Seven ways for tenants to improve their chances before and during commercial lease negotiations.
Adopt a "Negotiate To Win" mindset. Many tenants get so focused on not losing their shirt they don't even try to win. When the CBC television network asked me to appear on their Venture program I agreed. A crew of four followed me around for half a day filming and interviewing me in action. Most of that footage was left on the cutting room floor but one statement that made it to air was this "there is nothing wrong with negotiating aggressively".
Tenants need to realize that the landlord's realtor or leasing agent is negotiating to win – and tenants can (and should) do the same. I've actually had tenant clients discourage me from getting them too good of a deal or it might spoil the landlord/tenant relationship. No wonder some tenants are paying too much rent in poor locations. You don't have to apologize for negotiating agressively if you speak and act professionally.
Determine what motivates the landlord. There are many different types of landlords such as financial institutions, pension funds, local developers and even small family property owners. You need to determine or find out who the landlord is and what their long-term goals are if you expect to have successful negotiations. For example, some landlords prefer the security that comes with a national tenant. Other landlords will want to maximize cash flow – so if an independent tenant will pay more rent than the national chain store they lease to the independent. While many landlords willing participate with flexible tenant incentives such as free rent and allowances this is not always the case. If you learn that a landlord for a particular property always insists on a personal guarantee and you are not prepared to give one then having this information in advance from the landlord's leasing representative is helpful. Gathering information about the landlord will save you hours and even days going down what turns out to be the wrong path.
Ask questions – but watch what you say. Asking questions is simply the most useful activity you can engage prior to actually starting negotiations. Is the building for sale or conversely how long ago did the landlord develop or acquire it? Who really is the landlord and who makes the final leasing decisions? Ask which tenants recently moved in (or out), seek them out and interview those tenants. Be prepared to lead the initial leasing interview by asking pertinent questions. It's also a good idea to prethink your answers to possible questions they will ask you. What you say and how you say it will help you or hurt you. Try to be friendly without being too informative. By telling the landlord's realtor that your current lease is expiring in six months, that you like the location she has just shown you; or that you've just purchased a franchise for this area you may be prequalifying your tenancy in their mind. Ask probing questions so that you will become an informed negotiator.
Avoid purely emotional decisions. A lady called me one day to inquire about our lease consulting services. She went on to tell me that just prior she had met with a local mall manager and looked at space for lease. Even though she didn't know what the landlord was asking for rent she wanted to lease the space and made her desire very clear to the mall manager. She loved the space and was determined to have it whatever the price. Keep your emotions in check to avoid being taken advantage of by the landlord. I admit that the majority of the decisions we make as humans are emotional decisions. Your intuition can be extremely helpful at times and should not be ignored. However, a tenants ability to weigh these emotions quietly on the side and make calculated decisions that will ultimately prove most effective in the overall decision making process.
Ask for more than you want. A retail tenant whom I have subsequently negotiated several Lease Agreements for was pleasantly surprised to hear that I had successfully negotiated the first 12 months free of rent on his five-year shopping center lease. I was hoping you would get me at least three months free, how did you do it, he questioned me with excitement. I replied by explaining that originally I had asked for 18 months of free rent, then settled for 12 months. The point is, most landlords will counter-offer your proposal so ask (or more precisely – negotiate) for more than you need, expect or want. This also applies to tenant allowances, the deposit, rent reductions and so on. Another tenant told me she needed a $500 per month rent reduction to make her business viable. I opened negotiations with the landlord asking for a $1000 per month reduction. We settled on $800 per month, saving the tenant $48,000 in rent over the next five years.
Walk away from the negotiating table. Once you've invested days, weeks or months negotiating on a particular site it's hard to walk away from the negotiating table, but more often that not this is when the real negotiating begins. Some of the best deals I've gotten for tenants was after the deal fell apart or after we walked away. Most tenants can afford to walk away from a potentially bad deal, but few can afford to make a five or ten year mistake. If you are feeling unsettled about the deal I recommend you take a cooling off period of a few days before signing the Offer to Lease or Formal Lease Agreement.
