Sperry Van Ness President and CEO Kevin Maggiacomo explains why social media is important within the commercial real estate industry, read on…

By now it should be no secret that I’m a big fan of social media. The statistics validating social media’s ability to positively impact performance more than serve as adequate evidence that commercial real estate professionals should be actively engaged in social media marketing. That said, not a week passes where the naysayers and apathetic scoff at social media as if were just a waste of time. If today’s post seems like a bit of a rant, it’s because it is…In the text that follows I’ll share a few brief thoughts in an attempt to reason with those still not switched-on to the many benefits of social media.

I want to begin by addressing the three most common objections (translation: cop-outs) that I encounter from the unimpassioned or uninitiated:

1. Real business people don’t use social media: The inference with this excuse is that social media is somehow not worthy of their attention – that “real businesses” simply don’t market using social media. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, if you do a bit of digging you’ll quickly see that the category dominant personal and corporate brands in virtually every sector are engaged at some level with social media. Moreover, most of them are dramatically increasing their investments into social media while cutting back on investments into traditional media. On a global level, marketers report an increase of 30% in digital expenditures in the last 12 months alone. While this “social media is for teenagers and college students” excuse may make for a nice sound bite in your mind, in reality the only thing you accomplish with this position is to demonstrate outdated thinking to those in the know. In fact, according to Neilson, the over 35 age category is embracing social media faster than any other demographic, while growth among teens and college aged users has been flat to negative.

2. I don’t have time to use social media: This statement smacks of naiveté at best, or of arrogance at its worst. Since when doesn’t a person have time to engage people in a way that builds trust, engenders confidence, and accelerates the efficiency of communication. Saying that you don’t have time to engage your prospects and clients where they want to be engaged is nothing short of flawed thinking. What many fail to understand until they experience it first hand is that social media doesn’t replace real relationships, it enhances and accelerates them. You simply don’t have time not to be involved in social media. Learn how to leverage social media to increase the frequency of quality, live, business development meetings, and your productivity will increase. Learn that social media serves to enhance all of the activities that you are otherwise too busy focusing on, and you will run a commercial real estate practice which features greater profits and efficiencies. Fail to understand this and you’ll fail to maximize your potential.

3. It doesn’t work for commercial real estate: News flash – as much as you may want to think differently, our business is not any different from other businesses. Believing that certain immutable business principals don’t exist for commercial real estate professionals is very dangerous thinking. Not only have I personally benefited from social media on several levels, but I am also aware of numerous examples of both service providers and end-users alike that have received benefit from their investments into social media. Commercial real estate almost always lags behind other industries in terms of adopting new technologies and means of information sharing. We will see a repeat of this trend as the number of social media naysayers is reduced to a scant few within the next 24 months. As an aside, as of April 2009, more people spend time on Twitter, Facebook, etc., than they do on email. Do you really believe that our industry is so unique that we are immune to these revolutionary changes? If you haven’t benefited from social media yet, my guess is that you’re either 1.) not participating in social media; 2.) new to social media, and/or; 3.) not committed to doing what it takes to be successful with social media.

If you’re still not buying-in to my logic, I’m going to cut right to the chase and outline a few representative examples below of the benefits of social media for commercial real estate professionals:

Benefits for Practitioners

Social media increases your presence and visibility on the search engines, your exposure to deals, prospects and information, your ability to engage in meaningful conversations, the ability to shorten selling cycles and improve relationships, the ability to improve your position relative to competition, the ability to demonstrate subject matter expertise by expanding distribution for your thoughts and ideas, the ability to reach more people with greater velocity, and the list could go on and on…The bottom line is this: It has been said that as high as 80% of all purchasing decisions and diligence efforts begin with an internet search. What possible reason would you have for not wanting to be found where your prospects and clients are looking? Put another way, and as if our business couldn’t be any more difficult right now, why would you want to add to the existing set of new business challenges by having a poor Internet/social media presence?

Benefits for Clients

Clients and end-users are turning to social media in increasingly larger numbers when looking for information, advice, properties and professional expertise. Clients looking for increased transparency and accountability from their professional advisors will be looking for social proofing that is easily found online in reviewing a professionals social media presence. Clients looking to buy, sell or lease property will turn to and value the professionals that have the greatest visibility online and access to the toolsets and platforms most likely to benefit them.

