Universal Hosts 2nd Regional Power Breakfast (July 2011)

From the Commercial Appeal:


About a dozen years ago, concerns about his approaching retirement led Circuit Court Judge George Brown Jr. to pursue a new career.
Wanting to provide a lasting financial legacy for his family, Brown decided becoming a small business owner would serve him -- and them -- well.
"It wasn't that I had a business degree or any experience, but I wanted to leave something behind and the truth is, you can't leave your family a judgeship in your will," Brown said. "So I put together a good team, we bought an existing business and today we're doing OK."
In fact, Brown is doing better than OK. After purchasing Memphis Chemical & Janitorial Supply Company in 2000, Brown worked part time with the business until he retired from the bench in 2005. Since then, he's taken the company from yearly sales of around $500,000 when he bought it to more than $7 million in annual sales today.

He shared some of the lessons he's learned during "Keys To The C-Suite: Competitive Strategies for Winning Corporate Contracts" at the University Club on Friday. The event was sponsored by the Universal Commercial real estate company as part of its regional power breakfast series.
Joining Brown at the event, which attracted more than 100 business and community leaders, was retired FedEx vice president Mary McDaniel. In addition to putting together a solid business team, Brown advised entrepreneurs to develop strategic alliances with other small business owners and maintain strong relationships with bankers and financial advisers. And be sure to fully understand corporate culture before trying to secure big business contracts, Brown added. "The bottom line is that corporations are in the business of making money, they're not charitable organizations," Brown said. "That means you don't need to go in there saying that you're black and proud or owned by a woman or that you've been discriminated against. Go in with a value-added proposition that'll help a company save money and that will get you the account."

McDaniel, who spent three decades at FedEx, agreed. "Never in my many years at FedEx did I ever see anyone get a contract who came in simply presenting themselves as minority or female-owned," McDaniel said. "If that's all you've got going for you, it's not enough. You've got to be the best at what you do and offer a better service or product than your competition."
There are no shortcuts to business success, the two agreed, but the outlook will be brighter and the possibilities greater for those who are willing to work hard and be involved in their communities.
And that's a message that City Council member and Memphis City Schools math teacher Edmund Ford Jr. said he tries to impress upon young people.


"At the end of the day, you have to make sure you're the best at what you do in order to compete successfully, whether it's in Memphis or nationally or even internationally," Ford said. "I tell my students at Central High School that their world is not finite and confined to a single neighborhood. There are a lot of opportunities out there, but you've got to be prepared to capitalize on them when they arise."

-- James Dowd: (901) 529-2737

Regional MBE Power Breakfast
What: Forum focusing on banking and access to capital for minority and women-owned businesses
When: 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 5
Where: University Club, 1346 Central
Cost: $15
Details: Call (901) 414-3315, ext. 2

Donnell Cobbins, Jr. Profiled in Memphis Business Journal Opinion Survey

Universal Commercial VP, Donnell Cobbins, Jr., was profiled recently among four local business professionals, seeking insight on the challenges MBEs face when starting their businesses.

Universal Profiled in Memphis Daily News

Universal Commercial President, Darrell Cobbins, was quoted in an article recently in the Memphis Daily News discussing how smaller/emerging commercial real estate firms are navigating during these tough economic times.

Small Firms Find Footing In Competitive CRE Market
JEFF IRELAND
Darrell Cobbins got started in commercial real estate in June 2001, three months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks wreaked havoc on the economy.

And Cobbins started his own company, Universal Commercial Real Estate LLC, four years ago, coincidentally right before another downturn in the economy.

As the owner of a small real estate firm, he learned how to battle larger, nationally known competitors in a depressed market.

“What it taught me then is that you sort of have to bear down and find some of your traditional bread-and-butter-type deals, but also what I call alternative or non-traditional real estate deals,” he said.

Cobbins, whose company recently helped a nonprofit organization with a land deal, said he is always on the lookout for deals that larger firms may ignore.

“For the company, you have to think about getting some of the corporate and midsize deals, but some of them you’re no going to get,” said Cobbins, whose firm recently completed a deal with FedEx. “I think you have to approach it a little bit differently. There’s overhead and expense for large companies that smaller ones don’t have. I think in times like these it’s a good thing that we have the ability to be flexible and creative, which may be harder for a larger company.”

Cobbins is hardly the city’s only sole CRE practitioner dealing with the challenges of competing against the big boys.

Sam Zalowitz is the president and owner of Zalowitz Commercial Realty in Memphis.

Like most everybody else in the real estate game, his company has taken some financial hits the last few years.

With an increased unemployment rate, office space value has dropped. Retail centers are leasing less space and looking for rent reductions.

Smaller companies like Zalowitz Commercial are affected more dramatically financially than larger national firms when there’s less money coming in.

“I noticed a change late last year,” Zalowitz said. “There are a number of shopping centers, once they revert to an institutional owner, the institutional owners are going with larger firms instead of individual brokers because of contracts on a national or regional basis, which automatically terminates some listings on shopping centers that we’ve had.”

Zalowitz said he gets by thanks to referrals coming from clients he has worked with for years, but it isn’t easy.

He works with larger firms on some deals, but still believes there’s value in tenants and landlords utilizing what small firms bring to the table.

“The national company agents aren’t as knowledgeable,” Zalowitz said. “When it comes to leases on behalf of the landlord, they’re more anxious to just make the deal than to make it right for both the tenant and the landlord long term. They’re into numbers. They’re not into people.”

Rent reductions, Zalowitz said, can be particularly damaging to a small firm.

“It impacts you financially as much as it does the landlords because, while the national firms want to get a cash out commission, individual brokers, and I may be a dying breed, take a lot of their commission over time.”

Collierville-based Hart Properties Group LLC is another example of a small firm trying to compete against larger firms in a depressed market.

Sherri Beutelschies, president of Hart Properties, said the majority of her clients are small-business people.

“And small-business people are still being affected by the down economy,” Beutelschies said. “They’re not seeing the growth that large corporate America is starting to see and talk about.”

While things are nowhere near what they used to be, she has seen some signs of improvement. The last six months or so, she said, she has received more inquiries from potential clients.

Hart Properties manages approximately 1 million square feet of property and has been in business since 1998.

“I’m optimistic that it’s going to get better,” Beutelschies said. “But I think when it gets better it’s going to look different than it did before. We’ll have to get used to what the new good is, if you know what I mean.”

She said her company has been forced to change its business plan and marketing strategies to deal with what clients’ new expectations are.

“Those who are adjusting are surviving,” she said. “Those who aren’t are going away.”

Cobbins said he believes that although times are tough for the little guys, there are deals to be made.

“It may not be the household-name transaction,” he said, “but there are still people out there who need real estate expertise and assistance.”