*Linking Appointments

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 things that I have 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 setting firm appointments to advance business opportunities will lead to improved results in every area of your business.

A recent experience:
I’ve recently had the pleasure of working with a professional young broker on the leasing and sale of one of my assets; we’ll call her Roxanne. Roxanne is a hard-working, professional broker that has shown an unrelenting passion to assist her clients reach their goals and a creative, aggressive approach to attracting potential tenants and buyers. Another thing that really caught my attention with Roxanne is that she never, ever lets me off the phone with out “linking” our conversation (and the required actions) to a scheduled follow-up meeting or conversation.

The habit of creating firm appointments with well-defined actions will assist you in achieving your desired results, in brokerage and in life.

“Ink or Link”:
Prior to my current role on the principal side of the business, I had a long history of brokerage, brokerage management and ownership of a successful commercial brokerage company. One of the things I learned from my mentors in the early stages of my career was to “Ink or Link.” A prime example of when I would hear those words was when I did a listing proposal for a prospect. If I was unsuccessful in getting a “Rep Agreement” signed (“Ink”) and there were outstanding issues, we were trained to set the follow-up appointment to handle the outstanding items (“Link”). Following this process enabled me to shorten timelines and increase my success percentages in obtaining listings. The habit that was created continues to assist me in every aspect of my business and my life.

Why it’s Important:
There is an enormous difference between “I’ll follow-up with you in a week” and “Let’s talk again @ 10:00am on January 24th. I’ll review the income/expense report from last year’s operating statement and you get your partner to join the call with us so we can agree on the final pricing strategy for marketing the property.” I’ll send a meeting invite to both you and your partner tomorrow after you talk to him this afternoon.”

One scenario will probably result in a call from the broker to an unprepared client that will result in more delays while the other will either result in a productive call with a client that knows exactly what’s required and expected or, it will bring up the real objections to “moving forward” which you can then handle.

Timelines and check points:
All we have is our time and, making that more productive pays great returns in all aspects of life. Getting agreement on timelines for the conclusion of every activity is a great method to keep things moving forward in the most expedient way possible. Setting firm appointments to discuss the results of those activities clearly shows that the item is important and, that the expectation is to meet or exceed the commitments made. Also, real estate transactions of every type involve transactional timelines. Getting commitments from clients to take actions with specific, scheduled check points will help ensure your deals continue moving forward in the most efficient way possible.

Developing the habit of setting clear expectations and firm appointment check points will assist you in every part of life. Whether it’s your brokerage activities or getting a child to complete her chores in a timely manner, clear expectations and pre-set check points will help get things done!

Happy Hunting!

Joe

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.

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