Your Most Important Activity for Commercial Real Estate Success
By Jim Gillespie | January 26, 2009
If you’re already doing great mailing and marketing to position yourself in the minds of the people you want to do business with, congratulations! You’re definitely in the rare minority of all commercial real estate brokers within our industry. Most brokers, I find, like the idea of doing more marketing to their clients and prospects, but they just don’t get around to it.
With this in mind, the most important activity you can do throughout 2009 to generate more business for yourself is prospect 10-12 hours every week. Even if you’re someone who’s already doing outstanding marketing to your clients and prospects, doing 10-12 hours of prospecting every week will truly supercharge your business.
Here’s what doing constant, ongoing prospecting in your brokerage business will do for you:
1) When you’ve been consistently doing 10-12 hours of prospecting a week for 90 days or more, you’ll constantly be swimming in an abundance of solid activity.
2) When you prospect 10-12 hours every week, even when you’ve got an abundance of solid leads you’re already working on, you’ll keep finding even better leads which will allow you to let go of the more marginal leads you’re working on.
3) When you’re constantly prospecting and finding better leads to work on, you’ll increase the average commission you earn per transaction. This is because you’re constantly letting go of the smaller, more marginal leads you were clinging to when you weren’t doing your prospecting.
All the business you’ve ever wanted for yourself is constantly out there just waiting to be discovered by you. The way that we know this is because all the other brokers in your territory are closing transactions you’re not involved in. But when you prospect 10-12 hours every week, you begin directing those leads that would have gone to these other brokers…to you instead.
So to borrow a line from an old Kevin Costner movie…”If you prospect, they will come!”
I know these are difficult times and we’ve all got reasons why we can’t produce the results that we want to, and why we can’t get all of our prospecting done. With this in mind, take a look at this three-minute video of a man who clearly had every reason to decide that he couldn’t have what he really wanted in his life. And when you watch this video I can almost guarantee you’ll feel better about what you can really accomplish right now in your brokerage business.
The title of this video is, “Are you going to finish strong?”
Click here to see the video.
Topics: Prospecting, Uncategorized |
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When Will This Commercial Real Estate Market Hit Bottom?
By Jim Gillespie | January 13, 2009
The Urban Land Institute has released its report titled “Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2009”, including its predictions for what we can expect in commercial real estate markets all across the country. If you haven’t read this report, here’s a link to an article describing many of the important details in it.
Click here for the article.
In addition, I’ll be delivering my “State of the Commercial Brokerage Industry Address” in a free teleconference you can listen to this Wednesday. During this teleconference you’ll learn what’s caused our commercial brokerage industry to have the problems we’re now facing, where this real estate market is headed, where the great opportunities are for you to make big money, and what you must do to position yourself right now to cash in on the big money.
Click here for more information on this teleconference.
Topics: Uncategorized |
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Top Commercial Real Estate Developers Request Government Bailout
By Jim Gillespie | December 29, 2008
The most successful, elite commercial real estate developers in the United States are now requesting to be bailed out by the Federal Government. They want to be included in a $200 Billion Government bailout program originally intended to support automobile loans, student loans, and credit card debt.
This really ticks me off as these principals and organizations were doing fine for many years under capitalism, and now they’ve decided that we as the taxpayers should be bailing them out. And it just doesn’t sit right with me.
In addition, they’re asking for the bailout money to apply to “highly-rated asset backed securities collateralized by newly or recently originated real estate mortgages.” And later on in their letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, they gave an example of these securities as being “AAA” rated ones. Which means that they want the bailout money to apply to the most visible, pristine and desirable commercial real estate properties in the country–in short, the kind of properties that these companies typically own themselves.
I guess all the other 95% of commercial real estate investors who don’t own these kinds of properties will just have to fend for themselves…kind of like all the rest of us.
