(This guest blog from GlobeSt.com's Natalie Dolce is part of our lead-up coverage to ICSC Western States.)

When we asked three key executives from Stan Johnson Co. their goals and expectations for the upcoming ICSC Western Division conference, while all had net lease and retail objectives in common in their responses, the strategy was a bit different.

For example, Los Angeles-based regional director Sam Alison plans to meet with developers and investors to discuss the continued growth of the single-tenant retail net lease market, the stability of and demand for stand-alone retail properties in the West, and how market conditions may change in ways that affect value.

The strategy for Scottsdale, AZ-based Brad Richardson, an associate director at the firm, is to meet with current clients and to make several new contacts in the process. “The net lease business is unique in that we work with buyers and sellers from all over the country and in many cases only deal with them by phone,” he says. “ICSC conferences are the best opportunity to meet with regional and national clients in one location.”

Typically at the Western Division Conference, Richardson says, “I will have a solid schedule of meetings focused on clients with a larger percentage of them discussing specific properties while the remainder of the meetings are introductory or long-term relationship building.”

Lastly, San Francisco-based associate director Marc Barber, tells GlobeSt.com that as with other ICSC events, the Western Division event is a “great time for all real estate professionals to gather in one place with a focus on retail. I'm excited to see some of my colleagues which I haven't seen since ICSC RECon Las Vegas,” he says. “Ideally, I'll be able to squeeze quite a few meetings into the day and a half of convention time.”

Barber adds that “it's also great to interact with other net lease brokers including those in Stan Johnson Co. While I'm office out of San Francisco, I work in all primary and most secondary/tertiary markets in the West. Looking at the overall picture of transactions that Stan Johnson Co. has closed in the last couple of years, we are balanced with representing both buyer/seller ? of time, representing just the seller ?, and representing just the buyer ?. This even-handed approach demonstrates SJC has an excellent reputation working with outside brokers. I expect to utilize my time at ICSC to leverage net lease buyers and sellers to further the momentum in this segment of our industry.”