Regardless of where you are in the commercial real estate value chain, you won’t be able to ignore social media and remain competitive in today’s marketplace. I would offer my strongest encouragement to anyone not actively involved in social media to develop a strategy for implementation.

Let’s get real here – successful brokers are different, here’s why:

1. Big Goals – All successful brokers have big goals. After all if you can’t
think big, how on earth do you expect to achieve big? Successful brokers
aren’t afraid to think big; thinking big results in big goals and big goals
get you BIG RESULTS.

Just imagine, what would happen of you actually declared a big goal you are
secretly wishing for but afraid to act on? You’d probably reach it!

2. Daily Planning – An extremely successful broker wouldn’t dream of starting
his (or her) day without spending time first thing in the morning planning
the day. This includes creating a list of calls to be made, emails to be
sent, deciding what correspondence needs to go out, reviewing what action
steps to take, and so on.

Daily planning guarantees you will be in action all day doing the things
that support your (big) goals. This method sure does beat spinning your wheels!

3. Delegation – Successful brokers have great support teams in place because
they realize can’t do it all alone. I recently heard about a rule of thumb
stipulating that for each $300,000 in commissions netted by a broker one
full time assistant is needed.

Who’s on your team? Make a list of everyone who helps you get your job done.
People like your assistant, virtual assistant, lawyer, accountant, webmaster,
marketing assistant, possibly a runner, a college student who is doing an
internship and anyone else you need on your team to do your job and do it
with excellence.

Who’s missing?

4. Time Blocking – A time and a place for everything, successful brokers
practice this with ease. Wouldn’t things be easier if you knew what you needed
to do and when?

What would it be like if you knew that everything that needed to be accomplished
would be, and exactly what day and time it would happen?

If your clients knew you returned your calls every day between 10 and 10:30
and then again between 4:00 and 5:00, if they knew you’d respond to their
email daily at 11:00, or were available every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
afternoons after lunch to meet – would they be clear what to expect from
you? Would life suddenly be easier for you? This is called Time Blocking.

Write out all activities you do each day and week and set times in your weekly
calendar to complete them. Treat them as you would a doctor’s appointment.
After all you’d never cancel a doctor’s appointment because you’d be charged
a fee and wouldn’t get in to see him until the next opening – often a couple
of weeks later.

Time Blocking Guarantees Success when followed.

5. Systems – Do you ever notice how the top brokers in your office seem
to get so much done? That’s because they have systems in place. Systems such
as office operations, goal setting, time management, lead generation, marketing,
sales, closing, even a system for follow up. (For more information on these
systems, join my Commercial Real Estate Success Inner Circle being re-launched
within the next 30 days).

Having systems in place takes the guesswork away. It becomes easier to get
more done in less time because you know exactly what to do and exactly what
to delegate.

A great book to read to learn more about having systems in place is, “The
E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber. It’s worth reading; or get the audio
CD set and listen to it while driving.

6. Accountability – Top brokers have accountability in place. They are accountable
to themselves, their team, their business coach, their clients and their
families.

Make sure you have at least one person or support system in place to help
assist you in your business goal accountability. It’s amazing how much more
you will accomplish if you have only two choices: just doing it; or reporting
failure to your accountability partner.

7. Follow Through – This is where the distinction is made between the best
and the mediocre. Do you have a follow up system in place? Do you know what
requires follow up and how often? Do you ever procrastinate following up
only to discover too much time has past and now you’re embarrassed to follow
up?

Create a follow up checklist for each client and prospect and refer to it
daily during your planning time to be certain nothing falls through the cracks.
Go beyond what most do for expected follow up.

Believe me, if you don’t sharpen and improve your follow up skills, there
are 99 other brokers waiting to steal your business.

Over the years I’ve discovered that most things in life can be improved with
a good spring-cleaning. Your business is no different.

After all, you choose to do a spring-cleaning because stuff accumulates.
Whether it’s dust or dirt or junk mail or clutter or just “stuff” in general,
it’s good to take some time and get rid of it all. Then you can start fresh
and clean.

