• 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.

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.

It’s the dog days of summer; and if you are like me you enjoy the longer daylight hours and time with the family.  However you also recognize that any day in July can have the same impact on your business as any day in November.  Or do you? 

I have been told you should never go to Italy in the summer and especially not in August.  It’s said that native Italians take the summer off from working and no one is there to help you.  Funny, this tradition seems to have been adopted by  many in the American brokerage community as well.  Where have all the brokers gone?

Okay, I understand.  The market, although recovering at a slower pace than desired, is still not producing the velocity we would all like to see.  Likewise; with the mergers and acquisitions in the industry lately, Cassidy Turley, NAI Global, Avison Young and pending Grubb & Ellis to name a few, many brokers are in a wait and see mode.  Add to this, summer vacations are taking focus away from revenue producing vocations.

Still, this is the worse time to “take a break” from brokerage.  As a commercial broker you are more than likely an independent contractor.  You are a business owner. So what does this mean?

• Act as if you were a public entity and the second quarter earnings report is due by July 15.
• Perform a semi-annual review and take care to note:
  • What did you do well – acknowledge this and leverage this
  • What did you do that needs improvement or frankly failed to accomplish
  • What will you implement immediately to improve your results over the next six months
  • Write out action plans for getting you to your goals

Don’t get me wrong, we all need to unwind in some form or fashion.  It’s just many brokers forget to rewind and review their progress thus far.  When they get back from their vacations, it’s the same old approach, which will simply yield the same old results.

Hell yes, I am proud of my Italian heritage, but folks this isn’t Italy, it’s America and it’s time to get to work!   Arrivderci!

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.

MASSIMO GROUP: Good afternoon this is Rod Santomassimo of the Massimo Group and welcome to this version of the Massimo Minute. This month we have a very, very special guest, Mr. Warren Greshes, who I am fond to say is a friend of mine. Someone that a client had introduced me to and told me, “Rod if you are in the North Carolina area, you have to reach out to Mr. Warren Greshes because he is an international phenomenon”. Of course I was curious to see who this gentleman is, so I reached out and gave him a call and several lunches later I am now proud to call him a friend. Warren is a professional speaker. If you haven’t read it, you should, he is the author of the best selling Best Damn Sales Book Ever, Sixteen Rock Solid Rules for Achieving Sales Success. Certainly Warrens a keynote speaker and speaks on issues such as customer service, sales and leadership. So Warren, welcome to the Massimo Minute and thank you very much for your time.

WARREN GRESHES: Oh, no problem. Glad to be with you Rod.

MASSIMO GROUP: It is certainly a privilege of us and our audience. The few minutes we have, Warren, it really hit home in today’s market place specifically with commercial real estate brokers. It is an extremely challenging market. This is probably true for any sales in particular. But tell me if you can, what are you seeing out there in the market place and certainly I am finding more and more people, I don’t want to say that it is a crutch while using and leveraging other tools such as social media, and certainly other platforms to try to get their message out. I surely think the social media has a place. Let me ask you, where’s this fits into the total prospecting package from the sales perspective?

WARREN GRESHES: I think, like you said, I agree with you. Social media has a place and has a definite place in today’s sales effort and today’s prospecting efforts. It is a great way to reach a lot of people in a very short period of time. It’s a great way to set yourself up as an expert. It’s a great way to find prospects. It’s a great way to focus in on specific niches in the market place.

But what I just said is not selling. See what I just said is marketing. There is a big difference between marketing and selling. I’m not an expert in social media, and I don’t use it as well as I could. I realize it is a real hot topic these days and I really see the benefit in using it; but I’m really scared that a lot of sales people are using social media as a crutch to not sell, to not have to talk to anybody one-on-one, to not have to pick up the phone, to not to have to get in front of somebody. There is a lot of pit falls in social media. Just as there are many pit falls in e-mail, which was another crutch. Sales people love e-mail, sales people love social media; because, they are lead to believe that if you use this you never actually have to go through the hard part of selling which is the picking up of the phone, or getting in front of people. In other words you never actually hear anybody say no via Linkedin Facebook, Twitter, or on e-mail.

