The sum of its parts.

JEFFREY R. DUNNE, CB RICHARD CB ELLIS - CONN.

Perhaps it's his obvious ability to take himself with a bit of humor. Perhaps it's his easy-going manner and seeming openness in conversation. But when Jeffrey R. Dunne, senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis' Connecticut office, explains, his rational for forming a suburban broker team five years ago, it's easy to believe him, even though his reasons seem to be at odds with a broker's logic as New Yorkers know it.

"Of course, most brokers prefer to work alone," Dunne admits. "But the advantage to having a team is that as a group we do a greater volume of transactions and our clients perceive us as being more active and having a greater depth of expertise. A team is able to achieve a certain reputation, a certain status, and that goes a long way."

This savvy expertise in marketing comes from Dunne's four years as the head of a $125 million sales unit at Proctor & Gamble. "Proctor & Gamble was very marketing-oriented. While I was there, I did what they called 'branding'," he explains. "We had to come up with aggressive ad campaigns and marketing techniques for products like artificial dentures. So I kind of got used to thinking in terms of marketing."

Despite the obvious advantages of working for a company like Proctor & Gamble (Dunne claims that the supplies of Dove's skin lotion he received from the firm covered his family's skin care expenses for many years); he wanted to do something more "entrepreneurial." So in 1983 he joined CB Richard Ellis as an investment broker, choosing Connecticut as his area of expertise.

"Physically, I worked in Paramus, N. J. and Connecticut," Dunne explains. "And I specifically wanted to concentrate on the suburban market. For one thing, there is a lot more product in New Jersey. And the returns in New York City are often lower because investors will pay a premium for the space."

But after covering the market on his own for a few years, Dunne got tired of what he calls "playing the maitrede, the waiter, and the cook" at the same time. He decided to put together a team where each individual broker would have a particular area of expertise. Eventually seven people, including Chris McManus, James Tully, Kevin Lillis, Bruce Nelson, Liz Gonzalez, and Julie Brown joined him.

"We try to bring people in that do different components of the sales process," Dunne explains. "My main function, for example, is to secure exclusive listings and make sure that the team is working in harmony. Tully's job, on the other hand, is to answer the buyer's questions and make sure that things get packaged nicely. In other words, the bulk of it is individual expertise. And now we are doing about 20-30 transactions a year, instead of just me doing five or eight."

Not surprisingly, the community spirit, seems to have paid off. Dunne's team now covers not only Connecticut and New Jersey, but almost the entire East Coast, including Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Tennessee. Among its triumphs is an $81.5 million office deal for J.P. Morgan in Raleigh and Norfolk; a $61.5 million deal for MONY Towers in Syracuse; and $57.875 million deal for Davis office portfolio in Fairfield, Conn.

And its clients now include such giants as Goldman Sachs, Fisher Brothers, Mack-Cali Realty, Reckson Associates, TrizecHahn, and The Prudential Realty Group.

Although working on deals in other states is sometimes challenging - Dunne usually limits those transactions to corporate clients with whom he has long term relationships, -- he claims that he is committed to providing quality service, doesn't matter what it takes.

"My theory is that my job is to get the best service for the client," he explains. "And there is nothing that would stop me from doing that."

Currently, Dunne is working on a $101-million. Avalon Pavilions deal in Manchester, Conn. and the $83-million Keystone Property Trust portfolio in northern New Jersey, in addition to deals in Tampa and Boston. But he is careful to point out that he is by no means a workaholic.

"I am currently head of programs at REFA Westchester / Connecticut chapter," he pointed out. And I coach a girl's basketball and a travel soccer team in my free time.

"Actually, can we talk about that?"