For Bisnow Client Success Manager Maggie Flynn, Juggling A Variety Of CRE Markets Is A No-Brainer

Working in several different CRE markets and getting to the core of what each Bisnow client needs can be a complex balancing act. However, Bisnow Client Success Manager Maggie Flynn has a background that makes her uniquely suited for the challenge. 

Flynn started at Bisnow as a delivery manager in both the Washington, D.C., and South Florida markets. When she was promoted to client success manager, not only did her responsibilities grow, but so did her roster of markets. She helps clients in the Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Toronto and Salt Lake City markets do more business.

“I love chatting with people, learning about their lives and businesses, and figuring out where I can be most helpful,” Flynn said. “I really like being in a role where no day is the same and I’m constantly learning, meeting different people from different walks of life and gaining knowledge and perspectives I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten.”

Bisnow sat down with Flynn to discuss the benefits of digital marketing, the growth of Bisnow’s CRE markets and the variety that being a client success manager offers.

Bisnow: What's working for clients in the markets you cover? What marketing approaches are driving deals and creating new business?

Flynn: As a company, we understood the power of digital marketing well before the pandemic, but once the pandemic hit, the advantage of being able to pivot and succeed in the digital world was proven to be so much more important. The CRE industry has so many legacy firms that have been operating with little to no digital presence. My goal was to help clients understand the importance of digital marketing and help them adapt to this newer virtual world. Clients who advertise on our digital platform are able to utilize the extensive data we provide to make face-to-face connections at the event. 

The marketing approach I’m trying to target for certain clients is to understand the value of utilizing the data we’re able to provide on the digital front coupled with their participation in our live events. 

When we sell our digital products, we explain that we're able to give clients insight into who exactly is engaging with their content. They can use this information to do outreach and set up meetings prior to events. It allows the client to shorten the sales cycle and attract prospects they might not have otherwise interacted with. If you just put up Google ads, you're not going to get the same level of insight because you simply don't have that visibility.

Bisnow: Where do you see these markets heading in the next year? What trends are you seeing that you're most excited about? 

Flynn: I see the markets I work in all continuing to grow next year. When I first started at Bisnow, the markets I work in were all lumped together and under the name “Team Earth” because they were all so small they didn’t need an entire team dedicated to them. Now, all of these markets are considered their own. They have dedicated teams behind them and specific sales reps living in and selling into that market. This speaks largely to the CRE industry as a whole. Although there are ebbs and flows, the CRE industry will always find a way to remain prosperous and forward-moving.

I’m most excited about population growth trends in cities such as Salt Lake City and Phoenix. More people means more business, more buildings and more conversations needed about building up communities. Being able to plant the Bisnow flag in cities that are growing is such an awesome experience. We’re able to see firsthand how Bisnow can influence and help bring up these newer markets. 

Bisnow: What drew you to Bisnow?

Flynn: The company culture is what initially drew me in. I am from Westchester County, New York, and although I grew up in New York, I wanted to go somewhere new and was specifically looking to get a job in Chicago.

I was searching high and low for a job opportunity in Chicago, but nothing was feeling quite right. A girl from my sorority in college had reached out to me and asked if she could send my résumé to the person who was working at Bisnow’s head of recruiting at that time. Since the job was based in New York, I took the interview with no intention of actually taking the job but figured it would be good practice. However, after talking with the recruiter for over two hours, I felt so comfortable and like I was talking to my best friend. I knew there was something special about Bisnow, so I agreed to come to an in-person interview the next week.

My first impressions were that I noticed no one had an office and everyone was smiling, chatting and working at a long table together. Will, our late CEO, came up and introduced himself to me. I was so taken aback that the CEO of a company was coming up to me. He asked me questions about my personal life and made me feel like I had known him for years. 

Before I even began my interview, my mindset was already shifting. I could see myself working at that long table with all those people. I enjoyed talking with the people I had met then, and even though I didn’t have experience in commercial real estate, I always loved trying something new and learning new things. 

Bisnow: What do you like most about your role?

Flynn: I like how dynamic my role is. No two days are the same. Personally, I don’t enjoy knowing exactly what I'm going to do on a given day. That’s exactly what I wanted out of my job. I don’t want to sit at a desk every day. Thankfully, at Bisnow, everyone on my team is always on the move. I also like how much freedom and trust I get in my role. I'm given a lot of responsibilities to make decisions about things that directly affect the company.

I enjoy talking to people that I probably would never talk to otherwise at my age and stage of life. When I imagined starting my first job out of college, I assumed I would start in a low-level position, being a cog in the machine. That was so far from the truth. I was working directly with decision-makers and giving recommendations to marketing campaigns. I was developing relationships with C-suite members who, over time, have become some of my greatest mentors. In this industry, we’re often exposed to industry professionals with a vast amount of experience. To be able to learn from them and work alongside them has been such a wonderful opportunity.

Bisnow: What makes you unique?

Flynn: I believe what makes me unique is my inherent passion for problem-solving and my ability to thrive in high-pressure fire drill situations. I find genuine satisfaction in tackling challenges head-on and finding solutions, especially when time is of the essence. This proves to be extremely beneficial in my role because clients are coming to me all the time with challenges they are facing and looking to me for an answer.

Bisnow: What is one life goal you’d like to accomplish?

Flynn: I recently found an essay my late cousin wrote, and a quote from it has been sticking out to me. “All I know for sure is that when I look back on my life, I want to have enjoyed it, I want to have given it my all, and I want to have been a net positive on the rest of the world. That’s all.”

A life goal of mine is to be the best version of myself possible. I want to be someone who people can look up to the way that I look up to my mentors.

My mentors are people who are:

Constantly curious: traveling to new places, immersing themselves in new cultures and learning a new language. 

Determined: never quitting, always problem-solving and motivated by their own will to succeed.

Frequently pushing boundaries: challenging standards, never accepting the norm and striving to exceed expectations. 

If I accomplish anything in this life, I want to be a net positive on the world and have fun while doing so. 

Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

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