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August 26, 2025 12 mins

Too many commercial real estate leaders are stuck doing low-value tasks that drain their time and keep them from operating at their highest level. 

In episode 235 of Commercial Real Estate Leadership, Darren Krakowiak introduces the Function Funnel: a neat framework to help principals, agents, and teams eliminate wasted effort, free up capacity, and increase profitability.

Instead of asking "How do I get all of this work done?", Darren encourages leaders to ask a better question: "Should I be doing this at all?" By applying the Function Funnel, you can systematically evaluate every task in your business and decide whether to eliminate it, automate it, outsource it, delegate it, or improve how it's done.

You'll learn:
🔹 The five stages of the Function Funnel and how to apply them
🔹 Why your "effective hourly rate" determines what you should stop doing
🔹 The types of tasks best suited to automation, outsourcing, and delegation
🔹 How to elevate your role while empowering your team

If you feel overworked or bogged down by tasks that don't move the needle, this episode shows you how to reclaim your time and refocus on what really matters: leadership, strategy, and revenue growth.

And here's the prompt from the episode you can use so that AI can help you get started: "You are an efficiency expert. I am a commercial real estate [principal/agent/property manager] based in [location]. I am looking to create more efficiency in my day-to-day work. I want you to help me find opportunities to eliminate certain processes, automate particular workflows, outsource certain functions, delegate tasks that are below my pay grade, and find more efficient ways to do the work that is within my zone of genius, but I am not sure where to get started. Please prepare a list to help me make progress in each of those areas."

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Email hello@cresuccess.co and put the word "GROW" in the subject line to take the first step towards accelerating revenue growth in your commercial real estate agency with the right people on your team, serving ideal clients inside a business that just works.

Visit the CRE Success website: cresuccess.co

Read the episode anecdote, get the transcript and watch the video recording of the podcast here: cresuccess.co/blog/235

To share this episode or your thoughts on it, tag us on socials: @cresuccess or use our hashtag: #cresuccess

If you enjoy the show, leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Connect with Darren Krakowiak on LinkedIn

Podcast music sourced from audioblocks.com

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