N.J. (Joey) Godbold | Managing Director and CEO | SVN/Percival Partners
What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market area?
Like many firms across the country, we contracted during that little downward cycle we experienced a few years ago. As activity has become much more robust, we have a goal to increase our staff by five Advisors by the end of 2015. We have found that the demand for sales people has increased significantly lately and we are competing with other industries for good folks. We have enrolled in SVN’s RPO Program which has been very helpful in identifying mid-career candidates. A significant portion of my time and energy is spent in recruiting, which will pay off in market share over the coming three years.
What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
We have always enjoyed a family atmosphere and that in itself goes a long way toward a positive, motivational office. As Advisors take advantage of technology to work more outside the office now, it has become more important to create opportunities for team-building and motivational activities. Annually, we participate in a large charity volleyball tournament. Monthly, our sales meetings are lunch affairs. We are now in the midst of a listing contest with the grand prize being a weekend at a posh hotel in Charleston, SC.
What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
Our firm has been in the Charlotte, NC market for over 50 years. We have been blessed with long-serving, top-notch Advisors who have been with our firm for many years. The other side of that blessing is that we need to be attentive to bringing in younger Advisors – those who will become the next generation of performance and leadership. That was not our focus over the past few years because of the state of the economy. Thus, the need to re-focus on recruitment.
How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
For the past few years, we have refrained from growing our firm size. Upon joining SVN in June of this year, we have gone back on the recruiting path to increase from the current level of 7 Advisors. The SVN move has certainly created some interest in the market and I regularly interview 5 – 8 prospects per month. Some of the interviewing activity comes through the RPO program. To date, I have not found the right mix but with the current activity, expect to bring 2 to 3 new Advisors on board in the next few months.
Contact: N.J. (Joey) Godbold
Managing Director and CEO
Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners, LLC
Charlotte, NC
*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.
This week, we turn the spotlight on Sperry Van Ness – Miller Commercial Real Estate with offices in Salisbury, Annapolis and Bethesda, Maryland, and Lewes, Wilmington, and Seaford, Delaware.
Brent Miller, CCIM, CPM | Managing Director | SVN – Miller
What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market share?
Our focus has always been to provide the best service possible to our clients, and we have worked to do this by growing our firm into a full-service commercial real estate company and by bringing on Advisors with unique specialties. Not only do we offer sales and leasing, but also property management and receivership/asset recovery.
In the past year we have taken our office to the next level by bringing on a Marketing Director to ensure consistent branding and to improve both our online and physical presence and also a Director of Business Development for Property Management.
We’ve expanded our market area to cover not only the Eastern Shore of Maryland but also Virginia, Delaware, Annapolis and Bethesda by recruiting Advisors to open satellite SVN-Miller offices. We have advisors in Annapolis and Bethesda that also do “boots on the ground” property management for us while we handle all of the back-office accounting and property management in our Salisbury office. We also offer the back-office property management service to other SVN offices that don’t have an established property management team but would like to provide full-service property management to their clients.
What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
SVN – Miller team participates in local Mud Run.
We do a number of team building activities each year, both for enjoyment and to give back to our community. These have included a Wicomico River cleanup, multiple Mud Runs, a Habitat for Humanity build, a Ropes Course challenge, off-shore fishing trips and more.
Each month I schedule one-on-one meetings with each of our Advisors to talk to them about their personal and business development. We also just held our Annual State of the Company Meeting this week, and we welcomed Solomon Poretsky, Vice President of Organizational Development for Sperry Van Ness International Corp., who gave a great all day training session to our Advisors and staff.
We encourage our Advisors and staff to engage in continuing education and professional development & affiliations (IREM, CPM, CCIM, SIOR), and we make a concerted effort to recognize their individual achievements.
What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
The great recession was a huge challenge for us and it significantly impacted the livelihood of our Advisors. We also literally weathered the storm when we were hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and consequently had to move out of our office for a month to remediate the flood damage. While this was a big challenge for us, the silver lining was that it cemented our SVN-Miller culture of working together as a united front.
