The Iowa Private Client Group, led by Tim Sharpe and Linda Gibbs, has been rated in the top 10 best-performing Private Client Groups in the United States for the first six months of 2008.

The Iowa group is one of 85 CB Richard Ellis Inc. Private Client Groups nationwide, which include 200 commercial real estate brokers who focus on individual investors.

As part of a collaborative effort, the groups have compiled a database of 150,000 investors and use it to identify potential buyers who suit the properties being marketed.

The proprietary database, Sharpe said, is a “very powerful platform” that allows the group to retrieve names of all the people who are interested in specific product types, adding that it has generated a significant amount of revenue for the company.

Gibbs said the “collective knowledge” of the group is an effective tool in identifying investors, adding that every name on the database can be tied to a Private Client Group broker who has done business with or has some other relationship with that individual.

“We identify potential buyers that fit the property we are marketing,” she continued.

By profiling the criteria of what investors are looking for, including geographic areas, product types and how much a prospective buyer is willing to spend, Sharpe and Gibbs said they are able to hone their targeted marketing efforts, while at the same time attracting a larger audience, which leads to the highest selling price obtainable in the market.

They can also go outside the Iowa market, Gibbs said.

“What we are finding is that investors in other parts of the country are very attracted to the Midwest and the strong fundamentals that we have here,” she said.

Gibbs said people have been surprised that the Iowa group has done so well, as most of the 85 groups are in larger metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles or Chicago. She said it goes back to the “stability and attractiveness” of Iowa’s marketplace.

Being proactive about sales, “making the phone calls, doing the work,” Sharpe said, has also contributed greatly to the success of the Iowa team.

“We also make physical contact with potential clients,” Gibbs said, meaning that after she and Sharpe identify potential clients, they contact those people by phone.

“We call (investors) and talk about our market and property,” she said.

The success of Sharpe and Gibbs’ approach has led to business growth, and the need to add a support staff to the team.

Carla Kallesen was hired last year as a client-relationship specialist to help coordinate marketing activities and provide customer service. Christopher Bundy, an analyst who joined the team earlier this year, is primarily responsible for the financial analysis of investment properties and also works closely with prospective clients.

The support staff, Sharpe and Gibbs said, frees them up to do what they do best.

Close the sale.