Huge Announcement Plus a Free Video Training Series…Just for You!

Announcing the Creation of Massimo University with a Free Video Series on Creating Digital Presence

I met Rod Santomassimo in San Antonio. I was with my parents who had traveled with me to see me get my CCIM pin. It was a proud and blessed moment for all of us.

At the same time, Sperry Van Ness had been recruiting our company. We were invited to a presentation where Rod, and executive with SVN at the time, was giving us a presentation along with Kevin Maggiacomo and Jerry Anderson.

I got up to leave during Rod’s presentation. Turns out that is not the best idea. Rod called me out letting me know he wasn’t finished. I shared with him that I had to go sit for my comprehensive exam, and I would rejoin the meeting when I was finished.
Massimo U Banner

If you are ever in a room listening to Rod present, don’t walk out. You may get more attention than you planned.

Since that time, Rod and I have become great friends. I worked with him at SVN. I hired him as my coach when he started the Massimo Group. He asked me to come on as a coach for MG when he began to aggressively grow his company. He has taught me many things.

So I am so excited that Rod and I have formed a new company – Massimo University. Among other things, MassimoU will be creating and producing online courses – for CRE professionals and anyone with a sales or entrepreneurial bent.

And as a special gift to launch our new venture, we have created a free video training series on creating dominating digital presence. It is only open for a short time – the next 13 days to be exact. And I don’t want you to miss out!

So head to this link. I’m so very excited about the great strategies and tools we are sharing through this free series.

Landing Page Screen Shot

And never in a million years did I expect to say this, but I am now the dean of a university – ha!

Don’t forget to get your free video training series. All you have to do is click the button below.

Get Instant Access

 

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

“[Interview] How to Move the Needle in Your CRE Business”
by Justin Lamontagne with Bo Barron

Sorry, listening to the audio on this website requires Flash support in your browser. You can try playing the MP3 file directly by clicking here.

I don’t remember when I started listening to podcasts, but they have had a huge impact on my life and my business.

I listen to them when I’m working out. I listen to them when I am traveling. In my constant desire to learn better ways to do anything, podcasts feed my mind.

CRE Elite Podcast Interview

More than that, experts in every field are podcasting now. That means you can learn just about anything, from the best, for free! If you are a business owner, entrepreneur, or in sales of any kind, I believe you should be spending more time listening to podcasts than music or anything else.

And with iTunes and smartphones, it has never been easier to consume great information from experts.

Recently, I was on a call with John Lee Dumas, the super successful creator of Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast. He was sharing with me that his brother-in-law is a CRE broker who has a podcast called CRE Elite – Broker to Brokers.

The premise of the show is Justin Lamontagne interviews top-producing CRE brokers from every state. In those interviews, he pulls best-practices, tips, and tools from these brokers. And shares them with you. For free.

This is the only podcast of its kind for CRE that I’m aware or, and a must listen. You can find out more at his website or on iTunes.

I reached out to Justin as he had not covered a CRE professional from Kentucky, share my story with him, and offered to by his Kentucky interview. He graciously took me up on the offer, and you can listen to our interview above.

Then I started going through his previous guests, and it was filled with some of my favorite people in commercial real estate. Here are some episodes I recommend:

  • Indiana – Steve Martin – A family affair
  • California – Brad Umansky – Writing the “book” on CRE
  • Texas – Coy Davidson – Social media and CRE
  • Featured Episode with Rod Santomassimo – A talk with a CRE coach, author, and broker
  • Georgia – Michael Bull, CRE broker and host of the CRE show

I highly recommend this podcast to you – these are some of the best of the best sharing their best-practices with you.

Here are Justin’s notes on our interview:

In this week’s episode of Commercial Real Estate Elite: Broker to Brokers I visit the great state of Kentucky and talk to a fascinating CRE expert in Bo Barron. Bo’s got a pretty cool story. He served five years in the Marine Corps and then rolled into the business as a 3rd generation commercial broker in his market. He spent over 10 years in the field as a broker, owner, and corporate executive with Sperry Van Ness. He then transitioned into commercial brokerage coaching through The Massimo Group who’s founder, Rod Santomassimo, I had the pleasure of interviewing in CRE Elite Episode 22.

The passion Bo has for coaching comes through loud and clear in this talk.  And I appreciated his comment about how too many brokers approach this business like a hobby. This work deserves to be treated like what it is, a business. Your own business. We then spent a bit of time talking about Bo’s experience working with his father and how, as a new broker, what it was like to be “afraid of the phone” and the lessons he learned in humility and truly earning the title of an expert.

