust online discussion, with opinions provided by some of the leading commercial real estate minds in the brokerage industry. Do I agree most commercial brokers are cheap? Let’s just say the majority of commercial real estate brokers lack the vision, understanding and/or confidence to invest in themselves.
In contrast, top producers and consistent performers do not hesitate in investing in their business; whether it is new technology, hiring administrative help, attending a tradeshow, participating in a training webinar or hiring a commercial real estate coach. Top performers understand they are their greatest asset. So naturally, they must invest in themselves.
Doug Wolf, of REA software suggested “Brokers fall victim to the e-myth, always working “in” the business and no time for working “on” their business. When the flow of deals is slow, the compulsion is to act to generate more deals, but then when busy, no time to invest.” Right on Doug! There is a common misperception among brokers that their number one priority is to close deals. The fact is their number one priority is to build a business that leverages the broker’s time and skill set to generate a consistent deal flow. This is not the same thing.
Jim Tucker, CCIM and owner of NetworksCRE felt the issue was deeper than that. According to Jim “brokers are not inclined to invest in a “fix” until they clearly understand what needs to be fixed. Most of us don’t want to know what is wrong with us and therefore never will be willing to take the “cure.” When one is wise enough to enlist the skills of someone who can help us recognize what we need, then we have a better chance of making the decision to do something about it….and possibly even pay for it.” As always Jim’s profound insight has strong merit.
Bob McComb, who created Top Dogs, a CD-based training program, which has an excellent reputation for assisting new to business brokers get off to a fast start, felt the issue was more one of the broker becoming more open minded. “Generally speaking, most of the also-rans in CRE will do pretty much anything to be successful except read about it or think about it. Conversely, ALL the top producers I have met are all on a self-development path…. They never ask themselves “will this program benefit me?” Instead they ask, “how will this help me to get better?” and “where do I enroll?”
Jim Garrett Jr, MCR and Chief Operating Officer of Colliers International’s Ohio offices shared a very telling story. “I had an agent tell me one time he felt that commercial real estate agents invest more annually in their golf games than they invest their professional growth. I then challenged the next 20 agents to whom I spoke with. With one exception, they all agreed in the assessment. The one who disagreed is probably what most would call a “Ten Percenter”. Is it because they don’t see their business as “their” business, rather they see it as the broker’s business?”
All those participating in the CRECoach group discussion had similar comments. Kevin Fitzgerald, CSE who now heads the leadership council at NAI Global added “It’s been my experience Commercial agents and brokers alike see the investment not as a necessary event but as an expense. If they could just see the benefit of the investment before the investment has to be paid then they might realize by not investing their progress will be much slower.”
And therein lies the obstacle for most brokers who continue to struggle in the business, and are not consistent producers. Investing in self development is simply that; an investment. Like all investments there is a level of risk with anticipated returns. Expenses, by definition, have no risk, and appropriately have zero return.
There are truly scores of platforms and programs where an indvidual can invest in him or her self. However, commercial real estate brokerage is not a risk-free business. If someone is not willing to take on a little risk, then they are most likely not willing to invest in themselves. If this is the case, it is not necessarily an issue of being “cheap”, but rather it is more likely they are in the wrong business .
If you are a commercial real estate broker you are probably aware of the recent commercial real estate brand survey conducted by the Lipsey Company. If not, you should be.
Mike Lipsey, the founder of the Lipsey Company has been issuing this annual survey for the past 10 years. The survey, which is distributed to brokers, investors and users of commercial real estate services, simply asks you to identify the TOP 5 brands. Mike tells me he received over twenty-five thousand submissions. This year there seemed to be a bigger buzz around the results. It was almost as dramatic as announcing the winner of an Academy award or the winner of American Idol for you younger brokers. (I should disclose that Mike is a colleague of mine. He is one of the most popular and gifted trainers in our industry. The Lipsey Company trains, Massimo Group retains… it’s a nice mix, and therefore we tend to collaborate more than compete; but we still have a healthy competitive spirit.)
OK, so what? Does it really matter what the brokerage community believes are the top brands in commercial real estate? And more importantly how does this impact you? It matters plenty. Whether you are part of a national firm identified on this survey or work with a boutique firm, the results still impact you. Here are 5 reasons why.
