Old-School Commercial Prospector
Derek Sprague is a numbers guy. His interest in analyzing market data coupled with mentoring by his father, a longtime real estate pro, led Sprague to his true passion: commercial sales. “In the end, a snowball turned into an avalanche and I was committed to the commercial real estate industry by the time I graduated from college in 2007,” says Sprague, 29. Rather than focusing on a particular niche, Sprague has gained knowledge about a variety of commercial specialties—agricultural, office, retail, industrial—to serve a wide range of customers. He’s all about getting face-to-face with prospects: “Meeting new people without the protection of a keyboard or touch screen is the most effective prospecting tool available,” he says.