Why Every Tenant Rep in CRE Needs a Digital Market Survey
January 19, 2022 • Thought Leadership
The commercial real estate transaction process is notoriously long, painful, and often full of redundant work for tenant rep brokers. For decades, commercial real estate has been largely managed by email and PDF communications. Meanwhile, other industries have continued to modernize their workflows by developing sophisticated automation tools. The billions of dollars flowing into proptech have provided a number of services to brokerages and asset managers to bring innovation to commercial real estate. Nevertheless, many brokerages still operate with outdated technology, leaving the tenant experience still feeling clunky and disjointed.
Part of the problem is that the tenant rep broker has been largely left out of the proptech revolution. While some tools have emerged, transaction management has been a late arrival. The market survey is just one piece of the tenant rep transaction process, but it is one that is central to improving the tenant experience and bringing commercial real estate into the twenty-first century.
Why Tenants Demand a Better Client Experience
Even as brokerages are beginning to adopt new technology, many have not addressed the inefficiencies of the traditional market survey. Tenants are used to the user experience that they have had for decades with residential real estate services like Zillow and Redfin. Given the sophistication of these self-service tools, it is no surprise that tenants have come to expect a similar user experience on the commercial side.
When compared to the likes of Zillow and Redfin, receiving emails, PDFs and spreadsheets comes across as unengaging, difficult to decipher, and at worst, unprofessional. In addition to being a clunky user experience, it is not interactive for the client in any way. When dealing with static, disconnected files, inaccurate and out-of-date information can quickly become a problem. If an asset manager or listing agent changes the rent on a property or takes it off the market, there is no real-time update for the tenant to be made aware of changing circumstances.
How a Digital Market Survey Helps the Broker
Having a digital market survey isn’t just about the tenant. The old way of doing business is also inefficient for brokers and their associates who frequently have to assemble personalized files for different clients that consist of many of the same properties. This results in redundant work and wasted time, in addition to excess manual labor. As it stands, the burden of ensuring the tenant is provided reliable, accurate, and up-to-date information is on the tenant rep. Without appropriate tools, managing this data and the flow of client communications is a messy process.
Having access to a better market survey with virtual tours and other media also spares brokers that painful moment when you step into a space with a client and they tell you right away it would never work for them. Providing tenants with a more robust market survey enables them to get a better feel for their options earlier in the process. This saves time for brokers and tenants alike, making for a better and faster transaction.
AnthemIQ Offers the Most Robust Digital Survey
Built by tenant reps, AnthemIQ is working to solve the challenges of transaction management for brokers. One key component to owning this piece of the puzzle is offering the most robust digital survey available to brokers. With over a billion square feet worth of properties available to brokers and tenants without having to lift a finger, AnthemIQ represents the best tool on the market when it comes to improving the tenant experience and streamlining broker operations.
For the first time, tenants can experience a Zillow-like interface to review commercial real estate options instead of being limited to manually assembled PDFs. Clients can like, filter, and sort properties, flagging the ones they like and commenting on those they do not wish to tour. The AnthemIQ interface makes it easy for tenants to do side by side comparisons of their favorite properties so they can really get a feel for what will or won’t work for them. Finally, with AnthemIQ, tenants can have the experience they deserve when looking for a new space to call their work home.
Using AnthemIQ’s digital survey means the end of entering the same property information into dozens of spreadsheets for different clients. Once the data is entered into AnthemIQ, tenant reps can easily share the same property with as many clients as they need to. If the information needs to be updated, users can change the data in one location and it will be updated for everyone. If necessary, relevant clients can be easily notified of important changes.
AnthemIQ is a platform designed to bring CRE together. The first step in every tenant’s journey is surveying available spaces. Bringing this process into the digital space for the first time allows brokers to stand out to clients by impressing them from the get-go. Making a great first impression goes a long way to providing a better tenant experience.
AnthemIQ Takes Tenants All the Way From Search to Signed Lease
AnthemIQ is a digital CRE transaction management platform. Built by tenant reps for tenant reps, our platform is the first of its kind designed to take tenants all the way from search to signed lease in one place. In addition to offering the most robust digital survey available, AnthemIQ helps brokers manage communications, compare lease options, offer virtual tours, and schedule in-person tours. For executives, AnthemIQ enables brokers to manage their pipeline, track commissions, and make strategic business decisions.
Interested in learning more? Check out our tenant rep page to learn how AnthemIQ can digitize your transaction management. If you would like to get started today, fill out our demo request form and a member of our sales team will reach out shortly!