How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
SVN – Miller Annual State of the Company meeting
We actually started as a commercial property management company which led to our move into commercial real estate. When we started SVN-Miller we had two Managing Directors, ten Advisors, one Property Manager and a Receptionist. Now, we have two Managing Directors, twenty-three Advisors throughout our main office and five satellite offices, eight Property Managers, one Virtual Assistant and six staff members, including our Marketing Director and support staff for brokerage.
Contact: Brent Miller, CCIM, CPM
Managing Director and Senior Advisor
Sperry Van Ness – Miller Commercial Real Estate
Salisbury, MD
*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.
Ford Elliott | Managing Director | SVN/BlackStream Commercial, LLC
What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market share?
From day one, our strategy at SVN/BlackStream Commercial, LLC has been providing premiere service to our clients. We always go the extra distance to satisfy their needs, making them feel they are getting more by working with us. Over time, we have built a nice reputation in our market. Our level of service has spread by word-of mouth and business has flourished as a result, garnering more referrals than by any other marketing means. We are generally a 100% referral program, though we are always looking to get new leads through additional avenues. Another strategy we utilize is staying informed, and on top of, trends in the market place. We try to be very innovative and think outside of the box, often presenting sites to our clients that most people may not know about, i.e. The city has plans to put a new park at a certain location. It is necessary that we have a pulse on our market in order to help our clients understand where the value is, and where it is headed. We also look to the Sperry Van Ness platform whose systems and name recognition have been extremely beneficial for business.
What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
Our number one motivation is helping our team understand and hone their respective talents. Once defined, we aim to help them stay focused and specialized by utilizing their best strengths. We hold a staff meeting every week where we collaborate and share ideas. On the horizon, we plan to have more team building activities.
What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
The biggest challenge has been recovering from the commercial real estate market downturn. It was difficult with banks not loaning money to investors and the market just not being where it needed to be. As the market has recovered, more and more opportunities have been presenting themselves.
How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
When we joined Sperry Van Ness we had a staff of 6: 2 Managing Directors, 3 Advisors and an Administrative Assistant. We recently added another Advisor, bringing our team total to 7.
Contact: Ford Elliott
Managing Director
Sperry Van Ness/BlackStream Commercial, LLC
Greenville & Columbia, SC
*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.
Karen Hurd, Vice President of National Franchise Development for Sperry Van Ness International Corporation, recently sat down with Laura Salome, CCIM, Managing Director of Sperry Van Ness/Fortune Real Estate out of El Paso, Texas. Karen is the host of the Sperry Van Ness (SVN) CEO Roundtable Webinar and invited Laura to join the June Roundtable discussion as a guest speaker. Below is what Laura had to say about SVN.
Laura Salome, CCIM | Managing Director | SVN/Fortune Real Estate
Laura, Please tell me about yourself, SVN/Fortune Real Estate and how you came to Sperry Van Ness.
I joined Sperry Van Ness two years ago in December. My father has had Fortune Real Estate for 40 years and when I joined him full time, I knew we were was missing something….I was searching for something bigger than what our little local firm could accomplish. I wanted bigger and national deals, and I knew that an affiliation with a national flag was the answer. I spent 13 years in California and remembered that Sperry Van Ness was a well recognized brand among a few others. So I decided to call a few. In an exhausting interviewing process of several companies, I ultimately chose Sperry Van Ness because it was a national CRE firm where the people make the company.
What did you find different about our SVN Brand versus the other firms you were talking to, and what have you found since you joined?
