Congratulations, you secured an invitation to present your proposal to a client. You can’t hit a home run without getting to bat, so now it’s time to take your swings.  Forgive the baseball analogy; corny as it is, it is true.  Now what do you need to do to make your presentation a success and win the listing or representation assignment?

If you haven’t already, and the opportunity is for a listing, get out to the property and become an expert on it. Take pictures, drive the neighborhood and drive all of the comps you will be using in your proposal. You should also do research on the area to ensure you are aware of any upcoming projects which could affect the marketability of the asset.    If this opportunity is for a tenant or landlord representation, find out everything, and I mean everything, about the company/owner.

We see  listing and representation presentations, almost daily, from across North America.  Many miss the point of the proposal.  Prepare a presentation you can be not only be proud of, but also addresses the specific needs/issues of the opportunity.  Believe it or not, many brokers frequently just slap a few pages together and hope for the best. If you’ve been invited to present, you can be pretty sure your competition was invited also. Put your best foot forward and prepare a well-structured proposal.  Remember, “You Can’t Wing It to Win It”.

Practice. Then practice some more. Make sure you know what you are going to say and that you can say it concisely and convincingly. Brush up on your ability to overcome the client’s objections. The best way  to do this is to role play with a mentor, colleague, your coach or your spouse.  Don’t laugh, my wife has  improved a vast majority of my speeches.. then again maybe she enjoys correcting me.. but I digress.  Whoever  you use, encourage them to throw you some curve balls, to make sure you can think on your feet when the time comes.

I know I just told you to prepare a great presentation, but when you get in front of the client, remember the most important thing is your ability to tell the story, which is completely different than telling your story.  It’s not about you.  It starts with telling the story of the opportunity and how the client sees it. Once you’ve told that story, you can tell the story of why you are the only plausible broker to service the account.  The presentation keeps you in the game, but articulating the right story is what wins you the business.

• Before Duke’s debacle in the NCAA tournament (one of the few reasons I will watch TV) a new Staples commercial caught my attention.  In this commercial, everyone in the office, including the President, the receptionist, the IT guy and the marketing team were the same person.  Dave, the redheaded, bearded entrepreneur, was the reflection of many struggling business owners and commercial real estate brokers.

They try to do it all and be all.

In my 25+ years as a broker, owner and manager of local, regional and international brokerage firms I have yet to find a top producing broker who can do it all.  I have however seen thousands of average brokers who try.

It’s either one of 2 scenarios.  Average brokers think that they really know more about prospecting, presenting, closing, marketing, social media, web design, computers, administrative work and answering the phone than anyone else, or they believe they can simply do it cheaper.

In Brokers Who Dominate, the 8 traits of top producers we explored how top performers
attained and maintain these top production levels.  One key trait is top brokers are “Team
Oriented”.

It doesn’t mean you have to go out and hire a team at high fixed costs or give away a nice portion of your commissions to create a team.  What it does mean is that you have to do these important steps to stop being average.

• Take an inventory of everything you are currently doing – and I mean everything.
• Determine how much you are worth –in relation to dollars per hour.
• Create a ‘Not To Do List’ and simply stop doing those things that do not:
• Make you money
• Bring you pleasure in doing

• Find someone else to do things that is better at doing them and cheaper than it is for you to do them!

Sorry to say top performers are smarter than average performers; they have accepted that they cannot do it all.  Take the 4 steps noted above and leave the ranks of average.  Don’t  be a Dave.

This past week I took a long weekend (yes we all need to take a day or two away from commercial real estate) and headed to Vail, Colorado for some skiing with some friends.  Some of these friends are commercial brokers, like you, and one particular friend, Jason of CNL, I had not connected with in quite some time.

In past Massimo Minutes, I have stressed the importance of presence.  I have outlined the three essential elements of creating and maintaining presence and outlined the key targets to direct these efforts towards.  These targets include clients, prospects, market makers and influencers.  There are certainly more extensive and detailed targets, but that is beyond the scope of this article.

