If you are looking at flexible office space as a solution, how do you compare coworking brokers?

There are many to choose from, but identifying the right one to support your needs requires careful consideration of the type of service you need, coupled with a good sense of personality and experience types which will be best for you.

In our experience, it is best to go with one – this will allow the agent to use the entirety of the coworking landscape to leverage competition for your business from flex operators without distractions caused by additional competition between two agencies trying to win fees.

It is also important to remember that you are choosing two things: the agency and the agent.

A personal connection and individual strengths / experience are just as important as your affinity with a particular brand image.

Flex Engine have created a unique directory of agents to help you make this choice easier. You can search for the right connection based on a combination of professional and personal attributes so that the first connection you make is absolutely the right one!

In this article we explore a number of considerations to compare coworking brokers:

• Company size
• USPs
• Product specialism
• Size specialism
• Location specialism
• Experience
• Personality
• Pipeline size
• Case studies

So before you decide to formally register your serviced office search, consider the points below and ask plenty of questions beforehand.

Compare coworking brokers

Company size / market share 

How large an agency is often acts as a significant factor in customer choice. The thinking is that the larger the company, the better-placed they are at providing the service since they have been around long enough to scale. But market share within the flex agency world is defined by the volume of leads that company sends to the coworking marketplace, which can sometimes be a double-edged sword.

Pros: good process, talent attraction, track record 

Established processes: there should be a tried-and-tested approach to deal-making in place based on a history of success in the sector. Agents should have a good understanding of what should be done and when, based on solid onboarding and training strategies. You should expect that whoever you speak with at a large agency has solid foundations already in place to help you effectively.

Talent attraction: more established and successful agencies should draw a better talent pool. So regardless of how large/small a space you need, wherever you need it geographically, you should expect that the agent you speak with will be an expert in their assigned category.

Track record: size is mostly built on successfully converting large deal volume within flex space over time. The more deals an agency does, the more influence they should have with office operators because they are seen as an important source of contract revenues.

Cons: formulaic approach, staff turnover, lead volume, choice 

Formulaic approach: established processes can often be a drawback. The serviced office market is a dynamic marketplace and creativity in deal-making comes down to an agent’s personal strengths. Being part of a large agency driven by process, KPIs and commissions/targets often gets in the way of this and the experience can feel “automated”.

Staff turnover: because flex brokerage is a sales-driven business, there is a lot of people churn. The bigger the firm, the more risk involved with your agent moving to other agencies or setting up their own business. If your search is likely to take a long period of time and you value retaining a relationship with a single individual, this is an important consideration.

Lead volume: enquiry volumes increase in tandem with agency size, so the larger the firm, the more likely that your enquiry will be in a significant pool of others. This then brings personal priority into the equation, where the perceived strength of your requirements will determine where you are in the pecking order of effort assigned.

Choice of agent: you are likely to be assigned to a specific agent based on where you are looking and how much space you need. If a personal connection is going to play a big part in how you like to work, you should find out how much influence you can have over which person helps you and if this choice is even possible.

Company USP / personal USP 

Unique selling points within serviced office agency can be difficult to articulate. This is because they all, in effect, do the same thing – namely introduce your requirements to coworking operators, arrange viewings and negotiate deal terms.

Most commonly you will be drawn by three statements:

• We are free of charge to use
• We cover the whole flexible office market
• We can get the best deal for you

But since every coworking agency makes these statements, then they are by definition no longer unique and shouldn’t be viewed as such.

So you should find out more about what makes their offering unlike the others’ and look for how they can evidence this. These USPs could be specific to the company or brand, or to the individual you are speaking with.

As a customer looking to compare coworking brokers, you should seek out performance and personality traits that best match your own unique needs, so think about the following and how they rank in order of importance:

• Can they show me what difference they can make and how?
• What is their approach to deal-making? What do they feel is most important?
• When they say “the best deal”, what does that actually mean? Cost? Value? What’s important to you as the client?
• How many clients have they personally helped?
• How many clients to they deal with at any one time?
• Do they match my own personality and communication style?
• What is their personal USP?