The model and the culture is different than other models, in that the environment at SVN is much more entrepreneurial in nature. Of course, we want to stay consistent in our look and there are franchise policies to which we must adhere, but it is very much MY business. Being affiliated with SVN has empowered me to grow into the direction I want to go. I have felt empowered since the day I joined and continue to feel that way. There is a high level of professionalism that comes with the Sperry Van Ness name. There is a certain culture within this organization that is contagious. I joined the group shortly before a national sales meeting which was in Miami. That trip reaffirmed that I had made the right decision. The friends and colleagues I met on that trip I still talk to and work on deals together.
What do you find working with other SVN Advisors in other markets?
Collaboration is the key component to get the most you want out of this franchise. Each week I try to talk to at least one SVN colleague either by phone, text, or email…or personal visit, even when I travel. I am a bit of a generalist here in El Paso and partnering up with experts in other cities has most definitely won listings for me. Mark Alexander from Florida, who is on our Medical Product Council, and I joined forces a little over a year ago on a medical building. I would not have gotten that listing without Mark’s expertise in medical office. Mark prepared a colorful slide presentation showing the physician medical investment cap rates and the SVN national reach and we won the listing.
This week we just signed a new $2 million dollar listing for a NM Nursery and I partnered with Tim House in Albuquerque. It was my relationship with a banker here in El Paso that started the lead, but it was the fact that I told him I would partner with a SVN NM colleague that got us the listing. The client felt comfortable that he was getting a local boots on the ground with a national “army” behind me. It’s fun to partner, and clients feel that we have “reach” , “national appeal” and that we are a “unit”. This SVN fraternity is a very strong selling point to win listings.
I know you believe in the Compensated Cooperation model and actively participate in our National Sales Call each week. What do you find most important about these calls?
The National Sales Call is like the backbone of SVN — the SVN Difference. It’s a 30 minute national sales call held every Monday morning that highlights recent sales made, and Advisors pitch their properties for sale. Promoting a client’s listing on these calls is a key selling point when I compete for a listing. No other firm offers these calls! It’s rare that I don’t get on one of these calls.
How useful have you found the CRE tech tools, systems and platforms offered by SVN?
The tech tools within the company are efficient and streamline marketing efforts. Each time I need to do a proposal or put a new listing online, I jump on BuildOut which syndicates real time to multiple commercial search engines with a single point of entry automatically. Our brochures look consistent and professional. It’s very simple to use and my clients are happy.
Client Look I’ve used from the beginning. It has the ability to categorize your contact by type. This feature I find very useful. If I want to narrow my marketing efforts to “retail developers” or “multifamily”, I can do so. Virtual Assistant is another very useful feature of Client Look that enters contacts into the system. You can do this with a phone call while you are driving or even snapping a photo of a business card and emailing it to them. All of this syncs to your phone and iPad which is great!
SVN Resource Portal is the center of information gathering and posting. There I can blog on the SVN blog, create postcards for marketing, customize newsletters, see the calendar of events, or just log on to my email. It’s colorful and easy to navigate. In today’s world where speed and simplicity is coveted, this tool fits right in.
What SVN Product Councils do you participate in regularly?
There are 14 product councils within the company that are lead by veterans and experts in that asset class type and I am involved in several. Once a month or so, there are product council calls where ideas are shared, challenges are discussed, and deals are made. I make it a point to participate each week on the 15 minute Single Tenant Net Lease one that happens right before the Monday Morning Call. I like it because Peter Colvin creates an environment where everyone feels comfortable to share a quick thought and I always hang up learning something new and it helps create value for my clients, especially the 1031 exchange clients.
Bottom line, the tech systems and tools are some of the best available in the industry, and I leverage them all so I can be more efficient, visible and productive in my business.
What do you like best about SVN?
What I’ve realized is that it’s the people within SVN that make the company. I’m the kind of person that works best in a collaborative environment and I like to be known within in the company. SVN is a national CRE company where collaboration thrives — it’s like a family. Clients’ interests are ALWAYS placed above everything else and I like that because reputation is very important to me. If I can ever help anyone on the call, I’m available anytime for help, advice, deal making, market insight in El Paso or SVN. Happy to be a resource. I can be reached at laurasalome@svn.com or 915.474.0306.
