As someone who supports a large leased corporate real estate portfolio, one of the biggest challenges we face is how to maintain momentum year over year. Between business changes, budget process, geographic changes, M&A, and “the new thing” it is easy to get distracted from the strategy and onto something new.
Any given leased portfolio turns over 15 to 25% of the locations any given year. Some years may have more large sites than others resulting in 10 to 30% of square footage turning over any given year. The project churn can seem unceasing yet at the same time, it seems like every project is unique and different. It’s a tough world.
Momentum is hard to gauge in real estate but my measure is pretty straightforward:
Momentum: Conversations pushing for improvements get easier each month, quarter and year.
This may seem like a small thing. However, all it takes is one business receiving an exception and then everyone wants the same going forward. I once ran into a situation where an office lead negotiated for an upgrade coffee machine for their office. Three months later, that coffee machine had become the de facto standard across every new site. That’s where momentum is killed.
If you have a real estate standard, it needs to be a real standard. No exceptions, no going backward, no matter how hard they yell. You’ll need a team that can do two things really well to pull it off:
- Handle hard conversations
- Present a consistent message and data
If you don’t have these two things, you’ll struggle to create momentum in your portfolio. Good luck.