1. National Brands Pay Attention – As soon as the results were announced, press releases were being prepared and web-based banners designed promoting each respective company’s placement on the survey. CBRE, the traditional #1 identified CRE brand in the world, annually promotes their position. Companies understand and appreciate that third party endorsements matter. You must understand this as well. If your company is named on the survey, you should leverage this accomplishment. If not, you better understand your competition will use this against you.
2. Impact on Your Local Market – Odds have it your company was not named in the top 3, 5 or 10 in the survey. However, within your local market, your company maybe the highest rated firm. Leverage it. For example, perhaps TCN Worldwide (#11 on the 2011 Lipsey Brand Survey) is competing against a local firm or other nationals not identified or identified at a lower position on the survey. TCN can rightfully claim they are the highest rated firm in the market. It’s all how you spin it.
3. Safe Choices are Unfortunately Easier Choices – We have all heard this before. You are competing against a larger, more recognized national brand and your prospect informs you they really like your work, but they need to make the “safe choice”. Ugh! The survey results can position your company as the safe choice in your market or for a specific assignment, depending on your competition.
4. Brokerage Acquisitions will Continue – Many boutique firms (those without national brand) continued to be pursued by, and affiliate with national brands. As acquisitions continue to evolve in the commercial real estate market, the brand you choose can have a significant impact on the opportunities presented to you, both now and in the future. It is interesting to see which brands have fallen over the years and which have become more prominent over time.
5. The Market is Talking – If the market rates your company as #1 or #25 there is a reason. It is a reflection of many factors, including a specific company’s advertising and marketing efforts, local presence in respective markets, success or failure in specific transactions and, yes, the number of votes (25,000+) channeled by brokers within each respective company. Ballots could be stuffed, however with the number of surveys completed; the results are certainly worthy of note.
Personally, I tend to be careful when asked to complete surveys. Neverthless, the next time you are asked for your opinion, guess what … it may impact you more than you ever considered.
The following Blog Posting was written by Brad Umansky, author of Value Added. Brad will be a guest facilitator on a handful of our upcoming webinars this year. We are excited to announce Brad as a member of our extended faculty.
“Which is a better listing?
A) a $15M building for sale or B) a $5M building for sale?
On the surface it would seem that the answer is clearly A. Probability brokerage is about looking deeper and doing a quick calculation to really understand each of these listings.
Let’s make the following assumptions:
$15M Office Building
• The $15M building is institutionally owned;
• The owner has asked 5 brokerage companies to compete and they will only pay a 1% fee to your firm and a 1% fee to a co-broker, if there is one;
• The building is 100% occupied, but a tenant occupying 30% of the building has a lease coming due in 18 months;
• The building is in a trade area with 15% vacancy and the market has not been improving.
• Based upon these factors, you think that you and the broker that brought you in on the deal have a 50% probability of selling the deal during the next 12 months.
Let’s do the math: $15M x 1% = $150,000. $75,000 would go to you and $75,000 to your partner, but there is only a 50% probability of collecting this fee so your “probability fee” is equal to $37,500.
$5M Building
• The $5M building is owned by a private individual that has substantial motivation to sell;
• You have been calling on this owner for 3 years and because they know you are the expert in the market you did not compete for the listing. The owner will pay a 4% fee regardless of whether you co-broker the deal or there is a co-operating broker.
• The building is 85% occupied by a diverse group of tenants with leases at market;
• The building is in a popular trade area for investors.
• Based upon these factors, you think that you have an 80% probability of closing this deal in the next 12 months.
Let’s do the math on this deal: $5M x 4% = $200,000. There is no partner so you don’t need to split it. Although let’s assume that there is a 50% probability that you will co-broker the deal. So the list side is $100K and the co-broker side is $100K. If there is a 50% probability of co-brokering the deal then you multiply the co-broker fee by 50% and you get $50K. Therefore, probability says that you can expect to receive $150,000 from this deal upon a sale. If there is an 80% probability of receiving this fee, then you multiple $150,000 x 80% which equals $120,000.
$120,000 is a lot better fee than $37,500.
Now there are other factors you must always consider. For example, if you are successful at selling the property for the institutional seller, there could be a lot more business down the road. Or maybe the broker who brought you in on the $15M deal is someone whom you really want to work with. There could also be some glory from the $15M deal because it might be the largest deal sold in your market.
The purpose of this exercise is to make sure you are not fooling yourself into believing the $15M deal is a much better deal for you just because it is $15m.
