PowerPoint and Personality... Tuesday's Dispatch, Who Likes Competing in 'Beauty Contests'? (Feb 1), generated some great reader feedback on the value of "bake-offs" in selecting agents for real estate assignments.

Todd Clarke at NM Apartments, Inc. in Albuquerque, NM, writes. "We love beauty contests. Before we start, we do an assessment of what motivates the client, a SWOT analysis [strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats] on ourselves and our competition. We score us vs. the competition (as though we were the client), and we pull together a 100+ page package and analysis to demonstrate to the client how fast we can move on a deal... and to truly understand the deal inside and out, as though we were going to buy it."

Mark Ritchie with Ritchie Commercial in San Jose, CA, writes. "I have a cynical principal: 'the weight of proposal demanded is inversely proportional to the likelihood of getting the business.' ... We do win business in beauty contests (lately hitting it high!). But I try to get a read on how many are being solicited. If it's more than two or three, we might let it ride. I also try to refuse when there is not going to be a face-to-face meeting. And watch out for the Power Point. It's your eyes they need to see, not a screen."

Likewise, Jim Tucker with Sperry Van Ness in Williamsburg, VA, says that his firm "has developed a web-deployed application to input all project information and instantly access rent and sales comps, mapping, aerials and all other collateral information necessary to provide a complete financial analysis and produce a marketing strategy for an investment property in much less than a full day. All of the information can be electronically sent as a PDF file (Acrobat) to the client or to a local printer for reproduction and binding, arriving by FedEx the next morning. ... This process also produces a property web site with a unique URL that is 'live' the moment the client signs the listing."

Kent Goodwin with GIC Real Estate in New York City writes about the importance of controlling the contest. So after listening to formal presentations recently, "We told the agent that we wanted to see him in action. We provided him with a scenario whereby we would act as a prospective tenant. We would all go to a vacant space in our building. He would conduct the tour and respond as best he could to our questions. We peppered him with all of the difficult questions we could muster, pressing him for commitments to unreasonable concessions and financial terms, and technical questions about the building and space. We were the classic difficult, pushy, prospective tenant clobbering the landlord in a soft market." And one of the three agents clearly performed better than the others. So he got the job!

Spread the Word... Many thanks to this week's sponsor, RealCapitalMarkets, which offers online demonstrations of its Secure Virtual DealRoom. If you would like to tell Dispatch readers about your services, send e-mail or call me at 415-461-4703.

--Peter Pike