You are responsible for your own success (or failure). Following the fundamental rules of commercial real estate selling success will lead to sales success faster than anything else. In part 1 of this article, I will reveal the first 13 rules. Here they are:

1. Have a Positive Mental Attitude
   Failing to do so will result in sales failure faster than anything else. Your commitment to a positive mental attitude will put you on the path to unstoppable commercial real estate sales success. This is a fundamental success principal.

2. Believe You Can
   Are you familiar with the well-known saying: You can achieve what your mind can conceive? Your beliefs are the most important sales tool you possess; use them well!

3. Set Goals
   Goals are your roadmap to success.

4. Learn Sales Fundamentals Daily
   Never stop learning how to sell. Learn something new everyday and then execute.

5. Understand your Clients Problems and Be the Solution
   Ask the right questions and be able to offer a solution specific to your clients needs. Top producers do this with excellence.

6. Sell to Help
   Be in business to help your client and the commissions will follow.

7. Establish Long-term Relationships
   Simple, we are in the relationship business. Treat yours like gold. Connect with yours regularly.

8. Believe in Your Service
   Be committed to providing the best service in your niche. If you believe your client will be best served by using you, it becomes the truth.

9. Be Prepared
   The level of your preparation will predict your success. This is not the place to fudge! If you’re well prepared you will win the assignment.

10. Be Sincere
    If you are sincere about helping it will show.

11. Qualify the Buyer/Lessee
    Nothing wastes your time faster than working with unqualified clients. If you aren’t super at qualifying brush up on this skill immediately. This is especially true in commercial real estate today as a result of this “new economy” we find ourselves in.

12. Be on time, always
    There is no excuse for lateness, period. Being late for an appointment shows disrespect; in fact, be 10 minutes early.

13. Look professional
    If you look professional it is a positive reflection on you, your company and your service.

Success is being confident and performing at your best resulting in winning experiences. Failure is simple a lack of good planning and execution.

Look for parts 2 and 3 in the following weeks.

“TIME KILLS ALL DEALS” and “MONEY LIKES SPEED” are two of my favorite sayings. And appropriately so because they tell the truth!

Have you ever lost out on an opportunity with a potential client because your follow up was weak? How about the time you lost a deal because some other broker got to it first? It’s my experience those who don’t sit on opportunities make more money – period!

I know I personally have experienced both things and it’s no fun. And what’s most frustrating is it’s avoidable.

Follow these 12 steps; stay in action and you’ll never lose a deal again:

1. Have a “Positive Mental Attitude” (first coined by W. Clement Stone)
2. Believe you can achieve
3. Create a productive environment for yourself and your business
4. Learn something every day
5. Plan daily
6. Be a resource (If you don’t have the answer, get it)
7. Seize every opportunity
8. Take responsibility
9. TAKE ACTION DAILY; FOLLOW-UP ALWAYS
10. Be willing to make mistakes
11. Take risks
12. Keep focused (keep your eyes on the prize)

To make this 12-step system perfect – take one step each month and make it a habit!

My current motto is: “2009 is business as usual but doing business differently”. What does this mean? Let me explain: 2009 is a year where many are feeling challenged financially. And many of those who are not financially challenged are still having a hard time because they are scared they too may find themselves in this predicament. That being said, we are left with a whole bunch of professionals who are scratching their heads wondering what they should be doing! The time you could spend being productive is being spent wondering (what to do), worrying and being less productive in general!

Therefore this week I decided to take the guesswork out of it and supply you with a few tips. In case you’re wondering, yes you may have seen a few of these before in past newsletters but the truth is, they work! Here goes:

1. Have a Plan

   What do you want? 2 new tenant rep assignments? A fabulous building to sell? How about your dream landlord listing? Are you getting the picture? You have to be clear with what you want and then create a plan for getting it.

   For example if you’re after a new tenant rep assignment make a list of every single possibility within your market, collect contact information for those possibilities and decide how you will introduce yourself to them.

   Will you call, email, snail mail, drop by, ask for an introduction, what? The best plan will include more then one of these ideas – a multi-step plan.

2. Work Your Plan

   OK, you have a plan, congratulations. Now, set time aside in your schedule for taking the actions you decided upon. The plan won’t carry itself out – it needs you.

   Additionally, decide which action steps can be delegated and then delegate them. And don’t forget to do the rest yourself.

3. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

   What does this mean? It means you must make an agreement with yourself that you will do what it takes to accomplish your goals even if it’s hard! And if you can’t get yourself to do it, you will find someone who can.

   Additionally, if you feel like you are intruding on someone to send what you believe is intrusive by email and yet it’s professional, adds value let the recipient tell you not to send anything else. So often it’s us who decides without ever letting the prospect do the deciding!