This exact same exercise can be applied to leasing. In leasing it is more complicated because each property has so many spaces and because the leasing of the property is usually spread out over a much greater period of time. If your business plan involves leasing in addition to sales, I encourage you to apply a similar model to leasing. My experience has been when brokers apply the “probability brokerage formula” to leasing they frequently realize they do not have enough quality product listed to achieve their goals.
Value Added Brokers know that time and knowledge are their primary resources and they use “the probability brokerage formula” to maximize the use of these precious commodities
ROD: This is Rod Santomassimo of The Massimo Group. Today I have a special guest, Mr. Brad Umansky, author of the recently launched Value Added—Successful Strategies for Listing and Selling Investment Real Estate. Brad, thank you and welcome.
BRAD: Good morning, Rod, and thank you.
ROD: Well, I’ve got to tell you. I got to preview your book and I love it. I know you well from your success but tell us a little bit about Brad and why Brad has written this book.
BRAD: Sure, thanks Rod. I started about 18 years in the commercial real estate business, the brokerage business. I’ve been a broker all of that time and a good chunk of that time was spent selling investment real estate. And I frequently would encounter transactions I was working on, situations I was working on, listing appointments that I was involved with. And I would look for a resource that would help me in that process and I realized there wasn’t anything out there. So after selling $500 million worth of shopping centers of over 100 separate individual transactions, I sat down, basically back in the latter part of 2008 when there was a lull in the market and started writing.
And it was actually a book that I had thought about probably about five years earlier, written an outline for it and never really found the time to write it. I was sitting there in the latter part of 2008. The market was very quiet. I said to myself, if there’s ever a better time to right the book this is it. If I don’t do it now I’ll never do it. So I started writing and in about 30 days I was about 150 pages into it. I quickly realized that it was time, that once I was 150 pages into it I needed to finish it. It’s been a long process but the book is now out and I’m very excited about it.
ROD: Here’s why I love the book. It seems to me when I was growing up and learning about the real estate business, the investment side, there’s so many books on how to invest in commercial real estate. When you become a broker, which I did, as well as mentored and tutored and worked with thousands of brokers, it seems that we always gave brokers material on what was a certain asset, retail shopping centers, office buildings but we had materials to teach them specifically “How” to broker. Your book seems to be unique.
BRAD: It’s completely unique and the reason why it’s unique is it’s actually written by a broker who’s done lots and lots of transactions. And more importantly, so much of what’s out there and so much of what the brokerage companies teach is just the initial sales part of the process. Investment sales is unique. It’s not just the selling process. You actually have to be able to prospect and find potential payout buyers and sellers of property. You actually have to be able to market the transaction and you actually have to be able to handle the escrow, handle the closing process. And this book covers all of it.
It’s broken up into five sections. The first section’s about getting started in the business. So for those people that are getting started, it outlines personality traits and things you should know when you’re just getting started. After that it goes to how do you go out there and just pick a market. Are you going to be an office broker in Atlanta or are you going to be an industrial broker in Chicago? Depending on where you are, are you going to handle a 15 mile radius, a 500 mile radius? What are you going to do? And then how are you actually going to find people to call and how do you place initial phone calls? And how do you turn cold calls into warm calls?
And then you take that whole—after you’re done with that section too and you maybe have this opportunity now to go do a proposal, it takes you through the entire proposal process. Then you actually get the assignment and it takes you through how to put together a marketing package that actually will be a marketing package to sell the asset. What should you know when you’re marketing the properties? How do you market the properties?
Now you actually have a buyer. How do you negotiate a letter of intent? What things should be included in the letter of intent? How do you handle the purchase agreement? It just takes you through all the steps and that’s the part that I realized most importantly was never really taught at most brokerage companies that I’ve been exposed to. It’s always been kind of this you’re trying to figure it out as you go along.
This is really a step-by-step guide that somebody can pull out at any point in their career and say, okay, I need due diligence materials for this property that I’m about to sell. It would be really great to have a list of due diligence materials that I should be asking the seller for. Well there’s a list of due diligence materials in the book that you can just go down the list and figure out which things you want to ask the seller for and which things should the seller be providing. That’s what makes it so unique is that it really is a step-by-step process and it’s really geared toward the entire sales process and it’s written for brokers by a broker.
ROD: Now Brad, when I asked you who you were just for my audience clarification you were—as you’ve always been—very modest and there’s no doubt you’ve been a top producer on both national firm based, in a couple of national firms, and then in your own firm now and a very competitive market in Southern California. So my question to you is, and you mentioned a little bit about marketplaces, is this book just for commercial retail sales as far as shopping centers or is this for asset class?
