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January 7, 2009
Volume 10 - Number 1
Streamlining the Business of Commercial Real Estate
In This Issue
We Choose Not to Participate
Sales/Marketing Tip
Hot Deals/Leads
Featured Internet Site
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TOP OF THE WEEK TO YOU!
(by realwired! CEO, Brenda Dohring)BDH Photo
 
Top of the Week to You! is designed to offer the inside scoop and latest of what's important in the world of technology as it relates to the commercial real estate industry.
We Choose Not to Participate
I and a group of my trusted business peers and advisors decided several months ago not to participate in the recession.  It's not that we don't recognize the recession's existence.  It's not that we don't see its relevance.  It's that we choose to run our businesses in the most effective manner possible and "stay the course".   Sure, we definitely made some changes where it seemed important, but we always do that.  We recognize that we never know what is around the corner (think back to 911) and while it's not only nice to relax a bit and, for its overall health, not keep the business engine running at top speed, it's time to tune things up.  Think of it as preparing your car for a long, cross country trip, or your bike for a 100+ mile trek or you for a longer run than usual.
 
It's also time (like it is every year) to put the old year behind us and look forward to 2009.   It will most likely be a difficult year for many in our industry, but I encourage you to look at 2009 as a fresh start after having had an exfoliation.  Exfoliation hurts a bit, but the results are worth it.  If you enjoy reading this column it's because you are a top performer.  You recognize that by constant learning and growing you serve yourself and your company best.  You have an opportunity to be part of the solution and to help those who need you.  One of the best things we can all do this year to improve our industry and the economy is to have success in our business lives.  Our success creates successes for others and putting the best technology in place is one sure way to ensure greater success.  There is no doubt that we can all use Information Technology (IT) better.
 
So make sure your New Year's resolutions include maximizing the right technologies.  Here's my Top Ten List to get you started:
 
If you aren't...
  1. using a CRM, do it.
  2. scanning a lot more documents than last year, start.
  3. using voice recognition, try it.
  4. using remote access to work from the road and at home when possible, get it connected.
  5. using web hosted services for collaboration, document sharing, joint calendars and to-do's, learn about it.
  6. doing what you can to use databases for tracking and searching everything possible, begin.
  7. aggressively looking at re-engineering your business processes, start planning.
  8. tracking and measuring because you need better systems, get them.
  9. using the Internet for a marketing and sales tool, get with it.
  10. willing to upgrade all software that is more than 5 years old, get someone else to throw it out!

Join me and my friends in our pact to not participate in the recession.  Don't swim in the Common Sea of Negativity.  Pick a couple of the Top Ten and you'll end 2009 a lot better off.  You'll help our industry get back on track with faster, more accurate transactions through better systems.  And won't that be something to be proud of?

Wishing you a Happy, Highly Productive and Profitable 2009!
 
Brenda
Sales/Marketing Tip
Brave New Business World
We woke up this morning to a brand new year. It's a year full of possibilities, opportunities and potential.  It's really a great time to be a salesperson.  Auto companies and their workers are begging us for loans so that they can survive. Banks are hoarding their dollars. Big companies are cutting all redundant staff. You and I, as long as we keep selling, not only will continue to have jobs, but can even prosper.

Our only problem is that the old sales stuff no longer works. We have four big, but not insurmountable issues:

1.  Technology fairly recently changed the rules about getting in touch with people.
2.  Science tells us that most of what we think we know about human purchasing decision making is wrong.
3.  Our biggest competitor is us.
4.  There are not enough dollars in the economy for every business to survive.
 
What's a serious salesperson to do?

If the answer to the question "how can I close more deals?" was obvious then sales would be a minimum wage job. Because the answer is not only non-obvious, but counter-intuitive and not easy to implement either, Sales remains the world's highest paid profession.

This isn't to say that the answer is unknown. In fact, thanks to research into brain physiology and behavioral economics, scientists can tell us exactly what triggers buying decisions and why. While this knowledge is readily available, most salespeople and business owners prefer to remain blissfully, and even willfully, ignorant. Embracing reality would mean abandoning cherished (but incorrect) ideas about attitude, motivation, and persuasion.

The market always has the last word. Those who fail to adapt will perish.

Here, by the way, are some of things that science tells us about how people buy. Everything about how you contact prospects, communicate with them has to reflect these realities:

Your products' features and benefits have little or nothing to do with why people actually buy.
People make non-rational purchasing decisions - always!
Price is never the real issue.
Relationship sales is not only dead - it never existed.
Introverts make the best salespeople.
Your prospects' objections are your biggest assets. 

