The customer experience just got better
Article3 min27 July 2017
Greater provision of services by commercial landlords is an accepted trend. The hard part may be finding out what their customers (tenants) want.
In today’s hyper-connected world, where a good or a bad review on social media can have an immediate impact on your business, customers have taken their rightful place at the forefront of any industry.
The real estate industry is no exception: the absentee landlord is a thing of the past.
Commercial landlords are reaching out to individual companies, asking the human resources department, what their customers need – even outside normal operating hours.
And requests can reach as far up the service chain as asking for a bike mechanic to be on hand. That’s in addition to the provision of bike racks, of course. But it makes sense: it means an employee can focus on the work at hand, and not have to worry about how to get home if they have a flat tyre or a broken spoke.
Equally important is the issue of child care. Again, we are seeing commercial landlords across the industry offering child care services with reputable providers.It’s a big step for traditional landlords to embrace what the customer wants and needs
Requests can reach as far up the service chain as asking for a bike mechanic to be on hand
How to decide what to offer?
Half the challenge with offerings like these is to ensure the services are truly valuable to the customer’s staff. If they are, you can be sure they’re of value to the customer, too.
If a commercial landlord can satisfy the need to provide a multitude of services that employees appreciate, the customer will be more likely to sign a longer lease term.
It will also have the knock-on effect of keeping employees happy and reducing churn in the workplace, which is one of the biggest costs for employers today.
But it’s a big step for traditional landlords to embrace what the customer wants and needs. One of the first ways to address the question is to look at the standard services on offer.
If a landlord has the ability to offer cross-functional premises that embrace office and retail, or industrial and retail, building communities will see the benefit of occupants having options nearby to satisfy their dining needs. It may even be that the commercial landlord can provide good quality catering.
Those are good first steps.
The same goes for technology. If a commercial landlord can provide Wi-Fi network connectivity and high-speed internet, along with first class audio visual technology, flipcharts, whiteboards and video conferencing, suddenly the appeal of the offering increases.
More nuanced offerings are the next step, and will result from frank discussions with the client.
Satisfied customers and a happier work community are the objectives, even if it takes landlords a bit of experimentation to get the mix right. In this world, where the customer truly does come first, it’s worth persevering.