Consider delegating the negotiations. When I wrote my book Negotiate Your Commercial Lease I hired a person experienced in the book industry to negotiate the terms and conditions of my publishing contract. Even though I am a skillful negotiator I recognized that I was emotionally involved – unfamiliar with the industry and that I couldn't afford to pay "stupid taxes". This is the money you waste making unwise decisions. Consequently, the end result was much more in my favor with a lot less stress than had I stumbled through it myself. A professional Lease Consultant can help you with lease negotiations, site selection, document review or simply provide you with ongoing consulting. In my opinion it is a grave mistake to let a realtor represent you if that realtor's fee is being paid by the landlord. It's virtually impossible to serve two masters, which is why as a Lease consultant I exclusively work for tenants.
Dale Willerton is the founder of The Lease Coach – a network of Certified Commercial Lease Consultants working exclusively for tenants. Willerton is author of the book NEGOTIATE YOUR COMMERCIAL LEASE and speaks at franchise shows and delivers public seminars. Contact The Lease Coach toll free 1 800 780 9202 Fax (780) 448-2670. Visit http://www.TheLeaseCoach.com or email DaleWillerton@TheLeaseCoach.com – Consulting inquiries and leasing questions welcome.
Sales calls are an art form. Many new IT Consultants have never had to sell anything before. For the uninitiated, sales calls are intimidating. By gaining the right perspective about a sales call and understanding the possible outcomes, you are on your way to becoming a sales call expert.
The number one trick to sales calls: Don't Sell.
When you are on a sales call the trick is to guide the client's decision. You ask them questions that almost seduce them into hiring you. This is an entirely different dynamic than when you are pushing them during the sales call. An effective sales call has the client pushing you to take them on.
Client needs emergency service: many sales calls end this way. There is something that is broken that needs to be fixed. You fix it right away and that proves to the client you know what you are doing, you're likable, and you're trustworthy. You end up with a couple of hundred dollars in revenue which proves to you this client is willing to pay for the services.
Client is receptive to your audit or IT needs assessment: Here the sales call ends with a contract for further work.
Client is just picking your brains – this sales call is free advice in disguise. These people have typically never had professional IT service and they aren't about to pay for it. Be on the look out for these sales calls and cut them loose.
Client is shopping prices: this sales call is a solicitation for bids. They aren't really interested in your services, they just want to know what it might cost them to do what they need to do.
Sales calls are part of business. Some will end well, others will be a waste of time. The important things to remember are (1) do not involve yourself in hard selling; let the client come to you, and (2) be on the lookout for the type of sales call you are on. Use this information to determine your next steps and how long you stick around.
and where to find happiness. Perhaps you stressed and overwhelmed with work or life in general.
Are you feeling physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted? Do you lack the energy to enjoy the things you love? Do you want to improve your health? Are you longing to have better personal or family relationship? You know you want to change but you can't get started or don't know where to begin.
Change can be difficult. It means taking risks. It requires commitment, courage and action. As an experienced coach, I understand the challenges of change. I support and guide my clients to successfully adapt and deal with change. The experience is empowering and life transforming!
The very sound of the word can create anxiety, discomfort, and fear. We tend to focus our energy on avoiding change rather than accepting it as a normal part of life. Despite the fact we know change is a part of life and change can provide solutions to our challenges — we remain uncertain on ways to effectively manage change and thrive within it.
New research about our brains now reveals exactly why change is so hard — and what we can do to harness it for insight, creativity, and performance, in the workplace and beyond. In September's CIO Magazine cover story Results Coaching Systems' founder David Rock and renowned research psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz discuss the basic neuroscience of change, and suggest strategies for making change easier on ourselves, and others. See references below.
As a student of David Rock and graduate of Results Coaching Systems, I use the principles of neuroscience in my coaching. The results are incredible! To learn more about "brain based" coaching and experience a free trial session contact me at carolgcoach@aol.com.
