Effective with the February 2015 meeting, Ted Harris has stepped down as co-director of SFOBA. His large shoes will be filled by Gus Martinez of KW Commercial. Joanne Diaz will remain in her role of co-director.

Who is Gus Martinez? 

Glad you asked !

GUS MARTINEZ KW Commercial Managing Director

Gus Martinez is a four year veteran member of KW Commercial based out of Pembroke Pines and Plantation Florida. He continues to be one of KW Commercials top-producing agents. This year alone The Martinez Team has closed more than 20 commercial transactions, totaling more than $6 million in commercial volume, and with more transactions in the pipeline. The Martinez Team has worked with several high-profile clients such as Gold’s Gym, Verizon Wireless and Velocity Commercial Capital, just to name a few. Gus’s team has completed more than 500 requirements in excess of 2 million square feet.

Read the interview with Gus to learn what the Martinez Team is doing to stay ahead of the competition

How long have you been in the CRE brokerage business?

Since 2002, when I sold my three health clubs in South Florida.

What asset types are you working with?

I concentrate on office and industrial. My team members handle most types of assets on either listings or leases.

What do you use for market data?
I use CoStar mainly, but refer to IMAPP and LoopNet too.

Anything unique about your presentation or proposal process?

I always present my listing prospects in a two-step process. I never go to my first appointment with a listing agreement in hand . This way I can see and understand what positives and negatives affect the prope rty. I believe it can’t be described over the phone.

What team, if any, are you working with?

I have worked with res-com agents here at KW before and it usually doesn’t work out. Now that new agents on my team are required to do only commercial, they are better engaged and focused on producing and won’t get the urge to “fall back” into residential. I have two tenant representatives that are constantly prospecting new or existing tenants. All my team members secure a tenant representation agreement before they begin to show any properties.

How do you interact with Keller Williams residential agents?

I am the managing director for the Pembroke Pines and Plantation market centers. I invest my time in training residential agents on how to refer potential clients to the commercial department and keep their focus on what they do best, rather than trying to learn a new part of real estate just because they think they may be able to close a deal.

How do you leverage your business? 

I work closely with my team and try to concentrate on listings, so I can then send the tenant leads to my agents and keep one or both sides of the transaction within the Martinez Team.

What is your ONE Thing?

My ONE Thing is the “belly-to-belly” sales technique. If I get in front of a prospect , I have an 80 percent chance of closing them. So I concentrate my efforts on the live appointment.

Do you do any email marketing?

Yes, we do different types of email marketing as well as online networking on numerous social networking sites. One of my team members is a graphic designer and was hired specifically for that reason. We design custom listing brochures and marketing material that we email to other agents, prior clients and new business contacts on a regular basis, as well as continually building our contact lists in the professional field day by day. Our social networking takes place on the major networking sites such as Linkedln, Twitter, ActiveRain and Facebook. It’s a great way to meet future business contacts while continuing relationships with past clients.