I’m opposed to any bailouts. And I’m even more opposed to bailouts that will keep the commercial real estate market from correcting under its own momentum. Any bailout that seeks to stop this interferes with commercial real estate brokers earning and getting paid their commissions, because it allows owners to hold onto their properties when they would otherwise have to sell them. And simultaneously we the people would be funding all of this luxury for these owners, too.
Brokers in so many cities have been dealing with owners who won’t sell unless they get above-market prices. And buyers have been saying they won’t buy until these owners lower their prices. So if we just let the market continue to correct on its own, more owners will be forced to get realistic and sell at today’s fair market value. This is because as this recession worsens, more owners are going to need money. And to get the money some of them will begin selling their properties.
With so many commercial brokers having a tough time right now, the last thing they need is government interference in a market where more owners will begin getting realistic and selling their properties. This is the natural progression of things in a difficult economy, and while I sympathize with the owners and what they’ll be going through, my top priority has always been the brokers. And I want to see the brokers getting back to closing more transactions again.
Topics: Uncategorized |
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How Commercial Brokers Can Recover In This Real Estate Market
By Jim Gillespie | December 9, 2008
This Wednesday, December 10th, I’ll be interviewing Bill Gladstone, CCIM, SIOR, who’s the best marketer I’ve ever known in commercial real estate brokerage, and you can have access to all of the information from our interview. If you want to learn the secrets behind how Bill’s making more money in this economy now than he did back in 2007, click here.
This is the third downturn I’ve been through in commercial real estate brokerage since I began my career close to 30 years ago. And this one is proceeding along fairly similar to the last two I’ve experienced.
A major problem right now for brokers is owners are still being unrealistic in their asking prices in many areas, but that’s going to be changing. And as this changes more sale transactions will begin to occur for many commercial brokers.
Here’s what I’ve determined are the 4 stages a market typically goes through when readjusting after a very hot market, indicated by what property owners are often saying to commercial brokers at each of the 4 different stages:
Stage 1
“You’re wrong about the market. My property’s worth more than you’re telling me it’s worth.”
Stage 2
OK, I agree that the market has changed. But I still won’t sell my property unless you can get me more for it than what other people have already offered me for it.”
Stage 3
“We need to sell this property. Where do we need to price it in order to unload it?”
Stage 4
“I don’t think we’re ever going to see another great real estate market again.”
And Stage 4, of course, represents when we’ve probably hit the bottom of the market and it’s the best time to begin buying properties again.
Most brokers I’m talking with all across the country tell me their markets are at Stage 2 right now. But I can also tell you that some property owners are beginning to show some signs of getting squeezed for cash right now. So it’s probably just a matter of time until Stage 3 arrives in your market if it hasn’t already done so. And when Stage 3 arrives and more owners are forced to sell, they can no longer hold out for these unrealistic prices. They have to sell at whatever the best price is they can get because they need the money. And this is when more sale transactions can begin to open up for you.
So keep doing your prospecting, do your marketing, and keep building your relationships with your principals. As more owners get forced to sell, more buyers will be able to purchase properties at the prices they’ve been waiting for, and this will translate into more commercial property sale transactions for you.
Topics: Uncategorized |
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TONIGHT: My State of the Commercial Brokerage Industry Address
By Jim Gillespie | December 3, 2008
In follow-up to my last posting, I’m giving my “State of the Commercial Brokerage Industry Address” tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. This is a FREE teleconference you can attend, and for more information click here.
Topics: Uncategorized |
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State of the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Industry Address
By Jim Gillespie | November 25, 2008
So much is changing so rapidly in our commercial real estate brokerage industry. Because of this I’m giving my “State of the Commercial Brokerage Industry Address” on Wednesday, December 3rd, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. This is a free teleseminar event that I strongly advise you to attend, as we’ll get into what ‘s happened to cause our industry to have the problems we’re now facing, where this market is headed, where the great opportunities are for you to make big money, and what you must do to position yourself right now to cash in on the big money.
