When you manage a department outside of your company’s product stream, your approach for the C-suite is like the chef who needs to spice up a dish without giving the diners heartburn.
Corporate real estate decisions need to be presented as an ongoing process of education and opportunity, rather than a periodic annoyance with a bankruptcy filing lurking in the corner. Keep three things in mind to avoid being the department that makes people cringe when you come through the door.
1. Start early
With a typical business lease of five years in length, begin the due diligence work up to two years before the lease comes to term. You don’t want to be still researching answers to corporate real estate questions when the contracts are on the table.
You need to present your process as a narrowing stream of alternatives and decisions that lead to a beneficial conclusion. This means always having the answers in front of you, not at the next meeting.
2. Perform Thorough Analysis
Analyze your current business thoroughly, with an eye to seeing clearly what your needs will be in the new lease term. This is where a good corporate real estate information system pays off, because you can present your top executives with management alternatives they might not have considered.
The real estate management team is almost unique in a corporation because you have a viewpoint from outside the other production-driven departments. You can see the whole picture from a strategic distance, and you need to keep in mind how you can do more than just put a roof over their heads.
3. Maximize Competition
Make the landlord work and sweat for you. An early start with a broad information package lets you compare a landlord’s offer with others and make that landlord compete for your business. This is a time-consuming process that requires a lot of research, but it can be streamlined with the right software support and presented to the C-suite in a way that makes decisions easier. Let the C-suite know that you’re working for them, not the landlords and the real estate brokers.
