{"id":1004777207,"date":"2025-11-06T04:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T12:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004777207"},"modified":"2026-02-10T22:48:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:48:30","slug":"sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/","title":{"rendered":"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"A<\/a>
Walter Robinson of Robinson Commercial Real Estate, Hanna Commercial Real Estate’s Michael Connor and Tripp Guinn of Tripp Commercial share their relationship-building tips at SIOR’s fall conference. Photo by Gabriel Frank<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

If there\u2019s one piece of advice that leaders in the commercial real estate brokerage industry have for their peers, it\u2019s to be authentic, both as a person and as a professional. Sure, it\u2019s important to have astute market knowledge, a sophisticated tech stack and a broad network, but it doesn\u2019t mean much if you can\u2019t stand out to prospective buyers or tenants amid a shifting commercial real estate industry outlook<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a recurring theme at the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors\u2019 2025 CREate 360 event, hosted in Louisville, Ky. In a world where the first conversation that a potential tenant has about a property is often with a chatbot, brokers who can not only carve out niche areas of expertise, but distinct personalities will be the first to succeed in an increasingly uncertain leasing environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a strong foundation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For some brokers, a simple shift in how one goes about procuring tenants can go a long way when it comes to building both long-term client relationships and stable deal flows. In other words, be active, not passive. \u201cI put a lot of horsepower behind knowing who I want to go after and who I want to present to,\u201d detailed Michael Connor, the Pittsburgh office market leader at Hannah Commercial Real Estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But leases won\u2019t simply come by way of casting a catch-all net of outreach for tenants; Connor advises brokers to play to their sector and market-specific strengths. \u201c(You) can\u2019t do life science as well as you do warehouse distribution or energy,\u201d said Connor, whose tenants are primarily in the medical office, education and tech sectors. \u201cThe more you understand what makes them tick and their business strategies, the more you will evolve as a professional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> A Better Way to Analyze Job Market Risk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

This means going above and beyond in terms of understanding the specific dynamics of a given market, from the AI-driven leasing boom in San Francisco<\/a> to why Manhattan\u2019s space has made such a strong foot traffic recovery<\/a>. Would-be tenants may see more value in a knowledgeable broker than the facts themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quality over quantity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Potentially, fewer, yet more meaningful relationships may be the way to go for brokers, given the volatility that exists in the office leasing landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leveraging partnerships with tenant representatives, lenders, institutional investors and landlords to keep leases long and stable goes a long way to eliminating some of this uncertainty. \u201cI do spend extra time on the whole process. It\u2019s much easier, less expensive and a lot more fun to keep a client than get a new one,\u201d noted Walter Robinson, principal at Miami-based Robinson Commercial Real Estate \u201cWe have a recurring (source of) revenue; something is going to happen, be it a sublease, a renewal or relocation that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An authentic identity as a broker can exist outside the property, as well. Robinson sees the role of brokers as those of community builders, using their interpersonal skills to not only enhance their professional networks, but improve school boards and other community organizations. \u201cJoin the (community) boards with true intent; not for business, but because it\u2019s something you believe in, are passionate about and will make the world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the most distinct identity as a broker comes from setting oneself apart as a person. \u201cYou have to give someone something that they can look at; accentuate your strengths because you\u2019re not in the room, or defend yourself because you\u2019re not in the room,\u201d Connor advised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a contact sport, and we will not change the effectiveness of human interaction,\u201d Robinson concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panelists at the conference shared their top relationship-building tips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3012,"featured_media":1004777208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21784,21808,21748,21754,21742,21747],"tags":[35592,52694,33187,52693],"class_list":["post-1004777207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brokerage","category-featured","category-industrial","category-medical-office","category-latest","category-office","tag-hanna-commercial-real-estate","tag-robinson-commercial-real-estate","tag-sior","tag-tripp-commercial"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Authenticity was a recurring theme at the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors\u2019 2025 CREate 360 event, hosted in Louisville, Ky.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Authenticity was a recurring theme at the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors\u2019 2025 CREate 360 event, hosted in Louisville, Ky.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-06T12:26:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T06:48:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4032\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gabriel Frank\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/\",\"name\":\"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T12:26:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-11T06:48:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c\"},\"description\":\"Authenticity was a recurring theme at the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors\u2019 2025 CREate 360 event, hosted in Louisville, Ky.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg\",\"width\":4032,\"height\":3024,\"caption\":\"A photo of Walter Robinson of Robinson Commercial Real Estate, Hanna Commercial Real Estate's Michael Connor and Tripp Guinn of Tripp Commercial sharing their relationship-building tips at SIOR's fall conference.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Property Executive\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c\",\"name\":\"Gabriel Frank\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90\",\"caption\":\"Gabriel Frank\"},\"description\":\"Gabriel Frank is a Senior Associate Editor with Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive. He has a background in journalism, and is the editor of MHN's Daily and Weekly newsletters. He lives in New York City.\",\"birthDate\":\"2000-05-11\",\"gender\":\"Male\",\"jobTitle\":\"Editor\",\"worksFor\":\"Yardi Systems\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/gabriel-frank\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World - Commercial Property Executive","description":"Authenticity was a recurring theme at the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors\u2019 2025 CREate 360 event, hosted in Louisville, Ky.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World","og_description":"Authenticity was a recurring theme at the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors\u2019 2025 CREate 360 event, hosted in Louisville, Ky.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/","og_site_name":"Commercial Property Executive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive","article_published_time":"2025-11-06T12:26:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-11T06:48:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":4032,"height":3024,"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gabriel Frank","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cpexecutive","twitter_site":"@cpexecutive","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/","name":"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World - Commercial Property Executive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-06T12:26:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-11T06:48:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c"},"description":"Authenticity was a recurring theme at the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors\u2019 2025 CREate 360 event, hosted in Louisville, Ky.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg","width":4032,"height":3024,"caption":"A photo of Walter Robinson of Robinson Commercial Real Estate, Hanna Commercial Real Estate's Michael Connor and Tripp Guinn of Tripp Commercial sharing their relationship-building tips at SIOR's fall conference."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/sior-special-report-brokers-embrace-authenticity-in-an-automated-world\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SIOR Special Report: Brokers Embrace Authenticity in an Automated World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/","name":"Commercial Property Executive","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c","name":"Gabriel Frank","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90","caption":"Gabriel Frank"},"description":"Gabriel Frank is a Senior Associate Editor with Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive. He has a background in journalism, and is the editor of MHN's Daily and Weekly newsletters. He lives in New York City.","birthDate":"2000-05-11","gender":"Male","jobTitle":"Editor","worksFor":"Yardi Systems","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/gabriel-frank\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/11\/SIOR-rotated.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004777207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3012"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004777207"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004777207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004787289,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004777207\/revisions\/1004787289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004777208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004777207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004777207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004777207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}