Mark your calendar, make sure you reserve this date and time, and 48 hours before the event I’ll send you the important information you’ll need to access the phone number and passcode to join me for this very important event.
Topics: Uncategorized |
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It’s Time for Giving Gifts to Your Commercial Real Estate Clients and Prospects
By Jim Gillespie | November 25, 2008
The Holiday Season is here, which means it’s the perfect time for you to give gifts to the clients you’ve previously closed transactions with. Not only is this good because it’s good to give gifts to others, it’s good because of the feeling you’ll create within others to want to reciprocate back to you…And the best way they can reciprocate is to give you more business.
We can keep this really simple for you. Go out and buy between four and twenty gift baskets, or gift-wrapped bottles of wine, and deliver them (ideally in person) to the clients you want to get more business with. They’ll be so surprised, happy, and grateful to receive one of these gifts from you, and sometimes they may even sit you down and begin talking about their next commercial real estate requirement!
Very few commercial brokers will ever spend the time and money to do something like this, and this positions you as someone your clients will definitely want to work with again. If you give 2-4 gifts to your clients every year at a cost of about $200.00 a year, this is great insurance that will maximize the potential that your clients will want to work with you again on their next transaction. If your average commission per transaction is just $15,000.00, and your clients do just one transaction every five years, this will literally become a gold mine for you. Spending $1,000.00 every five years to help ensure earning a $15,000.00 commission every time, is one of the best investments you’ll ever make. Multiply these numbers by just five to ten clients and you’ll understand exactly what I mean.
You’ll be making it very difficult for people to work with another broker because they just won’t want to face you afterwards. And this is a great place for you to position yourself.
So what’s it going to be for you this Holiday Season? Are you going to give gifts to the clients you definitely want to do more business with? Or are you going to wait and do it during the Holiday Season instead next year?
Topics: Marketing, Persuasion, Prospecting, Uncategorized |
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Mastering Commercial Real Estate Client Objections
By Jim Gillespie | November 13, 2008
I think every commercial real estate brokerage company should have scripts for overcoming client objections that the office gives to every single agent who works for the company. I would hope that there is at least one brokerage company or office out there that’s doing this for its agents, but if this company exists no one has yet mentioned it to me.
And if you’d like scripts like these written and developed for your own brokerage company, this is an area I have great expertise in, so feel free to contact me directly if you want to discuss this with me. We could even include audio CDs for all of your agents where I’d explain the overall process and strategy to them, and deliver the responses with the perfect timing, syntax, and tonality that will maximize effectiveness.
If agents were given scripts for overcoming client objections in the very beginning of their career, they could then rehearse these scripts so they’d deliver these responses on autopilot whenever it’s appropriate for them. This certainly would beat the heck out of feeling like a deer in the headlights whenever a client feeds an agent an objection they wish they had developed a better response to.
Here are two examples of potential client objections and responses that can be utilized to redirect the client’s mind and reframe their objections:
Client Objection:
“The owner wants too much money for the property.”
Super Broker Response:
“What’s more important to you…the money you’re investing in the property or the total amount of value you’re receiving for the money invested?”
This above response will soften the client’s objection and have them begin to look at value instead of just price. But you also need to be able to explain to the client why the properety is in fact a good value for the money they’re investing in it.
Client Objection:
“The amount of commission you want me to pay you in your listing agreement is too much.”
Super Broker Response:
“If I were to tell you that I have an attorney who will do all your legal work for just $25.00 an hour, would you want to hire that attorney to do all your legal work for you?”
Then wait for the client to answer “No” to the above question before continuing on with…
“Similar to a $25.00 an hour attorney, you get what you pay for in commercial real estate brokerage. Now do you want to work with another broker who’s so desperate that he’ll cut his commission just to try to get your business? Or do you want to work with a broker who’s clients feel he’s worth every single dollar they’ve ever paid him, and get a price for your property that you’ll be absolutely thrilled with?”