Since coworking brokers are paid by the office operator for successfully placing you in a contract (and therefore free for you to use), they should be able to give you confidence about the benefits of using them specifically beyond any tag lines on their website.

Product specialism 

Depending on your needs, you might be in the market for different types of product or not particularly concerned about which route is best.

Flexible leased offices, serviced offices, managed offices, ad-hoc coworking use, part-time office use… there are many ways to interact with the flexible office marketplace and sometimes a combination of two or more can be the correct strategy.

So you will need to understand if the agent you are considering is capable of delivering solutions across all product categories or if they specialise in one niche.

Some agencies will have specific staff to fulfil very precise needs so you may find that you have to maintain dialogue with more than one person as you pursue multiple product types in tandem.

Others will prefer to employ product “generalists” who can assist you with multiple product tranches through a single point of contact.

There is much to be said for each approach but in either case you should be confident that you understand your own driving factors to compare coworking brokers well. Ideally you should have done research on the pros and cons of each product type and discounted down to a preference before making formal enquiries – this way you will be able to zero-in on the agency capable of delivering focused advice.

Size specialism 

Knowing where you fall in the range of an agent’s size specialism can have a marked effect on your interaction with them and the market.

As they scale, most agencies will divide their people resources into size “bands” so that agents look after contracts of particular sizes. This will typically be linked to the agent’s expertise in the sector too, which makes sense. The larger the office size needed, the greater the contract value (and the associated fees) and a more experienced agent is likely to be given responsibility.

But the width of the size band also plays an important role.

To illustrate, if you are speaking with an agent that deals with anything from a 1-person office search to a 10-person, then if you happen to be in the market for a 1-person office you will represent the lowest earning potential in their pipeline.

In theory, this shouldn’t make a difference – but in reality it often does.

Finding out about how wide the size band allocations are within the agency you are considering will allow you to find out if you are going to be on the “strong” or “weak” side of the draw.

You can then decide what to do. Will you be allowed to get assigned to the higher end of someone else’s size band? What assurances can you be given that your enquiry will be treated with the same focus as one 10X larger? These are important questions to help you compare coworking brokers.

The smaller the agency, and with sole traders in particular, the less this becomes a potential concern. A smaller overall pool of active customers will mean every penny counts much more so effort is divided more equally.

But with small independent agencies there is sometimes a minimum size below which it doesn’t make sense for them to put in the time since the reward is too small.

In either case, the need to find out about size specialisms from the agency you are speaking to becomes clear.

Compare coworking brokers – Location specialism 

As with size specialism, location specialism plays a very similar role.

You should consider how wide a geographical area is covered by the agent you are speaking with and make a decision on whether you feel this gives you enough confidence.

If they cover a huge range of locations (some will cover all of the UK), then you could face a similar issue to being in the bottom size band – if your location generates smaller contract revenues then other customers’ searches could be given higher priority due to bigger earning potential.

Ideally you will want someone that covers as small a location range as possible and understands local market nuances that might impact your negotiations.

The coworking agency market is diversifying quite a bit right now, so more agencies are available that focus on specific niche locations in an effort to differentiate but most of the time it will be a question of compromise on your part.

Again, asking probing questions with your expectations firmly in mind is key, as is being able to say “no” and moving on to find an agent/agency better suited.

Preferred customer type 

Just as you are making decisions about which agency / agent is best for you, it is likely that they have preferences of their own.

It is very good to have a conversation about what they consider to be the perfect client – after all, they will ask you what you consider your perfect office to be, and help you navigate the choppy waters of a competitive landscape. Do you as a customer fit the bill of someone they would be excited by?

As coworking agents develop experience over time, they will have a very good idea of which type of customer they really like dealing with.

Do they excel at really quick deal turnaround times that need them to manage 100’s of things at once and negotiate just as hard and fast? Are they more adept at the long game, where clients whose searches span months are helped by methodical analysis and careful forward-planning? Perhaps they really love dealing with recruitment companies, or finance companies, or digital companies…

Finding someone that shares an interest in the type of company you are, or your industry in general, will allow you to discuss your needs with a huge head-start based on an understanding of the challenges faced.

