Life in the Startup Lane: Competing with the Bigs

When I was a kid, my family called me Mr. C. The “C” stood for competitive because I wanted to win at everything I did, no matter the forum.  Whether on a basketball court, touch football on the front lawn, or penny-ante poker, winning was far more fun and fundamentally my most important focus.

So now, as President of Partners Trust, I carry that same burning desire to win that can sometimes warp my perception. We’ve been in business for approximately seven months and I’m already frustrated that we are not on an equal footing with the companies that have been in business for years and years. And although I realize the task is impossible at such a tender point, part of me is crazy enough to think we can do what has taken others years of either organic growth or acquisition of smaller companies to amass their market share.

I analyze my competitors and look to find each and every edge I can conceive to not only level the playing field but to outperform them with every step.

With so many details, ideas and systems that we are implementing all at once, I want it all to come together perfectly, without a flaw.  (Candidly, it can be quite tiring.) I realize constantly, that while most of the day goes well and we are growing in leaps and bounds, there are elements – such as a functionality of our listing syndication (which as I write this, is not delivering as promised) – that hit snags when you least expect it.

These specific sorts of details work my nerves the most because we are relying on certain outside vendors to execute the plans that we promote to our clients. And when even a short-term failure occurs, I look at it as undermining our effectiveness as well as our integrity to uphold all the services we say we deliver to our clients.  Services, that when working, set us apart with advantages that our competitors do not offer.

I realize that the only way we can compete effectively is to use our nimble position and our flexibility to offer a package of services and follow-up that larger companies are simply to big to coordinate. And where a competitor can boast 2,550 agents up and down the California Coast, we must better define that with each of our 23 associates, we are better positioned to attend to the specific needs of each individual we have the opportunity to serve.

As I continue forward with this company, I realize that I must look to gain some altitude or be crushed under the self-imposed weight of my urgency to be the best option for both agents in the business and our clients. And in those rare and quiet moments of reflection, I know that we are poised for excellence based on our philosophical commitment to raise the awareness and professionalism of our business. As if just beating the big boys wasn’t enough, we’re charged to do it from a higher consciousness.

But that’s another segment in the series to come. We invite you to follow the course we are charting and would appreciate your feedback as we evolve.

“Life in the Startup Lane” is a series of posts chronicling our progression as a company. Please click here for additional segments.

Partners Trust: The Trust Agreement

Here at Partners Trust we value responsibility and commitment to platinum-level service.

Each and every one of our Associates holds themselves up to the highest standards, and agrees to provide the best results possible.

The Trust Agreement that we have composed reinforces these values. In signing this agreement, the Associate declares their commitment for the highest quality care they can give for their client:

“Each member of Partners Trust is considered part of a team that understands Trust is hard earned and easily lost. We recognize that earning the trust of our clients comes from honoring each and every commitment we make on our client’s behalf. We acknowledge and accept this responsibility, confident that the culmination of these efforts will produce excellent results for our clients.”

If you’re curious about our Trust Agreement, I encourage you to stop by our office and have a look around. We’ll be happy to introduce you to the team and show you how we do things here at Partners Trust.

Los Angeles February Market Update

Negotiations: Questions are Key to Positive Outcome

Recently, I posted a parable about a thirsty man crawling through the desert who has an opportunity to negotiate for water.  The story is meant to facilitate awareness about how certain personality styles can impact negotiation, and to inspire discussion about the distinct benefits of better defining your own negotiation style (as well as how better to transact with others’ different styles of negotiating).

The story of the man lost in the desert is meant to illuminate the importance of being willing to look candidly at our own strengths and weaknesses as a means toward improving our negotiating expertise.

There are two more concepts that I believe are essential to an effective negotiation:  objectivity and neutrality.

In this context, the benefits of objectivity are, to not become overly influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.

Similarly, neutrality is beneficial when it helps us to be impartial and unbiased when the moment calls for it. Neutrality can help us when we need to understand where the other person might “be coming from.”

