This week’s Five for Friday shines a spotlight on Diana Peterson, of SVN AuctionWorks in the Chicago area. SVN AuctionWorks specializes in auction services, and does a large portion of its business in the Midwest. Increasingly, Diana has been working on transactions in other areas of the country because of the many referrals from the SVN network of brokers.
Diana Peterson of SVN AuctionWorks
1. What advice would you provide to an aspiring advisor who is new to the industry?
Find a mentor whom you admire and who is highly respected in the industry and observe which traits and habits contribute most to his or her success. Try to emulate those traits and habits. Beyond that, work very hard; maximize the use of your time (including prioritizing which networking associations you join and events you attend); and always make your primary goal on each transaction achieving what is in the best interest of your client.
Once you start achieving noteworthy sales or leasing successes, be sure to shout out about them, using social media and PR to help build your name recognition and personal brand in your local market.
2. What does the SVN Difference mean to you?
Collaboration and sharing fees with other brokers is always in the best interest of the client.
3. What learning tools (book, blog, website, etc.) would you recommend to your colleagues to further their knowledge and enhance their careers?
Check out the Wall Street Journal daily to stay on top of what is happening across all industries, and to learn what may be impacting and driving your clients and prospective clients businesses. Also, it’s key to subscribe to and read daily news feeds/eblasts that relate to commercial real estate and business in your area.
Every three to six months, take a very close look online at what all of your main competitors are doing and saying about their value-add proposition and then, if necessary, tweak your message and update your marketing materials in order to remain competitive.
4. What inspired you to open an SVN franchise? Or, why did you join SVN?
In addition to the collaborative culture of SVN, I was attracted to SVN’s national platform and the well established and respected SVN brand. Having previously started two real estate brokerage and auction related businesses that lacked a national platform and nationally recognized brand, I recognized the limitations associated with a smaller, lesser known brand. I did not want to be limited in how much or how fast I could grow this business.
5. List a fun fact to share about yourself – something that people may not know and that they may be surprised to find out.
After college, I worked in TV/financial news reporting with Ron Insana and Joe Kernen. When they both left Financial News Network in Los Angeles (where we all worked) to go to CNBC in New York, I was asked to join them but chose instead to go to law school. Silly me!
Are you ready to experience the SVN Difference? Check out our Careers page here.
Sperry Van Ness International Corp. is a proud supporter of CREW Network, the premiere network for women in commercial real estate. In an earlier blog post we included a great group photo of all the CREW members at our 2014 SVN national conference, where some of these high-achieving CREW Members were also SVN award recipients. Below is more information about the various CREW Network members in our organization. They are CREW Past Presidents, CREW Committee Members, innovators, leaders, collaborators and known in their markets for their achievements and contributions.
If you are interested in finding out about CREW Network or about Sperry Van Ness franchise opportunities, please contact Karen.hurd@SVN.com.
Karlin is a managing Principal Broker in Oregon and Washington. She oversees their office’s brokerage activities and is responsible for its marketing, recruiting, and training efforts.
Prior to joining Sperry Van Ness/Bluestone & Hockley, Karlin raised $234 million in acquisition equity and directed a team that closed 5,800 multifamily units.
On the brokerage side, Karlin led the company’s multi-state brokerage efforts, which included commercial real estate, REO, and note sales.
Mary has experience in retail tenant representation, trade area feasibility, brand development, public relations, media relations, and marketing consulting.
She has organized a Retail Networking Group with members from the most active retail brokerage teams in the Phoenix market.
Mary serves in the business mentorship program at A.S.U. and is a host at the college of business events.
Maria brings over 18 years of experience in commercial real estate brokerage and corporate real estate, with extensive knowledge of both leasing and sales.
Prior to joining SVN South, she worked as the Senior Vice President for Citigroup where she managed a portfolio of 215 office and retail buildings, representing 4.6 million square feet throughout the US and Caribbean.
Mary has been recognized as a “Top Broker” and received numerous awards for revenue production.
Shari A. Tucker-Gasser is the National Council Chair of Multi-Tenant Retail for Sperry Van Ness International and Real Estate Forum named Shari ‘Women of Influence’ among top ‘Women of Influence’ in the commercial real estate industry for 2013.
Shari specializes in the acquisitions, disposition and leasing of multi-tenant retail properties throughout the Phoenix Metro, Arizona market.
With over fifteen years of commercial real estate experience, Shari has completed well over $2 billion dollars in retail sales transactions.
Diana has more than 19 years of experience in law, real estate brokerage and auctions.
Recognized by the Chicago Association of Realtors as one of the top 5 producing realtors, having closed more than $130 million in residential sales and negotiated more than 500,000 square feet of commercial lease and sale transactions.
Known for her exceptional negotiation and legal skills, honed during years of practice as an attorney, Diana will be leading the Chicago AuctionWorks team.
Debby specializes in the sale of land and commercial property valued at over $350+ million and helps clients build value, strong CRE portfolios.
Licensed to sell at 19 and as a broker at 22, she has nearly 40 years working and investing in new construction, commercial appraisal, sales and consulting.
Career highlights: 470 acres of prime interchange land sold to St. Luke’s Hospital for $38.6 million in two transactions over the past five years; personally responsible for the disposition of 3,000+ acres (over 50 parcels) to various buyers for a wide variety of users; consultation regarding disposition of a key New York City property for redevelopment (transaction closed for over $200 million).
Laurie has 5 experience years in the CRE industry and specializes in the sales and leasing and tenant representation of retail property in the Chicago Market
She is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), Lakeview Chamber of Commerce, Women’s Council of Realtors (WCR), Commercial Real Estate Executive Women (CREW) and the Chicago Association of Realtors.
Laurie is a relationship-focused CRE professional focused on creating value for her clients. She is also involved in the committees, Commercial Forum and the Chicago Association of Realtors Government Affairs Committee.
Krista has 6 years of CRE industry experience and has listed and sold properties valuing in excess of $20 million.
She specializes in the sale of commercial properties, including in multifamily, mobile home parks and land development.
In the past few years, Krista has been an integral part of the special assets team. With multiple financial institutions throughout the nation, she facilitated the site assessments and analysis of properties with most resulting in the list and sale of the asset.
Rita has 17+ years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, specializing in the sale of investment properties throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
She has closed more than $1.7 billion in commercial real estate assets comprised of over 6 million square feet of property.
Rita was recognized as a Top Individual Broker in 2008 and listed as a CoStar Power Broker in 2007 & 2008.
Barbara has been active in commercial real estate since 1986, with extensive knowledge and expertise in office/medical sales, leasing, retail and warehouse.
She was a founding member of the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW).
Received the Commercial Board’s “Multi-Million Dollar Club” award for 10 consecutive years and in 1999, she was the recipient of its President’s Award.
Karen has over 18 years of experience in commercial real estate and financial services, and has been actively involved in sales transactions (across all asset classes) totaling in excess of $550 million.
She specializes in Section 1031 Tax Deferred Exchanges for Institutional, Corporate and Private Capital Markets and Real Estate limited partnerships and syndications.
Deal Connector and Networking Guru who identifies new business opportunities for the Sperry Van Ness® organization, and contributes to brand development and growth nationally playing key role in managing the continued expansion of franchise ownership.
Diane serves is Chief Operating Officer at SVN and oversees all operations of SVNIC. Diane is responsible for overall planning and executing strategic growth initiatives for franchise development and the rollout of technological platforms to optimize SVN services globally.
She is a former attorney, accomplished speaker, published author, and widely recognized online marketing expert. She launched the first Social Network for businesswomen in the US in 2006.
