NEW YORK CITY—Brokers who treat their business as their own company—whether they work inside of a firm or not—hold the key to success, Rod Santomassimo, founder and president of the Massimo Group, told GlobeSt.com.

Santomassimo presented a seminar, “Maximizing Your Brokerage Income in 2015,” in Midtown Thursday to the Real Estate Board of New York's commercial brokerage division. The commercial real estate coach—who has over 25 years of industry experience in multiple roles in brokerage, ownership, executive level management and more—consults with individuals and organization in North America.

In the session, Santomassimo covered strategies that attendees can adopt to better organize their time and resources to increase profits.

“You have to act like a CEO, which means you create your own marketing department, operational department, human resource and finance department,” he asserted to GlobeSt.com. More specifically, on the marketing and operations front—even for those who work inside of a large organization—brokers need plans for who they take out, what services, information or gifts they provide for clients, etc.

Santomassimo continued, “Human resources is about how you invest in yourself while the finance department refers to managing your pipeline of deals. You can use simple tools like Excel to really show you where your business stands. That's the key differential.”

“Maximizing your income is possible for all those in commercial real estate,” he said. “The right plan, when implemented, will propel your business and ultimately your income.”

Some attendees on the commercial board of directors commented on the event.

“I was thrilled that REBNY put on such a great program,” said James Nelson, chair of REBNY's commercial board of directors and partner at Cushman & Wakefield (formerly Massey Knakal). “Rod Santomassimo shared with the brokers great suggestions to improve and focus their businesses. He spoke about how best to improve outreach and cultivate relationships with potential clients. It was also very helpful to learn how best to track activity and set goals.”

“I walked away from Rod's seminar with a mandate to incorporate more definition and structure for myself and my team,” added Joanne Podell, vice chair of REBNY's commercial board of directors and vice chairman at Cushman & Wakefield. “I cannot wait to see the results. Rod offered methodology, not hyperbole.”

Instant Insights /

Keys to Boosting CRE Broker Income Are Revealed

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