Cash Flow Rules... You gotta smile when the hot new business book is Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Bossidy and Charan. "Execution is not just tactics. It is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company's strategy, its goals, and its culture." Sounds like the real estate industry may be ahead of the curve here. If a broker doesn't generate commission income, he or she is quickly out of a job. Likewise firms. No Enron-style phantom income in real estate.

On the other hand, service providers do need a strategy to grow revenues. So how? Frequently, a component of this strategy seems to be luring top producers from other firms. For example, Stephen Siegel, Chairman & CEO of Insignia/ESG, commented recently that Insignia/ESG had hired a "superstar" in order to grow faster "organically" (CPN, June 1, 2002). And the SF Business Times wrote that Newmark & Company had hired a person "with a reputation for being a 'cult leader,'" who led a raid "picking off" brokers from another firm (June 7, 2002). Holy cow, that's execution.

The "service" in service provider means people, and that's why it's hard for real estate service providers to develop brand equity. It's the people that make the difference. So executing a growth strategy means hiring the best. How do you do that? Commission splits? Research services? Technology tools? Send me your thoughts. I'll report back in a future Dispatch.

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--Peter Pike