Getting Back to Basics- 50 things to Remember
By George Molloy, SIOR
Getting Back to Basics— 50 things to Remember had its roots in 1983 as I embarked on a career as a real estate service provider. My initial list
was handwritten and served to refocus my daily efforts in order to achieve my goals & objectives (I’m ADD).
As a former student athlete at Rutgers University (hold the jokes about our football team), I saw a lot of similarity in the basics of football—
blocking & tackling and its correlation to growing and striving to be the best of the best in the commercial/industrial real estate industry. Those that
block/tackle and execute will win the business, score touchdowns (commissions) and serve their client with the highest degree of professionalism.
As an active and proud member of SIOR since 1994, it is the many friendships and relationships here over the years that always requires me
to Get Back to Basics!
1 Think Big.
2 Protect your downside and the upside will take care of itself.
3 Never look back. Take the risk!
4 Know your market.
5 Don’t shy away from hard work.
6 Do whatever it takes to make the sale.
7 Know leverage and how to use it.
8 Get the word out - example: network and schmooze.
9 Deliver the goods: Joe Willie Namath—Jets vs. Colts ’69 (
guarantee your services via a win!)
10 Learn the effective use of $$$. Contain the costs.
11 Drive a clean car. It is perceived as your office.
12 If there are two ways to drive from A to B, drive the way you do
not usually go and you will see new opportunities.
13 When asked a question that you do not know, the only answer
is “I don’t know, but I will find out.”
14 Accept that some days you will be the pigeon, other days you
will be the statue.
15 Never overestimate your own importance in a deal.
16 Don’t try to always make the impossible deal. There is a correlation between good brokers and easy deals.
17 Making two deals out of one deal is good brokerage.
Jeopardizing the first deal for a second deal is dumb brokerage.
18 Always look and act successful, regardless of circumstances.
19 Never assume the obvious.
20 Every deal has a problem. If you can’t identify it, make up one
you can overcome.
21 Become an expert in some facet of real estate (specialty trade
practice).
22 Knowing your territory is not just knowing the real estate, but
also knowing the people, politics, and problems.
23 You must have a total disregard for money at all times.
24 Deal with people as high up as you can go!
25 ‘Self esteem’…..the higher it is, the better you can deal with
yourself and others.
26 Expect the worst to happen at all times and you will never be
disappointed.
27 Ethics is a necessity but it is only self-definable. SIOR Code of
Ethics establishes the game rules.
28 Practice “listening,” anybody can “hear.”
29 Good deeds do not always go unrewarded.
30 Negotiations often start after the deal has been made.
31 Use a building to canvass for customers. Do not use a customer
to canvass for a building.
32 Learn your own capacities and limits. Different people can
juggle different volumes of deals.
33 Learn to be creative. Real Estate is more than showing space.
34 Do not overlook the obvious. Always offer the building to the guy
next door first.
35 Do not look for shortcuts. Know your properties before you offer
them.
36 Knowing how and why a property is available is as important as
what is.
37 Some of the best deals you make are the ones you do not
close. Relationships bring future rewards.
38 Every piece of correspondence should be written to protect your
interests.
39 You are not in the real estate business for the preservation of
your competition.
40 Understand your competition’s strengths and weakness.
41 Intimidation exists at all times. It can be your best weapon or
your Achilles’ heal.
42 As time passes, making deals is still difficult, but making money
becomes easier.
43 Punctuality is not an asset, it is a necessity!
44 Before a deal can be closed, your customer must become
educated.
45 Luck is present in every deal. Your professionalism influences it
positively or negatively.
46 Never force a deal in a direction that it does not want to go.
47 Closing a real estate transaction is not so much negotiation as it
is problem solving.
48 Good brokers talk to people they want to, bad brokers talk to
people who will talk to them.
49 The winning formula for breakthrough selling: Be disruptive and
intrusive (tastefully, without being obnoxious).
50 “Have you seen my dog?” This requires a personal explanation.
