Commercial Investment Real Estate Winter 2020 | Page 37

Bo Barron, CCIM, presented his tips for advanced prospecting at the 2019 CCIM Global Conference in San Diego.
competition to stay focused solely on these external
issues. That’s good for you, because people make deci-
sions based on other criteria, as well. That’s your secret
weapon. You will win business if you can show how to
solve internal conflicts.
Let’s look at an example to see how these con-
cepts are put into practice. I worked with a woman
named Jan in my hometown of Owensboro, Ky., a
beautiful little town of 100,000 on the Ohio River.
She had a portfolio of single-family rentals that her
husband had assembled over 30 years until he passed
away. Jan had been managing these properties for sev-
en years when she met me and said she wanted to sell
them. That was her external issue.
My competition, who had helped her and her
husband buy all these properties over the years, said
he could sell them faster and for more money than
I. Maybe that was true — but in talking with Jan, I
uncovered her internal issue. She hated not knowing
her income from month to month, because these were
residential rentals. A hot water heater could go out,
vacancies are always an issue, roofs need fixing, etc.
Because of this instability, Jan felt like she couldn’t
plan for the future as much as she wanted. She had
grandkids and needed to travel to see them. This issue
presented a philosophical question: What good are
money and investments if they don’t allow you to live
the life you want?
I presented options to address all three types
of conflict. She could sell her portfolio, reinvest into
1031s, triple-net leases, etc. These possibilities ditched
the headaches of management, and she’d have a regu-
lar flow of income from month to month. At this point,
Jan wasn’t hung up on the exact price of a house,
because we were addressing her internal problems.
This solution resolved her philosophical conflict. The
underlying message behind the solution was that she
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deserves this process to be easy and understandable;
she deserves to see her grandkids as much as possible.
Win business by solving internal problems. You’ll be
worth more to them than any cost savings from a bro-
ker who focuses solely on price.
GUIDE THE HERO
Returning to our narrative that puts the client as the
hero, where does that leave you? Like I said, every hero
undergoes a transformation, overcoming external, in-
ternal, and philosophical conflict to become the per-
son you see when the final credits roll. Your role is to
be the guide, mentor, sensei, or teacher. Think of “Star
Wars.” Who helps Luke become the greatest Jedi by
the end of the trilogy? Yoda — perhaps the strongest
character in the movies. These people are consistent,
they are knowledgeable, and they facilitate change
rather than undergo it.
To succeed in this role, the guide needs two
things in proper quantities: empathy and authori-
ty. Putting your client in the center of the story, you
need to show an understanding of what they’re going
through — the fears, frustrations, excitement, and oth-
er emotions involved in the selling process.
As for authority, this can be in conflict with
empathy if improperly presented. The most common
mistake is overcooking it — if you spend all your time
telling a client how great you are, guess what? You’re
placing yourself as the hero. You want to check a box;
show you are capable, knowledgeable, experienced,
and trustworthy, but don’t overdo it.
PITCHING YOURSELF
Your client has been cast as the hero and you’re the
wise person to guide them to success, but let’s back up
a moment. How can you pitch this movie to a potential
client? After all, it’s no use to reframe this relationship
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