Michael Beckerman is the founder of CRE industry destination The News Funnel and CEO of the largest commercial real estate tech events in the industry CRE Tech.
He recently sat down with Building Engines’ Head of Research, Phil Mobley, to discuss the findings of our CRE operations industry benchmarking research.
Highlights of the full discussion are below.
“…when I saw that one of the most successful startups in the CRE tech space had conducted a survey of current and potential customers, I was intrigued. And so I reached out to their head of research to learn more about this recent survey they did with building/owners and managers and their views on tech.
Michael: Tell us about the survey itself — who was the sample group and what is the overall goal of the survey?
Phil: At Building Engines, our goal has always been to help Commercial Real Estate organizations improve their asset value through operations. We set out to understand specific ways High Performers—those commercial real estate assets with the highest rent and occupancy rates in their respective markets—operate differently than their peers in the marketplace. To do that, we surveyed more than 500 management teams, representing more than 900 CRE professionals at every level; asset/property management executives, general managers, assistant property managers, and building engineers.
M: What are some of the key findings that you found in your research?
P: We found that operating practices really do make a difference to building performance. There are a variety of practices that High Performers engage in more than their peers. These include tracking customer service performance, communicating with tenants in frequent and varied ways, and benchmarking operating expenses.
M: If you were to summarize how a building owner/manager can become “Best in Class”, what would you tell them to focus on as their biggest priorities?
P: First and foremost, commit to measuring your own management team’s performance. (You can’t manage what you can’t measure.) That means establishing standards for things like work order response time and tenant satisfaction and then tracking adherence to those standards. Being “Best in Class” also means comparing sentiment and operating results (like you do for expenses or energy consumption, for example) to benchmarks whenever possible. Finally, it means knowing where you stand with tenants all the time, not just when you’re about to do an annual survey.”
Thank you to Michael for highlighting this important research, read the full interview here.
Explore the full CRE Operations Benchmarking Report (and find out where you stand) here.
