There’s a commonly seen wall placard which never fails to bring a smile to our family:
‘Always be Yourself, unless you can be Batman, then Always be Batman’
When thinking about real estate brokers, my advice would be slightly different:
‘Always be Yourself, unless you can be Bruce, then Always be Bruce’
Bruce happens to be one of the best brokers I’ve come across and certainly someone I’d recommend any broker to emulate.
Sense of Humor, Patience & Tenacity— We first met Bruce at NY ICSC in Dec 2018. We’d determined we needed an experienced NY broker and set up several meetings to assess their fit to our team and goals. To ease our connection in a very busy area outside of Starbucks I texted Bruce ‘I’m at the bottom of the escalators wearing a red dress and black jacket’. Bruce’s response ‘I’m at the bottom of the escalators wearing a blue suit’. For anyone attending any ICSC you can imagine how much I laughed when I looked up from my phone and saw before me a sea of guys in blue suits! Our relationship started with a giggle, and we continue to laugh most times we communicate. An appreciation of each other’s sense of humor provides such a strong basis to get through the fabulous and the incredibly tough parts on the journey of identifying and negotiating real estate. Especially in New York. I’d be amiss to say, it also gets you through some very long market visits when you’re spending hours/days in a car together.
Unfortunately for Bruce, whilst we started our real estate search in earnest in 2019, we were delayed from finalizing any deals until the portfolio purchase deal (the basis for our growth) was closed in Feb 2020. Upon closure, the gas pedal was hit again, to immediately be pulled back with the beginning of COVID and the hopeful expectation of more real estate availability and better prices to come. When the real estate world seemed to have settled again (with very little change to be honest) we reinvigorated our search and negotiations in Nov 2020.
For any broker that relies on deals to pay for their engagement, the amount of patience Bruce demonstrated during these periods of time was phenomenal. He continued to engage, he took the time to study the brand and the market, he provided us with insights on what he was learning and seeing, and then he was totally ready for us when we finally pulled the trigger again.
We now have 10 leases signed, another six coming up behind them and many more being added to our pipeline monthly against our initial focus on Pizza Hut. Further to that, we’ve expanded our portfolio to include 3 additional brands, with significant development agreements, and will rely on Bruce to help us achieve our goals. Bruce’s patience and tenacity have been well rewarded with a highly dedicated client and a path to a huge number of deals.
Bruce’s Hit Rates— Through the initial stages of working with any broker on a new brand there always needs to be a stage of education. At BDG we hold ourselves responsible to provide brokers with as much information as is available from the brand and our clients, for example, target consumers, building types, traffic needs, sales forecasts (when available), area prioritization, utility requirements, acceptable lease rates and important deal terms. Our desire to only build highly profitable units for our clients leads us to encourage the brand leaders to share everything they know, and we ensure it’s communicated to, and understood by, our broker partners. This part is reasonably simple. Especially when you like asking questions as much as we do.
The more challenging part is for brokers to ensure everything they bring forward meets those requirements and is the best available opportunity to be pursued. This is where Bruce truly excels. Having started focusing Bruce across NY, we quickly expanded his responsibilities to include NJ. Anyone familiar with the area (and its traffic) knows how vast a region this is. How can one person truly understand the markets and always be aware of available real estate? Bruce spends most of his time on the road searching and researching. The number of parking tickets he’s accumulated (and I’m sure paid) are testament to the reality of this. Bruce has never brought forward a site he hasn’t visited in person himself, often multiple times. This simply isn’t true of all brokers. Furthermore, Bruce will only present a site once he’s comfortable our brand can fit, can operate effectively AND can be profitable. As you can imagine, Bruce’s hit rates are very high in getting deals done for us.
The Follow Through— Identifying optimal sites is obviously critical in the journey to growth. It could be said a broker’s role is complete once that’s done. For Bruce, I’m not sure the role is ever complete. Bruce holds our hand all the way through lease negotiations and beyond. For each of our major clients we hold a weekly status call bringing together key members of the team – architects, engineers, construction teams, suppliers. We invited Bruce to join whenever he can, letting him know it wasn’t critical. Bruce attends the majority of these meetings, and the impact is substantial. I simply love these meetings – one of the best parts of the week. As we work through our pipeline, the team members share updates, work collaboratively to solve issues as they arise and hold each other accountable to keep moving forward. Whilst he could consider his role done, Bruce is there to answer any questions and share his perspective. More than that, he takes the time to listen to the dialogue, understand the challenges we’re facing, offers to engage with the landlord or broker as is necessary AND adjusts his thinking about future real estate to proactively avoid the same issues rising again when possible. Bruce continues to grow as a fabulous broker, and it’s been fascinating to watch.
So, whenever you can, as a broker, Always be Bruce, as a brand looking for growth, Find your Bruce!So, whenever you can, as a broker, always be Bruce. As a brand looking for growth, find your Bruce! — Clare
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