As the prevalence of change has grown, so have tools to help manage it – including coaching. Coaching has emerged as one of many effective tools for supporting individual change. Coaching is now a booming industry.
A Coach is a personal trainer, mentor, and manager all in one! A coach is passionate about YOU-and is your biggest fan. Coaching allows you to explore your situation and evaluate your options with a fresh, new perspective. With a coach in your corner you work as a team to set inspiring goals, powerful strategies and meaningful actions to deal with change.
© 2007 Carol Giannantonio Coaching and Consulting Services. All Rights Reserved.
For over 10 years, Carol Giannantonio has helped individuals positively transform their lives and careers through her unique coaching and goals setting process. Carol's knowledge of and passion for coaching combined with her compassion and wisdom provide her clients with an enriching coaching experience. Her clients quickly see an improvement in their performance, experience positive changes in their overall quality of life and learn new and improved ways of thinking that allow them to reach their full potential. Carol is a Life Coach and Educator who specializes in helping people clarify what's really important to them and supports them in having a life they want and love. Her guiding principle is, "Go The Distance to Reach Your Dreams. Please visit her Web site http://www.carolgcoach.com and sign up for a free consultation, her newsletter, daily quotes and much more. Contact her at carolgcoach@aol.com for a truly unique coaching experience.
I want to tell two business-related stories. One has to do with sales tactics gone awry, and the other with customer service issues that leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Both of these stories are completely true, and happened to us in the same week.
Triple Dog Dare Media is in the midst of obtaining a GSA Schedule 541–in other words, we're trying to become a certified vendor of Web-based marketing sevices to the federal government. As anyone who has been through the GSA schedule process knows, it's not an easy thing. You have to jump through a lot of hoops, fill out plenty of forms, and hope that you get it right the first time.
Because of the huge learning curve, Hope and I have been sucking up information left and right. We've visited web sites, talked to folks who have been through the process, signed up for email newsletters, and even attended a very nice GSA conference in Palm Springs over the holiday break.
Naturally, when we received a postcard from the B2G Institute inviting us out to the Marriott in Round Rock, Texas to learn about landing government contracts, we figured "Why not?" We knew we were going to hear a two-hour sales pitch, and that they were probably going to try to sell us on workshops or consulting services to expedite the process of obtaining a GSA schedule. Nonetheless, we figured we could pick up a few more pieces of the puzzle along the way.
Well, what a mistake that turned out to be. We showed up at this free workshop, and the sales pitch started. The guy who gave the presentation was supposedly a cofounder of the institute. I say "supposedly" because I don't know if I can trust what he said, as we pretty much caught him in several exagerrations, fibs, and outright lies.
As much as I agree with the sentiment, I didn't agree with his approach. It's not like we had paid him to assess our business acumen! He was trying to get our money, for Pete's sake–and there he was in full insult marketing mode!
Next he gave us an example of a woman who won a $1 million contract maintaining US government web sites. "Now, anyone can do web design. This is a no-brainer people!" Hope and I just exchanged a look with several other IT consultants in the room and shared a chuckle. This guy was scoring points left and right!
As the 2-hour workshop started winding down, our presenter started to wind up his pitch. Basically he was trying to get us to sign up for a weekend-long class on getting government contracts. He mentioned that Texas companies only secured 28% of the federal money for our state, that other folks out of state were grabbing up the lion's share of the deals. What was wrong with us here in the Lone Star State–were we stupid or something?
Wow. There was no way we were going to part with our money at this point. We would figure out this federal government contracting thing on our own, thanks. The B2G Institute had a perfect opportunity to teach us a few things, maybe even enlighten us, and then lead us right to the sales close, but they opted for the hard, obnoxious sell.
You may ask, did it work? I watched as 7 folks (out of about 20) signed up for the program. Every single one of them had self-identified as baby business owners or gonnabe/wannabe business owners at the start of the program. I spoke with a few people who walked out without signing the paperwork, and every one of them were disgusted by the hard sell and were experienced business owners.
