There is a growing trend amongst flexible office space intermediaries to automate the process of introducing buildings to clients, introducing clients to buildings and handling follow-up communications.

Do you know if your coworking requirements are going to be put into this category?

Flex brokers work on the basis of getting paid a fee by the coworking operator when a client they introduced signs a contract to occupy space. We wrote a useful article on how to choose one which you can see here.

Since this fee is based on a percentage of the contract value the client enters into, smaller enquiries translate into smaller fees.

This is also linked to the location clients are looking in: the less prestigious the location, the lower the likely price – which in turn also reduces the overall fee available since it is percentage-based.

Serviced office brokerage is an industry which acts as middle-men between clients seeking office space and the operators (which run them).

It is a consultative position, with one of the primary USPs being their ability to find availability, book viewings and negotiate the best deal on the client’s behalf.

But this is a resource-hungry process, in that it requires a sales individual to invest significant time in gathering information, coordinating the logistics of viewing schedules and speaking with both sides of the transaction to make sure they reach an amicable position which enables contract completion.

So often they will prioritise which opportunities to give more effort – this concept is explored in greater depth in this article.

Interestingly, smaller coworking requirements tend to be more labour-intensive.

This makes sense. A small company will understand the market less, the cost of office space is going to represent a much higher proportion of their revenues, it will likely be a very significant step and a big decision. So, much more rides on getting everything just right – dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s means more.

So it makes sense that smaller requirements that generate smaller fees (but potentially take up more resource) are viewed as poor revenue / profit margin generators.

Automation does exist in the sector, but it is not overtly advertised.

It is most commonly associated with coworking leads which are for between 1 person and 10 people in size and / or need space outside of major cities.

Client requirements that are placed into this automated process will receive a list of buildings in their area of search and simultaneously the buildings will receive the details of the client.

Thereafter, the brokerage will let building operators engage with the customer directly but have no proactive bearing on viewings and negotiations. Typically they will initiate an automated follow-up campaign that fires out messages asking for status updates and / or where the client took space (because the broker firm will still be due their fee regardless of how much input they had – the introduction itself secures the fee position for them).

If your requirement for office space is for less than 10 people and you’re not looking in central London, Manchester, Bristol etc. you should consider if proactive support from a broker is going to be a big need for you.

If not, and you are happy to do the leg-work yourself, then you will certainly get information on properties as a result – allowing you the serviced office market coverage needed to find the right space.

But if you are approaching a coworking brokerage with the specific need for dedicated consultancy support, you need to make a point of asking if your enquiry size / location is above or below any automation threshold in place. Otherwise you may be disappointed when your expectations around service delivery are not met.

If you need guidance on which agent / broker to use, feel free to reach out for free, honest conversation and advice.