I have been a commercial real estate broker for 30 years, and I (hopefully) have learned a few things along the way. Some I want to remember, and others I want to forget!

The thought that has been the foundation of my business is to ALWAYS put the best interest of your client ahead of your own. While it seems like a simple concept, sometimes it can be difficult for clients to understand that it is how you operate.

I try and teach my team to put themselves in their client’s position. “If I owned this restaurant, insurance business, or distribution business, where would I choose to locate it?” How could it be set up so that the company can deliver the best services to their customers, yet also create an environment where they can attract talented employees and retain employees?

If a client currently has a location, it’s always good to ask, “What do you like about your current space? What would you do differently? How important is image to your company. Do you have many visitors? Where do your employees live?”

Yes, asking all those questions makes you start to sound like a detective. But to fully assist a client, we need to know what their needs are.

My point of this is, no matter how good a broker is at asking the right questions, the client has to look at their agent as a part of their team. They have to assist us in the fact finding, so that we can deliver the correct space and location to them.

Building trust is a difficult thing to do in life, and certainly in commercial real estate. I am sure that there have been some transactions in the past where a broker wasn’t looking out for their clients best interest, but what was in their best interest.

I subscribe to the philosophy of a “win/win” transaction. A lease or a sale should only happen when all parties are in agreement and feel good about the transaction.

At the end of the day, brokers do get paid when that happens, by hopefully delivering remarkable service to our clients!