Archive for October, 2010
|Sustainability Opens Doors with Clients and Prospects
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
By Mike Tobin
Ever desire another angle to get a foot in the door with a prospective client or mine deeper with a current client? Sustainability is one of those hot topics that can lead to fruitful discussions with anyone in any company. The reason for this is that sustainability is a main ingredient in the recipe for success in today’s marketplace regardless of service, product, or industry.
Companies inherently desire to be sustainable, which at its basic definition means to be successful and sustain operations. Today’s umbrella term “sustainability” evolved out of trends such as lean manufacturing, green architecture, energy efficiency, and others. These trends have all been aimed at making businesses more productive while better utilizing resources and reducing risk.
So it should be fairly easy to begin a conversation with a client or prospect with questions surrounding what they are currently doing to improve productivity, operate more efficiently, and reduce risk. The client or prospect might take this in multiple directions but it is guaranteed to involve a discussion of some sort of initiative that is on top of their mind. In this way, one can engage a client on their terms and priorities while ascertaining how real estate may be able to help them achieve their goals or enhance their success.
Sustainability also has other meaningful discussion topics that can bear fruitful conversations. Most companies have similar challenges such as:
• Marketing,
• Sales,
• Branding, or
• Attracting or retaining talent
Sustainability can play a substantial role in each of these areas in today’s market place. Consumers and stakeholders alike are more knowledgeable and savvy about product, service, and corporate differentiators including one’s sustainable attributes. As mentioned in a previous entry, increased market transparency is allowing clients, consumers, and stakeholders the ability to make choices based on an increasing amount of information. As the public has become more aware about sustainability, companies have been forced to react to pro-sustainability desires.
One may start the conversation with a client or prospect about how sustainability is used in their sales and marketing efforts. The conversation may follow a discussion of positive attributes that the company is looking to enhance or illustrate—product packaging, positioning, resources used, etc. This discussion may easily lead to a discussion of how real estate may enhance those efforts or even provide new angles for supporting their sustainable image.
The conversation may also bring to light that there is a risk in not aligning their real estate with their sustainability initiative. For example, if a product or service is advertised to be sustainable yet the company itself is a gross polluter or somehow does not walk the talk, the damage to the brand’s image could be disastrous.
Another conversation point may be the attraction and retention of talent in the corporation. One key attribute that today’s talent pool looks for is a sustainable work environment. These are places that are generally more healthy and attractive to work and indicate a more progressive corporate management. For corporate management, a sustainable real estate strategy achieves the goal of attracting and retaining key talent while at the same time often leading to more efficient operations.
Sustainability as an umbrella touches all aspects of a business. If you want to get to know your client or prospect and understand their business in more depth discuss their thoughts on sustainability. You may be surprised at how easily it is to link sustainable real estate into a discussion on how sustainability is impacting other core aspects of the business.
How does sustainability impact your business? How do you talk to clients about sustainability?
Tags: corporate real estate, sustainable
Posted in Sustainability | Comments Off
Revving the Relocation Engine: RPM
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
By Phillip Infelise
Now that we are clear on PM and CM differentiation, let’s throw in another acronym: RPM. In the world of Project Management, that stands for Relocation Planning and Management. On the long and winding project path, during the relocation phase, the rubber truly meets the road for our clients, so we need to pay particular attention to the curves, steep grades, and potholes that come with this process.
Managing change is tough. Project Managers could even be called TMs (Transition Managers) or CMs (Change Managers), but that would be confusing, wouldn’t it? Most brokerage firms concentrate on the design or sticks and bricks phases and leave clients to their own devices during relocation. We have a very different – and perhaps enlightened – viewpoint that nothing is more important to more people than the success or failure of the actual relocation. It is embodied in our “Relocation Dictum.”
“During 99% of the project, only 1% of the client universe is directly impacted. During the final 1% of the project, during the Relocation, 100% of the employees, clients, vendors are affected. The goal therefore has to be a 100% seamless transition.”
Consequently, we need to focus as much on the Relocation Phase as we do on the Project Planning, Design, and Construction Phases. To not do so is to abandon the client at a critical time; perhaps when they need us most. However, solid RPM consulting starts way back at the beginning of the project, and RPM consciousness should never lag throughout, as there will be transition trauma from start to finish. Some key points to focus on for successful RPM:
- Elevate RPM to a strategic position in the overall project planning.
- Establish good department contacts and business-flow understanding during early program interviews – what you learn will have big impact later.
- Develop a transition strategy that minimizes downtime.
- Over-communicate to staff and the project team throughout the relocation process.
- Pick a strong Move Captain from each department as they will be your chief lieutenants.
- There is no detail too insignificant to attend to.
- Develop a platform where all vendors are speaking to one another and understanding the overall sequence of events.
- Tote moves are in; boxes are out.
- Staff the move 24/7 so there is continuous coverage – hope that it is so smooth that it is boring.
- Be willing to hold hands and be a shoulder to lean on. Change is traumatic and this is where our people skills are really needed.
Three months post occupancy, few of the client staff will recall who did their lease or may not even know who the Project Manager was during design and construction. But they will surely know who helped them with their relocation.
