CBRE

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing at a payment service provider. We provide cloud-based payment technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CBRE?

We needed help finding a new office.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CBRE helped us acquire a new office. We first gave them the specifics of what we were looking for, and they gave us various spaces to look at. After we chose the best one, the team helped us negotiate with the landlord.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people: a real estate agent and a project manager.

How did you come to work with CBRE?

We searched for local agencies, and CBRE came up.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

CBRE did an excellent job of finding a suitable office for us. The negotiation went pretty smoothly.

How did CBRE perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good — they were punctual and communicative.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated how prompt they were and how straightforward the process was.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they could’ve done better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a communications system director for a large government contractor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CBRE?

Due to extreme amounts of rain, we needed a new facility to support the businesses we serve.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We presented CBRE with our requirements for the new facility. They then found a building for us, which we approved after taking a look at it. Afterward, the team installed the power and security in accordance with our specifications. Finally, they helped us move from the old facility to the new one.

What is the team composition?

A project manager was assigned as my primary contact, but I interacted with 29 people, including power and security staff and executives.

How did you come to work with CBRE?

We had worked with them previously, so they were already familiar with our standards and requirements. We also chose them because some of their team members met the required security clearance.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $127,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

CBRE did a fantastic job and conducted a smooth transition. They helped us keep our clients from losing business, saving money for both our clients and us. Furthermore, the CBRE team worked quickly and went above and beyond to help us through the entire process. We never had any complaints from any of the 10 businesses we supported in this project; they never knew we moved and didn’t miss a beat.

How did CBRE perform from a project management standpoint?

We mapped out the scope and timeline for the project, giving them 45 days to complete the service, and they ended up finishing two weeks ahead of the deadline. Furthermore, communication was excellent. They kept me updated and got approval for every move they made. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve never seen such professionalism and thorough documentation in any of my previous experiences working with vendors. They immediately vetted their people and had documentation ready to show us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could’ve done better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Request a single point of contact to be assigned to your project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP and Systems Director of IT for a global shipping firm that has been around since the days of clipper ships. We cater to the B2B market, and we ship merchandise all around the world. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CBRE?

Any time there’s a hurricane, we have to respond and set up ad hoc facilities. For example, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the ports had been hit hard. During such incidents, we need to have a temporary site to allow us to keep on moving logistics, as well as to clean up and get back to our original port facilities. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CBRE sets up temporary offices for our port operations whenever there’s a hurricane. Generally, they relocate office, warehousing, and stevedore staff. They operate cranes and get trucks, and they move things from one place to another. They primarily help us in the US, but they also work with us in the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Africa.

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with the representative assigned to us, and he has people contacting my team members. I oversee the operations, so I don’t have any direct contact with anyone unless there’s trouble. I just put grease on the wheels. 

Their work involves hundreds of people. I generally have someone locally who is ramrodding the operation. 

How did you come to work with CBRE?

I’ve been in the business for over 20 years, and I have a vast network of connections. I also keep in touch with my counterparts at various shipping firms. CBRE had been personally recommended to me. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend between $50,000–$100,000 per year, and it depends on the services we availed for the year. However, the minimum we spend is $10,000 annually. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since 1964, but CBRE was a different company then. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our primary metric is how quickly they can get our operations moving again. We do not have benchmarks per se because every situation is unique — there’s just not a good ruler for these kinds of transactions. That said, when I need facilities, I only need to make 1–2 calls to CBRE, and they can do it.

CBRE has helped us achieve our goals. They possess local knowledge, and they’re great at pulling resources from a number of different sources. They know the area and the players there and can fulfill deliveries quickly — that is, in 1–2 days. CBRE is very useful; they’re problem solvers.  

How did CBRE perform from a project management standpoint?

CBRE is excellent at project management. They are results-oriented, and they deliver. They respond very quickly and help us move personnel and material expeditiously in the local areas. They understand our needs and expectations as we’ve worked with them for so long. They’re experienced professionals — they’re very adroit, and this is not their first rodeo. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism and can-do attitude to produce results make them stand out from the competition. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should maintain good staffing. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your benchmarks prepared upfront. Be ready to answer all their questions; they’re professionals, and they respond correspondingly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a marketing company, and my position is the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CBRE?

Our goal with the project was to find a commercial real estate space for our office.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us find one property very early on, but there were some miscommunications and delays at the beginning of the process once we identified the property. It took us three weeks just to get in contact to try to tour the property, and by the time I actually toured it, they had listed it on the market for somebody else.

After that initial misstep, they didn’t really reach back out to us at all so the relationship was cut relatively short because we were forced to rely on other companies for help instead.

What was the team composition?

There were three total individuals who we interacted with, one who was supposed to be a dedicated rep, a second who was more junior to their team, and the third who was the original person that set me up with the rep in the first place.

How did you come to work with CBRE?

CBRE is one of the main commercial real estate companies in California, so I initially reached out to them. They got back to me fairly quickly at first, but then when I scheduled a meeting with one of them, I got no response and didn’t hear back again for a couple of months.

How much have you invested with them?

Since they were unable to provide us with any results, there was no cost to us, fortunately.

What is the status of this engagement?

The process with them lasted from July–November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Their organization seems to be very transaction-oriented. As soon as they figured out there wasn’t going to be any money exchanged in the first part of the relationship, it seemed like they pretty much just decided it was over.

How did CBRE perform from a project management standpoint?

We had maybe three calls with them in the first month and then pretty much no other contact until we officially terminated the contract. They were pretty much the opposite of buyer-focused throughout our interactions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I hate to say it, but there really wasn’t anything that impressed me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could definitely improve on communication and project management. On top of that, though, there is also room for improvement in just basic coordination between their own team. Every time I talked to a new person, I had to refresh them on who I was, what I was doing, and everything else about the project. They could definitely just have provided more support in general.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The number one thing that I felt coming away from the relationship is that I just wasn’t a big enough client to interest them. I think big companies can probably get a great experience from them, so if you have those resources, they might be a good fit for you. Otherwise, I would recommend staying away.