BARBERMURPHY: 20 Years of Building & Valuing Relationships
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, Please Contact Collin Fischer (CollinF@barbermuprhy.com) or Steve Zuber (Steve@barbermurphy.com)
BARBERMURPHY: 20 Years of Building & Valuing Relationships
O’FALLON, Ill. – ABC News Nightline host Ted Koppel retires. Carrie Underwood releases her first album. Grey’s Anatomy debuts. The National Hockey League season is cancelled due to a labor dispute. Danica Patrick becomes the first woman to take the lead in the Indy 500.
And during that same year – 2005 – a commercial real estate brokerage that would soon be regarded for its green, white and orange signs opened shop in Swansea, Ill.
That firm was BARBERMURPHY.
Today, the company, which has long been Southern Illinois’ largest, celebrates its 20th anniversary with more than 22 brokers and thousands of real estate deals to show for it.
“The value of our business is truly in our brokers,” says Wayne Barber, one of four principals at the firm and the company’s co-founder who – along with beloved co-founder and principal Paul Murphy, who passed away in early March – started the business in 2005. “We offer the opportunity to every broker with the right credentials and mindset to become an owner in the future,” he adds. “That helps to promote that entrepreneurial spirit within the firm.”
The staying power of BARBERMURPHY’s team can be seen in its seasoned staff. More than two-thirds of the cadre of brokers at BARBERMURPHY have worked there the entire time. The balance of the team is comprised of young professionals, many who’ve been working in the industry for fewer than three years.
“About five years ago, I told our staff at a Friday morning meeting that I didn’t want to hire brokers over the age of 25 anymore,” Barber remembers. “At the time, they all thought I was crazy. But it’s one of the keys to our success, and time has already borne that out. Young professionals think differently than we do. They access information differently. And they communicate and market to clients differently. That’s one of the reasons we’ve been so successful over the past two years.”
Even with economic uncertainty during 2023 and 2024, BARBERMURPHY recorded its most profitable two years in history. That gives pause for fellow firm principals Steve Zuber and Collin Fischer, each of whom has worked at the brokerage for 20 and 19 years, respectively.
Zuber, who was the first broker to join Barber and Murphy, made partner in 2013. With a background in industrial marketing and sales, Zuber found the transition to industrial real estate work to be a natural one. “The sky’s the limit in terms of earning potential,” he says. “We’re intentional about how we train brokers and get them started…each partners with one of our experienced brokers to learn the trade before he or she develops their own book of business. Back 20 years ago when Wayne and Paul started BARBERMURPHY, they envisioned it being just the two of them,” he adds. “But the firm quickly gained traction across central and southern Illinois. Today we’re also active in the St. Louis market.”
Both Zuber and Fischer say the commercial real estate business has changed dramatically for the better with the advent of resources such as Google Earth, drone technology, customer relationship management systems and more.
“In many cases, we don’t need to travel to get a good initial impression of a building,” says Zuber. “And with all the online mapping and platting resources, we don’t even have to go to the courthouse anymore. All the relevant property information is at our fingertips.”
Fischer’s specialty is real estate investment. Family members and friends who were real estate investors encouraged the entrepreneurial Saint Louis University business graduate to consider real estate as a profession. Those conversations led Fischer to meet Barber.
“Working in commercial real estate appealed to my entrepreneurial spirit,” says Fischer. “Not long after I began my career, the market (in 2008) tanked. I had to work really hard during that rough time alongside BARBERMURPHY brokers who were already really well established. I had their help and support putting deals together. Today I’m well established, and I really enjoy mentoring our younger brokers.”
Collaboration is an ingredient in BARBERMURPHY’s two-decades-long success. It runs deep. Brokers frequently finish each other’s sentences about a designated parcel or building because of their longevity of working in the region. The fluency of expertise shows itself in the reputation BARBERMURPHY has as the go-to market consultant, Fischer says.
“We appreciate that we dominate the market in terms of size and representation,” says Fischer, “but our ultimate goal is always to be the best at what we do…to be the go-to consultant. Because we’re not located in a large urban market such as downtown Chicago – where each broker focuses on a very specific slice of the market such as Class A office – some of us are generalists, and I believe that’s part of what has made us successful. Knowing everything we can about the buildings, the people, the market rates and the sales price enables me to help my client and to be the answer man. Serving as valued consultants really is our number-one goal.”
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