Business Development: The Hottest CRE Skill for 2010

Published By: Buddy Norman, President of KW Commercial

The commercial real estate market has changed – and is changing. Although many believe the market still hasn’t hit bottom, one thing is certain, commercial real estate brokers need new skills in order to thrive in the face of current market realities. Beyond the tried and true relationship strategy, I believe commercial real estate brokers need to focus primarily on honing their business development skills.


Just because the commercial real estate market is shifting doesn’t mean brokers should shift into panic mode. As Gary has shown us in SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times, there are always opportunities in the midst of challenging environments. So, if you maintain a business development mindset and keep your foot on the accelerator, you are more likely to discover and leverage those opportunities to your advantage.

Before you can hone your business development skills you need to understand what business development is – and what it isn’t. Business development is not merely sales role, it combines sales, marketing, strategic analysis and negotiations to accomplish one goal…building new relationships with potential clients.

With an ever-shifting market, you need to begin to think creatively about the opportunities that lie before you and how you might approach them. Here are a few steps to get you started:

Identify local market opportunities: Stop and ask yourself, “What are the opportunities in my local commercial real estate market?” If your local market is like most, things are pretty quiet right now. Capital is sitting on the sidelines waiting for the right timing to invest. Therefore, investment sales are soft and will remain soft into 2010. Few are placing bets until unemployment stops rising because much of commercial real estate velocity relies on job growth. Many distressed property owners are holding on tight. It is imperative for you to know your market! That’s why you should focus on landlord leasing and management, tenant representation and SBA/user transactions, as well as building relationships with key banks.

Realize new and emerging trends: Foreign investors are entering the U.S. market to play against a weak dollar, and bank foreclosures on commercial properties are setting the stage for fire sales. Real Estate Investment Trusts are going to make their moves at the right time. And with market lease rates so low, tenant representation brokers are staying busy helping negotiate blend and extend deals or upgrades from Class B to Class A properties. Think creatively about the trends you are seeing. Find a new angle and execute your strategy.

Prepare for 2010: For some, the New Year will mean a shift into tenant representation. For others, it may mean working with banks on REOs or commercial property management. For still others, that may mean aggressively marketing to foreign investors or private equity firms with massive hedge funds of cash waiting for the bottom. As you identify new and emerging market opportunities, SHIFT your business practice to prepare for the coming commercial trends.

You might also want to look at ramping up your training and coaching if you haven’t, and join networking groups or form strategic alliances. Whatever it takes, once you’ve identified a valid business opportunity, begin taking steps toward developing that business. Although cost cutting is wise and relationship-building is a must, business development is a key skill that will pay off in the up and down cycles of commercial real estate. And, right now has never been a better time to hone these business development skills.

Another Milestone for Keller Williams Realty

Published By: Keller Williams Realty

Mark Willis, CEO, announced during his state of the company address that Keller Williams is ranked highest by J.D. Powers and Associates for highest overall satisfaction among home buyers for two years in a row! This is proof positive that Keller Williams continues to outperform the industry.


“Keller Williams is rising to No.1! The longer the downturn lasts, the stronger Keller Williams emerges. Year to date, NAR’s membership has dropped by about 10 percent, while Keller Williams agent count has incresed by 2 percent,” said Willis.

Why is it Keller Williams continues to power ahead in gaining its “unfair share of the market?” States Willis, “Unified training, unified leaders, a unified culture, and a unified economic model.”

The Spirit of CHRISTmas

Click picture to read story!

The Seitzler family knows a lot about giving. But now, in their time of need, it’s their turn to receive. John and Kathy Seitzler were on the brink of losing their Terrell home of 17 years when Debbie Brown stepped in. Debbie, an agent with Keller Williams Rockwall who helps families who are facing foreclosure, responded to the Seitzler’s plea for help as Director of the Angel Foundation. “Once I met the Seitzlers, I knew I had to help and do everything in my power to save their home from foreclosure,” Debbie said. “I wanted to be sure the mortgage company could make this home affordable for the Seitzlers so they could stay living in their home.”