BRAD: Sure, let me briefly take you through before I—I didn’t fully answer your question. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School of Business, in 1990. I shortly thereafter moved out to Southern California where I started working in the shopping center business. Over the course of an 18-year brokerage career I’ve transacted both lease and sales transactions. I’ve been involved in over 600 lease transactions, over 100 investment sale transactions, a total consideration of well over $700 million.
I’ve worked at Lee and Associates, Grubb & Ellis and then I spent seven years at Sperry Van Ness where in most of those years I was in what they called the ‘partner’s circle’ of Sperry Van Ness. And I was consistently over the course of those seven years in the top 3% of all brokers at the company. And I frequently was involved in training at the company and helped to teach other brokers.
And that was really one of the motivations for the book is that I just saw so many brokers over the course of the years that were desperate for somebody to help them, beyond the sales manager. The sales manager can be a great resource but, unless you’re in the trenches day in and day out, that’s where you’re really dealing of the nuances of a transaction.
And so now, going to your actual question, the book is written for all geographies and all product types. That was actually one of the challenges that I faced when I was writing the book was that I had to make sure I related it to industrial, mobile homes, multifamily, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston. So wherever you are in the country, and actually wherever you are in the world, the book is applicable toward any sale of property that involves income, which in my world that’s what makes it an investment property. As long as there is income coming into the property, it is considered investment real estate.
ROD: Okay. Then the final question I need to ask, it’s a tremendous book, a great read, very comprehensive. It seems like someone must have done this book before. If not, how come this book never existed?
BRAD: You know, when I first started to write the book I went out and I went online and I searched all over the place. I basically never found a book that was like this. I found one book that was written by a gentleman in the `70s and another guy wrote one in the `80s. It seems like once a decade someone takes a shot at it. But it seems that everyone that writes the book do it from a technical perspective. What is a triple net lease? What is a full service gross lease? What is percentage rent?
One of the other people that wrote a book wrote a chapter that was called selling to rich people and it effectively said that selling to rich people was easier than selling to not rich people so you should try to sell to rich people. I heard this and I thought well if that’s the best that somebody can do there’s a real opportunity. And what I realize now in hindsight is why this book hasn’t been written is because, first of all, successful brokers in general don’t want to share their secrets because they don’t want to encourage competition. That’s one.
Two is, successful brokers don’t have the time to write a book. I just happened to be very fortunate in the fact that in the latter part of 2007 I made a decision to actually get out of brokerage for a short period of time with the intention of doing some development work and some investment work. Well, as we all know the world changed dramatically, especially in Southern California, in 2007 and 2008. So I woke up in October of 2008 twiddling my thumbs a little bit. And so I realized there was this unique opportunity to get something done and I actually had the time to do it.
You know, looking back, I realize I don’t know if I’ll ever have that kind of time again to write something of this nature. So that’s why I think this type of book hasn’t been written. There just isn’t—first of all you have to have motivation to do it. Second, you have to have the knowledge to do it. Third, you have to have the time to do it. And putting all those things together is a difficult thing to make happen. So I’m very excited that I got to the finish line. I’m really proud of the work. I think people are really going to benefit from the product.
ROD: I certainly agree with you Brad. It is a phenomenal book, a great read and I highly endorse it regardless of your level of success currently in commercial real estate brokerage. If you’re brand new to the business it is a fantastic read and a great book. And most importantly it’s not something you put on your shelf after reading and say that was nice. It’s a reference guide more than anything else that you go back to time and time again throughout your commercial real estate brokerage career.
So Brad Umansky, thank you very much for both writing the book as well as your valuable time today and sharing your thoughts with us.
BRAD: Thank you, Rod. Thanks for your help and thanks for being someone who really helped and supported. As I started the process very early on you’ve been a great resource throughout this entire time. Thank you.
ROD: Well, thank you. Until then, this is Rod Santomassimo of The Massimo Group and we’ll talk to you down the road.
What went well in 2010?
Certainly things went well for you in 2010. Perhaps you adjusted your approach to brokerage and had you best year ever. Maybe you stayed the course and your resolution and focus proved to be a sound approach to the opportunities which presented themselves. You
learned from those deals that did not proceed as planned or clients who did not live up to their commitments. Either way you must always recognize, and celebrate what you did well. More importantly you must apply those lessons to your future activities.
