The ‘Best’ Broker No Longer Automatically Wins

Last week, I received calls from two property owners I had never met before. One assignment is a $15 million air rights sale. The other is a $40 million to $50 million development site. Neither owner came through a referral. Neither came through another broker. Neither came through a networking event, a conference, a direct mail piece, or any of the traditional business development channels that have fueled my career for the last 42 years. 

They found me because of content. In fact, one of the owners said something that perfectly captured the moment we are living in today: “Bob, ChatGPT loves you.” 

I laughed when he said it, but his comment highlighted one of the most significant shifts taking place in business right now. For decades, the formula for success was relatively simple. Become great at what you do. Build relationships. Create a reputation for expertise and integrity. Deliver results. If you did those things consistently enough, business would follow. That formula still works, but there is now an additional requirement: People need to be able to find you.

Historically, reputation traveled primarily through word of mouth. One client referred another. One attorney recommended a broker. One accountant introduced a property owner. One developer suggested a lender or consultant. Those referrals still happen every day, and they always will. Relationships remain the foundation of business. However, a new participant has entered the conversation: Artificial intelligence. 

Increasingly, property owners are asking questions such as: Who is the best broker for a development site in New York City? Who specializes in vacant buildings? Who understands air rights? What broker knows the most about zoning? Who has sold the most development sites?  Who should I trust to maximize the value of my property? 

More and more often, the answers are not coming from a friend or colleague. They are coming from Google, ChatGPT, PerplexityAI, search engines, podcasts, articles, videos, interviews, social media platforms, and every other piece of information that exists across the internet. In other words, they are coming from your digital footprint.

Over the last two years, my firm, BKREA, has invested heavily in creating that footprint. We have produced research reports, market studies, databases, articles, videos, podcasts, white papers, testimonials, case studies and proprietary information tools. We have focused on search engine optimization (SEO), ensuring that our content can be found through traditional search. 

More recently, we have focused on AEO, or Answer Engine Optimization, which is the process of making sure that AI systems can understand, access and reference authoritative information. 

Some people dismiss these efforts because they view social media as a popularity contest. They think it is about followers, likes, impressions or vanity metrics. I believe that completely misses the point. The value is not in the likes. The value is not in the followers. The value is not in the views. The value is in being discovered by the right person at the exact moment they need your expertise. 

When a property owner decides to sell a development site, they are not looking for entertainment. They are looking for answers. They are looking for expertise. They are looking for confidence. The question is whether you are visible when they begin that search.

What I find most fascinating about the two owners who called me this week is that neither knew me personally, not even by reputation. Yet, by the time they picked up the phone, before they called me, they felt like they did. They had watched videos. They had read articles. They had listened to interviews. They had reviewed our research. They had examined our track record.

They had consumed enough content to understand who I was, what I knew, and what I had accomplished. Long before our first conversation, much of the credibility-building process had already occurred. The sales process had begun before the phone ever rang. Think about that for a moment. For decades, the first meeting was often where credibility was established. Today, credibility is increasingly established before the first meeting ever takes place.

This is why I believe many organizations are making a significant mistake when they restrict the ability of their professionals to create content, build personal brands, and establish thought leadership. The world has changed. Expertise that cannot be found is becoming increasingly invisible. The best broker no longer automatically wins. 

The best-known broker often gets the first call. When you remove the individual from the mix, and just promote “BigCo,” will the would-be client reach out to BigCo, potentially getting caught in a mechanical answering setup and a “search by name” system without even knowing whose name to punch in? Or will they instead go directly to an easy-to-find individual?

That first call creates the opportunity to demonstrate expertise, build trust and ultimately earn the assignment. In many ways, the internet has become the largest referral network in the world, and AI is accelerating that trend. For years, business cards served as our professional identity. They told people who we were and what we did. Today, your digital footprint has become your business card. Every article, every interview, every podcast, every video, every testimonial, every research report, every market study and every social media post becomes another signal that tells the market who you are when you are not in the room.

These two calls represent deals Nos. 5 and 6 that have come directly from owners who told me they asked AI who they should use. I am confident they will not be the last. In fact, I expect this trend to accelerate. 

The lesson is simple. If people do not know what you know, your expertise has limited value. If people cannot find what you know, your expertise has even less value. But when expertise, reputation, content, technology and visibility all work together, something remarkable happens. Opportunities start finding you. In the age of AI, that may become one of the most powerful competitive advantages a professional can possess.

Robert Knakal is founder, chairman and CEO of BK Real Estate Advisors.