MASSIMO GROUP: Very, very true. That is one of the reasons that most sales people utilize those platforms. But I agree too, it is certainly marketing vs. advertising something we use here in the Massimo Group. We say it is presence vs. prospecting. You know selling vs. not selling, creating that market presence. And certainly production goes nowhere just with the marketing side. You need to prospect, you absolutely need to prospect.

WARREN GRESHES Rod, you and I had this discussion and we talked about this. We talked about presence and prospecting. I really like that term you coined, presence and prospecting, I think that’s great. But remember I posed the question to you. If you had to go without one, what would be better off going without presence or prospecting?

MASSIMO GROUP: Well if you had to go without one, if I had to choose I would go without presence. Because you can’t go without prospecting.

WARREN GRESHES: Right. You cannot go without prospecting. I know people who have gotten clients on Linkedin and I know they have gotten clients through social media. But I got to tell you something, nothing takes . . . You know my father-in-law was a salesman and he is 84 years old. He doesn’t work full-time anymore, but he is still out there one day a week, maybe two days a week. And you know what; he is having a terrific year. And I don’t know how the heck he is doing it because he doesn’t have a computer, he doesn’t have a PDA, he doesn’t have a Twitter account, he doesn’t even know how to use a computer, he’s not on Linkedin, and he is not on Facebook. You know what he does? He gets in his car and he goes to see prospective clients, he goes to see clients, he on the phone with them all the time. And somehow this guy manages to do business without a Facebook account. How the heck is he doing that?

MASSIMO GROUP: How the heck is he doing it? At that age kudos to him. Hey Warren a few minutes left so I want you to give away all your 16 golden rules
I think people need to certainly take a look at what you have to say. But I want to ask you a question. If you can

WARREN GRESHES: Sure.

MASSIMO GROUP: Please give me three key ideas as far as if I want to prospect more effectively. What are some ideas you would have?

WARREN GRESHES: Okay. Well first of all know who you want to call before you call. Very simple. If you are going to be making prospecting calls via telephone or in person, your list should be set up the night before. I find a lot of sales people is what they do is that start looking. They make a call then they look up who they are going to call next, and they make a call, and then they look up who they are going to call next, and they make a call. They do this over and over again. And basically all they do is waste time.

You should also focus on who you want to deal with. I have a customer profile put together and know exacting who you want to call, what kind of companies, what kind of people, who are you looking for. I mean, you know in our business, we are looking for VPs of sales. We are looking for sales executives. Why? Because most of my audiences I speak in front of are sales people. I speak at a lot of annual sales meetings, big incentive conferences, and who’s going to make the decision on that. It usually a sales executive so who’s going to make the decision on what it is you are selling on your commercial real estate business, who is going to make the decision to buy it from you. And you want to first of all figure out where those decision makers are. That’s where things like Linkedin can come in. They can help you find those decision makers. Once you find those decision makers then you got to call them and then you got to set the appointments.

Do your calls every single day. I would rather see you do a little bit a lot rather than a lot a little bit. In other words, if you are going to make 50 prospecting calls a week, I rather see you make 10 prospecting calls a day five days a week then 50 calls once a week. Because if you do 50 calls once a week, you are not developing a habit. All that is going to happen is you are going to really dread one day. It is working out. If you work out a little bit every single day you are going to get in shape. If you work out a lot once a week you are just going to say, oh god who the heck wants to do this. The night before you are going to be dreading the next day and eventually you are going to say oh the hell with it. And the only time, as well we all know, the only time you only fail is when you give up. So do a little bit a lot not a lot a little bit. You know when I first started in sales, we didn’t have cell phones, we didn’t have laptops, we didn’t have all this technology.

I know I am sounding old here: but the fact in the matter is when I was on the road, when I was going on appointments I would stop at pay phones to make calls. I always had a list with me, a hand-written list of at least ten people I could call while I was in my car. Now with cell phones and PDAs, I mean I got a blackberry here, boy I could do it while I am driving. I know you are not suppose to. I am not encouraging that, but you can do it while you are driving. There is no excuse not to make the calls. I mean the biggest part of prospecting is you have to do it every day. You know there is an old saying, you are throwing up against the wall something is going to stick. I’m a big believer in that. The single biggest reason that sales people do not do business is because they do not talk to enough people. I’m not telling you don’t do e-mail, I’m not telling you don’t do Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook but they are in addition to. They are not in lieu of.