Your business is the same way. Whether it’s piles of old files that need
to be thrown out or relationships that are no longer serving you, sometimes
it’s good to take stock on what’s working and not working in your business,
clean out what’s not working so you can open up the space to more of what
you DO want. And yes, this sounds sort of woo-woo, but it actually does work.

So ready to get that “spring clean feeling” in your biz? Here are a few places
to get started:

Environment —

1. Get rid of your stacks. File them, toss them, and delegate them. Do something
with them, but just get rid of them.

2. Clean out old client files. This works like a charm. The moment you clean
out old client files, whether that means filing them into long-term storage
or tossing them, you’ll discover new clients starting to contact you. I first
discovered this when I was a freelancer – every time I wanted new clients
one of the things I did (along with marketing and picking up the phone) was
clean out my old client files. And it worked!

3. Get rid of the clutter in your office. Are there things that need to
be mailed (for instance, books you borrowed from people and need to be returned)?
Or do you have things you really need to donate? Box them up and ship them
out!

Relationships —

1. Are you in relationships that are no longer serving you? Maybe you’re
in different places or one of you has changed and it’s no longer a good fit.
Be honest here. And be thorough. Look at your friends, associates, and biz
partners, JV or affiliate relationships, clients (yes even clients) and team
members. If something isn’t working (and yes, you know it’s not working,
your gut has probably already zeroed in the relationships you need to take
a closer look at) then you probably need to move on. (Or at the very least,
change the relationship.)

2. Difficult conversations. Are there some difficult conversations you’ve
been putting off? Maybe someone owes you money or didn’t live up to some
other promise? Maybe they did something you don’t agree with? Whatever it
is, spring-cleaning is a great time to get that cleaned up so you can move
forward.

Habits —

1. Are there things you’re either doing or not doing that you know would
move you forward? Maybe you want to start exercising regularly, meditating,
journaling, or just getting your ozone out each week? Or maybe you’re wasting
a lot of time on things that aren’t serving you or moving you forward in
your business? Take a look at what you’re doing on a daily basis to see if
that’s helping you or hindering you.

None of these tasks are necessarily things you’re going to enjoy, but once
you do them, you’ll be amazed at how good you’ll feel (and how much energy
it frees up for you). And don’t be surprised if you start seeing a flood
of things you want come pouring into your business.

Last weeks article was a smashing success and so this week’s focus is “Successful
Prospecting Secrets”. Below are tips; many of which you have seen before
but a good reminder can be the difference in making the sale or not.

Calling: If you are determined to cold call, try calling at 8 AM or 6 PM
when the decision maker is more likely to have more time to talk and in fact
may even answer the phone. And if you’re stuck leaving a message, one left
in the evening will be the first to be heard in the morning!

Ask Lots of Questions: Ask the right questions and the prospect will tell
you what they want and how they need to be sold.

Don’t Underestimate Faxes: Emails are used constantly today and so it’s harder
to stand out with yours – try sending a fax, it will stand out! Use faxes
regularly as part of your prospecting efforts.

Sell Solutions; Not Features: Most Commercial Real Estate professionals start
off by letting the prospect know how great they are, their company is and
so on. The prospect doesn’t care; they only care if you are the solution.
Learn to sell solutions.

Follow Up and Follow Through Are Key: Just like gardening, if you don’t water
the seeds, the garden won’t grow and thrive. And so it is with prospecting…
if you don’t remain in contact, you will never break through.

Give A Prospect Something For Nothing: An article that would be of interest
and value, information that you received online etc. and transferred to the
prospect with a note “just thought you might be interested in this” indicates
that you are thinking of them and wish to be a resource.

There’s no magic bullet: Prospecting takes time and if your sales pipeline
isn’t always filled with prospects in various stages of being worked, then
you are in for a future sales slump. And what Commercial Real Estate professional
can afford that?

Have fun with prospecting; it is possible you know!

I never cease to be amazed. The other day I sent a survey to my clients asking
what topics they’d like to learn more about and the response was unanimous
- MARKETING.

It’s funny because when we were all busy getting our degrees, certifications
and real estate licenses we forgot to take a course on how to market our
services. We never learned this stuff!