   In fact, my clients are telling me prospects want to hear from them at the moment – the timing today is perfect to be “prospecting”!

4. Expect Results

   Simply put, have expectations. If you have a list of 100 prospects how many new clients do you intend to land? One, two, five – how about ten!

   Be clear with this step – it makes a difference.

5. Keep Moving Forward

   “Money Likes Speed”. Keep going no matter what – build momentum. Take action continuously no matter what and you can’t help but to achieve your plan.

Start with number 1 above and keep going without looking back. It will make a difference, I promise!

There are 60 Traits that when mastered will allow you to have an incredibly strong Personal/Professional Foundation – I have picked 5 of my favorites to share with you. Possessing these will lead to more profit in less time – simply put.

They are in no particular order:

Strengths – Strengths and gifts are those things you do very well and very right. In business we are often told what we do wrong and less of what is done right. We repeatedly focus on ways to strengthen our weaknesses. Instead, try focusing on what you do well, enjoy, and feel proud.

Identify your strengths in several key areas: Professionally, personally, technically, operationally, relationships, communication, planning, skills, and so on.

Never try to strengthen a weakness, instead learn how to delegate it to someone else. For example, if you are really really bad at keeping your desk clean and organized it might be a good idea to pay someone in a support position in your organization to spend 30 minutes each day when you are finished working straightening up.

If you are bad at details but great at the big picture, find someone who can help out with the details.

Tolerations – Tolerations are those things that you put up with from situations, other people or from yourself. Without realizing it, you allow these tolerations in your life so much that they drain energy and focus away from your ability to reach your desired goals.

Steps to becoming toleration free:

• List your tolerations (from situations, people, self)

• Check the ones you want to change immediately.

• Constantly review the list and add new ones.

• Know and understand that keeping tolerations is not helpful.

• Commit to take action to change.

• Make appropriate shifts and changes.

When you are toleration free, you have more energy left over for deal making. Not having to worry about or deal with the things you are tolerating could save you hours a day! This is time left over for money making action steps.

Have Firm Boundaries in Place – Boundaries are an imaginary line of protection that you draw around you. This is done to protect you and what’s important to you. You cannot grow without boundaries. Boundaries are what others CANNOT do to or around you. Boundaries are about other’s actions. Boundaries are what you establish to STOP others from doing certain things. For example, call you on a Sunday no matter what, despite it being a well-known fact that you always spend time with your family.

When a person has healthy boundaries, fear diminishes significantly and trust is rarely an issue. You begin to be surrounded by “healthier” people who have a greater respect for you.

When your boundaries are weak, you attract needy, disrespectful people into your life. They waste way too much of your energy and time and aren’t even enjoyable to be around.

Healthy people have set boundaries, both to protect them from and to attract them to certain people. They help define who you are and are not. Boundaries help qualify. Establish bigger boundaries than you need.

Positive Attitude – Positive people are successful because they have an optimistic attitude. Being optimistic is a habit that you develop about yourself and life in general. You could have a negative attitude, if you prefer, but you need to consider what the outcome would be of having one. If you presently feel more negative than positive, you can change that habit so that you will be more successful.

Positive people are successful because they have a philosophy that allows them to expect good outcomes to occur. Therefore it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think something good will happen, it probably will because you actually make it happen.

Quality Daily Habits – The idea of establishing good daily habits is not new. Successful people constantly look for ways to raise their standards of behavior. Experts say changing a particular behavior takes a strong intentional effort every day for a minimum of 21 days.

List 10 habits you’d like to develop. They can be a nice new habit to replace a habit you know is not good for you. Perhaps, it could be a habit to help you feel better or be healthier or a habit to help you perform better at work. The options are endless.

Let’s face it, depending on where you live and work, which area you specialize in and what your current thought process is — some of you are having a tough time. On the other hand, some of us are experiencing a surge in our business like we’ve never seen before and have more business than ever. The difference between the two groups is really just a ‘mindset’ issue that I won’t get into today but suffice it to say that one factor (in this case ‘mindset’) is enough to cause the disparity. Remember the old saying, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” By Henry Ford? It’s my experience through observation that he’s 100% correct. So what’s a commercial real estate professional to do? Choose one, two, or all three ways I outline below to beat your competition: Use Social Media – LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter Yes, there is a place for business growth via social media – if you are in the dark with this – it is worth a trip to your library or bookstore as a means to get informed. You can expect a few newsletter articles in the future on these specific mediums. Be Bold, Be Different, Brand Yourself Be clear on what you bring to the table and get the message out there! What is your USP – Unique Selling Proposition? Why is the service you’re offering better? What makes you memorable? Value Proposition – For example: What money will be made or saved by using you and your service? This is a great spot to have testimonials because they often times answer this for you. For example – have you ever completed a transaction in record time? Saved a client time or money? Put some thought in here. Irresistible Offer – First ask yourself what your clients will find irresistible? For example do you have access to a prospect database that others don’t? Is cold calling your gift? What? Let the prospect visualize what working with you will be like and why it’s different then working with Bill Smith down the street. Dare to Stay in Touch With Your Target Market Weekly This does not require an explanation – market weekly to your target market – you will stand out if you market weekly because 99% of your competition won’t! At the very least choose one and when you experience some success with it move on to another. Good luck!

