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In commercial real estate sales and leasing, the real estate agent negotiates every day with different people and different situations. Your skill in the negotiation process will improve over time, although it can be significantly fast tracked through simple daily practice.

Most the property negotiations have some degree of challenge such as:

• The fees are too high for the property owner
• The marketing funds are more than what the client will pay
• The type of agency is not what the client wants to accept
• The timing of the deal is difficult
• The price or rent being offered is unacceptable
• The parties to the deal just don’t get on
• The key elements of the property do not fully satisfy the parties

Given that every deal is going to have some hurdle to negotiate through, the best real estate salespeople become the excellent negotiators. You can do that as well.

In most property situations, the parties to the transaction want to have some simple benefit or win in the process. It is up to the salesperson to reach that point. Every negotiation starts somewhere and it is up to you to start it.

The three stages of negotiation are typically as follows:

1. The parties will tell you that they are interested in the property but something is wrong and is holding them back
2. A series of problems will be tabled by the negotiating parties
3. The parties will tell you what solutions they see as acceptable

In most property negotiations, the parties will move through these three stages; that process is really what you want and you will require in achieving an outcome. When they give you some solutions that they will be happy with you have something to work on.

The best property negotiators will move the parties from item 1, to item 3. The way to make them work through the stages, is to ask directed questions surrounding their ideas and feedback. Here are some examples of open questions you can use in the property negotiation processes:

• Tell me, what are the fees that you see appropriate for taking the property to market?
• Mr. Brown, what are the hurdles that you see given your individual property circumstances at this time?
• Mr. Brown, if the price was not a hurdle for you now, how would you proceed with the contract process today?
• Tell me, what are the elements of the property that you really should have and that work for you?
• What adjustment can we create in the offer which will improve or remove these challenges for you?

There are many variations to the negotiating and questioning process. Importantly, the three stages above should be respected and moved through to get momentum and focus on a positive negotiation outcome.

When the homeowner deals directly with the lender, there shouldn’t be any fees associated with the modifying your mortgage. When you negotiate with your lender, it is important to be prepared. Have a complete financial analysis – this includes all sources of income and all expenses. It is important to have all documents prepared to negotiate with your lender, a complete loan modification kit can help with this. Also keep in mind that lenders negotiate with the following guidelines:

o Maximizing returns on mortgages
o Minimizing losses on mortgages
o The best interest of the stockholders and the bottom line

If you don’t feel that you can successfully negotiate for yourself, there are other options. Using a home loan modification company is one such option. If you choose to use a professional like a home loan modification company, there will be fees paid for services rendered. A company that specifically deals with modifying home loans will have a diverse staff with the experience needed to successfully negotiate with your lender. The combined experiences and backgrounds of the company’s employees can be a powerful force in your favor when negotiating a home loan modification. When choosing a company, make sure they are able to deliver what they promise. Never work with a company that asks for an upfront fee and always check with references.

Another option is housing counseling agencies that have been approved by HUD. These agencies are funded by tax dollars and perform home loan modifications at no cost to the consumer. With the current economic down turn and the rise in the number of homeowners needing assistance, these agencies have become overwhelmed with cases and are forced to turn people away.

If you do not feel comfortable negotiating for yourself, you may feel that hiring an attorney is right for you. Make sure to find one that will fight for your best interest. A good attorney with ample experience negotiating modifications to mortgages can be a good way to get yourself a modification that will get you back on track and keep you there. Many home loan modification companies have attorneys on staff, which is something else to consider.

Remember, that while lenders are going to negotiate for terms that are in their best interest, an attorney or home loan modification company will fight for yours. If you are going to hire either a company or attorney, it is a good idea to conduct an interviews. If possible, conduct the interview in person and at their office in order to get the most accurate impression.

Questions to ask:
o What are all the costs associated with getting you a home loan modification?
o Are the fees flat or hourly?
o How many modifications have you successfully completed?
o Are there any customers you can speak with to get a recommendation?