Pay close attention to how the conversation develops when you engage – how keen are they to understand you as a customer? Do they know anything about your sector? Do they link your answers to how specific offices provide products that help?

Serviced office agencies will very rarely assign specific company types to specific agents, so it is all the more important to find someone that shares your company’s values or shows a real interest in what you do, and can ideally demonstrate their previous successes.

Years of experience (industry + brokerage) 

The flexible office agency niche will be populated by people with a varied experience set.

There is a lot of intra-sector movement within coworking, with individuals often working at brokerages and office operators to varying degrees in their careers.

Some will have always been at brokerages and others will have worked at office operators directly before moving into brokerage. Some may have started in brokerage before moving to a coworking operator and then returning to brokerage.

Because office brokerage is a unique skillset, it is good to know how much actual intermediary experience has been accumulated.

After all, someone that has 15 years of experience on the operator side of things but no experience in brokerage may have an in-depth knowledge of how spaces operate, their margins  etc. (in other words “selling one thing”) but not any working expertise on how to effectively manage a multi-choice search and negotiation process.

Compare coworking brokers – Personality / approach 

To work effectively with someone as your advisor, their personality and style of work will have a big bearing.

There are many different people in flex space agency that do an amazing job for their clients and yet they do so in very different ways. You should have an idea of the type of person that you want in your corner and figure out if whoever you are speaking to fits that mold.

Do you need a level-headed, methodical, detail-oriented person to craft a deal?

Maybe you want an outgoing, colourful, vocal advisor to dog-fight their way on your behalf?

Both will get the outcome you are after in their own way, but it will be important for you to be comfortable with the approach since it will impact how you need to behave as the customer.

If you are not used to hard sales and don’t respond well to fast-paced decisions, it’s probably best you don’t pick someone that comes across as too sales-y. Equally, if you love the cut-and-thrust of the hunt for a deal then a reasoned planner will not be best-placed to keep up with you.

Many enquiries fall apart because of a personality mis-match between the client and the agent that fails to deliver for both sides of the transaction.

Number of customers in pipeline 

This is something very few clients consider and even fewer ask about, but it can have a very direct impact on the quality of service you receive.

At any point in time, how many active customers is the agent servicing? And how can they demonstrate that their pipeline size / effectiveness ratio is correct?

There is a correlation between the size of enquiry an agent looks after and the size of their pipeline – the larger the enquiries, the smaller the pipeline will be. But the larger the enquiry, the more moving parts it will have, which take up significant resource and take longer to bring to fruition.

Make a point of asking about this – it will help you decide if you will be a small part of a very large pool of active leads.

But also remember that small enquiries tend to convert very quickly – sometimes within a week or two, so just because an agent has 100 leads in their pipeline doesn’t mean they can’t get the job done for you very well. Some people excel in this type of environment, others do not.

But if an agent has 100 very large leads active and it takes on average 3-4 months for each one to turn into a deal, then they are absolutely trying to do too much.

Having an understanding of an individual agent’s workload can help you decide if you will be in a “sweet spot”.

Case studies / testimonials to compare coworking brokers

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the availability of case studies and / or testimonials for that specific agent is very important.

This lets them tell you “don’t take my word for it, take my client’s”.

There are many generic testimonials on coworking agency websites (most from globally recognised brands) but very few are dated or contain meaningful information about the value that was added.

Most agents in flex space will have transacted many times over the course of their careers, so there should be ample evidence of their effectiveness from satisfied customers.

Whilst it is true that people buy from people, it is also true that most people will be more likely to buy from someone that has been recommended by others.

Choosing a coworking agent to represent you needs to be a product of much consideration, and the individual you choose is just as important as the brand. Regardless of how urgent your requirement might be, take time to compare coworking brokers using all of the above points and have initial conversations with agents to find an individual that can support you by matching with you at a personal level but one that also fits with your criteria as the customer.

Always remember that as the customer, you should have the choice. Research and planning to compare coworking brokers will make your experience smooth, enjoyable and ultimately result in best value being achieved.