Finally, a good negotiator asks questions. The more meaningful and poignant the questions the more effective they are (the idea here is not to sound like the movie-caricature of a salesman on the used-car lot). When in doubt, ask a question — just make sure that it comes from some genuine part of yourself so as not to seem calculating.

Consider that if you get to the true or underlying motivation of the reasons someone is pursuing anything, you are that much more able to speak to their nerve center.

Asking dynamic questions make it easier to course-correct; it gives you the ability to gather yourself while they respond in the event that you have been thrown off your stride.

Your objective in asking questions is to get to the “heart” or “core” of any answer. The better you become and getting the “real” answer from the person you are questioning, the easier you will be directed to deliver what they need.

In the next post on negotiation, I will share in detail how managing expectations — with realistic objectives — makes achieving a positive outcome all the more attainable. In the meantime, below is a short video in which I further illustrate the key importance of questions:

This is another entry in my series of discussions on the Art of Negotiation. To read more, click here and here.

Thirsty in the Desert: The Art of Negotiation

What makes a negotiator effective?

Imagine you are in the desert. You have no water. No food. The shirt on your back, ripped and tattered, a pair of torn khakis and a pair of worn leather sandals account for all your possessions in your current universe.

Prepared for the inevitable with the sun beating down upon you for now the third day with nothing but sand and blue sky all around you. Off in the distance…could it be? Someone or something seems to be coming toward you. Clearing the dust away from your eyes with your weathered hands, indeed it is not a mirage but a man walking his camel, heading your way. Laden with what seems to be supplies draped across the camel’s back, this man looks very well equipped for the landscape and the associated conditions. His cotton headdress and loose, flowing white clothing protect him from the heat and you can see that he seems to be drinking something from a leather pouch.

Within moments, your paths will cross. Your spirits brighten at the prospect that this man could save your life. Gauging that your savior is within earshot, you strain your parched throat to emit one vital word: “Water.”

The man continues his approach towards you in a dust cloud created by the trudging hooves of his four-legged transport and then stops.

“Water, you say?” His voice clear and strong, with a hint of an English accent.

“Oh, yes. Very thirsty.”

“Hmmm. Certainly a silly place to be without it.”

“Agreed. Can you help me?”

“Perhaps.”

The stranger pauses for a moment and, with a wry smile, continues.

“What do you have to offer me in return?”

Certainly an interesting predicament, and not unlike how buyers and sellers sometimes communicate in a home-for-sale transaction.

It’s important that Realtors have the ability to think on their feet and with confidence, in order to achieve the success that their clients desire. Recently, at our company, we began a 5-week intensive — an advanced-training series called The Partners Trust Negotiation Institute, designed to further enhance the already excellent negotiation skills of our Associates. The intensive includes “break out” sessions into smaller groups, with one additional evening each week during the series.

Associates are encouraged and challenged to expand beyond their comfort zones. There are books involved, role-playing scenarios, high-level strategies, and there is even a final exam!

We ask questions, such as “What would you do and how would you respond if faced with this situation?” and “How creative, in the absence of tangible resources, can you be to achieve your objective?” We face fears, we bond, and we challenge each other to bring out the very best within.

Let’s face it, the vast majority of brokerages are still operating like it’s ten years ago. At the fast pace that the world and its markets are changing, ten years may as well be a hundred years. In my opinion, our Negotiation Institute is exactly the type of training and service that today’s real estate brokerage must provide in order to be stellar in today’s environment.

This is another entry in my series of discussions on the Art of Negotiation. To read more, click here and here.

Do I Choose a Brokerage, or Choose an Agent?

The real estate business is competitive. Brokerage houses, big and small, compete for market share; in the trenches, agents jockey for first position, focused on securing their next listing or buyer. It seems like everyone is promoting their advantages with drum-banging campaigns in order to capture the public’s attention:   “We cover the globe…” or, “With 68% of the market, how could you consider anything less?”   …but hold on just one escrow minute!