Okay, so here's Part 2. We've been banking with Wells Fargo for about 4 years now. The relationship is okay most of the time, which is to say, that normally, we blissfully ignore each other except to make deposits or write checks.
One of our biggest clients wrote us a sizeable check last week, which we promptly and happily deposited. With money in hand, we met our obligations (including payroll) and went on our merry way.
The day after pay day, I was trying to make an online payment for a product and my debit card kept getting declined. When we investigated, we found to our horror that there was no money in our business checking account and that our line of credit was maxed out. What happened? We frantically started making calls.
Turns out that our client's check had cleared our bank, then had been cancelled by their bank, Bank of America. There was no reason given. No one was notified. It just happened.
Well, our very wonderful client issued a second check, which we deposited, and we got everything sorted out after 12-14 hours.
The day after that, we get a letter in the mail from Wells Fargo, dated 5 days earlier. The letter stated that the check from our client had been withdrawn by Bank of America. This information was valuable, but had arrived several days too late to avert disaster.
So Hope got on the phone to Wells Fargo to find out if she could get signed up for instant email alerts. We figured a quick email would be cheaper for Wells Fargo (no stamps or printing of letters, no envelopes, etc).
Once again we were sadly mistaken. You would have thought we asked for the moon!
Hope spoke to three different people at Wells Fargo, asking about getting email alerts, and repeating the reason why each time. She was finally deposited into a voice mail survey.
We don't know if anyone at Wells Fargo will listen to our issue. We don't know if it's even been played by anyone who can do anything.
Why don't they put a form on their web site that allows us to sign up for daily email alerts? We don't know. That's life in the business banking fast lane.
Both of these things happened to us in the same week. It all struck me as a bit silly–here's one group of people using obnoxious tactics to acquire new customers, and the other group not really paying attention to the customers they already have. Perhaps the first group thinks its information is so valuable we'll claw our way forward, checks in hand, no matter what they say. Maybe the second group figures its too painful for us to move on to another provider.
Why am I telling you all of this? You can guess that I'm pretty miffed at the B2G Institute and the banks involved, but that's not the point.
Having such an eventful week brought a lot of things into sharp relief for me. They certainly got me thinking about our core beliefs. Then I realized that we probably hadn't shared our core beliefs with you, so I decided to do that.
Technology should serve the business, not just be a cool conversation piece.
Respond to the customer, no matter what, as quickly as you can–but get the whole story!
Take the Obnoxious out of marketing and sales.
Basically, I try to do the opposite of a lot of folks in our industry. Everyone knows that software development can be a dicey proposition (70% of all projects fail for one reason or another), and we just refuse to be the kind of firm that abandons a customer if a project gets too sticky.
That being said, if you find that we've violated a core belief, feel free to contact Hope Doty (our president) at 512-751-9107, or Thomas Myer at 512-750-3835. We will listen, we will act, and we won't be obnoxious.
Thomas Myer is the Top Dog of Triple Dog Dare Media, an Austin TX Web consultancy that helps customers turn their online marketing dreams into reality. You can go to http://www.tripledogs.com to get more tips on online marketing, or become a member of the Lead Generation Center at http://www.tripledogs.com/leads to learn how to maximize your lead generation efforts.
When you start your own business, you're handling most of the daily operations yourself. It's up to you to drum up business, handle customer complaints, manage cash flow and plan your marketing strategy. As your business grows, others will come aboard to help. But, your time will still be limited. You'll be busy managing others and putting out fires. When legal issues arise, you'll likely need the expertise and experience of a business lawyer. Here are 4 possible reasons why the help of a well-trained business lawyer can pay for itself.
Your business attorney should be adept at analyzing your company and helping you select the proper structure. Each type of corporate structure carries a different level of personal liability for you, the business owner. If you choose your business structure without the help of a lawyer, you may unwittingly assume more personal risk than necessary.