Two key targets in your individual presence campaign must be your friends and family.  Why; because I can guarantee you that most of them simply think of you as “a broker”.  They have little idea of what exactly this means and how you personally work with clients in a variety of ways to assist them in achieving their personal and/or business goals.

As for Jason, I had the luxury of sitting next to him on several subsequent ski lifts and shared with him how we work with individual brokers, brokerage teams and companies in our coaching and consulting practice.  How our entire organization is positioned to maximize our client’s brokerage income.  I shared with him that most (not all) trainers are vendors, where as we pursue the role of being partners and trusted allies in our client’s success.

The Massimo Minute is distributed to tens of thousands of commercial brokers, many of my friends and all of my family members, and now Jason as well.  The next time you send out  an email blast, success story, white paper or postcard think beyond the obvious targets and be sure to include your family and your friends, for they will be your biggest champions should they hear of an opportunity that may be a great fit for you.

The Massimo Group, the nation’s premier commercial real estate coaching and consulting organization is seeking 1 full-time and 1-part time commercial real estate coach for its growing practice.  The Massimo Group is proud to include every major commercial real estate brokerage firm and/or its individual brokers as clients, along with scores of regional and local firms.

The position will be responsible for delivering the Massimo Group’s proprietary coaching systems, as well as supporting several of the Massimo Group’s consulting assignments.

The position, shall be independent contractor-based.  Licensed candidates are welcomed, however actively performing brokerage functions are prohibited as the Massimo Group does not compete with its brokerage clients.

This is an opportunity for an independent, driven, real estate professional to be part of one of the fastest growing companies in the industry.

The ideal candidate will possess:

• Minimum 10 years of commercial real estate brokerage experience
• Proven track record for success
• A higher industry-related designation, such as an SIOR, CRE, or CCIM is preferred, though not required.
• Brokerage management experience is a major plus.
• Excellent Communication, Presentation and Writing Skills
• Excellent Listening Skills
• MS Office, and ACT CRM Skills, preferred but not required.

Serious inquiries only please.  Submit resumes to info@massimo-group.com, under the subject “CRE Coach Candidate”.

Wherever I travel throughout the country for presentations or workshops, or speak with our coaching prospects, there always the No. 1 question:  What do top producers do to both attain and maintain their dominant positions in the market?  

Having worked with, studied and/or managed literally 1,000’s of brokers during my 25+ year career, I have identified the 8 traits of dominant brokers.  Over the past weeks we have share with you these essential qualities of success.  This week we will explore traits 7 and 8; Team Orientation and Entrepreneurial

Team oriented is your leverage.

It’s amazing how many brokers work in little silos and don’t even try to leverage the skill sets and knowledge of others to maximize their effectiveness. When I talk to some of these brokers, they’re frustrated and often say something like, “I can’t do it all,” but they don’t take the next logical step and investigate the resources they have or can acquire to make their day, and more importantly their effort, much more productive. Here’s the simple exercise we use with clients who want to build a team.

First, identify exactly everything you believe you have to do, from the mundane to the most productive. Put everything in one big list. Don’t leave anything out. Next, go through the list and identify everything you’re good at and everything you like to do. Then we go through that inventory with our clients and we prioritize, we allocate, we figure out what the broker needs to do and then we delegate everything else. Take some time and do the same thing; you should wind up with a list of your most productive activities and a list of everything else to delegate.

Then identify sources, whether external, virtual, or in your office who can handle “everything else.” Now comes the hard part. You have to invest in those resources. That’s a big hurdle for some people, so let me remind you that what you’re really doing is investing in yourself and your career. Don’t forget, your greatest asset is you.

Entrepreneurial approach brings everything together.