Beyond the hyperbole and manipulated confidence, every real estate transaction involving the general public and their real estate agent comes down to one defining factor: what experience did the client have while achieving their objective of buying or selling a home?

Sure, the magnitude of advertising campaigns from established companies over long periods of time brings a degree of comfort — particularly for those looking to get in the game for the first time. Human nature dictates that “tried and true” can look appealing to a new buyer or seller entering the markets. After all, “limiting risk” is often a sound business practice, and to an untrained eye it seems even more sensible. Everyone wants a good night’s sleep, right?

But these kind of assumptions  are disadvantageous, even dangerous, in this new era of transparency, access, and cooperation.  Consider the following:

1.     85% of all real estate transactions take place between cooperating agents within brokerage companies.*

This means that every brokerage must share the vast majority of properties available for sale in order to keep the lights on. Conclusion: when buying or selling a home, individual agents in the field work together to make deals well beyond the company where they hang their license.

2.    The agent defines the experience.

What do you care about the name of the Broker when it is the agent that will be offering you the counsel, strategy and negotiation-implementation throughout the process of your transaction? The agent, far and away, defines the experience, either pleasurable or distasteful, based on their abilities. The brokerage name on the sign in the front yard does little to define the experience (no matter what anyone tells you).

Big brokerages don’t want you to really know this information, by the way. Because they spend inordinate amounts of money promoting their brand, while also supporting a work force in which easily 50% will close less than 2 deals in any given year. Behemoth brokerages must “play to their strengths” of numbers and market share.

I know the initial counter-claim will speak of global outreach and sheer mass to dazzle you back into their fold, and that’s fine, except the problem with that offering is that the internet has leveled that playing field. Now market share will be defined online, through Search Engine Optimization and Google Ranking.

My point in this message is simple: If you are a perspective purchaser or seller of a home, focus more on the individual that will be with you every step of the way and less on the company that they are affiliated with.

*provided by the Multiple Listing Service

New Technology: Doing Right by Sellers

Here’s the thing: we are in the business of promoting and selling homes.

Here’s the other thing: social media makes promoting sellers’ homes easier and more effective than ever.

The days of print advertising are fading, and quickly. Remember the real estate profession before mobile phones? Remember before computers, when all homes were listed on index cards or stuffed into huge binders? The days of dinosaurs, my friend. And I’ve got news for you. Another cultural shift is occurring now. In fact, we’re smack dab in the middle of a paradigm shift — how information is processed and shared.

Don’t be scared. It’s fun! It works!  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Flip cams, smartphones, blog posts, online forums — you name it.  It’s all about where the eyeballs are. In order to showcase a seller’s home, it needs to be seen. Social Media accomplishes this beautifully, placing the best homes in front of the eyeballs that matter most: qualified buyers.

Question: Where are today’s qualified buyers?

Answer: Online.

Question: Where are today’s most beautiful homes being showcased perfectly?

Answer: Online.

The challenge? It’s new. And “new” can seem trendy or even threatening. Real estate professionals who assist Westside buyers and sellers know that they are in a higher-end marketplace and realize (hopefully) the importance of elegance and discretion. This is how it should be. But discretion should enhance a Realtor’s skill set, not interfere with effectively promoting the client’s property.

What all of this means is that, in order to be truly helpful to our clients, we must stay abreast of the newest and best technological tools. That’s easier said then done. Realtors can be like everyone else: fearful of change. But change we must, if we are to continue to provide platinum-level service to LA’s homebuyers and homesellers.

After we educate ourselves about the newest technologies and feel comfortable using them, we are called upon to educate our sellers. They need to know how social media is in their best interest and why. The best Realtors are more than just expert negotiators — they are great educators.

In this short video, I explain more about this new development in how the best agents are advising buyers and sellers of residential real estate. If you happen to be a Realtor, please watch it. If you happen to be a seller, definitely watch it!