Many salespeople won't enjoy hearing these. They won't agree with me. They'll cling to the belief that they can continue selling the way they did only a couple of years ago. Others will seize the opportunity to upgrade their understanding. They'll realize that embracing the new world early will yield them a competitive advantage. Neither has to accept what I say at face value. Anyone could go to Google Scholar and look this stuff up.

Ignore the truth at your peril.
 
Mark Fitzgerald, Sales Training Institute, Inc., Tampa, Florida provides this column weekly.  Mr. Fitzgerald provides both group and customized sales training for professionals and companies.  For more information, please contact him by telephone at 813-831-5555, via email at mark@saleskills.com or visit www.saleskills.com.
Hot Deals/Leads
Good Times Restaurants, Inc. trades as Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard at 54 locations throughout CO, ID, ND and WY. The restaurants occupy spaces of 2,400 sq.ft. in freestanding locations. Growth opportunities are sought throughout CO, IA, MO, NE and SD during the coming 18 months. Typical leases run 15 years. A vanilla shell and specific improvements are required. Preferred demographics include a population of 10,000 within one mile earning $50,000 as the average household income. Major competitors include Dairy Queen, Sonic Drive-In and Wendy's. A land area of 25,000 sq.ft. to 30,000 sq.ft. is required. The company is franchising.  For more information, contact Boyd Hoback, Good Times Restaurants, Inc., 601 Corporate Circle, Golden, CO 80401-5622.

Brock White Co., LLC trades as Brock White at 22 locations throughout MN, ND, SD, WI and Canada.  The company provides specialty products to concrete and masonry construction markets, including hand tools, specialty chemicals, waterproofing materials, paint, concrete, masonry accessories, caulking, insulation, concrete repair and restoration materials and landscaping accessories.  The company prefers to occupy spaces of 5,000 sq.ft. to 120,000 sq.ft. in freestanding locations.  Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing markets during the coming 18 months.  For more information, contact Rick Garland, Brock White Co., LLC, 2575 Kasota Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108.

Rommel Holdings, Inc. trades as Rommel's Ace Hardware Home Center at 11 locations throughout DE, MD and VA.  The home improvement centers occupy spaces of 9,000 sq.ft. to 12,000 sq.ft. in freestanding locations and strip centers.  Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing markets during the coming 18 months.  Typical leases run 10 years.  A vanilla shell is required.  Preferred cotenants include drug and grocery stores. Preferred demographics include a population of 30,000 within four miles earning $50,000 as the average household income.  Major competitors include Home Depot and Lowe's Home Improvements.  For more information, contact Dick Livingston, Rommel Holdings, Inc., PO Box 310, Fruitland, MD 21826.

Le Creuset of America, Inc. trades as Le Creuset Store and Le Creuset Outlet Store at 48 locations throughout 25 states nationwide.  The houswares stores, offering cooking and kitchen items made of iron, steel, clay and silicone, occupy spaces of 1,500 sq.ft. to 2,500 sq.ft. in freestanding locations, downtown areas and lifestyle, outlet and specialty centers.  Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing market during the coming 18 months. For more information, contact Catherine Miller, Le Creuset of America, Inc., 114 Bob Gifford Boulevard, Early Branch, SC 29916

Bonefish Grill operates 130 locations throughout AL, AR, AZ, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, VA, WA and WI. The seafood restaurants occupy spaces of 4,800 sq.ft. to 5,500 sq.ft. in freestanding locations, malls and entertainment, lifestyle, power, strip and tourist centers. Growth opportunities are sought throughout CT and Westchester County, NY during the coming 18 months, with representation by Aries Deitch & Endelson, Inc. Typical leases run 10 years. A land area of 1.5 acres is required for freestanding locations. For more information, contact Bill Grad, Aries Deitch & Endelson, Inc., 110 South Central Avenue, Hartsdale, NY 10530; Web sites: www.ade-re.com and www.bonefishgrill.com
 
Like these leads?  Want more?  Go to the Dealmakers website for a FREE Trial subscription to The Dealmakers, the nation's weekly news source on retail real estate.
Featured Internet Site of the Week
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Digg is a website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on submitted links and stories. Voting stories up and down is the site's cornerstone function, respectively called digging and burying. Many stories get submitted every day, but only the most Dugg stories appear on the front pagewww.digg.com
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