TEAMWORK: Partnerships net success

Kelly Domingo and Lori Ferrario of Colliers International's commercial land division agree that two heads are better than one.

The brokers, who started working as a team in March, said they offer their clients twice as much experience and twice as much knowledge, and are having twice as much fun and getting twice as much pleasure from their work.

"When you have two people, you have two sets of ears, two sets of eyes and two perspectives," said Ferrario, a vice president within the firm.

"We think very differently," Domingo said. "The final decision of the team is superior to our own decisions (and) the customer is the ultimate beneficiary."

Christina Roush, first vice president of CB Richard Ellis' private client group investment division, agreed that the team approach to brokering has advantages. Her team, which specializes in commercial real estate investments, includes two additional brokers and a marketing specialist.

"In this business, there's always room for a different opinion," Rousch said, adding that she often assumes the role of devil's advocate and can be "argumentative," which she finds beneficial in challenging situations.

Each member of the team generally concentrates on his or her area of expertise, such as creating property or financial analyses, marketing plans, writing offers or meeting with clients. This system improves work flow and prevents any one person from becoming bogged down.

According to Roush, her team works on about 20 assignments each year, and hopes to increase that by 10 this year. The transactions generally range from $5 million and $15 million.

Domingo and Ferrario have noticed a significant increase in the volume of projects they have been able to handle. They have annual gross sales of more than $20 million.

"We've been able to reach out to a different client base. It's like expanding your business 100 percent," Ferrario said.

Despite this, splitting duties can be a challenge as not having total control of a project and gaining another's trust require major adjustments.

"When I was younger, I thought I had to know it all ... be perfect in everything. I find it's not true," Domingo said. "I've learned to work smarter; Lori helped me with that. I take what I know and focus on it.

"One of the difficulties we all have is learning to communicate effectively with one another. We are very cognizant of the communication thing and know in a year or two it will be better."

"The benefits far exceed any downsides," Ferrario said.

As a result of their partnership, Domingo and Ferrario plan to expand their services into land assemblage and financial syndicates.

A lesser hurdle for all of the women to overcome is the perceived disadvantages they have as females in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

During Roush's 15 years in the industry, she has seen women make strides and become successful, but not as predominantly as in other industries such as banking.

"I don't know if women don't pursue careers (in commercial real estate) because they are unsure about the possibilities for career advancement or if they perceive it to be difficult," she said.

Although she admits that the commercial real estate industry is in general a man's world, Roush said her parents instilled in her that one's sex is immaterial as long as he or she is doing a good job.

"I was raised to believe that males and females are equally competent. These differences don't exist in my world," Roush said.

Domingo agreed.

"I feel a little immune to the whole male-female thing. I am as smart as anybody and handle my business professionally," she said.

Still, traditional gender roles remained a factor and influenced the women's decisions to enter the industry. They agreed the job's flexibility and lack of weekend work were particularly appealing.

Ferrario was a single mother with a young son when she entered the field.

"I chose to do real estate initially because of its flexible schedule. It was a creative outlet and the opportunity was there for financial security," she said. "But the perception that there is a lot of free time is absolutely incorrect."

Roush said she works doubly hard on weekdays, and that it's not uncommon to find her in bed at 11 p.m. watching the evening news while completing a team newsletter or other project.

"You become obsessed with doing a better job ... aiming at what else you can do to improve," Roush said.

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