What did not go well for you in 2010?
It’s not an exercise to beat yourself up or to blame those items outside of your control. Look at where you struggled, goals that were not achieved or transactions that were not consummated. What went wrong? What would you do differently that would have changed the outcome? You cannot blame the market. Many brokers had phenomenal success in 2010. Look at what you can control and determine where you can adjust.
What are you going to do about it?
Once you have identified the elements from the first two questions, how are you going expand on your success and grow from your failures? You have to put a specific plan in action. Although this is a time most think about business plans, but you should implement action plans to quickly implement the lessons learned from 2010.
How will you insure success in 2011?
You reflected back on 2010, you set a plan of action to leverage the lessons learned; now you need to put the support system in place to insure you remain on plan. Goals and plan are only as good as their execution. Define specific targets and time intervals to reflect on where you are. When you look to at the complexion of 2011, it should be a reflection of 2010.
No doubt the last 2 years have resulted in a tsunami of brokers who are much less productive today, compared to the past. And seemingly systematically more owners and managers are making the decision to let these brokers “find another career”.. as if there were any careers out there to actually find. Likewise many brokers are hanging on simply because there is nothing else available; unless they pick up their entire family and move to one of the very few markets that jobs may be had. But this would take effort, dedication and commitment; traits they more than likely lack; thus the reason they are unproductive.
Certainly with desk costs being higher than agent production, it would seem it is the ideal time to start “trimming the fat” as any diehard Jack Welch follower would abide. When we consult with companies, there are times we advise our clients to let go of selected agents. However the reasons we do so are not necessary tied to agent productivity.
Cutting an agent simply based on the criteria of covering desk costs or hitting a certain goal, particularly in this market of compressed velocity is not prudent at best and downright desperate at worse. It reminds me of my close friend, who was sales rookie of the year for a national hotel franchisor, only to be let go the following year because he didn’t hit his quota. Cheese and Crackers! Why cut good people because of some managerial imposed cost structure?
Before you start cutting away at your agent pool, make sure you are doing so for the right reason and based on the right people. You hired them, so you are responsible for holding them accountable and setting targets other than pure production. Look at your top performers, not their results, but how and why they achieved these results. Look at their traits and behaviors. These are the metrics you should review prior to letting an agent go.
Many firms are now utilizing third party screening tools and behavioral assessments to assist in identifying those members of staff who are potentially more productive. We always utilize one such tool when we evaluate our brokerage coaching clients, and have implemented this tool for several client firms as well. Is it 100% accurate? No; no tool is. But it is an essential component in evaluating both new hires and current team members.
Best result is you KNOW who these people are. If they don’t have the right behaviors, traits and skills for being a consistent performer, then yes it is time to let them go. It seems most brokerage firm owners and managers are content with the 80/20 principle. But what if your 80% were the agents who had all the right traits behaviors and attitude; and the 20% were the average, non desk cost coverage type?
Imagine the impact on your firm’s bottom line?
Is it time to fire your unproductive agents? It depends. Just make sure you are firing for the right reasons or you will find yourself with a more unproductive team than ever before.
ROD: Good afternoon, this is Rod Santomassimo with The Massimo Minute. And this week we have a special guest with us to tell us a little bit about a very advantageous association that I think we all should be familiar with. I had the privilege of meeting Ms. Emily Line during a recent trip to Chicago and during our visit I was absolutely engaged in everything she had to tell me, educating me more than anything else, in regards to the National Association of Realtors and the value it has to us as commercial real estate practitioners. Emily, welcome to the Massimo Minute.
EMILY: Thank you, Rod. I’m glad to be here.
ROD: Well, we’re so happy to have you. Emily, I know officially you spearhead Member Outreach and Development but, let me ask you, when a lot of people, many of our peers, think about the National Association of Realtors they think about a residential flair. But, after talking to you, I found out, oh boy, was I wrong. There’s so much more. So before we get into what NAR has to offer to the commercial practitioner, give me some idea from your association’s perspective how many commercial practitioners are we talking about.
EMILY: We are talking about more than 80,000 commercial practitioners within our membership whose primary area of business is, in fact, commercial. And, additionally, there are more than 260,000 who have also indicated to us that they have a secondary area of business as being commercial.
