Culture Wars -- What Service Does a Broker Provide?

Are You on the Right Side of History? ... My July 31 Dispatch on Cushman & Wakefield's efforts to create an integrated platform for its clients got lots of tongues wagging.  A broker friend at one of the large service providers responded, "Seventy-five percent of our revenue is transaction-based.  That's where the story is. If we become more efficient, our clients will want us to pass along those efficiencies in the form of lower transaction fees.  It's that simple. ... When everyone does it the same way, we lose our unique identity and become generic.  At that stage, it's the low-cost producer that wins the generic war.  As a broker, that prospect doesn't excite me too much."

Blasting back, Tom Falus, President of C&W's Strategic Ventures Group, writes, "The whole point is to create efficiency for our clients.  If margins are a function of a silent conspiracy to provide less for more, your friend is clearly on the losing side of history! ... Look at other areas such as law and medicine.  The tools are essentially identical for the players.  So what creates the difference? ... Quality of players. Management.  Coaching.  Hard work."   Likewise, John Jarvis in Staubach's San Diego office, writes: "If a broker is worried that a more efficient flow of information will commoditize his 'service' and reduce his margins, then what service is he providing? ... If anybody thinks that simply providing information is enough to earn a fee, they are living in the past."

Remember my Making a Presentation?  Bring a Snake Dispatch (July 3) on the dangers of information overload?  Well, nobody, except a seasoned real estate professional, can process complex -- often contradictory market data -- and provide thoughtful real estate advice.  So here's my brainstorm.  Send your client the latest CoStar printout showing a gazillion space availabilities.  This is sure-fire recipe for analysis paralysis and will likely drive the client into your arms, desperate for help.  Am I crazy?

PikeNet Notes... Next spring's PikeNet Forum will be held May 8-9 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. ...  Dispatch Sponsorships are available Aug 28 and 30, and Sep 13. ... The latest Gomez web survey results are posted.

--Peter Pike / ppike@pikenet.com