197. Dave Cairns on The Future of Brokers in the Commercial Office Sector

TODAY’S GUEST IS DAVE CAIRNS, FOUNDER OF CBRE FORWARD

David Cairns is a Senior Vice President - Office Leasing CBRE and founder of CBRE Forward. David is hyper-active on LinkedIn. If you want to follow along as he questions traditional commercial office thinking, you can find him here.

This episode is important because many of the brokerage firms have their own coworking or flex space brand…but most have very few locations AND brokers are a key marketing tool for coworking spaces that focus on offering private spaces.

CBRE launched its own flex space brand under the name “HANA” but at the time of this recording, recently announced that they made a 35% acquisition of Industrious which was an investment of $200M. That investment was a big win for the coworking industry at large.

If my discussion with Dave makes you curious about how to implement a better broker program for your coworking space, Kane Willmott, CEO of IQ Office, shared the details on his program on episode #129.

DAVE AND I DISCUSS:

As a thought leader and "futurist" in the office sector, how many years ahead of the average broker are you in embracing WFA and Flex as part of the strategy?
What are the conversations that your clients are having today about their workplace strategy? What is your role as a broker in those strategic discussions?
How do you think about your compensation as tenants want less traditional space?
What does the role of the broker look like in 5 years? 10 years?
What can flex operators do to help occupiers and brokers understand their offer as part of a multi-pronged real estate solution?
You are one of the few office brokers I see on LinkedIn taking risks by sharing your thinking. Does your risk-taking always serve you?

Interested in optimizing your coworking space to improve your systems and get more leads?. To learn more about our mentor program, book a call with our team.

If you’re in my mentorship program, you have access to a live Q&A call/recording that Reuben hosted for my students. Reach out to team@everythingcoworking.com if you are in the program and need help locating that recording.