REAL ESTATE

Selling Points: When times get tough, the sales gurus get busier.

Mike Ferry Organization--a national firm specializing in motivational programs, sales training and financial and business consulting for real estate salespeople--has just opened a 9,000-square-foot sales center in Costa Mesa and plans to add up to 70 more employees there by year’s end.

The company has 30 employees at its corporate headquarters in Irvine and 30 at the new sales center. Ferry, who started the company in 1976, said he expects revenue this year to climb 20% to $12 million from $10 million in 1992.

The reason is twofold: In those parts of the country such as Texas and the Southeast, where the real estate industry is experiencing a comeback of sorts, agents use trainers such as Ferry to improve their sales techniques and business management skills; in places like California, where the industry remains in a slump, agents turn to outside trainers to keep them pumped up.