AN INTERVIEW WITH THE LEASE COACH ANSWERING FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Dale, when did you start your career in commercial real estate?
Originally I was recruited by a shopping center developer to lease some of their properties. I was later approached by another developer to manage their flagship shopping center. Beyond that I worked as an in-house leasing rep for several Landlords and also worked as a real estate agent.
What was your inspiration for creating The Lease Coach?
In 1993, I realized the Landlord did not need help. I recognized that it was Tenants who needed my help. When I worked for Landlords, Tenants were coming into my office, saying the wrong things and leaving so much on the negotiating table. Tenants were making so many leasing mistakes that it was easy to see I was on the wrong side of the table, that there was a bigger and more rewarding opportunity working for the underdog Tenant.
Don’t Tenants use real estate agents & attorneys to help them with leases?
Many do, and some regret it. The Lease Coach has deliberately and strategically positioned itself between the role played by a real estate agent and the role of an attorney. As a Lease Consultant I do not work for Landlords and do not collect any commissions. Consider that for the most part, real estate agents may say that they’re working for the Tenant, but in fact they’re receiving a commission, a fairly large commission from the Landlord to get the Landlord the best deal.
An attorney, is typically more focused on the legalize of the lease document and I’ve learned over 30 years that the legality of the lease is rarely in question. We’re not challenging whether the lease agreement is legal, we’re negotiating the business terms of the lease agreement. The Lease Coach created and pioneered a new market, consulting and negotiating exclusively for Tenants on a fee basis.
What services do Tenants hire The Lease Coach for and how much money can you really save them?
Coaching, mentoring, negotiating leases and document reviews are the primary services that Tenants hire us for. Our goal is to save the Tenant 5 to 10 times our fee. Therefore there is a substantial value added benefit for the Tenant. If a Tenant pays me $5000 and I negotiate for 6 months of free rent, a $100K Tenant allowance and a lower rental rate, the Tenant comes out on the winning end of the service we just provided. The return on investment for the Tenant is tremendous. Just read the many testimonials from our clients stating almost in disbelief what we did for them.
Aside from negotiating the rent what else does The Lease Coach do for Tenants?
50% of our focus is on the business or financial terms of the lease agreement. But much of a Lease Consultant’s role is to deal with the non-financial clauses in the lease document, explaining to the Tenant their obligations. The standard Landlord lease agreement is very much slanted in the Landlord’s favor, and we level the playing field. Strategizing and amending clauses, advising tenants on why one location may be superior to another and dealing with situational issues such as when an HVAC system fails and who is going to pay for its replacement.
When a business owner is selling a business, often they will hire us to negotiate the Lease Assignment or an extension of the Lease Term related to that transaction that facilitates the sale of the business.
For first time startup Tenants, the entire leasing process is unknown territory for them. They will frequently hire me to review their LOI and other lease documents, give them advice and guidance and provide that piece of mind they need before signing the lease.
How much does the Lease Coach charge Tenants and how are you paid?
Isn’t commercial real estate leasing a commission driven industry?
For the Tenant who wants professional help in their corner its often frustrating to rely on an agent for advice and guidance when the Tenant knows the Landlord is paying the agent a commission. Many Tenants think it’s a conflict of interest.
The Lease Coach does not accept commissions from Landlords nor do we work on a commission or contingency basis. We are professional Lease Consultants and we work for professional fees, like an accountant, architect or attorney. The Lease Coach offers project packages at preset project fees so Tenants can get the help they need. Over half of our clients prepay us in full, in advance before we start to work. The remainder of our Tenant clients would pay us over a period of months as the work is completed. So it is not commission, nor contingency driven. We are fee for service consultants, and Tenants really appreciate that.
How many clients do you take on each month?
Personally I would take on between 3 to 5 new clients each month, depending on the scope of their project. One client may need site selection so I have to go to their area and spend time looking for locations. Others may simply want a document reviewed or a couple of hours of one on one phone advice. The leasing process and the negotiation of a lease deal is not an urgent or all encompassing project, so its relatively easy to manage many active clients at the same time. The Lease Consultant controls the speed and pace of the deal making process so working part time or full time is the choice of each consultant. At any given time, I have 25 – 35 ongoing active projects.
Do Tenants hire the Lease Coach more than once? Is there repeat and referral business?
Yes both repeat and referral business is strong for the Lease Coach. Some of our multi-unit Tenant clients have hired us over 10 times for various lease projects. A single location Tenant might hire us every five years. The Lease Coach has been in business over 27 years, so a single location Tenant may have hired us 4 times over the last twenty years (for their first lease deal and every five years thereafter when their lease comes up for renewal)
Not only do Tenant clients use us multiple times but they refer other Tenants in their building or property or in their franchise system to us. Referrals come naturally and organically from our clients. They know how much help we gave them, how much money we saved them – and they want their neighbor or colleague to benefit as well.
Why have you decided to train business brokers to do lease consulting work?
The demand from Tenants for help is so strong that the Lease Coach is barely making a ripple in the marketplace. Approximately 10 million business owners lease commercial, retail, office or shopping mall space across America and we can’t help them all. I want to train other professionals who can help the Tenants that I can’t reach.