Topics: Persuasion |
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How to Stand Out as the Best Commercial Real Estate Broker in Your Market
By Jim Gillespie | October 29, 2008
If you’re not familiar with the term known as “Positioning”, it describes how well you constantly stand out as the best choice your clients and prospects can make in a commercial real estate agent. In any industry, Positioning refers to how well a person or a company stands out, such that ideally the decision to work with them has already been made by the client or prospect without any selling being necessary.
In commercial real estate brokerage, the competition can be fierce between the agents and the companies. And there’s one service I know of that can both easily and greatly differentiate you from everyone else. And that service involves you becoming a guest on the television show known as “Leading Experts”.
Imagine giving a DVD to every prospect you’d like to work with featuring a television interview of you as the leading expert in commercial real estate. Or if you’d like to be even more specific, you could give your people a DVD featuring an interview of you as the leading commercial real estate expert in your own geographical area.
The power of television has become so huge in our society. I recently heard one business expert say that “We’ve gotten to the point in our society where it’s now more important to be the celebrity in your field than it is to be the most competent in your field. Because when you’re the celebrity in your field, people will assume that you’re also the most competent.”
There’s really not much more for me to say here except to give you an experience of what I’m talking about. Dr. Jeff Hockings, the CEO of the company that produces the television program, is a friend of mine. And from the moment he showed me what he’s doing with these television programs, I recognized what a huge opportunity this was for commercial real estate brokers. Jeff’s company videotapes, edits, and produces these programs for a fee for business owners and entrepreneurs everywhere. And if you’re interested in more information and their current pricing schedule, please contact their company directly. But just one additional commission earned as a result of this program will typically pay for their services many times over.
Click on the link below, and when you arrive at the Home Page of “Palm Springs Studios”, click on the tab that says “Sample TV Shows”. Then watch some of the videos of the TV shows available to watch there and ask yourself, “How much more business would I be closing if all of my prospects saw me interviewed as the top commercial real estate expert on this program?
Go to:
http://www.LeadingExpertsTV.com
Topics: Marketing, Persuasion, Prospecting, Uncategorized |
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How to Explode Your Commercial Real Estate Businesss
By Jim Gillespie | October 7, 2008
If you’re in a market that’s been transitioning, and business has been slower for you than it was 1-2 years ago, I have a recommendation:
Be prospecting 10-12 hours a week every single week in your brokerage business.
Yes I know you probably don’t feel like doing this and you wish that more business was coming in right now with the same amount of prospecting you were doing before, but if you’re like many commercial brokers in the business right now these are very different times. Fewer transactions are occurring in many areas right now, which means in order to make the same amount of money that you were making before, you have to be closing a higher percentage of the overall transactions that are going down in your marketplace. And you just can’t do this by doing the same amount of prospecting you were doing 1-2 years ago.
With this in mind, ask yourself the following question:
“If I prospected 10-12 hours every week for the next year, how much more money would I be making?”
And if you like your answer to that question, just get your prospecting done with no excuses.
I can’t give you more of a simple, sure-fire, guaranteed way to rise above what’s going on in the marketplace right now, grab the bull by the horns, and make things happen in a big way for you in your commercial brokerage business.
Someone who made a big impact on my life years ago once said to me, “You either have what you want in your life, or you have the reasons why you don’t.”
With this in mind, when choosing between getting your prospecting done, or coming up with reasons why you can’t get it done, recognize you’re choosing between doing what will have you produce the income you’ll be thrilled with, vs. choosing what will have you feel more comfortable every day. So ask yourself, “Am I committed to doing what will maximize my income in commercial real estate brokerage? Or am I committed instead to just being more comfortable throughout the day during my work week?”
Commit to prospecting 10-12 hours a week every week for the next 90 days. And if you like the results you’ve produced by doing this, make this amount of prospecting a regular part of your weekly routine throughout your entire brokerage career.
Topics: Marketing, Prospecting |
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