For those of you have that been reading my articles over the years, you know I like to use baseball as an analogy to address some of our career’s biggest challenges in sales.
One of my favorite quotes is from Ernie Banks, nicknamed "Mr. Cub" ...
Supervisor’s New Ballot Measure Misguides Voters and Actually Hurts Improvement of Retail Vacancies
Supervisor Peskin has introduced a proposed ballot measure that will be included in the November 2020 election. The new measure will penalize ...
The number of restaurants and bars closing around Oracle Park is not a surprise. With the San Francisco Giants struggling to attract fans after three [...]
7 Questions to Determine If You Are Ready For Retirement
If you are nearing the end of your career, you have probably already heard people ask you, [...]
San Francisco’s competitive office market has produced real challenges for traditional businesses competing for space against tech companies. Firms [...]
Earlier this year, the city opened a navigation center on 5thand Bryant street. The center is located next to the freeway onramp and is surrounded by [...]
Your personal foundation is built by a combination of your DNA, your environment and your personal efforts. Your natural habits show through at a very [...]
Taking a trip down the memory lane of your life, you ponder about the unique characters you have met and have stuck in your mind. To me, that person is [...]
San Francisco just passed a $12.3 Billion-dollar budget, the largest budget to ever pass in the history of San Francisco, and proportionately per San [...]
I asked a friend of mine who has been in the commercial real estate business for over 38 years how many great brokers has he seen in his days. My friend [...]
I recently came back from Washington D.C.. It had been over ten years since I was last there and my first impression was, “Wow! This city is SO clean!” [...]
In the first round of this year's playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers, the Clippers were down 31 points late in the [...]
There are been all kinds of discussion about the current state of retail in our neighborhoods. Today in NC zoning (Neighborhood Commercial), there are [...]
This article originally appeared in San Francisco Business Times on April 11, 2019.
As you walk the streets of San Francisco, especially in the downtown [...]
A friend of mine told me the story of a former member of the San Francisco Giants. This player was very close to making the big-league roster. He was [...]
Selling a Highly Appreciated Multifamily Building Could Trigger a Substantial Capital Gains Tax.
As we look at the last 10 years leading up to the [...]
During this time of the year, successful salespeople have already created a business plan that includes a series of pillars that will generate revenue [...]
After being in the commercial real estate business in San Francisco for over 34 years, I feel confident to say that in entering another new year, I have [...]
The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce recently announced that their current President and CEO Tallia Hart will be leaving along with the Vice President [...]
TCN Worldwide is one of the largest networks of independently owned commercial estate firms in the world. On a recent national call with TCN, the question [...]
On June 6, 1978, nearly two-thirds of California’s voters passed Proposition 13, reducing property tax rates on homes, businesses and farms by about [...]
By nature, most salespeople are not organized. They are multi-taskers who start activities and take on new projects as they come. However, the best salespeople [...]
Before any game, professional athletes watch videos of their opponents, discuss strategy with their coaches, perform warm up exercises, and then play [...]
When your business is a startup and you don’t know just how quickly your business will grow, the decision to lease a coworking space over a direct [...]
As a critic of the direction that our city has taken in solving homelessness and how we take care of cleaning our streets, I have to commend our new Mayor, [...]
In 1984 when I got into the commercial real estate business, San Francisco had a vibrant garment production business, commonly known as “sweatshops.” [...]
There are very few salespeople that will tell you that they actually enjoy making cold calls and finding new client prospects. Most prefer to work on [...]
As of this week, there have been 344 murders in Chicago in 2018. Efforts put forth by city officials have failed to stem the tide of not only murders [...]
Many years ago, I began purchasing single family homes for investment in Arizona. I had found a terrific residential real estate agent whom I trusted [...]
If President Trump follows through with his plan to institute tariffs in order to force more fair trade, then commercial real estate across the country [...]
If you are a golfer, you understand that golf is 90 percent mental and 10 percent skill. My theory is that the power of your mind is what controls your [...]
Every new salesperson initially struggles to build their book of business. If they can create a solid base of clients, then they can begin to count on [...]
When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September of last year, many here in San Francisco watched as the tragedy unfolded across newspapers and screens. [...]
It used to be that most employees would simply punch a card when they got to work and punched a card when they left work. There were set days off for [...]
Today, the costs to build any residential or commercial properties are through the roof. When you set yourself a budget, my recommendation is to double [...]
In most sales roles, your company assigns you a quota that you need to meet. However, in real estate, where agents can be independent contractors, sales [...]
Having been in the commercial real estate business since 1984, I have experienced three boom and bust cycles throughout my career. The beginning of the [...]
The ongoing tradition of making a list of positive changes you want to implement in your life in a new year can actually be productive. A number of people [...]
How do I do better in sales next year? The standard answer to this question has been “cold-call, cold-call, cold-call. Pick up the phone and talk [...]
One of the most active industrial markets in the country can be found in Chicago. Commercial Real Estate properties there can easily make $300,000 - [...]