To view the most recent Sperry Van Ness CEO Roundtable Webinar, click here.
1. What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market share?
We do this by understanding our clients’ investment objectives and formulating strategies to achieve these objectives in the context of the current and anticipated market forces. Specifically, our clients will experience SVN-RICORE’s superior real estate investment modeling, strategic thought process, rent collection and operating expense escalation management, attention to detail, prompt and accurate financial reporting. We are enhanced by having the brightest and hardest working people join our firm who bring with them their expertise in the market and their specific disciplines. Having seasoned professionals, we are able to position ourselves as a full service real estate firm, where we can provide professional services for Receivership, Property Management, Investment Brokerage, Leasing and Construction Services, with “Maximum Value and Minimum Risk” for our clients.
We have also implemented the use of our website www.svn-ricore.com for marketing our services and staff along with our properties, and have complemented it with our daily postings of property sales and lease listings on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and Tumblr. We also regularly advertise in the local Business Journals, Midwest Real Estate News and National Real Estate Investor publications. Our social media marketing initiative has opened up our client base to new avenues of advertising our services from listings to Property and Facility management. It allows our firm the ability to have interaction with clients in the ‘new media market’ and the property owners are ecstatic to see their properties appear in this medium, along with case studies, well researched market reports and client testimonials.
2. What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
We hold monthly birthday and anniversary cake tastings and go to and participate in events as a group. We recently held an open house for our new space and invited clients, past, present and future, along with public dignitaries for an evening of food, social time and entertainment. We have gone bowling, trap shooting, a vineyard and plan on attending a Cincinnati Reds games for team building events. SVN-RICORE is also pleased to corporately sponsor and participate in many civic, community and philanthropic organizations that make a difference.
3. What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
With the downturn then recovery of the Commercial Real Estate market, weathering the storm has been a challenge, however, with well positioned managed properties, accounting services, receivership services, along with a few good investment sales opportunities completed, we have been able to maintain and grow our staff in anticipation of the full boom currently beginning in our market. Bringing in additional staff in this economy for some firms could not have happened, but for us, it was a necessity in order to keep up with the business lines as they were expanding during these years.
4. How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
In the beginning of our SVN Franchise in 2010 we started with 3 Property Managers, 2 Property Services Administrators, 1 Facilities Manager, 2 Advisors, 1 Brokerage Administrator/Office Manager/Marketing, 2 Construction Staff, and 2 Accounting personnel.
Currently we have 4 Property Managers, 5 Property Services Administrators, 5 Facilities Managers, 9 Advisors, 2 Brokerage Administrators, a Marketing Manager, 3 Construction Staff, and 5 Accounting personnel. We also have a CFO & Controller to round out our services staff, in addition to the Executive Managing Director.
Increasing our staff has been an integral part to create an environment for well-rounded commercial real estate professionals the ability to provide services to clients that are world class in nature.
Contact: John Rickert
Executive Managing Director
Sperry Van Ness | RICORE Investment Management, Inc.
Cincinnati, OH
*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.
Keith Kidwell | President | Sperry Van Ness Commercial Realty
1. What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market share?
For over the past 11 years our strategy has not been to grow the firm, it has been to keep the firm small with seasoned commercial brokers and to run a highly efficient office to better serve our clients.
2. What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
We have goal challenges with rewards. If agents meet their goal challenges we will offer free or discounted trips to our state and national conferences, gift certificates, etc. In addition, we sponsor golf and sporting clay teams for charity fundraisers.
3. What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
The biggest challenge has been in ensuring our agents have all the tools necessary to be as productive and as efficient as possible. This includes keeping up with the latest in technology, social media, etc. and training them to use these tools.
4. How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
We started the company 11 years ago with 5 agents and 1 staff member and currently have two offices, 6 agents and 2 staff members. Small and efficient.