Brentwood January Market Update

To Build or Not to Build?

Who among us has not fantasized of building our dream home from scratch?  At one time or another, many of us find ourselves strolling that perfect piece of land — an empty lot just crying out for a gorgeous home to be built upon it.

For others of us, we already like the lot that our current home is on, but the house itself is no longer meeting our needs (for example, when the kids were growing, the large flat lawn and open floor plan were ideal; but now that the last child is in college, you find that you need a formal dining room for entertaining, a home gym, and an artist’s studio for the beloved spouse).

When is building a good idea, and when isn’t it?

Ideally, any additional thoughts of new construction should be pursued only after you have a firm idea of potential costs.

Starting from Scratch

If you’re thinking about building something brand new from the ground up, then a good early step can be to ask among your friends and associates for the name of a great contractor, preferably someone with experience working in the specific area that you have your eye on.

Meet several contractors, see their work, get a sense of cost per square foot and what has been their recent experience.  Ask them what projects have actually cost in this climate (we’re fortunate at our company to have several talented associates who specialize in new construction). Depending on conditions — for example: changing codes, or the condition of the dirt and how it impacts footings and foundations — construction cost can vary greatly.

Opting for Improvements

Instead of a complete new-build, you may find that you want to modify and improve the home that you already have.  Or, you may be relocating to a new home and want to modify it so that it better suits your needs before you move the furniture in (this can sometimes be the wiser course of action — potentially saving you much angst and dollars).

In terms of budgeting, sometimes the “fluffs” such as new paint and carpeting can be the easiest factors to gauge.  However, as soon as you start moving walls, the adventure begins. So do your homework first. Get your team in place and then have them go in with you when you look at a home to assess what it could cost to fix-up.

As the housing market starts to get its legs, we’ll see a return of eager investors looking to make money in real estate. “Rookie” mistakes in construction have crushed many. Take your time, assess, reassess, watch what others are doing, visit recent remodels and see the finishes.  See and learn how others have created quality product with simple cost materials.

I’d love it if you would share in the comments section below, what you learned in your last remodeling or new-build project, that you wish someone had shared with you beforehand!

Hang on to Your Hats: Business is Changing

Living smack-dab inside the middle of a cultural shift, as it’s actually occurring, makes for many exciting moments for those of us who own and run businesses.

Take, for example, this last week. Two very significant business events occurred:

1) The Silicon Valley Insider released new information that reveals adults are spending 29% of their time on the web, but advertisers are only putting 8% of their ad spend on the web. (Meanwhile, newspapers only get 8% of our attention but 20% of the ad dollars.)  Eventually, America’s businesses are going to catch on to this, and divert funds accordingly. Oh wait, they already are. Which brings me to #2:

2) Pepsi has left the Super Bowl. This week, media outlets across the globe shook with the news that Pepsi, a long-time sponsor of the television’s most-watched event of the year, the Super Bowl, removed itself from the commercial line-up. We’re talking 23 years of sponsoring this championship football game. 23 years! And each 30-second spot of airtime is millions of dollars in revenue.

In the case of Pepsi, they are putting those millions that would have been spent on TV, into, you guessed it, a new online social media campaign.

What I love most about this change is that Pepsi is entering into the “transparency” world which exposes them to the vulnerabilities associated with Social Media. By opening the door to engage in conversation with their clients as opposed to simply talking at them through the television, Pepsi is demonstrating that they are willing to better listen to what their consumers like and want. I can only see this enhancing their ability to deliver, while saving tremendous amounts of money on the suits that try and figure out what their consumers want. Now Pepsi will be going straight to the horse’s mouth as it were. Who knows…maybe even the President of Pepsi will tweet with you.

Funny thing about change. Being both a constant and yet a source of great resistance for many people, it is, ultimately, something that when accepted creates both expansion and opportunity.

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