IN CONVERSATION WITH: Ulana van Biljon, COO, Emira Property Fund
For everybody — and certainly those in the property industry — the past two pandemic-fuelled years have been one big question mark.
The situation has had an immense impact on brokers, in particular. After Covid-19 first spread in South Africa, commercial leasing held its breath, and waited and watched the pandemic’s progress without much activity for several months.
Leasing has since resumed, but as we move towards recovery from the steps taken to manage the effects of Covid-19, commercial real estate remains a somewhat uncertain and nuanced landscape. The good news is that a return to some semblance of normalcy is likely to continue, albeit at an uneven pace in different sectors, each with its unique driving forces.
But there are still lingering effects from the pandemic. Social distancing has changed the way people interact and how businesses inhabit physical space. The market is also being driven by a deep recession from which South Africa has not yet fully emerged. These factors have softened demand for office space, increased supply and fuelled an extremely competitive environment. Doing business has become much tougher for brokers.
With this in mind, at Emira, we have spent much of the pandemic period redoubling our efforts to show the broking community that we value them and to find new ways to reward them for their hard work. Watching our broker relationships endure and flourish during the most challenging times has been an absolute highlight.
The broker community is extremely important to Emira as most new letting is done through external brokers. Our brokers provide us with the opportunity to meet, understand the space requirements and forge a genuine connection with prospective clients. We recognise the hard work, dedication and loyalty of these external stakeholders and nurture the landlord-tenant-broker relationship to create shared long-term business value.
Emira ensures regular interaction with brokers through our website, vacancy portal, social media, personal interaction, building visits and well-established annual broker incentive programme. We have had to reinvent our broker incentives in this new environment. Instead of travel rewards, made impossible by restrictions, we began acknowledging outstanding broker performance by delivering incentives such as coffee machines, printers, comfortable office chairs and shopping vouchers. We were pleased to find new Covid-safe ways to engage and extend our thanks to our brokers for their commitment, attitude and excellent work.
As a culture-centred business, we believe that our relationships with the broker community should be emblematic of our tenant relationships – in fact, all our relationships. We believe in acting with integrity, respect and trust. Brokers are an extension of our business. They are part of our team.
When it comes to our brokers, we are there to assist whatever needs they have, as is the Emira way. Our structure includes in-house broker consultants who maintain key relationships with the broking community and facilitate new leasing in the portfolio and ensure that it runs seamlessly from day one. Essentially it is a concierge platform where brokers can plug into our business, and which guides them and prospective tenants through the leasing process.
We have looked at the touchpoints in the leasing journey and tried to make each one straightforward and effortless. It’s all about considering how we can help brokers and tenants in ways other than simply signing a deal -from helping to match a business with a suitable building and space to FICA requirements and lease administration. Emira’s leadership also helps to provide highly targeted and tenant-specific decisions. We understand that many businesses are unique and go beyond a one-action-fits-all-tenants approach.
Our broker relationships have come through this challenging period stronger than ever, and we are operating together at a whole new level. Our focus on building great broker relationships has enhanced the flow of market intelligence to Emira. Our brokers give us access to a world of market knowledge and are a valuable source of information about trends and rentals and consult us on new solutions to improve the experience at our properties.
I am fortunate to enjoy good, long-lasting relationships with many members of the broking community and am looking forward to connecting more personally with them once again. While Emira’s purpose is providing great real estate, we also do business with great people, and we enjoy and appreciate working together.
