*Ending the call too soon

One of KJF Partners’ Core Values is:

“We are driven by our personal commitment to create value for our investors, tenants, teammates and brokers.”

To serve our broker partners, we send occasional emails that focus on lessons learned through my brokerage history or that I notice from my current role on the principal side of the business.

Brokerage is a very challenging business and making sure you get the most from every prospect contact will help uncover more deal possibilities. I’m currently getting more prospecting calls from brokers than I’ve received in the past couple of years. Generally, the caller is focused on a specific property that we own and, the call is focused on that property. I do believe in targeted calls with a specific value related to one property BUT, we own multiple similar properties in many states. Frequently, the broker who has called me about a specific property, ends the call without ever asking about the rest of our business. Sometimes, property ownership is like the proverbial iceberg. What you don’t know or, what lies below the surface can be far bigger, (or more profitable), than what you immediately see. Your income potential is greatly enhanced when you become adept at reaching below the surface to learn more about your prospect and their complete business.

The following are a few segue questions that may help you learn a bit more:

• I’ve shared what we’re seeing in the market, what are you seeing or experiencing with your tenants/properties or the market?
• Where are you spending more time than you’d like right now?
• Which properties in your portfolio just haven’t turned out like you originally hoped they would?
• Which properties in your portfolio have done better than your expectations
• Which states that you own property in give you the most concern about their political/economic direction?
• Which category of tenants in your portfolio seem to be having the most problems right now?
• I know you probably monitor collections strategically, which tenants seem to always be late or have trouble paying?
• Which markets that you own property in have seen the slowest rent growth?
• What areas that you currently own property in are you most likely to buy another property in?
• Which areas that you currently own property in are you least likely to buy again? Why?
• Do you have plans to upgrade your portfolio in any way? Which properties might need an upgrade?
• Do you have plans to change your portfolio’s product-type mix? What product type would you like to add to your portfolio?

Your goal is to learn more about your prospect with every call so, spend some time creating questions that will naturally lead to more understanding about what’s important, (or problematic), to your potential client(s). Become an expert at seeing below the surface and, I promise, opportunities to serve your clients will grow.

PS: If you have subjects that you’d like to see become future topics for This Principal’s Perspective, hit reply and let me know what your thoughts are.

Happy Hunting!

Joe

Joe Faris
KJF Partners, Inc.
Cell Phone: 949-275-5038