ROD: Okay, so let me just reiterate that because I think it’s very important to get that out there. 80,000 exclusive commercial practitioners are members that I heard about. And secondly you said over a quarter of a million practitioners who are in some level involved in commercial. What do you mean by that?
EMILY: Well, you know, it can mean a lot of things. It can mean those that are transitioning into commercial, but it can also be those that are in communities out there that aren’t Chicago or New York or Los Angeles, the bigger commercial communities. It could be those that are in smaller areas that have to wear several hats when they’re practicing commercial real estate.
ROD: The exclusive 80,000 practitioners alone, especially in this market, that are members, active members of the National Association of Realtors is very impressive. There’s got to be a reason they’re are members of the Association. There’s got to be some advantages, I think, specifically to being a commercial practitioner and I’m sure a lot of the reason they don’t understand or at least recognize, certainly appreciate what those advantages may be. So, if you can summarize, why as a commercial practitioner would I want to be a member of the National Association of Realtors?
EMILY: Well, Rod, there’s many reasons. One being is that we are connecting our members to commercial real estate resources, information. And, you know we like to focus on three areas and within those three areas there’s a myriad of resources that fall into those. But we like to say NAR-Commercial is your source. Your source for communications. We give our members resources to market reports, industry news, comprehensive research. We provide up-to-date information to decision makers, commercial professionals and users of all commercial services. So, there are many different free publications that we produce either in the form of e-newsletters, print publications, podcasts, you name it. We have a very robust research team in Washington D.C. that provides up-to-the-minute information for our members. So we are arming them with not only research but we also have an outstanding group that focuses on lobbying efforts.
And that takes me to the next area of interest and that’s NAR-Commercial strengthens your advocacy. The network and the active way that we are on the hill focusing on the commercial real estate industry is significant. More than 50% of NAR’s advocacy efforts are put to the commercial real estate industry. So that right there I think is a huge benefit to being part of this realtor family.
And, you know, certainly last but not least, the NAR-Commercial leads you to discovery, as we like to refer to it, that’s education. There are several avenues for education provided by NAR-Commercial. The first being free webinars. Rod, you are one of our experts that are featured in these. That’s through our Signature Series speakers which includes our affiliate instructors as well in there. And that’s SIOR, Realtors Land Institute, IRAM, CCIM and the Counselors of Real Estate, as well as Realtor University, NAR Green Designation and the live, robust commercial tract that we have at our annual conferences. So I have just thrown a ton of resources at you very quickly and I’m happy to explain any of those.
ROD: Wow, there was certainly a lot there. Absolutely an incredible amount of resources and knowledge and services and also tools that the commercial practitioner has access to. And before I ask specifically about one of those thresholds, one of those segments, you know, someone’s going to say out there I never even knew about any of this. I never even had access to this information. So, for those out there Emily, what can you suggest? What is the easiest way to access some of this information and tools and learn more about the NAR?
EMILY: Honestly, it’s our website, www.realtor.org/commercial. That is the commercial homepage within realtor.org and it is a resource for members, association staff and for those that are interested in becoming a part of this realtor family.
ROD: Wow, I would tell you I’ve been doing this for, I’m embarrassed to say 25+ years, but it is true. It’s amazing. I am a CCIM. So I am involved with one of the partners that you had as far as education is concerned. I do participate in some of your programs as well, the Signature Series. But certainly I had no knowledge of the breadth of information and resources out there and I’m sure that’s very consistent with, unfortunately, the general commercial brokerage community. Now, one thing—I want to jump back at you Emily because you did say something and I know you said it when we talked in Chicago. The advocacy issue and you being on the hill and the number of issues that has to do with commercial real estate. Can you just reemphasize what you said earlier?
EMILY: I would love to. More than 50% of NAR lobbying efforts directly affect commercial real estate. That is something that I think everyone in the country should know. That is a huge voice on the Capital Hill.
ROD: It’s incredible, the voice on the hill we have as commercial real estate practitioners. To know that the NAR is there representing us and our interests and that 50% of those interests represented there are commercial real estate oriented. That is absolutely incredible. Okay, Emily, in the short time we have left to wrap this up and you’ve been a great resource, give me some quick snippets. Give me some ideas. I want to be involved in NAR. I want to get somewhere. I go to the website. What are some of the things you would say, well, check out this, this or that? And I know there are so many it’s a hard question. I shouldn’t ask it. But aside from visiting the site, what are a couple of things I should look at right away?
