Building Nevada - April 2004

Priority One Commercial

Overcoming Challenges, Building Success

by Carol Patton

Every now and then, Cynthia Inman glances at an old thank-you letter she received from a client. Years ago, the client worked with Inman, a real estate broker, to find office space for his creative group. Although his company didn’t end up moving, he appreciated Inman’s customer-service style and leased an even bigger office space from her when his firm expanded seven years later.

That’s not an unusual story for Inman and her partner, Julie Collins, owners of Priority One Commercial, a Las Vegas real estate brokerage firm specializing in commercial leasing and sales. When the pair launched the firm in 1993, their mission was to provide customized client services by matching the right client with the right property.

Eleven years later, that’s still their number-one priority. As a growth strategy, it’s also helped the small firm carve out a specialty niche in the local marketplace. With eight staff members, the firm handles an average of five clients at a time. So far, it’s leased more than 100 commercial properties and sold over 50. Nearly half of its clients are repeat customers. Another 30 percent come from referrals.

"We don’t take a whole lot of listings because we want to make each a priority, instead of having so many that we can’t properly handle each listing," said Inman. "We’re the type of people who think of what best fits each client’s needs instead of worrying about what we’re going to make on the deal."

Inman and Collins have approximately 25 years of real estate experience between them. Inman launched her career by leasing properties for Investment Equity Development – a local development company owned by her brother – while Collins began as a loan processor, then moved up to property management, leasing and sales, and build-to-suit opportunities.

Among the first properties leased by the firm were small executive offices in the Magna building on East Flamingo. Now its client list includes executive, general and medical office properties, including Sky View Business Park, Nucleus Plaza and Park Flamingo. Currently, the company is the leasing agent for the 25,000-square-foot Silver State Corp. building in the Lakes Business Park on Sahara east of Rampart, and South Business Park, a 44,000-square-foot building on the corner of Oquendo and Rainbow.

Over the past decade, the firm’s marketing strategies evolved from cold calling, fliers and direct mail to online marketing. While its website – priorityonecommerical.com – promotes its services, Inman and Collins also surf the Internet for commercial properties.

Inman said the firm’s biggest challenge, by far, stems from being a woman-owned business in a male-dominated industry. She points to the difficulty she occasionally experiences in earning people’s trust because of her gender. "Sometimes, they think a woman can’t handle [this business] as well as a man, or that we don’t quite know what we’re talking about, so we may have to work twice as hard," she said. "I think sometimes when we go into a meeting, we still have a problem with that. Maybe it’s not as bad today, but it’s still a challenge."

It’s a challenge they routinely overcome. During its first four years in operation, the firm handled more than $60 million in transactions and did over $55 million just in the past two years. Yet, Inman has no plans to expand the firm outside of the Las Vegas market. By staying small, it can stick to its initial goal. "We may bring on another agent or employee, but we never want to get bigger than we are now," Inman stated. "If we do, we’ll lose control of what we’re all about in the first place."

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