Commercial Investment Real Estate is the magazine of the CCIM Institute, the leading provider of commercial real estate education. CIRE covers market trends, current developments, and business strategies within the commercial real estate field.
Issue link: http://cire.epubxp.com/i/536709
41 July | August | 2015 CCIM.com Searching and gathering information 7.6 Communicating and collaborating internally 5.6 Reading and answering emails 11.2 Role specific tasks 15.6 Where Does the Time Go? Number of hours spent in 40-hour work week Source: McKinsey Global Institute ogy is a follow up to a face-to-face meeting. Email is not an opportunity to expand the relationship." Soozi Jones Walker, CCIM, president of Commercial Executives Real Estate Services in Las Vegas, concurs and adds, "Technology is a great way to disseminate information, but it's not a great way to communicate. If you want to com- municate, talk to the person. T e tonality of your voice and your body language say much more than the words typed on a screen ever could. We have forgotten the power gestures, facial expressions, and vocal inf ections have on people." On the other hand, Aaron Barnard, CCIM, SIOR, adjusts his approach to the dif erent circumstances of his clients and prospects. "You have to be very f exible in commercial real estate and adapt to your clients' preferences," says Barnard, senior director at Cushman & Wakef eld/Northmarq in Minneapolis. Since one of his best clients is always in f ight, their conversations are conducted through email. Cultivating the Best Habits Ef ective habits build momentum in business. One of Jones Walker's habits is to capture her emails and text messages in reports, so she has a paper trail in case of any questions. "Technology can be your friend or your enemy when it comes to contractual conf icts," says Jones Walker. "When I write an email or text, I imagine how I would feel if a judge or jury saw what I wrote. If I'm upset, I don't hit send. I come back later and re-read it. Nine times out of 10, I never send it at all." Continuous learning is a mindset and a habit, according to 2015 CCIM President Mark Macek, CCIM. He seeks to leverage technology and integrate it into his business practice to create more value for his clients. Maintaining Balance Jones Walker has literally unplugged online books from her iPad and reads actual books at night. "When I read books online, I found that I was waking up in the middle of night and answering emails," she says. Cheney turns of his smartphone at night and on Saturdays when it's time for his family and friends. "When I work out or hike, I don't bring the phone," he says. "At some point, whoever you're with, you want to be present with that person, even if it's yourself. I have developed the will power to put technology away." While discipline is essential to using technology appro- priately, technology continues to rapidly change professional and personal lives. Since Macek Cos. covers a wide geographic area, the f rm moved to a cloud-based customer relationship management system, f le storage system, and Of ce 365. Now Macek and his employees can easily gain access to all information they need wherever they are — at home, on the road, or at a con- ference halfway around the globe. "We push people to be powerful and knowledgeable users of our main programs," says Macek, president at Macek Cos. in Great Falls, Mont. "We work at selecting the best technolo- gies and become power users." Video conferencing has changed how quickly commercial real estate professionals and their clients can view and evaluate properties together. "I load video tours on my iPad to show clients real-time information in meetings," Cheney says. T rough various sof ware programs and online research, Barnard can gather demographics, aerial photos, video tours, and analyses together quickly to create investment packages for his clients. Like many CCIMs, time management expert Morgen- stern observes that society is moving toward the tipping point of realizing technology cannot be the only way people communicate. "I cannot live on a screen; it feels like a diet of cotton candy, and I need vegetables," Morgenstern says. "Almost all of us are craving the nutrition of undivided attention, and I see people of all ages — from college students to older people — balanc- ing the need for technology and the need for human contact." CCIMs already have the tools and the skills to make their businesses successful. T ey need to follow the right balance of human touch and technology without one or the other tipping the scale into unproductive distractions. Sara S. Patterson is senior editor of Commercial Investment Real Estate.