EMILY: If you’re looking into being a part of this organization, I would say go to realtor.org/commercial and the top toolbox that you’ll see on the right-hand side, it’s called the digital toolbox. We are very involved in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Check it out. Connect with us on LinkedIn. Connect with us on Facebook. Connect with us on Twitter. There are some great conversations that we’re having as well as our members and we would love everybody to be engaged and a part of this community. So I would say absolutely #1, connect with us. Find out more about NAR-Commercial. Ask the questions. If there are resources that you see there, whether it’s from a legislative perspective, an education perspective, research, etc., if there’s something there that you’re curious about? Does NAR produce this for you as a benefit, all you have to do is ask. Everything that we do and we put out there as a benefit to our commercial members, largely to do with the conversations we are having with the commercial real estate world.
ROD: I’ve got to tell you Emily that is a terrific, absolutely terrific suggestion. So I actually have to get off the phone now and go follow you on Twitter. It is the first thing I’m going to do. But listen, I really appreciate these ten minutes you’ve shared with us. You’ve enlightened us and hopefully have enlightened my fellow commercial practitioners to what a valuable resource and a valuable opportunity it is to associate with and be involved in the National Association of Realtors. So Emily, thank you very much.
EMILY: Thank you, Rod. It’s been a pleasure to be here with all of you.
ROD: Until next time this has been Rod Santomassimo with The Massimo Minute. Talk to you soon. Take care.
Over the past ten days I have had a blast speaking to several groups across the country. Two weeks ago I presented at the Sperry Van Ness National Conference in Chicago, where approximately 170 members of their team came together for a 2 day event. I reviewed the results of a national program we put in place at Sperry Van Ness and at the end asked every attendee to commit to one revenue producing goal they will accomplish before the end of the year. Earlier this week I was copied on several emails from individual “SVN” office owners distributed to their respective team asking them to do the same.
Last week I went back to Chicago to present to over 150 owners of NAI Global who also were attending their Leadership Summit. During this presentation I focused on what specific initiatives it takes to maximize the profitability of their individual offices. Like their counterparts at Sperry Van Ness a week earlier, the energy level was fantastic. After Chicago, it was off to Tulsa, Oklahoma to present to about 60 commercial brokers on ideas on positioning strategies to give them a competitive advantage in their respective markets.
So over the last two weeks I met with approximately 400 commercial brokers to share ideas on improving their business. So, will they implement these ideas and take their personal brokerage businesses or their offices to the next level? Time will tell. But if brokers wish to increase the likelihood of maximizing their income then they best create an accountability system.
As Tate Chalk, founder of Nfinity, was recently quoted in AOL Business, “Just remember, an idea never made anyone any money — only perfect execution of that idea.” Let me be more direct, and unfortunately less eloquent than Mr. Chalk. Winners have backbones. Chickens have wishbones. Use your backbone and implement an accountability platform. Don’t simply wish things work out for the best. Hope never paid the bills.
Accountability by definition means “to answer to, to report to; to justify”. Ever heard “you need to inspect what you expect”? My old college lacrosse coach told us it didn’t matter how bad we wanted to win. It was a matter of setting a goal, implementing a plan and holding each other accountable. Positive attitudes certainly help, but it was the recorded suicide wind sprints, tracking the reps and sets in the weight room and seemingly endless practices that had more to do with the wins.
While it was terrific and rewarding that a majority of the 400 commercial real estate professionals I met with took notes during my presentations and even committed to implementing many of the ideas shared; it will be their creation of an accountability platform that ultimately determines their level of success.
Make no mistake; being accountable is a behavior. It is not a skill. In order to change behaviors you need regular and frequent intervals of support and reporting. It is essential that you engage someone to hold you accountable. It doesn’t matter if you retain a coach, a peer, a team or even your office manager. Get ANYONE to hold you accountable. Most professionals can’t do it alone and all winners have some level of accountability.
In regards to commercial real estate managers who are falsely restricted to the notion that brokers are independent contractors and you legally cannot manage them; “management” and “accountability” are not the same. You can and should hold your team accountable. Firms across the country that do so are by far more productive than those that don’t.
In regards to the 400 or so professionals that I presented to over the past two weeks, I didn’t identify many chickens. Think about it. Anyone who would invest the time and money to attend these events, specifically in a challenging market, are dedicated to their craft and recognize this is not a time to sit back and simply wish. Winners have backbones, chickens have wishbones. Winners are accountable.
