*Patience&Productivity
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 having a long-term perspective on defining progress helps maintain the discipline necessary to succeed during difficult times. I recently returned from ICSC, in Las Vegas, and a high percentage of my meetings, with investment real estate brokers, involved discussions about reduced transaction velocity and an earnings decline since market conditions have shifted with rising interest rates. Many younger brokers haven’t yet experienced significant market shifts and are struggling to find the right strategies to help improve their business during this sluggish transactional marketplace.
I’ve been in the real estate business, as a broker and an owner, long enough to experience numerous market shifts and, below are some thoughts that I hope can help you steer your way through this period:
- This too shall pass. Eventually, the market will adjust from where it is. The market doesn’t generally tell us when that shift will happen or what it will give us next, but change is inevitable, and balance will be found.
- Maintain winning, proven habits for success. Brokerage is a demanding profession and bringing yourself to continue doing the right things, while you’re not getting immediate results, can be tough. Push yourself to maintain, or increase, your business generation activities during sluggish transactional cycles. It will take more connections to uncover viable deals and, Seller contacts are deposits that will pay future dividends.
- If necessary, adjust your short-term definition of success. I’m suggesting that you feel good about the actions you’re taking vs the dollars you’re making. Experience has taught me that if you do the right things, in the right way, consistently, you will be rewarded. You can’t always put the reward dates on your calendar but, the days will come when consistency pays off. In this case, the “right things” equal prospecting, connecting, and adding value for your clients.
- No matter what is happening around you, you can always control your attitude, your efforts, and your actions. Come to work every day with a winning attitude and be prepared to outwork everyone around you. You cannot always control your results, but you can always control yourself.
- It’s always a great time to plant the seeds that grow into productive relationships in the future. No matter what the market is doing, there is always value you can add for your prospects and clients. In a market that is shifting, your prospects and clients need your perspective. If you are doing your job, you are talking to many more people than any of your clients. The cumulative learning from those conversations is valuable. Pay attention to what you’re hearing and share the helpful things you’re learning.
- Do a lot of BOV’s (or proposals) for prospects. The percentage of those BOV’s (Broker’s Opinion of Value) that turn into today’s listings/sales may be lower than usual but, they are the groundwork for tomorrow’s deals. This is a time to accelerate activity, not take your foot off the gas. There are deals happening right now, but you will have to turn over more rocks to find them and there are no shortcuts.
I don’t have the perfect phrase that will turn every call into an immediate positive result so, I will share what I know to be true for me. The habits I created and taught doing the business of real estate brokerage have created success for me. While my definition of success may be different than yours, I have no doubt that what you do today will create the future that will be your life tomorrow. Be intentional about your actions and attitude and ensure that the steps you take today are creating the future that you dream of for tomorrow!
Happy Hunting!
Joe
Joe Faris
KJF Partners, Inc.
Cell Phone: 949-275-5038
Email: jfaris@kjfpartners.com
Website: www.kjfpartners.com
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.