At WeWork, we value our ability to be agile and creative with our broker partners. Working with over 970 brokers in 9,000 cities, we’ve crafted deals in record time, co-sourced locations around the globe, and saved our members the CAPEX they require, while compensating brokers with the commissions they deserve.
Here are 5 qualities that set us apart from traditional commercial real estate partners and why brokers continue to partner with WeWork.
1. We close deals—fast.
One benefit of working with WeWork is our ability to move quickly while adapting to the needs of our broker partners and their clients. While clients are accustomed to working against long-term leases and pricey build-outs, we provide a level of flexibility in the market that allows us to move quickly together—saving your clients valuable time and resources – so they can focus on their business faster.
Take one broker’s experience with an enterprise-level global oil & gas company. After a recent acquisition of a Dallas-based company, the client needed to quickly find a space large enough to relocate the entire team to their existing location in Houston. Working with the broker, WeWork was able to find them a full-floor space in the same building in just 35 days.
This unparalleled speed and agility not only allows brokers to close deals faster, but it also saves their clients valuable CapEx, time, and headache.
2. We can customize space for any client—and make them feel right at home.
A huge selling point for brokers when partnering with WeWork is the level of customization they’re able to offer their clients in not only the deal process but in the layout and design of their physical space. WeWork has experience working with companies of all sizes to provide innovative space solutions at scale.
“We needed a space that could support our growth and foster our identity. We felt the ethos and aesthetic of headquarters by WeWork would reflect our look and feel as a playful-but-polished organization,” said one CEO of his company’s custom space. From headquarter branding opportunities like these to full-floor, fully customized buildouts like Slack’s, there are endless opportunities to make the space unique to the client.
3. We love a good challenge—and we’re full of creative solutions.
A common hurdle that brokers come up against is the “one size fits most” model for deal structures. At WeWork, there are no limits. We like to think of our creative deal structures like custom-tailoring — designed to fit every client, no matter their size.
Working in close partnership with brokers, we have several ways to tailor deals to their customer’s needs. For example, co-locating with clients is a great option for companies whose expansion plans are not certain and who need to save upfront capital. This option allows them to control their own lease and take more or less square footage—with WeWork adjacent—as their needs change.
Additionally, WeWork can work with brokers to find net new space for clients. Co-sourcing a location ended up being the perfect option for one broker’s e-commerce medical client. Unsure about their future headcount, the broker approached WeWork to help co-source a flexible space that could grow with their client. In the end, they were able to move into a two-month swing space, as well as a two-year, customizable HQ by We location without having to overlap their existing lease, double pay on space, and move multiple times in a month. What may have been a dead-end with another partner ultimately resulted in a closed deal and a happy client for this broker.
4. We know your clients can’t predict the future, so we don’t make them.
Perhaps one of the single most frustrating experiences brokers face when working with traditional real estate partners is the level of foresight they require their clients to have at the point of contract-sign. There’s a laundry list of confounding factors that determine the space clients will need in the future and oftentimes, predictions can be wrong based on changing needs. If there’s an unexpected reduction in headcount, WeWork empowers businesses to reallocate that space to other businesses, or renegotiate with WeWork so they’re not paying for unused space.
TripActions, for example, was expanding quickly and needed space with predictable overhead costs, but flexible terms that would grow with them. Working with their broker and WeWork, the company was able to sign a deal that allowed them to avoid paying for space they didn’t need, no matter how their headcount fluctuated.
5. We’re everywhere your clients want to be—and where they’re going.
In today’s global economy, brokers are no longer operating under the same geographical boundaries that they once were. A client in New York might expand to Atlanta, Los Angeles and London in just one year, requiring brokers to have a keen sense of market trends around the world. Working with a global clientele requires a real estate partner who also has a pulse on these trends—and expansive inventory to match.
WeWork is that partner, with 625 prime assets and 30M sq. ft. of real estate across 127 cities in 33 countries. This global footprint allows us to work with brokers—and their clients—in nearly every corner of the world.
As WeWork grew and had more locations to offer domestically and internationally, more high-growth companies were moving in, and opening satellite offices around the world. It seemed like whatever market we wanted to expand to, WeWork always was there right in front of us.
Broker on behalf of high-profile client
Whether your clients are looking for flexible terms, fully-customizable space, or the promise of expanding to three countries in one year, WeWork has you covered. Working hand-in-hand with our valued broker partners, we’re able to match clients’ needs quickly, without compromising quality. In the end, this means better terms for them and more deals for you.
Interested in learning more? Give us a call at (646) 389-3922 or visit wework.com/brokers to become a WeWork broker partner today.