If you find yourself falling behind on your mortgage, there are remedies available. Calling your lender and opening the lines of communication is the first step in solving your mortgage problem. When entering into negotiations with your lender, remember that they will have their best interests in mind, it is your job to fight for your best interests. If you feel that you will not be able to successfully negotiate for yourself, there are agencies, companies, and professionals available to assist you. Using one of these options may cost more than negotiating for yourself, but they be better able to get you a modification that will be a long term solution.

I used to joke with my colleagues that I am a “Power Ranger”, one who is good at preparing PowerPoint slides. Presentation is a key staple in the corporate world. Be it an internal meeting where an idea has to be shared and approval sought or for marketing your product to the target customers in a seminar. Churning out beautiful PowerPoint slides with great pictures and beautiful transitions is good, but not great. A great presenter has to be a “Transformer”, transforming ideas into impactful messages.

As with all masterpieces, this requires hard work and effort. It is a form of respect to the audience to prepare your presentation to make sure you are not wasting their time.

1. Start with the end in mind: What are you trying to tell us?

Delivering a presentation is like making a movie. There must be a key theme behind the story. Do not pack too many things into one presentation. You can achieve more with less. If your audience will only remember one thing, what would that be?

In preparing the presentation, it is critical to start from the audience’s point of view. What do they want to get out of your presentation? Very often, we get carried away by what we want to say and not what the audience wants to know.

A presentation should not be a one-way street. It has to be a conversation. Imagine answering the questions in the audience’s mind. Simon Sinek shared that every great communication starts with “Why” before “What” and “How” (Ted Talk: “How great leaders inspire action”). Without answering the key question of “Why”, the audience will not be interested in the “What” and “How”.

2. Be engaging: Why should we pay attention to you?

We often observe the audience starting to check on their mobile devices barely five minutes into a presentation. In this social media age, we are constantly seeking to be entertained and engaged. The mind wanders off if you are not engaging.

Slides should be used only when needed to reinforce a message. Many presenters are using slides as their crutches to push along the delivery of a message. Recently, I attended a seminar of a world renowned expert in business franchising. The speaker was very clear in his delivery and the audience benefited greatly from his sharing. The problem lies in his PowerPoint slides. The background color is distracting for the eyes and clip art pictures that look outdated make me think that it was created probably 5 years back and reused since. It is such a waste to let a bad PowerPoint deck discount the effect of your presentation. The feeling is like having a conversation with a respectable figure who has vegetables from his lunch stuck between his teeth.

If you wanted a change from the usual slideware, try Prezi, a cloud-based presentation software (http://www.Prezi.com). It is a good tool to use in providing a clear flow of thought for the audience. Regardless of the tools used, remember that it remains as a tool. Your flow of delivery should take the center stage.

3. Be memorable: tell me stories

Researchers in Spain has found that different parts of our brain are activated when a story is being told. If we are listening to a PowerPoint presentation, our language processing parts in our brain (Broca and Wernicke’s area) get activated. If a story is being told, other parts of our brain that we use in experiencing events are activated as well. That explains why we can remember stories that were told during presentations, but not the long PowerPoint slides even with the best visual aids.

I remembered attending an internal communications session a few years back where there were many presentations lined up for each business leader to share their quarter’s results and focus. The head of consumer business walked up to the stage and asked the audience if we could understand the urgency and importance of improving the organization’s customer experience. While we were expecting the usual slides of statistics, he surprised us by playing a live recording of a call center agent handling a frustrated customer’s call. The 5 minutes of recorded conversation still ring in my ears as I recall the session. The frustration of the customer in being asked to repeat her problem and being passed from one department to another brought the problem alive. It was impactful.

Think of a story that your audience will be able to relate to and deliver it in the form that will be the most impactful. It can be a recording of real customers’ experiences. It can be your own personal experience or a story that illustrates the key message.

Tell a good story and your audience will never forget the message that you are putting across.