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5 For Friday with Gail Bowden of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group

Posted on by SVN
Gail Bowden | Senior Investment Advisor | Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group
Gail Bowden | Senior Investment Advisor | Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group

This week, our 5 for Friday features Gail Bowden, an Advisor with Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group based out of Sarasota, Florida.

1. What is your geographic market and product specialty?
My major geographic market is Florida, with Manatee, Sarasota, and Charlotte Counties being my sub-markets. I have also co-listed with other SVN Advisors on various projects outside of Florida. My specialty is in coordinating and completing complex commercial transactions with multiple players and many moving parts, such as when dealing with a 1031 exchange. I find this type of transaction interesting and challenging at the same time. It is always very rewarding to bring a complicated deal together for my clients. I have a significant amount of experience in dealing with venture capital, project finance, construction, and development.

2. What’s your latest best practice tip that you can share?
My best practice tip for Advisors is to utilize innovative thinking and collaboration. From a client relations perspective, I would recommend finding ways to nourish your relationships through embracing all the tools technology has given us, such as social media as a means for establishing greater relationships with existing clients as well a strong web presence for attracting new clients. If you are not very tech savvy, outsource it. You have to be where your clients are, and the importance of making yourself visible on the web will only increase with time.

3. What’s been the biggest change over on how you run your business in the past decade?
I would have to say technology has had the biggest influence on how I run my business as well as being a great contributor to my success. In fact, technology is changing the way everyone does business and has become a driving factor behind the shifting landscape of the commercial real estate industry as a whole. Technology has caused a major paradigm shift in regard to just about every aspect of our lives.

4. What business book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?
“Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway”, by Susan Jeffers

5. What’s a fun fact that not everyone knows about you?
Not everyone knows that I am a grandmother of two amazing grandchildren in Utah. They are an absolute joy and I frequently travel to see them just about every two months. It may also come as a surprise to most that I recently completed a 120-mile ride from Orlando to Sarasota on a Tandem bike with one of my SVNCAG coworkers, Bruce Dilges. I like challenging myself and trying new things. I always say that I will try just about anything at least once.

*All Sperry Van Ness offices are independently owned and operated.

Five for Friday with Diane Lawson of Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group

Posted on by Diane Danielson

This week, Five for Friday features Diane Lawson, CCIM, Senior Advisor, Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group in  Sarasota, FL

 

Diane Lawson, Senior Advisor, Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group
Diane Lawson, Senior Advisor, Sperry Van Ness Commercial Advisory Group

1. What is your geographic market and product specialty?

The geographic area that I cover is southwest Florida, specifically Sarasota and Manatee Counties and I work mostly in the sales and leasing of office and retail.

2.  What’s your latest best practice tip that you can share?

It’s really about getting back to the basics. Stay in touch – keep in constant contact with clients. After all, if your clients don’t hear from you, they may think you’re not working their product. Stay informed – you have to be knowledgeable about your market and stay on top of recent activity, movers and shakers. Remain flexible and patient–every client has a different personality, different approach to business and different motivations.  It’s important to understand those and work with them accordingly.

3. What’s been the biggest change over on how you run your business in the past decade?

You certainly can’t talk about changes in business practices over the last decade without bringing up technology.  Commercial information exchanges, websites, email campaigns, etc., etc. have taken over the old school way of doing business. Planning and budgeting for me personally has also changed.I know my average transaction size, average number of transactions per year, average transaction costs and these things help me to stay on course throughout the year.

4.What business book do you like to recommend to your colleagues?

Who Moved My Cheese  by Spencer Johnson is an excellent book and a quick read.  In contrast to a quick read, but a must for everyone (in my opinion) is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  I would also recommend The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey.

5. What’s a fun fact that not everyone knows about you?

I like to re-purpose old things; an old railroad cart for a coffee table, school desks as end tables, tractor seats as bar stools, an old ice box as a storage cabinet, etc.

 

*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.