You'll eventually need to either file a lawsuit or protect yourself against one filed by someone else. Going to court is incredibly expensive. It's rarely a worthwhile investment. A good business lawyer can help your company handle lawsuits while avoiding the time and expense of going to court. Often, your lawyer can even prevent legal issues from escalating into lawsuits.
Running a business means using contracts. The professional relationships you have with investors, partners, vendors and employees requires the use of contracts to make sure each person's (or entity's) rights are protected. Many business owners make the mistake of creating these contracts without legal help. Then, they're surprised when those contracts don't provide adequate legal protection in court. Have your business lawyer draft these contracts to avoid issues down the road.
As your business grows, you'll continue to add employees. There are labor laws that protect your employees' rights. Because you'll be busy running your business, you won't be able to keep up with the constant changes made to these laws. As a result, you may unknowingly violate your employees' rights and find yourself the unfortunate target of a lawsuit. A business lawyer can be invaluable here. He'll help your company avoid unnecessary labor law legal issues.
Is A Business Lawyer Necessary?
You can do many of the things your business requires without the aid of a lawyer. Deciding on a corporate structure, avoiding and handling potential lawsuits, drafting contracts and reviewing labor laws are all possible without hiring an attorney. Millions of business owners do this. However, they walk the precipice of a legal canyon. They're vulnerable. One mistake can lead to a lawsuit that decimates their business. Hiring a business lawyer eliminates that exposure. It protects you and your company from ruin at the hands of the legal system. Over time, you may find that a business lawyer can be one of your best corporate assets.
Looking for a Richmond Virginia Attorney or Virginia Lawyer check out Carlson & Collier A Virginia Law Firm.
There are some real advantages to outsourcing.
First, your business only has to purchase the services you need, when you need them. This saves on overhead costs such as equipment, office space, salaries, and benefits. Project costs are specified in a contract and monitored on a regular basis.
Second, by outsourcing services to a firm, your organization can realize the expertise of an entire group of creative talent. With more resources, you can rest assured your deadlines are met without compromising quality. With an expanded network of creative experts, customized skills are focused on designated projects, providing a higher level of service.
You may also want to consider a retainer agreement. In a retainer agreement, you pay an outside firm a specified amount each month to retain their services for your company. This can be an advantage if your business has an ongoing need for project management for websites, publications, advertising placement, and ongoing campaigns and marketing efforts.
· Don't just go with the first creative firm you find. Do your research. Ask colleagues, customers, and other professional organizations for suggestions. Visit the company's website to view their online portfolio and read any articles they have written. This will help you understand the firm's areas of expertise and their approach.
· Meet in-person with a representative from the firm. This will help you gain a deeper understanding of the firm's personality. When you meet with a creative firm for the first time, be sure to ask all the questions you might have about communication, workflow, billing, timelines, and so on.
· When considering which firm you want to work with, take some time to review their list of clients and ask about past projects. Ask for references.
· Every firm has a unique look and feel to their design pieces. Review a potential firm's portfolio to see if you like their creative work. Ask the designer if they can help you develop a targeted product that will address your unique needs.
· Do you feel comfortable with the person you will be working with? Will they be able to get back to you in a timely manner? Can they meet your deadlines?
· Take time to discuss their pricing structure. When evaluating the cost, ask how value is added to justify certain pricing structures. For example, working with a freelancer will probably cost less than working with an entire firm. However, it may take more time and one person has a limited range of expertise, as well as time constraints. He or she may have to outsource certain components of your project. In the long run, you may be saving money by choosing to work with a team of experts who can provide a wide range of services under one roof.
Outsourcing can make your business easier to run and more profitable. You'll free up time and resources so you can concentrate on your core business concerns. Creative firms offer a broad range of integrated services to move your company forward. More than ever, business survival depends upon the ability to effectively market and promote your services, as well as keeping costs down. For your next campaign, outsourcing may be the perfect solution to make the difference in your bottom line.