The following Q&A was completed as part of our conversational Commercial Real Estate FAQ Interview Series, we hope you find it helpful:
Patience and listening skills go a long way in making your transactions count. Better listeners are less likely to be more transactional, and they’re better at gaining the trust of clients they’re working with in their investments. Technology, teamwork, and knowledge all working together creates a perfect storm that manifests the ideal environment for repeated success over time.
Richard Wilson: Just two more quick questions – what was key in your past in doing $1 billion plus a year in commercial real estate brokerage transactions year after year? What was key in that in case there’s a broker listening or someone who’s just getting into brokerage right now?
Peter Von Der Ahe: I would say in a word it would be just being a good listener. Because it’s in the listening, and implicit if you’re a good listener you’re less transactional. So people can really feel if all you’re trying to do is make money as quickly as you can with someone, but if you play the long game and take a long-term approach it may be a little slower in the beginning, but if you have your value, you know your stuff, that will definitely pay off over the long term, and that builds. As you incorporate technology into your process, and incorporate teamwork, and you’re thoughtful about your teamwork, which all clients expect right now – the technology, the teamwork, the combination and being long-term focused – if you do that well, and then make sure that your specific knowledge that you are being sought after for, if you have that all as a winning combination, and they’re all improving each year, you’ll do very well.
Richard: Great, yeah. Appreciate you bringing that up.