The point of marketing is to generate a never-ending flow of prospects that
call you! Who wouldn’t want that?

I have come up with 7 Magic Marketing Tips (or Strategies) for Commercial
Real Estate success:

Marketing Tip #1 – Brand Yourself as an Expert
Most individuals and companies prefer dealing with an expert. List ten ways
you can be known as an expert in your niche and than start checking each
one off as you accomplish it. Before you know it, you will be the “expert.”
One of the best ways to be seen as an expert is to be published. Write articles,
write newsletters, write a book, write a special report – just write.

Marketing Tip #2 – Don’t be Afraid to Think Outside the Box
Brainstorm ideas with yourself and/or others. Most commercial real estate
professionals think alike. Every action step is the same. I have noticed
that even though my clients want to try something different, when push comes
to shove, no one ever will. Remember, if you want to get a different result,
you have to take different action steps. This requires thinking outside the
box. Be willing to take risks.

Marketing Tip #3 – Have a Marketing Calendar
Each November map out the next calendar year by putting in all the marketing
steps you intend to take, the date(s) they will be taken, and the desired
results. This can be written on a calendar (best method), entered in a spreadsheet
or any other method you choose. The point is, plan ahead in writing and follow
through.

Marketing Tip #4 – Have an Assistant Help Implement the Plan
You cannot possibly do everything yourself. When I work with clients and
their marketing calendars we strategize to have as many things as possible
be included that the broker does not have to do personally. For example,
implement a postcard campaign where your assistant designs and sends a postcard
on the second Tuesday of each month. Or, draft a newsletter but have it edited,
improved upon, and sent out by somebody else. Perhaps have your assistant
invite three people to join you for lunch each Tuesday (including making
reservations and confirming each guest). You get the idea, don’t you?

Marketing Tip # 5 – Follow Up Regularly
This is a fact: 90% of commercial real estate brokers have poor follow-up.
A lack of consistent contact causes valuable relationships to suffer, or
even dwindle to the point where somebody else who’s stayed in contact snatches
the business.

Marketing Tip #6 – Don’t Confuse Marketing with Sales
Before you can sell your service, you must have a prospect. Before you have
a prospect, you must have a lead. Trying to jump from stranger to client
isn’t a fruitful strategy. Instead, implement an effective lead- generating
system (Learn how to do this by joining my Commercial Real Estate Success
Inner Circle – watch for the re-launch later next month!). Focus your efforts
entirely on generating qualified leads and keep your pipeline full!

Marketing Tip #7 – Don’t Give Up Marketing
Give your new marketing campaign a chance to work. Remember it takes five
to nine times receiving a message before it kicks in. And, you must continue
to stay in contact. If you don’t – your competitor will!

I keep hearing the same thing over and over from my clients . . . “My deals are taking forever to close/be fully executed”. This can be very frustrating for you and warrants some discussion. Is there anything you can do to speed things up?

I am going to go out on a limb and say often times “yes”. Now I am not naïve, there are always going to be exceptions – remember the 80/20 rule? Well 80% of the time you are in the position to move things forward and don’t even know it. And of course, you will have absolutely no control 20% of the time.

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Last year my Gold Inner Circle members were blessed with an in-person phone interview with Frank J. Rumbauskas Jr., author of “Selling Sucks”. He was fabulous and everyone enjoyed the time we spent with him not to mention the amazing things we learned.

I have decided the tips we discovered are far too valuable to keep to ourselves and so below are the top strategies from his new book, “Selling Sucks”. Read more

We are now 7 weeks into the New Year – 2010; actually, 13% of the year has already passed us by. So let me ask you a question, are you on course for achieving what you intend to this year? In other words, have you been paying attention to your goals? It’s probably a good idea to pull them out, brush them off and take a “look-see”.

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Fact: Blogging is huge!

Fact: People pay attention to commercial real estate bloggers.

Fact: A blog is an extraordinary medium – really; who would have thought!

Fact: A Blog is not only easy to set up but it’s FREE

Just think about how blogs have changed the way people receive their news. Major news networks and papers were the only venues where people got their news – not anymore. . .Blogs have given everyday people with something to say the ability to become a reporter.

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