Bo mentioned “moving the needle” a couple times in this talk. And that’s what he’s all about, focusing on best practices and figuring out ways to impact the market and do your job the right way.  Maybe I’ve said this before because I just get so excited about each of this interviews, but this is such a valuable talk. And towards the end of the interview Bo dropped one of my absolutely favorite lines since starting this show. He said, “Emotions dropped out of school in 3rd grade and they’re stupid”. Listen to it in the context of our talk and you see how wise that comment is and how you can apply it to your own practice.

Anyways, I’m obviously a fan so I hope you enjoy this talk as much as I did.

Let me know what you think! You can leave a comment by clicking here.

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

Nailing Your Value Proposition – Day 9 of 30 D2aBB

Why You? Why Your Company? And Why Now?

There is so much written about crafting a value proposition – or an elevator speech. I’ve written about it in the past as well. You can read that post here for information on how to craft it.

What I want to share with you in this post is how dynamic a value proposition can be – and the different version you need at the ready.

Nail Your Value Proposition

A value proposition communicates three things: why you, why your company, and why now. It does so in terms of the benefits for the prospect.

But it can’t be rote memorized. Your value proposition needs to be dynamic. When you explain why you, you need to do it in a way that speaks to your audience. In other words, if I’m speaking to an institutional investor, I may communicate how I produce returns for my clients. If I’m talking to a widow, I may communicate how I take the headaches out of a real estate transaction and simplify the lives of my clients.

You don’t commit intellectual suicide when you are prospecting. You have to think and anticipate. And then act accordingly.

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

Choose a CRM – Day 5 of 30 D2aBB

This is My Rifle...There are Many Like it, but this One is Mine!

One of any Marine’s favorite movies is Full Metal Jacket. If you haven’t seen it, know that it is very R rated. It is also a very accurate picture of what Marine Boot Camp was like.

In one scene, the recruits are reciting the Rifleman’s Creed. I, along with all my fellow recruits, had to memorize and recite this creed when I was in boot camp as well. It is one of the ways the Marine Corps indoctrinates its recruits. You can read it by clicking here.

Day 5 of 30 D2aBB

I’ve taken the liberty of writing the Prospector’s Creed. Instead of a rifle, we have our CRM…

The Prospector’s Creed

This is my CRM. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My CRM is my best friend. It is my business. I must master it as I must master my life.

My CRM, without me, is useless. Without my CRM, I am useless. I must use my CRM true. I must dial more than my competition who is trying to beat me. I must out dial him before he out dials me. I will…

My CRM and I know that what counts in business is not the calls we make, the noise of our presentations, nor the smoke that we blow. We know that it is the meetings that count. We will have meetings…

My CRM is dynamic and changing, even as I, because it is the foundation of my business. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its features, its functions, and its benefits. I will keep my CRM updated and ready, even as I am poised and ready. We will become part of each other. We will…

Before God, I swear this creed. My CRM and I are the prospectors of my business. We are the masters of our competition. We are the benefactors of my life.

So be it, until the business is mine, and there is no competition, but complacency!

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

Build Your Database – Day 4 of 30 D2aBB

Know Your Prospects and How to Pursue Them

Lists. Anyone who sells anything needs a list. A list of prospects. A list of influencers. A list of connectors. Your database is where those lists live.

Build Yoru

I have a coaching client who has a complete database mess. He literally has 3 different databases that live in different places. One list lives in this CRM. One list lives in that CRM. His other list is an excel spreadsheet.

But at least he has a list.

My first years in commercial real estate were full of fits and starts. I didn’t prospect. I simply relied on our company’s presence in the market. Business would just walk in the door or call. Or it wouldn’t. Even if I wanted to prospect, I didn’t have a database.

Again in 2010, I restructured my prospecting focus. I didn’t have a list. So I built one (actually, my assistant did most of the work. I hope you all have a Teresa.)

Regardless of where you are in your career, you need a database full of all the people, prospects, and/or properties in your farm area. It is crucial that you can go pursue the business you want. To do that, you need to know who they are and how to contact them.

My most popular post ever is on the 3 ways to build a database. You can read it here. As a recap, here are the three ways to build your database:

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

Systemizing Your Business – Day 2 of 30 D2aBB

Stop Throwing Stuff Against The Wall And Hoping Something Sticks

I spent 5+ years in the Marine Corps. It changed me, and there was a ripple effect.

