This week, our 5 for Friday features Joey Godbold, Managing Director of Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners, LLC out of Charlotte, North Carolina.
1. What is your geographic market and product specialty?
The Charlotte MSA, encompassing ten counties in North Carolina and South Carolina and a population base of 2.3 million, is my primary market area. For investment properties in excess of $1MM, I consider “the Carolinas” to be my extended area. Managing an office with multiple specialties, I try to stay connected with the five major sectors – office; industrial; retail; land; and investment properties. As to my personal practice, I tend to deal in multi-tenant investment properties.
2. What’s your latest best practice tip that you can share?
After you have decided on a specialty, do what it takes to know the players in that field. That may include joining – and being active in – trade associations; LinkedIn groups; SVN Product Councils, etc. Take the time and put forth the effort required to become an expert.
3. What’s been the biggest change over on how you run your business in the past decade?
It used to be that a real estate broker earned a commission, primarily, by introducing a qualified buyer to a reasonably-priced asset. Today, through the Internet, buyer and seller can find each other without our assistance. Therefore, more focus is placed on adding value to the transaction by advising clients and creating a competitive market in order to achieve the desired price level.
4. What business book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?
I just completed re-reading “Goals!” by Brian Tracy and am currently reading “Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions” by Keith Rosen. Both are commendable but the point is that we should always be reading something. Reading a so-so book is much better than reading nothing.
5. What’s a fun fact that not everyone knows about you?
I am often accused of having a boating “compulsion.” I do own too many floating vessels.
*All Sperry Van Ness offices are independently owned and operated.