How CCIM Chapter Networking Helped Inspire ICIWorld®
The story began more than 32 years ago through Have-and-Want networking, including breakfast and networking sessions within the Central Canada CCIM Chapter. Commercial real estate professionals stood up, shared what they had and what their clients wanted, exchanged business cards, followed up after the meeting — and did business together.
ICIWorld Is Proud to Sponsor the Central Canada CCIM Chapter
For the first time in ICIWorld’s 32-year history, we are a chapter sponsor and will have a booth at the Executive Seminar & Networking Event. For us, this is more than an event. It is a return to the kind of chapter networking that helped inspire ICIWorld in the first place.
How the Networking Sessions Actually Worked — The Haves
At the marketing and networking sessions I conducted, a broker might stand up and say:
Anyone in the room who was interested would give us a business card. We collected those cards and gave them to the person presenting the opportunity so they could follow up after the meeting. Calls were made. Relationships were created. Deals and referrals followed.
An informal study we conducted found that about 65% of chapter members had done business with other members of the chapter. That demonstrated the enormous value of professional networking.
A broker might stand up and say:
✔ “I have a buyer looking for an apartment building.”
✔ “I have an investor looking for a shopping centre.”
✔ “I have a tenant looking for approximately 20,000 sq. ft. of industrial space.”
✔ “I have a buyer looking for development land.”
Anyone in the room who had a matching opportunity could make a connection immediately.
That became another important reason for ICIWorld®.
ICIWorld makes both Haves and Wants searchable — locally and globally — so opportunities can find each other long after the networking meeting is over.
But the Networking Room Had Walls
What about the chapter members who did not attend that breakfast or networking meeting? Many were spread across the province. They missed hearing the opportunity — and the broker presenting it missed the chance to reach them.
What about the local public? A buyer, seller, investor, landlord, tenant or business owner who might have been a perfect match could not hear what was being discussed inside the room.
And what about professionals outside the local chapter — across Canada or around the world? The value of the information was real, but its reach was limited by who happened to be present at that particular meeting.
The Internet gave us the opportunity to take the same Have-and-Want networking process and make selected information available locally and globally — 24 hours a day — to members who were not in the room, other real estate professionals, and the public.
So We Built an Information Listing Service.
ICIWorld® became an Information Listing Service (ILS) designed to preserve, organize, search and distribute the real estate Haves, Wants and opportunities that professionals choose to share.
The important word is choose. A broker or salesperson does not have to place everything. They can decide which opportunities would benefit from additional exposure. They can start with one Have, one Want, or one opportunity they would like more people to know about.
ICIWorld works alongside MLS® — not instead of MLS®. MLS® is essential for signed listings. An ILS can also help professionals communicate buyer Wants, tenant requirements, investment criteria, confidential opportunities, future listings and other information created through everyday networking.
The Internet Multiplies the Opportunity
Instead of one broker speaking to one room for a few minutes, selected Have-and-Want information can continue working long after the meeting is over.
✓ Reach chapter members who could not attend the meeting.
✓ Reach brokers and salespeople in other markets.
✓ Reach buyers, sellers, investors, landlords, tenants and other members of the public.
✓ Let people search the information when they actually need it — not only when a meeting is taking place.
✓ Extend that networking worldwide while still creating local business.
The result is simple: more people can discover the opportunity, and the person who posted it has more chances to receive a call, create a referral or complete a transaction.
And Members Can Bring the Network to Their Own Websites
One of the most powerful developments is that members can offer ICIWorld real estate information from their own websites.
That means a broker’s website can become more than a place to display only that broker’s own listings. It can become a gateway to a much broader selection of real estate opportunities and Wants — while giving the website owner opportunities to receive inquiries, follow up, build relationships, make referrals and do business.
Local relationships. Global reach. More reasons for people to contact the real estate professional who provided the access.
For Commercial Real Estate Professionals: You Do Not Have to Post Everything
If you have never used ICIWorld, do not change your entire way of doing business. Simply choose one opportunity and try it.
✓ Post one Have.
✓ Post one Want.
✓ Search what other professionals are working on.
✓ Put selected ICIWorld information on your own website.
✓ See whether one new connection leads to a showing, referral, client or transaction.
Membership can begin at only $30 per month. The objective is not to create more work. The objective is to maximize your opportunities to do business.
Could This Kind of Have-and-Want Networking Complement CCIM Networking Across Chapters and Countries?
The CCIM Institute describes its mission around education, technology and networking. ICIWorld grew from the same kind of deal-making conversations that happen when commercial real estate professionals tell one another what they have and what they want.
The original question was: How do we include the people who were not in the room? Today the question can be larger: How can selected opportunities continue moving between professionals after the meeting ends — across chapters, markets and countries — while creating more business for the individual members?
Could an existing 32-year Information Listing Service help extend those conversations between meetings and give CCIM professionals another way to find each other, refer business and uncover transactions?
The next step does not have to be adoption. It could simply be a demonstration — followed, if there is interest, by a chapter, regional or selected-member pilot.
If you can answer that question, you already understand why ICIWorld exists.
Let’s Have a Conversation
Whether you are an individual commercial real estate professional who wants to test one Have or Want, or a CCIM leader interested in a demonstration, pilot, educational program or networking partnership, we would be pleased to show you how ICIWorld works.