It seems like “multitasking” is the name of the game in the business world, and most people tackle many projects at a time daily, especially in commercial real estate. Even if you are just working on one project, think about all of the other interruptions you handle. With all of the e-mails to answer, voice mails to check, calls to return, text messages to pay attention to, and instant messages to reply to, it’s a wonder how anyone gets any “real” work done!

Learn how to focus and avoid interruptions during the workday. Here are a handful of ways to stay focused in a world of constant interruptions:

Write it down
PLAN DAILY — EVERYTHING!
Make a list, or several lists, to keep you on track. This will keep you focused and give you a sense of accomplishment every time you cross an item off your list.

Create some “unavailable” time
It’s great to be that person co-workers and staff can come to with questions, but it can also keep you from getting your own work done. Give yourself some time to be unavailable. Close the door to your office and put up a “do not disturb” sign. Block out time on your schedule and let others know that you cannot be disturbed. If you work in an open space, go to a conference room where you won’t be so easy to find or rearrange your desk so your back is to your co-workers. Put on a pair of headphones. Even if you don’t listen to any music, wearing headphones can send a message that you are not available to talk.

Finally, learn how to say no. You don’t have to apologize or over-explain. Just let your co-workers and staff know that you do not have the free time right now; they will understand and hopefully even follow your example.

Plan your phone time
Using the phone is necessary for most in commercial real estate, but there are ways to be more efficient with this business tool. First, plan important calls by writing down your key points and questions you need to ask first thing each morning. This will decrease the number of times you have to call people back. If you have caller ID, don’t answer calls from unrecognizable numbers, and use your voice mail to screen your calls. That way you can call back those you need to at a better time.

Limit the number of times you stop to read and respond to e-mail
E-mail is great, but it’s a huge time-waster. If you have one of those annoying little pop-up windows that alert you each time a new e-mail comes in, turn it off! If you’re like me, it’s nearly impossible to resist the urge to peek. When you do check your e-mail, remember that not every email is worth reading or responding to. It’s hard, but try to delete, respond and/or archive each e-mail as you read it to avoid a junky e-mail box and more time spent re-reading later.

Tune out the media
It is more important than ever to stay focused today. And that includes tuning out the media. We get over 5,000 media messages a day – enough to drive any sane person insane!

Do what you need to do and forget about everything else! The media is not healthy for our mindsets these days!

Let’s face it, the commercial real estate market needs to be fixed and moved into the twenty-first century. Is the old way of prospecting a thing of the past?

After all, your prospects and potential clients are being bombarded by well over 5,000 marketing messages a day – they’re everywhere. And what if what I said last week in my newsletter is true – that traditional sales tools are broken and no longer effective tools to build relationships and generate sales? Then how do you compete for your prospects attention?

The key is to adopt a valuable keep-in-touch campaign that provides timely, meaningful and relevant information designed to help your prospect – information they wouldn’t dare tune out. Hmm…we’re on to something here.

Marketing experts are fond of telling us two things: people buy from those they ‘know, like and trust’, plus they need to receive somewhere between 5 and 9 marketing messages from you, in sequence, before they even begin to notice what you are saying. Or even, pay attention. But whom do we market to and how?

There are three basic steps:

1. Focus on developing a targeted list of potential clients you can market to who meet your ideal client profile, instead of assuming that all people involved in commercial real estate are your ideal client.
2. Create a highly targeted email campaign, including a monthly newsletter, specifically designed to convey relevant information that adds value to the email recipient, instead of only sending out generic commercial real estate information that’s available everywhere.
3. Allow clients to tell you when they are ready for your service – instead of asking for the sale again and again.

The results will be nothing less than remarkable – I promise.

What if you graduated college, entered the workforce, and never learned anything new? Would this affect the amount of money you earn? Of course! And yet, most commercial real estate professionals plow through their days, weeks, months and even years without ever accumulating any new knowledge. Can you imagine? We have moved into the twenty-first century time-wise but most of us operate our businesses with the same old tools that were used in the 1800’s to get new clients!

