Moneyball is one of my favorite books about business operations. When you exist in a highly competitive environment it is in your best interests to think about the landscape differently than your competition. You need to find an advantage that you can leverage that no one else is focused on.
There are few spaces as competitive (with as many competitors) as CRE. Every building is competing with every other for tenants. Every business is trying to attract customers. Every company is trying to recruit the same talent. Time is an enemy for everyone.
It can be easy to fall into the same mindset of everyone else and compete on finances and physical building characteristics. It can be easy to think that the money is all the matters since so much of CRE ultimately comes back to the almighty dollar.
But CRE is fundamentally about business operations. Without companies that need your space to work from, your buildings lose value very, very quickly. Without retail customers that want a brick and mortar store to go to, your corner property suddenly looks less attractive. If you know what fundamentally makes your business successful you can target it when others aren’t.
And no, your fundamentals are not made successful by “cars that drive by every hour” or “pedestrian access” or “distance from the freeway”. Those all sound good, are easily measured and can be used to justify high rents but they don’t make a business successful. Think of all that store/restaurant/bar in the middle of nowhere that you are willing to drive 45 minutes to get to with nothing else around because it is the best. If they can make you drive 45, a good business can get you to go 5 out of your way.
What makes you successful are the right people (the good ones won’t care about your address but will care how you build out their space). What makes you successful is a product that appeals to people. What makes you successful is an attitude to please your customers no matter what. What makes you successful is a single-mindedness to ensure every part of your business is actually focused on your business.