MASSIMO GROUP: Very strong, very applicable and so, so accurate. Warren Greshes, thank you so much for your time. But one last question before I let you go. I’m sure there are many people out there saying wow how this guy got me motivated. How can we get more? So Warren, is there a website? Is there something we can look for in regards you, your books, and your keynote speeches? Where can we direct them to?

WARREN GRESHES Well, my website is www.greshes.com obviously. And my e-mail address is warren@greshes.com. And so you can either e-mail me, go to my website, contact me through my website. You can find my book on there. There is a link to my Amazon page right from my website. All the information you need about my services and me.

MASSIMO GROUP: So there you go, a man who practices what he preaches. He does utilize social media but he also prospects proactively and aggressively. So Warren Greshes thank you very, very much. And till next time this is Rod Santomassimo with the Massimo Minute. Talk with you soon.

In an earlier blog post I outlined the three key variables of top commercial real estate brokerage success. They were skill, will and thrill. You need the skill set to service your client, the willingness to do the work and ultimately possess the thrill of being a commercial real estate broker. Seems simple enough, except there is one distinct problem for many brokers who are struggling in today’s market.

Hopefully you have been told, since how knows when, that “you can be anything you want to be”. And the fact is anyone can be anything they want to be. Let’s face it; commercial real estate brokerage is not rocket science, but it can be tremendously challenging. There are brokers who have far greater skill than others in specific areas in the practice. And yes, they likely are top producers. Experience is by far one of the greatest skills to progress a listing to closing. Experience affords a broker the skill to get a deal closed.

But experience alone is not the only factor to success. There are first year brokers who have made over $1,000,000. Relationships are also an integral factor in success. Traditional approaches, coupled with today’s technology create a plethora of relationship building opportunities. Anyone can build relationships. Anyone can gain experience and yes, anyone can earn $1,000,000 or more a year.

Unfortunately the ability to do something has little correlation to accomplishment. Success requires will. Will you put in the work? Will you become a market expert? Will you invest in yourself, in your personal brokerage business? Will you?

For those that say “I can’t”.. then the obvious answer is “you won’t”. I can’t always equals you won’t.

For those of you who say “I can”, I say yes you can! But will you?

Generating commissions in this market place are seemingly more problematic than ever before.  Velocity is down, market values are vaporizing and liquidity continues to be nothing more than a mystical concept.  Many brokers and agents are looking for alternative approaches, tactics and strategies for manufacturing brokerage fees.

In addition, once an opportunity is found, the process of the transaction itself can be slower and unpredictable as a Tim Wakefield (Boston Redsox pitcher) knuckleball.  For the record I am a fan of the Yankees.

However, sometimes creating commissions is much easier and closer than you think.   Many times we overlook the most fundamental source for income – referrals. 

Yes, it seems like the most obvious of methods, but it is by far the most underutilized approach by commercial real estate brokers.  For reasons unknown to me, commercial brokers simply have a hard time asking for a referral. 

The first thing you need to do schedule the request in advance.  That’s right.  Schedule the request for a referral as soon as you ink the listing or representation agreement.   As soon as we get a new coaching client we set a referral request 3 months from contract date.  We know that period will provide the adequate time for a client to go through our process, complete a series of one-on-one or team coaching sessions and recognize the value of our program.   The same principals hold true for you as a commercial broker.  Whether you are using ACT, ACTCRE, REA, Realhound or Outlook (hopefully not the latter) you should set a task to ask for that referral upfront, so you don’t forget to ask when it is appropriate.

Secondly, “Ask the Questions”.  What are the questions?  Well it is simply one of three. 

1.       Where else are you doing business?

2.       How else can we help you with your real estate holdings/lease obligations?

3.       Who else in your personal network would benefit from our services?

There are more aggressive ways to ask and more defined value propositions to integrate to these questions but this is a good start.

Finally, keep your clients up to date on your activity with each referral provided.  This communication will instill the trust level in you and reduce any inhibitions you may have in asking for future referrals or the client providing them.

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.