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When Matt Drews came to Michael Saunders & Co. in August 2015 to run its commercial division, he brought with him some new ideas.
One of his first moves was to implement a new mentoring program where he hires young, inexperienced agents to team with senior brokers. And less than two months after he took over, he had conversations to launch a tenant representation team to help national businesses expand into the Gulf Coast.
The team's public launch was May 19 — just before the International Council of Shopping Centers conference in Las Vegas. Drews and three team members hit Vegas, to make the networking rounds.
Drews' plan is to help businesses with site selection and bring companies to areas that will help drive economic development, including downtown Sarasota, south Venice and University Parkway, among others. “All of those are hubs of strong retail and services businesses in our market,” he tells Coffee Talk. “We can see the growth in our market, and we just happen to have agents with expertise on the other end, being retail real estate.”
The MS&C tenant representation team has so far reached agreements with six clients to help with their expansion, Drews says. Moving through 2016, Drews doesn't have a specific target client growth goal but expects that figure to grow as the team proves itself. “Word travels fast in this industry,” he says. “Your clients can be your best salespeople.”
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