The typical way a commercial real estate professional attacks growing their business and accumulating new clients is to:

1. Cold call everyone – after all, isn’t everyone a potential client?
2. Play the numbers game – 50 calls a day is perfect, the goal? Just get the “meeting”.
3. Use canned scripts for each call – aren’t each prospects needs the same?
4. At the meeting – spend all of the time trying to sell them a service they may or may not be ready for! Is this an effective use of time?

OK, so right about now you are asking yourself “What should this look like”? In the book, “The Contrarian Effect”, by Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall the authors believe there are eight major signs pointing to shifts in the marketplace and the manner in which clients want you to interact with them, they are:

1. Clients find you and initiate the buying process – not the other way around.
2. Clients are in control of how-and-if you reach and communicate with them.
3. Clients have unlimited choices and access to unlimited information.
4. Clients are looking for you in new ways.
5. Clients want a relevant and valuable offer tailored just for them.
6. Clients want to decide when it’s time to buy – not you.
7. Clients demand respect – and carry a big megaphone.
8. Clients don’t trust you until you prove you’re worthy of their trust.

What does this mean? Traditional sales tools are broken and no longer effective tools to build relationships and generate sales. You need to spend some time and determine what’s working for you and what’s not!

Stay tuned next week for Part 2!

Let’s face it – it’s rough out there! Currently, our industry is riddled with commercial real estate professionals who are very unsure of themselves, their business and what the next year or two will bring.

Consumer confidence fell to an all-time low, as worries about jobs, the stock market, home foreclosures and the lack of capital darkened peoples feelings about the country’s economic health and their own financial well being.

There are 4 ways the typical real estate professional will deal with a slow economy or worse yet a recession:

1. They start by cutting expenses, with the marketing budget being the first to go. Yikes!
2. They try to drum up more business from existing clients – not a bad strategy, but pressing too hard can actually lead to ill will and ultimately the loss of the client. Desperate behavior is SO unattractive!
3. As the sales/lease cycle extends beyond what is normal, they start buying into the belief that this is what happens in a down market and believe slow clients are better than no clients, after all their pipeline is still full, isn’t it?
4. Finally, some even develop an attitude of indifference or a bad attitude towards the whole thing. Almost a “why bother” attitude and as such they simply react to incoming business rather than going out and proactively finding new business. This attitude has a crippling result if it becomes contagious.

Having said that — there has never been more opportunity for getting ahead and having your best year ever! You cannot afford to be unprepared in today’s market. You have to be prepared, have a story, and be compelling because you only get one shot. If you blow it, there are 10 more guys (and gals) just like you waiting in line to steal business away from you. You must be a winner – sell your service and a solution. People “buy” solutions to their problems. You must adopt the attitude that you are the solution!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, get your mindset in order. There will be 1-2 Trillion dollars worth of real estate exchanging hands during the next year or two. Stop hiding behind your desk. You MUST get out, SEE THE PEOPLE — SEE THE PROPERTY. Get your fair share of these transactions, beginning today. Don’t fall into one of the above 4 traps!

Let’s face it; commercial real estate professionals need every advantage they can get today! I spend considerable time and effort researching and learning what’s new in the marketplace so I can pass the information along to you. I recently came across a couple of tools that may appeal to you and clearly can help accelerate your business!

1. Take Your Services International

   There’s a new trend in town – having an international presence in your business. Those who have who have international clients make on the average, 50% more in commissions – WOW!

   How can you tap into the international market? Form alliances with other commercial real estate professionals globally, begin to grow your international database and begin marketing to it. Put your listings on international listing services, develop referral relationships with key individuals globally, publish articles overseas that allow you to be seen as an expert, translate key portions of your website into other languages (there are many services that will do this, ie: — http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#), if you speak another language – better yet.

   Begin by becoming familiar with what opportunities may exist – read and research!

   Start slowly as it takes time for those in different cultures to develop trust. Too much too quick may backfire.

   The point is to begin taking steps to become international. I believe that this will become so important that I am re-branding all of my individual companies underneath one umbrella – Cindy Spivack International.

    

2. On-line Video Marketing

   Video will quickly become the preferred medium for communication in commercial real estate. Now is the time to begin familiarizing yourself with this medium as an add-on to your marketing efforts. For those of you who struggle with writing this is a great alternative.

   It’s easy and very inexpensive. Many computers today are equipped with a built-in camera allowing for easy recording; otherwise you can purchase one, such as, the new “Mino Flip” video camera for about $150.00.

   Start out by sending a video email message to your prospects and watch what happens! You can use a subscription service such as www.goldmail.com to help make it even easier. A video message is more personal and allows the prospect to feel more connected with you. Be looking for one from me soon!