The difference between a sales person and an advisor.
I toured a property today with a client and the seller’s representative was a newly hired sales person from a large national firm. I could tell by how clean shaven he was with the starched white shirt and the sales approach he was using. He pointed out all of the strengths of the property and was hitting on all of the sales points. The problem is he wasn’t listening or asking questions.
I see this all the time as firms with salespeople who are stack rankings driven are there for one purpose to move property for their clients regardless of the true suitability. Deeper probing of his knowledge revealed that he knew little about the true utility of the property from the client’s point of view. As an advisor, my view is helping our client’s to succeed involves being a resource to our clients to help them make the best business decision. I found out the crime statistics were high for this location and advised my client we should focus on a different city. Being freed from the pressures of stack rankings our interests are aligned with our clients as a true trusted advisor…
Information is power and better information equals more power to our clients.
Owners of firms in the middle market are juggling many demands and only need advisors who can bring and deliver value in a timely, concise manner. They need to deal with people who understand the pressures they are under. They need to deal with business owners…not sales people. Interests are aligned, values are aligned and probability of success is therefore more assured.
Arnold Ng, CCIM
Apex Commercial Real Estate
Principal/Broker
