Of course not! However, getting to know the people who you might engage BEFORE you interview them can play an important role in your decision-making and selection process.

When engaging real estate service providers, you’re not purchasing a product that you can simply return for a refund if you’re dissatisfied. If you’re unhappy with the service you receive from a real estate professional, unwinding that relationship and starting over with another service provider can be a challenging effort. Attempting such a change in the middle of an important or complex real estate project can be especially difficult…and, potentially costly!

So, must you have lunch with every real estate professional who calls you? Of course not! Should you get to know the people you have elected to interview?

By spending time with your potential future service providers you may also be able to determine if they would be a good fit for you, and for the personalities and cultures that exist within your company. “But I’m too busy to socialize with legions of real estate people!” you might say. While I’m certain that this is true, ask yourself these questions:

• How important is your real estate project(s) to your company’s future, and to yours?
  
• If your project were to fail, would you be comfortable saying that you did not interview the people who
  provided the service, but that you only investigated their company?

For both the service provider and the service recipient,
relationships are a very important component of any professional service. This is especially true in extensive and complex projects such as those involving real estate.

Don’t wait until the service agreement is executed to begin building relationships with your service providers. Set in motion your own process of deciding who your company should interview.

Find out more by reading the entire text of The CFO’s Guide: To Hiring the "Right" Real Estate Service Provider when it’s published.

Andrew B. Zezas, SIOR, is Relationship Manager, Strategist, and President & CEO of Real Estate Strategies Corporation, Publisher of "Business, Profits and Strategy", a monthly online publication read by thousands of business, financial, and real estate executives nationally, and, is the author of two new real estate books, The CFO's Guide to Understanding Corporate Real Estate Transactions and The CFO's Guide to Hiring the "Right" Real Estate Service Provider, both of which will be available shortly at www.thecfosguide.com.

Mr. Zezas is well-known for his ease and informative style of public speaking, and has given talks, presentations, and has lead educational programs for business, professional, government, and trade associations, including the Building Owners and Managers Association, American Management Association, the U.S. Postal Service, RealComm, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), and others. Andrew is National Chairman of the SIOR Tenant Representation Specialty Practice Board, and is a licensed real estate instructor in Texas and Indiana. He can be reached at 908 245 5999 or via email.

Real Estate Strategies Corporation, located in Kenilworth, New Jersey, and serving clients throughout the country, helps companies create and execute Business DRIVEN Real Estate Solutions...and Opportunities, faster and with less risk. Visit www.realstrat.com.

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