This week, our 5 for Friday features Deborah Quok, Managing Director of SVN | QAV & Associates, based in San Francisco, California. Deborah is accomplished in advising clients in real estate strategies, marketing and transactions. Deborah specializes in office leasing, medical office building sales and leasing, and corporate services.
1. What advice would you provide to an aspiring advisor who is new to the industry?
Listen. Look. Learn. Laugh. This industry is about establishing relationships and credibility through the transfer of knowledge and experience. The probability for success is heightened when you develop your unique style and capacity to connect with people and demonstrate your value. Patience and persistence are also needed. “Overnight success” is often years in the making.
2. What does the SVN Difference mean to you?
Our culture of collaboration allows me to be more productive and able to focus on the positive aspects of providing advice and service to our clients. I appreciate the spirit of sharing between colleagues and offices, and the approachability of everyone within SVN — no matter their role and achievements.
3. What learning tools would you recommend to your colleagues to further their knowledge and enhance their careers?
Built to Last, Good to Great, pretty much anything by Jim Collins who provides insights on leadership and management. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 because we are in a people business as much as we are in the commercial real estate business. The website MindTools.com has recently come onto my radar. Early indications show it to be a good first step in finding bite-sized advice for those early in their careers or interested in improvement.
4. What inspired you to open or join an SVN franchise?
I was interested in the SVN technology and distribution platform initially, but became sold on the culture and determination of its leadership to provide a winning opportunity for success to a diverse array of franchisees and their advisors.
5. What was your most memorable deal and why?
In the short term it is a recent, transaction that successfully demonstrates a goal of our office to service clients in both the sale and lease aspects of managing their office/medical office real estate portfolio. Our firm represented the seller of an office and their subsequent lease of new office space; all within a short 30 days. We are currently underway in a similar scenario of leasing up vacant space in a building to maximize its income for a potential sale thereafter.
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