Warehouse demand is at an all-time high and industrial vacancies are at their lowest point in nearly two decades at 5.3 percent, according to JOC.com's [...]
For the sales professionals who established goals at the beginning of the year, we now have just four months remaining to meet our original goals. In [...]
In a recent tweet, President Trump recently pointed out again how Amazon is hurting retail in cities, saying “Amazon is doing great damage to tax-paying [...]
I recently attended an event organized by National Association of Realtors (NAR). Attending guests included senior board members from across the country. [...]
Several years ago, I experienced my first case of age discrimination. My son and colleague invited me to assist him in a large sales presentation. This [...]
Asking our government to be proactive may seem like a long shot, but the City leaders across the country need to understand the impact of the changing [...]
Today, office vacancy throughout the Bay Area is on average at five percent. Planned office development is taking place in San Francisco, San Jose, and [...]
Watching the Golden State Warriors is a true testament to greatness. This team not only has individual star players, but an outstanding team overall with [...]
I was recently handling a retail listing in the Sunset District in San Francisco that had been vacant for over a year before I took over the listing. [...]
In the 1950's, President Eisenhower launched the development of our national freeway system. This lead to the development of our suburbs and major urban [...]
Amazon continues to take center stage in retail thanks to a variety of things they've done right– great customer service, competitive pricing, unbeatable [...]
In recent years, particularly in the past few weeks, there have been some impactful statements released involving humans being replaced by robots.
Elon [...]
For years, San Francisco has been tackling a major housing crisis. At an average of over $4,500/month for a two-bedroom apartment, San Francisco has become [...]
The counties of San Mateo and Marin reported rates of 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent. San Francisco reported unemployment of 3 percent, while Santa Clara [...]
The Strengths and Weakness of a Great Salesman
I was recently involved in a very complicated real estate deal that involved four top real estate agents. [...]
In 1981, President Reagan took office on a program of heavy domestic spending and fixing international trade disparities that were threatening American [...]
With a new administration entering office and discussion of corporate tax cuts, regulation cuts, and domestic job growth continue to be top of mind, we [...]
The moment that a stranger sees you, his or her brain makes millions of assumptions about who you are at the speed of light.
Are you friend or enemy? [...]
On the heels of the recent tragic Oakland fire, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is working to protect our artist community by preventing enforced [...]
What Worked, What Didn't, and What Will Change?
Driven salespeople annually review past results and plan ahead for the future. They keep track of past [...]
Dear San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee,
Several years ago, one of our citizens and small business owner, Juliet Pries, had an idea to open a "prohibition style" [...]
As the year starts to wrap up, we start to look to the new year and beyond, imagining what lies ahead down the road.
During this year's CCIM conference [...]
For those of you way too young to remember the Bewitched television series from the 1960's and 70's, each week we watched scenes of Darrin Stevens working [...]
Over the course of the last three years, there has been an explosion of office and retail property sales. Any commercial building put on the market has [...]
The Evolving Landscape in Sales
As we enter a new age of automation, where technology and society are evolving faster than most organizations can, Darwin's [...]
When my wife and I bought our first home in San Francisco for $138,000 in 1978, we were required to put 25 percent down. We were so excited to get a 30-year [...]
I just attended the TCN Worldwide national convention, held in New Orleans, LA, where I was educated on interesting overall market activity. With agents [...]
If you decide to enter a career in sales, it's important to know how you sell. Review your skill sets and determine how easily you can apply these skills [...]
When you are in a hot market like we are experiencing in the San Francisco-Bay Area, affordable office space is hard to come by. According to Colliers [...]
Whether you believe it or not, back in the day I was a very talented tennis player. Some would say that I even had a pro-serve and a decent backhand. [...]
I recently visited Calgary in Alberta Canada. Calgary has grown considerably since I was last there in 1979. The cosmopolitan city is filled with numerous [...]
Sales trainers always preach about the "close" in the sales process. Obviously, without the close a salesperson does not get paid. And 80 percent of sales [...]
Hopefully, by the time you read this article, the Golden State Warriors would have won their second straight NBA championship. For those of us who follow [...]
The city of San Francisco has accelerated their enforcement of PDR (Production, Distribution and Repair) violations against building owners who have converted [...]
Years ago, neighborhoods were built around neighborhood street retail. Often times people lived above retail stores or homes were within a short walking [...]
Top Ways Salespeople Can Maintain Steam
As we enter the fifth year of the latest "tech boom," there are some pretty compelling signs that the "party [...]
I've recently been asked to become a real estate professor at a university. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time now. Over the course [...]
As a young broker, I made an important strategic decision that hugely impacted my success. It didn't have to do with a deal I closed, or a business relationship [...]
Walk into almost any office today and listen. Among colleagues chatting and the sound of typing, what don't you hear? Phones ringing... From sales offices [...]
There is a great saying attributed to developers that have failed during an economic boom: "Please God give me one more boom market and I promise not [...]