Most brokers think and act like an employee, even though the legal fact and practical reality is that most brokers are independent contractors. If you work for a large firm, your firm may have terrific resources and brand, but ultimately your success is measured by how well you leverage those organizational assets. Many of the brokers profiled in this book are aligned with strong regional and national firms, but they act like they’re the CEO of their own firm. They use their brokerage firm as a platform to launch their personal success.

Wherever I travel throughout the country for presentations or workshops, or speak with our coaching prospects, there always the No. 1 question:  What do top producers do to both attain and maintain their dominant positions in the market?

Having worked with, studied and/or managed literally 1,000’s of brokers during my 25+ year career, I have identified the 8 traits of dominant brokers.  Over the next few weeks we are going to share with you these essential qualities of success.  Follow these principles and you too can put yourself on the path to brokerage success.

Last week we addressed market presence and industry focus.  This week we will dive into traits 5 and 6; Navigate Careers and Assertive.

Navigating your career means taking the long view.

The biggest mistake I see in navigating a career is brokers’ making a change without thinking through what the results will be and how the change fits into their career plan. They jump at an offer, thinking the business or the managing broker will be better someplace else. But they usually forget a couple of things. Number one, the grass is not always greener on the other side. For example, higher commissions are higher for a reason, maybe because the supporting resources are fewer. Number two, when you change your company, your address, there is absolutely a down period, a slow period that will happen during the transition, no matter how sound you think your client relationships are.

Assertive moves you to the front.

Lack of assertiveness shows itself as caution or conservatism. That cautious approach, in a more extreme form, can suggest fear. During their careers, brokers may face several things they fear. Fear of rejection and fear of failing are probably the most obvious. Brokers rarely suggest they fear anything. Instead they say. “Prospecting isn’t really effective” or they need to do a little more homework before they call a client, or they know that client really isn’t in the market or something else that sounds like it makes sense. If you find yourself making excuses for things you know you should be doing, like prospecting or making presentations, ask yourself what you might be afraid of.

Assertiveness is a personality trait. We screen all our clients at the Massimo Group with a personality/behavioral assessment to better understand several such traits, with assertiveness being a key component. We also know if you don’t test at the top of the assertiveness scale, there are things you can do to become more successful. Psychologists tell us people who are fearful usually spend their time and energy thinking about what could happen, but people who overcome fear concentrate on what needs to be done.

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.

The holiday’s are upon us once again and unlike prior years we are not necessarily focusing on the splendor that was commercial real estate over the past 11 months.  For many commercial real estate professionals are rather looking for opportunities in what has been a slow year of activity.

The ideas of “doing the same thing” or “all will work out” have faded along with market velocity.  Crafting a vision for 2010 seems more like a daydream, if not nightmare, to many.  How can you plan for September of 2010, when you don’t even know if you will close a deal in before March?

Take these four simple steps

1. Complete a comprehensive review of 2009. What went well, what could you improve upon?

2. Focus on short term strategic plans. Annual goals are still valid, but activities require more focus.

3. Take a proactive look at every aspect of your personal brokerage business, including your operational, financial, marketing and personnel plans

4. Do not simply focus on your pipeline.  Income is created by performance, and performance is best supported by planning.

What creates your pipeline is activity and what create the activities are your plans.  This includes your operational plan, your marketing plan, your financial plan and even your human relations plan.  Whether you work by yourself, or you work with a team of 50 brokers, you need to account for each of these.

Keys to any business planning are your goals, the metrics to reach these goal and the resources to support these metrics.

For example, your financial plan may call for a Gross Brokerage Commission Income of $50,000 in the first quarter, but your metrics will define when and how you are going to reach these goals and the resources will define the time and the cost.  Your marketing plan may include a robust online marketing platform or a simply post card campaign.  Your human resource plan may and should consist of a personal investment (education, training or coaching) and certainly a personal savings plan.

You have two choices in 2010.  A) Take the same approach and chase deals or B) Plan for success and lay a foundation for the long term by creating short term strategic plans.

Now implementing the plan.. that’s a entirely different blog topic.