The struggles for the Seitzler family began about four years ago when John, who had supported the family of six children with a six-figure income, lost his job as an IT specialist. Although he has searched for work that utilizes his expertise, it’s been very difficult for the 61-year-old to find a suitable job in this job market. To make ends meet, he now works 55 hours a week—40 hours at a local fast food restaurant and 15 hours a week at the local skating rink. “I’m doing everything I can to get the bills paid,” he said. “We’re living day by day,” Kathy said.

The Seitzler family has always given to others. Along with raising their own four children who are still at home, John and Kathy also adopted two special needs children and have round the clock care for them out of their home. They also hold regular prayer and church group meetings at their home for underprivileged and
handicapped children. In fact, the youngest special needs child they adopted-Ashley, who is now 5 years old--came to the Seitzler family from Illinois. As a baby, Ashley was in such bad condition, she couldn’t move, swallow, see or hear. Doctors said she wouldn’t live much longer and Ashley was headed to a nursing home. “That was basically a death sentence,” John said. “Even in our situation, we couldn’t let that happen. We don’t believe any child or baby is a mistake. We decided that regardless of her fate, we would take her into our home and let her know she was loved and important to us.”

The Seitzlers fought to have Ashley come to Texas and then Senator Barack Obama, President George W. Bush and Governor Rick Perry were all involved in getting special permission for Ashley to come to Texas to be with the Seitzler family. She is now doing better than anyone ever expected. “She can see and hear and she touches everyone she meets,” John said. “She has made great progress. Our children have learned to care for her and people that meet them and interact with Ashley are amazed with their love and care for Ashley.”

However, it does take a lot of special equipment to care for the special need children in the household. Therefore, it would be very difficult for the Seitzler family to just move into a smaller house. “We never knew from one month to the next if we’d be able to stay here,” Kathy said. “And we have nowhere to go if we lost our home."

Debbie is assisting the family in every way she can and is in communication with the mortgage company to find a solution for the Seitzler family and for now, they can stay at their home. “The Seitzlers have given so much of their time, money and love to others,” Debbie said, “we feel it is time to help give back to the Seitzler family.”

The house also is in need of many repairs and foundation work. The Seitzler family is thankful to have Debbie working on their behalf. “We’re so thankful,” John said. “We trust Debbie. Our faith has grown so much through all of this and we know God will always provide.” The Seitzler family has six children living at home: Justin, 17, De’Anna, 16, John Wayne, 13, Joseph, 11, Haley, 8, and Ashley, 5.

-From the Kaufman County Enterprise
Story and Photo By Jennifer LaPrade, Managing Editor

Christmas Party

I Admit It-I Have Profit Share Envy

My office in Keller Williams University is right next to Dawn Sroka, our KWU Programs Manager. Which means, on the 21st of each month, I have front-row seating to the envy parade that begins marching past Dawn’s desk. You see, even though Dawn only has two people in the first line of her profit share tree, she has earned an average of $1065.23 per month, over the past three months. The money she earned last month allowed her to plan a last minute trip to North Carolina to meet up with her family, who had decided a surprise birthday party for her little brother was in order. To those people who say profit share isn’t real, I tell them to call Dawn.

What’s amazing is that at Keller Williams Realty, all of our associates have the same opportunity to earn passive income and be treated like stakeholders in their company. There are a lot of myths about how the Keller Williams Profit Share Tree works. But the truth is Keller Williams Realty is a company committed to achieving success—to winning—together. Because of this commitment, our owners have shared over $237.7 million of profit to date — how cool is that? This two-minute video shares how it works…

Any associate can become part of the growth trajectory for any Keller Williams office, and can be rewarded with what we lovingly refer to as “mailbox money.” Here at KWU, we’re committed to helping our associates do just that, which is why we recently developed the Wealth Building Workshop: Profit Share. This new workshop gives each associate an opportunity to strategize their path to sharing in the profits of the company, without any personal risks or investing any capital. Talk to your team leader about attending the next workshop in your office.