Is this a franchise system or business opportunity, do I get to use The Lease Coach name?
No this is not a franchise or a business opportunity. Lease Consulting is a service that can be added to your current business. Think of your current business as if it were a steak house restaurant. You decide to add seafood to the menu to increase revenues. You already have a kitchen, staff, customers and all the other important components. So it's not that costly to add seafood – or in this case, Lease Consulting to your menu.
This is a training course, a blueprint and a roadmap of what I do as The Lease Coach.
The Lease Coach is a registered trademark and not offered for use in this training course.
Who was this Bootcamp created for?
I’ve created this Bootcamp primarily for business brokers and franchise brokers. Business brokers already have an established business and work with business owners on a daily basis, helping them to sell or buy a business. Adding Lease Consulting to the services you provide would be a very natural addition to complement what you are doing now.
Why is this a good time to get started offering Lease Consulting services?
The COVID pandemic has contributed to an increase in demand from Tenants who need help with their Landlords and their leases. Many Tenants can no longer afford to pay the same rents they agreed to. Lease renewals are coming up and Tenants need help negotiating those renewals and help dealing with their Landlords. The Lease Coach has been busy all along, but the demand from Tenants is surging right now during the pandemic as Tenants look for and reach out for professional help on their leases. This need will last for many years as market rents fall and rise based on fluctuating real estate inventory.
Once I take the training bootcamp course how will I begin to find Tenant clients and is there much selling involved?
The bootcamp training course is designed as a quick-start program so you can get started right away. I will be showing you the marketing strategies that have worked for me (and steering you away from ways that don’t work as well).
From a marketing perspective, we do webinars and live seminars at trade shows. We market in various publications and get the word out so that Tenants become aware that there is a Lease Consultant professional in their area.
Typically once a Tenant finds out about The Lease Coach, they reach out to us and we offer them a free 30 minute phone consult during which time they would tell us their situation. At the Lease Coach we use consultative selling. We would explain our services and often end up getting hired at some level to help them.
Can I do Lease Consulting work part time?
Yes, but it’s not so much a decision of working part or full time. You get to choose how many clients you’re going to take on. You get to choose what you want to do. If you don’t like doing site selection, you don’t have to do that. If you like working on lease documents and dismantling the lease clauses and putting them back together with redline amendments, you can do more of that work. You get to choose the pace that you work at by the number of clients you take on. You also get to choose how much you charge these Tenants – you set your own fees based off guidelines I will show you during the Bootcamp training program.
How do I know there are Tenants in my area that need help with their leases?
Since 1993, the Lease Coach has worked with over 3000 commercial Tenants across North America from Florida to Alaska, to Rhode Island to California and New York. Many large Landlords have commercial properties right across the country. Most lease agreements are fairly boilerplate and similar. Whether it’s a restaurant owner in Texas, a retail Tenant in New Jersey or a franchise Tenant in Virginia they’re basically signing leases facing the same obstacles and difficulties that any Tenant faces in any other part of the country.
I know quite a bit about commercial leases already, why can’t I just read your book and copy your system without taking the bootcamp training course?
I expect you to read my book (more than once) and I’m going to send all enrollees in the Bootcamp a complimentary copy. My FOR DUMMIES book focuses on lease negotiating strategies and tactics for the Tenant which is valuable knowledge to acquire. However, the Lease Consulting Bootcamp course focuses on how to attract and acquire Tenant clients and how to monetize lease consulting services.
The course will show you how to attract new Tenant clients, and dramatically shorten your learning curve as you become more familiar with offering lease consulting and coaching services. The average project fee is $6,500. The investment for this course is less than half of that amount. So you will earn the entire course fee back on your first client. Re-inventing the wheel is costly in time and money – and not necessary when you can learn what you need from this bootcamp.
How soon after taking the Bootcamp Training Course can I get started consulting and making money?
Immediately after the course is completed you should approach your existing clients, asking them if they want help with their leases. You will now have training in lease consulting and can scale up from this point. The faster you implement the marketing methods I show you, the faster Tenants will discover you and hire you. Remember Tenants pay us in advance or over time. If a Tenant hires you on Tuesday you get paid on Tuesday. To me, being paid upfront in advance by my clients is much better than chasing a commission or contingency fee.
What is your average client acquisition cost and is it going to cost me a lot of money to get started once I take the course?
The Lease Coach training Bootcamp anticipates that you are already operating as a business broker or franchise broker. What you’ll be doing is adding lease consulting to the services you already provide. Most of you will already have a website, business cards and contacts that you can market to.
On average our client acquisition cost is less than 10% of the fee that the Tenant pays us. With a $5000 client, we may have invested $300 – $500 dollars to acquire that client through marketing.
Is Lease Consulting really that simple?
No, it’s a lot of work becoming good at the craft. I’m not The Lease Coach because I wrote a FOR DUMMIES book on this subject. I was able to write a How-To book because I did the work. And as a result my company earned millions of dollars doing what we love and helping Tenants all across America.
