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Zeckendorf was a master at deal making

One of his secrets?

His presentation of each deal:

After studying his deal making skills, it is clear:

His secret sauce was his ability to sell a vision with his pitch

Lesson: Nail your pitch to close more deals

BetterPitch is just the group to help

Creating beautifully designed professional pitch decks, BetterPitch enables you to focus on your business while they curate the perfect pitch deck

With that, here are 11 powerful lessons from Zeckendorf

Lesson 1: Know Your Worth

Zeckendorf’s first job in real estate was leasing a half vacant office building his uncle acquired

Zeckendorf leased all but 2 spaces

His uncle didn’t congratulate him, but asked him when the last 2 would be rented

This angered him

Zeckendorf did the math and realized an outside broker would have made $25,000 to lease the building

Zeckendorf made $40 / week

The next day he told his uncle he was done working for him

Lesson 2: The Hawaiian Technique

Zeckendorf observed investment bankers had a much easier job of financing acquisitions through various financial instruments (bonds, preferred shares, common stock)

While fishing on a beach in Hawaii, he conceptualized a new way to finance real estate

He would break out the real estate acquisiton into the various components (ground leasehold, fee position, operating leasehold, residual position) and seperately finance each piece

Zeckendorf realized breaking the various components into different parts yielded more value than as a whole

Lesson 3: Work With the Best Talent

I.M. Pei was the primary architect Zeckendorf worked with

At this time, it was not normal for an architect to work directly with a developer

They turned that theme on its head

Zeckendorf joked with bankers:

“Our overhead is almost like the Bank of America. You have to have the right type of manpower. That’s how you get these buildings”

Lesson 4: Choose Your Deals Wisely

Zeckendorf, admittedly, did most deals that came to him

But it ultimately led to his demise

Lesson: even if it you think a deal works at the “right price”, some deals are just bad deals

Be selective and stick to your core fundamentals

Lesson 5: Sales Technique

If a man comes in to sell you something, turn on lights with a blue tint

If you want to sell something to someone else, turn on lights with a rosy tint

If things are looking dull, put on a bright light

If a man is a real mope, and doesn’t seem to warm up, I try to get him to take a drink

Spoken like a true salesman, Zeckendorf

Lesson 6: Save Money

After his first closing, he made a commission of $8,000 - quite a large amount of money at the time

He decided he must take a European vacation and stay in the nicest hotels with private transport everywhere

He also traded on margin in the stock market while he was overseas (once earning $4,000 on a day trade)

This was just the beginning of his frivolous spending habits, which also led to his demise

Lesson 7: The Best Deals Are Done Outside of The Office

Club Monte Carlo was a club where much of Zeckendorf’s business was conducted

Lesson 8: Create a Plan and Be Relentless

To lease his uncles office building, he took the elevator to the top of each office building on Wall Street and worked his way down floor by floor with a simple opening line:

“I understand your lease is expiring, and I’d like to show you space at 32 Broadway”

His theory:

All tenants were on 3-year leases, so every third office he walked into would have an expiring lease

1 of 5 would accept a look at 32 Broadway

1 of 5 that looked would sign a lease

It quickly became a game of numbers and persistence

Lesson 9: There is Real Value in Branding of Real Estate

Early on in his career, he realized assets owned by some of New York’s finest families (Rockefeller’s, Astors, etc.) traded at higher values compared to other similar assets

We see the same today

Deals trade at higher values based on their address or the sentimental value of a building

Those who can manufacture this sentiment can create value

Lesson 10: Don’t Bargain

If a property is worth a price, pay it

Avoid haggling

You end on much more amicable terms with relationships to boot

There are no winners when you haggle the price down to the last dollar

Lesson 11: Help Others

Aid and support the projects of others

It often leads to your own success

That's all for today friends.

If you enjoyed these lessons, I recommend picking up Zeckendorf, the full autobiography

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Have a great day and talk soon,

Jake