This week, we turn the spotlight on SVN/HINT Advisors with offices in Houston, Texas.
1. What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market share?
I focus on retail investments, retail stand-alone (NNN) and retail land. I have a focus in my practice where I go after markets first, then retail opportunities within. One of my best Advisors continues to emphasize the importance of discipline, and I have a daily discipline that extends to a weekly and monthly schedule, divided in blocks of time and activities. It is driven by a set goal but it comes down to execution. My weekly schedule includes daily follow-up calls, business development calls, and conference calls with clients or colleagues morning to noon, followed by emails and computer related tasks after lunch. Next, I do calls to West coast and Central time leads since I cover California and Houston, then I depart to business engagements in the evening or otherwise do research and plan an agenda for the next day. Just before going to bed I check emails for any last minute updates. Throughout the day I also read trade journals and news on relevant retail and check my social networks.
Libby Cadillo | Managing Director | SVN/HINT Advisors
2. What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
I believe in clarity and definition when it comes to relationships. Therefore I make an effort to communicate the goals upfront, to share the vision, and to share the expectations from each other. I use technology to send reminders, reconfirm agreements, and multitask as efficiently as possible.
3. What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
Since starting my practice, the biggest challenge has been high productivity per hour. Sometimes I have been guilty of getting distracted by events around me, but I am learning to minimize my distractions as much as possible when I am to be focused on work.
4. How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
Right now just one, but I have a network of peers and three strong Board Advisory Members who assist me when I need something.
Contact: Libby Cadillo
Managing Director
SVN/HINT Advisors
Houston, TX
*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.
Walt Arnold | Managing Director | SVN/Walt Arnold Commercial Brokerage, Inc.
1. What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market share?
The strategy has been to create an environment for brokers to have the tools to compete, fulfill and win business, employing brokers and staff that are committed to showing up and working hard, hiring quality brokers that fit into the culture of Sperry Van Ness, whether new to the business, mid-career or established veterans. And to have fun in the process, realizing that so much of our careers and life is about the journey. Sperry Van Ness has provided an outstanding platform to recruit high quality individuals to SVN/WACB, Inc. and the Sperry Van Ness story has been instrumental in growing my company and market share.
2. What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
Almost every Monday is a “Lunch and Learn” and these sessions encompass not only title underwriters, attorneys, contractors, bankers and many other businesses associated with CRE, but we also work on sales skills and other activities that help us all grow in the CRE business. A recent series of Mondays involved going through Terri Sjodin’s tape series title, Small Message, Big Impact, which was about creating an elevator speech. We capped it of by bringing in a local expert on the subject and everyone developed a 30 seconds elevator pitch and presented it. It was a great exercise for everyone regardless of the years of experience. We also schedule events (baseball games, football tailgate, bowling, billiards, non-profit events, etc.) outside the office quarterly to get out and spend some time together.
3. What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
Obviously on of the biggest challenges has been to manage cash flow the past several years, which hopefully is starting to improve as we come out of the pit of recession. Another is our goal of continuing to create an environment that’s a great place to work. I mention this as a challenge because it has to be top of mind and takes some detailed effort and energy to continue to improve and to ask how we can do things better for our clients, customers and each other.
SVN/Walt Arnold Commercial Brokerage, Inc. Staff at Halloween
4. How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
When I started with Sperry Van Ness 7 years ago, I had an assistant, a property manager and one broker. Currently now in the office are 8 brokers, a property manager, a property management accountant, a marketing director, and 3 part-time support staff in property management, brokerage and accounting.
Contact: Walt Arnold, CCIM, SIOR
Managing Director
SVN/Walt Arnold Commercial Brokerage, Inc.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.
What Makes SVN® Different
Please provide us with your details below to download our value proposition.
Contact SVN®
Please can you provide us with the following details so a member of our team can contact you.
1. What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market share?
