Richmond, Va. – May 3, 2024
Do the simple math. Follow the red thread.
This year at the 2024 Commercial Real Estate Forum presented by Commonwealth Commercial Partners, LLC, our keynote speaker, John Maketa, reiterated these points throughout his presentation. They were meant to be reminders of his central idea: that commercial real estate professionals can and should be leveraging demographic facts for business strategy and revenue.
Held in Richmond, the Commercial Real Estate Forum welcomed approximately 325 attendees for an afternoon of education and networking. The topic, “Demography is Destiny: How Population Trends Will Impact Business,” gave us a quick overview of Demography 101 and how putting yourself, your family, your business, and your community in front of a demographic wave can lead to enormous benefits.
Here are our three key Forum takeaways, summarized:
1. Human behavior is predictable.
What are the three basic facts of Demography 101, according to Maketa?
– People age
– Populations move
– Markets change
Maketa outlined a person’s average lifespan and what is “predictable,” according to each stage of life. “If you want to predict the future, do the math. If you want to understand people, you need to understand their behavior.” Maketa dissected the characteristics of each living generation. “It’s the people and organizations who can see the world clearly that are going to be successful,” said Maketa.
2. Your #1 resource? Great talent.
“Talent needs to be part of your strategic priorities, or nothing else is possible,” said Maketa. He urged the audience to recruit A-rate team members, because great quality talent will continue to build upon itself. “You want a quick way to flat line your business moving forward? Tolerate a B-player. Our environment is too complicated, moving, too fast, too sophisticated. Don’t tolerate a B-player.”
3. If you haven’t already embraced DEI, you need to start now.
America is, and always has been, an enormous and impressive melting pot. Maketa says that approximately 45% of the American market today is a minority, and that number is growing rapidly. “If you aren’t selling your goods and services to a minority market, you’re missing out,” said Maketa. He also urged attendees to look for more and more women moving into top level leadership roles. “The glass ceiling is shattering. Women outnumber men in college and in law school. And I don’t know if you’ve been to California lately, but if you’re familiar with Senate Bill 826 and you’re running a public traded company, you’d better have a woman on the board because that’s the law.”
A huge thanks to John Maketa for joining us in Richmond this year, as well as to all of our attendees and our sponsors: ARCO Design/Build, Atlantic Union Bank, Bowman Consulting, C&F Bank, CoStar Group, Keiter CPAs, Kensington Vanguard National Land Services, LLC., Scott Insurance, smbw, pllc, Specified Tile & Floor Covering Inc., and Williams Mullen.
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About Commonwealth Commercial Partners, LLC
Commonwealth Commercial Partners (CCP) is a leading full-service commercial real estate firm headquartered in Richmond, Virginia with offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Columbus, Greenville, Hampton Roads, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Nashville, Norfolk, Raleigh/Durham, St. Louis, and Tampa. CCP has expertise in Commercial Sales & Leasing, Property & Asset Management, Construction Management, Hospitality Management, Project Management, Land Sales, and Forestry Consulting.