In my next entry, I want to look at how we use precise documentation and deliverable formats to enhance our communication with clients and project teams.
What was your last office move like?
Tags: corporate real estate, PM, relocation, relocation planning and management
Posted in Project Management | Comments Off
Workplace Strategy: What is the true driver and expectation? Part I
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
By Jack Burns
Most workplace strategy programs will brag about how the company is addressing the new Gen X workforce by focusing on collaboration, mobility, and flexibility—all in the name of productivity. But is it really just about saving money?
Many companies and consultants refer to these programs as Alternative Workplace Strategies. The dictionary tells us that “alternative” means (1) offering or expressing a choice or (2) different from the usual or conventional – existing or functioning outside the established culture. Nice warm and fuzzy definition, but the word often has a negative connotation to it. I suggest that the word “alternative” be dropped from all descriptions of workplaces going forward, or at least not as delivered to the users of the space. If we simply call it a “workplace solution” or even “new workplace,” it sounds more positive.
So the goal of workplace strategy programs is to increase productivity and reduce real estate expenses at the same time. This goal can be met by following some simple steps (below). In this entry I will suggest some early steps in the process. Remember that paramount to any plan is (1) support and enforcement from the highest level in the C-suite and (2) pilot, test and improve…too quick of a roll out can lead to disaster. Be realistic about setting the right expectations.
1. Discover what you have today. What do employees like about their current environment, and what do they not like? Monitor how the workplace is used on a daily basis, looking at activity during different days of the week, times of the day, and days of the month. This is not an easy task.
a. Start with a general survey to ask the right questions. If you receive a 10-15% survey result you are doing well. Next take a percentage of those surveys and set up one-on-one interviews in person or by phone. Make sure to interview individuals from all disciplines, business units, and grades.
b. Next figure out how to measure utilization. The old fashion method still works best: deploy an army of folks to walk the floors, confirm head counts and seating plans, determine occupancy, and verify use of conference rooms and other meeting and collaboration areas. Many times an office or workstation has an occupant that day, but they might be in an all day or multi-hour meeting. Is the seat being sat in, are they meeting with others in their office, or are they completing tasks, on the phone, or on the computer? Create a checklist by seat of these important questions and have the surveyors confirm what is really happening during multiple hours of the day and days of the week.
c. Badge readers can be helpful as well, but with problems such as tailgating or piggybacking, this information can be misleading. New technologies are out there that make these systems more reliable if you can afford the investment.
2. Compile your Findings. Executive Management will be surprised at what you discover. Summarize, chart, and graph to show what space may be needed versus what you currently have. Most companies today find that employees will give up personal space in exchange for better technology, mobility, and/or more meeting and collaboration space. Entitlement does become a problem. Seat assignments by title—executives in the corner offices, for example— need to be eliminated in order for any new workplace program to succeed. Many managers are threatened by a more mobile workforce and worry about how they can manage folks they cannot see or find. It’s important they overcome their fears because technology and work styles now allow remote work both locally and globally. It’s time to adopt it.
In Part II I will take you through the next steps:
3. The plan – impact and results
4. Selling it at the top and then selling it in the office
5. Implementing
6. Surveying, testing, and improving
Tags: corporate real estate, flexibility, mobility, office space, office utilization, real estate expenses, workplace
Posted in Corporate Services | Comments Off
Industrial Real Estate – On the Road to Recovery?
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
By Rob Wheeler
Signs are beginning to point to a recovery in the industrial sector of the real estate market. From my personal experience as well as my conversations with others in the industry, leasing activity appears to be picking up. Certain industrial markets are beginning to see positive absorption, and recent news from railroads and trucking companies show that volumes are on the upswing.
While this news is positive, the market has by no means returned to pre-recession levels. Supply chain managers around the country are still dealing with the fallout of the economic downturn. Companies are continuing to try and pull cash out of their supply chain operation by streamlining and becoming more efficient where possible. Recent surveys have indicated that thirty percent of companies plan changes to their supply chain in the next 12 to 18 months. Seventeen percent of companies state that the changes will be in the physical network of their operation. This means real estate transactions are taking place, but in many cases companies are continuing to consolidate and downsize their operations.
This information parallels what is being said about the apparent increase in leasing activity in the office sector. While activity is picking up and more deals are closing, they are often for less space as organizations have determined their needs with a newly established post-recession baseline.
Nobody knows how many underperforming distribution and manufacturing facilities are out there, but we do know that companies are focusing in on trimming the fat as leases expire on these facilities. Supply chain professionals will continue executing the value-based models they have put together over the past 24 months, with transportation networks and customer base being the key drivers as organizations work to consolidate.
What does this all mean for the industrial tenant? Opportunity. It will continue to be a tenant’s market for the foreseeable future. Now is still the time to take a holistic approach to your manufacturing or distribution operation and build it for the future.
Have you taken full advantage of the tenant’s market for your industrial properties?
Tags: corporate real estate, industrial real estate, leasing activity, tenant
Posted in Supply Chain | Comments Off