When I was in college, and my wife can testify, I was a slob. My room was more than messy. My bathroom was frightening. Before that, my mom made me do my own laundry because I would not pick up my room. When she saw that I was ok with that deal, she made me keep the door to my room shut so my younger siblings would not see my bad example.

Day 2 of 30 D2aBB

Then I enlisted. The Marines are fanatical about cleanliness – from the head (bathroom), to personal hygiene, to our uniforms. Everything should be perfect all the time. I was married after 1 year in the Corps. For the sake of my marriage, I had to get over my heartburn because my wife did fold my undershirts 6″ x 6″.

In fact, I took my 3 kids to see the Marine recruiter earlier tonight after we ate dinner. I was actually embarrassed walking in there because I did not shave today. Sheesh.

The Marines are also fanatical about systems. Everything they do is thought out and time tested. There is no reinventing the wheel. The reason we are so passionate about systems is they produce a predictable and desired outcome.

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

[Free Webinar] How to Simplify and Expand Your Business with ClientLook

I’ve written about this before, but I get asked about my recommendation on CRMs more than anything.

And rightfully so. A great Customer Relationship Management application is a crucial part of the technology backbone of any business – especially commercial real estate.

I’m really excited to announce my first webinar with ClientLook this Wednesday, August 19 at 3pm Eastern.

Claim My Seat for the Webinar!

You want to be on this webinar if:

  • You are frustrated with complex CRMs that suck your time instead of save your time.
  • You want all your data with you at all times so you can maximize your productivity on the move.
  • Or in other words…never feel chained to your desk again!
  • You waste too much time with data entry – ClientLook has a brilliant solution for this.
  • You spend too much time reporting deal activity to your clients and owners.
  • You want a CRM that will not only help you find and track, but will actually help you win business.
  • …and so much more!

John Dawson, VP of Sales for ClientLook, is going to join me on the webinar to give a product demonstration. If you have ever wondered what ClientLook looks like behind the curtain, or what it can do, this is your opportunity.

I’ve also negotiated a special deal with ClientLook that you can only take advantage of on the webinar.

So I hope you’ll join me on Wednesday at 3pm Eastern. You will be glad you did as ClientLook is everything you need in a CRM, and nothing you don’t.

Claim My Seat for the Webinar!

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

The 6 Mindsets Holding You Back

And the Truths that Will Set You Free

I have poison ivy. Both arms. My stomach. And my ear. I kid you not. I have poison ivy on my ear lobe.

The reason? I love my wife.

look upinto the stars.

Earlier this week, she asked me if I would help her trim the landscaping in our back yard. Evidently – there is poison ivy back there.

When I do yard work, I binge-listen to podcasts. This week, I was listening to Michael Hyatt’s podcast – What if the Barrier’s Were Only in Your Head? It got me thinking about the things we believe in our minds.

Some of those beliefs are rooted in truth. Some are not. What we believe is true about ourselves has a tremendous impact on our performance. Our mindsets are rooted in truth, or they are rooted in a lie.

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

[Free Webinar] How Your Marketing Can Win You Listings

Commercial real estate is changing. The internet has helped in leveling the playing field. Best practices are now easily shared – within companies and without. It is now harder than ever to differentiate yourself from your competition.

This month’s webinar with my friend Kris Krisco of Buildout.com is all about how your marketing should actually win you listings. You can register for the webinar – at 3pm Eastern on August 5th – by clicking here.
by ShadeON via iStock.com

by ShadeON via iStock.com

The marketing of your listings is for the purpose of finding the most potential buyers. The more buyers equates to more offers. More offers, if the listing is priced right, can generate a quasi-auction environment. So not only do you find a buyer, but the best buyer – and, get the most out of that buyer.

But you can also use your marketing to win listings.

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.

5 Reasons Why There Is No Magic Prospecting Script

I’ve recently had a number of my New to the Business (N2B) coaching clients ask me for prospecting scripts. They are new clients, and they are new to commercial real estate (CRE). Had they been with me for a while, they would have known not to ask. I want to share with you why in this post.

But first, a story…

Image of young upset female in quarrel with her husband

Image from shironosov via iStockPhoto.com

I’m in my 18th year of marriage. I love my wife more today than I ever have. She is incredible, and I count myself one of the most blessed men on the planet.

But…we still deal with conflict. She is not married to a perfect man. And despite her awesomeness, she isn’t perfect either.

Recently, we were dealing with some conflict in our marriage that had gone on for a number of days. My wife was frustrated with me. I was frustrated with the situation. Life in the Barron household was not smooth or enjoyable…at all.

There was an issue loading your timed LeadBox™. Please check plugin settings.