We keep noticing a strange and maddening dichotomy in our business. We have more technology than ever. More platforms, more tools, more “efficiency.” And yet somehow, deals are moving slower than they did years ago.
There was a time when brokers picked up the phone and actually talked to each other. Go back even further and people would sit in a room with the attorneys, negotiate the deal face to face, reach agreement on the spot, and then send the lawyers back to their offices to make the paperwork match the conversation. Radical concept.
Fast forward to today, and we are watching document revisions crawl along for weeks at a time. Weeks. For issues that could be resolved in one phone call, or ten minutes of direct conversation.
So Nic and I made a very intentional decision about how we practice commercial real estate brokerage. We tune out the noise, ignore the illusion of productivity, and operate with a singular, almost stubborn focus on two very basic things: Communication. Speed. That’s it. No secret sauce. No theatrics.
Lately, on all kinds of assignments, we’ve noticed a real degradation of both. Offers sit longer than they should. Responses drag. Basic follow-up takes days instead of hours. And when that happens, deals lose momentum.
What many people underestimate is what happens in the silence. When there’s no communication, clients don’t just wait patiently. Their imaginations take over. Doubt creeps in. Confidence erodes. They start questioning the deal, the parties, the process, sometimes even the opportunity itself. Silence creates problems that didn’t exist five minutes earlier.
There also seems to be a growing belief that being vague or non-responsive is some kind of flex. As if slow replies, minimal information, or radio silence create mystique or signal importance. They don’t. They signal disorganization, insecurity, or ego…often all 3.
This emerging “status symbol” of non-responsiveness has a way of making diabolical messes of otherwise good deals. We’re also seeing more and more time-sensitive issues handled in the most inefficient way possible. Emails to schedule calls about urgent matters. Calendaring things that need to be discussed right now. Whatever happened to simply picking up the phone and calling the other party the moment an issue arises? Fire off a quick text if you have to. Then call. Are we all so busy and so important that we’ve lost sight of the point?
Brokers exist to grease the wheels of progress. We exist to create momentum, not bottlenecks. We exist to buffer personalities between principals, absorb friction, and move things forward smoothly and quickly. That requires real-time communication. We’re very upfront about this with both our clients and our co-brokers. Early in every assignment, we make it clear that we move fast and sometimes over-communicate. Not because we like to be annoying, but because we have to.
There’s no pride or ego involved, its just “keep it moving.” Fair warning. We are probably going to pester you and we are okay with that.
Nic says, “Momentum is fragile in commercial real estate. Our job as brokers is to protect it, not slow it down with unnecessary delay or ego.”
I say, “We probably over-communicate. Especially during construction phase, people want to know what’s going on with a project they are spending millions of dollars on… Deals don’t ever die from too much clarity. They die from silence and slow playing people.”
Some of the wealthiest and most astute people we work with respond immediately – they know the secret is to only touch something once and keep trivial things from ballooning into big issues, once they feel like you are ignoring them its game over…your credibility is toast, consequently they know better than to ignore others for the same reasons. It’s funny how people with no desire to prove how “busy” they are with non-responsive bullshit seem to rocket through life and business and that’s our inspiration for operating the way we do.
We believe our job is to keep the ball moving at all times. Even if the update is simply, “We’re working through it and here’s where things stand.” Speed creates clarity. Clarity creates confidence. Commercial real estate transactions are complex enough without unnecessary delay. Deals don’t usually blow up in dramatic fashion. They stall. They cool. They quietly die.
This is one of our biggest pet peeves. Sitting on offers. Slow-playing responses. Letting momentum evaporate for no good reason.
We don’t operate that way. If an offer comes in, it moves. If we owe an answer, it goes out. If there’s an issue, we address it head-on.
This is not about being aggressive or pushy. It is about being professional. Speed signals competence. Communication signals RESPECT. Both matter. A lot.
Curious if others are seeing the same thing on their deals lately and how you are handling it.
