With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1273655
Enter William Wright Commercial, a boutique style commer- cial real estate firm with professionals in all asset classes and a recently launched property management division. With smaller offices in more locations—Vancouver, New Westminster, Langley and Victoria, for now—the company brings a localized, team-first approach, which goes against the grain of the traditional 'every person for themselves' commercial brokerage model. "Ours is an industry where 'everyone knows a broker,' but the service level gets lost in that," says Cory Wright, managing broker at William Wright Commercial, which is headquartered in Vancouver along the trendy Robson Street corridor. "In some cases, brokers almost feel entitled to inventory. Our approach is that clients are providing us with what could be their largest asset, and our job is to bring the expectation of service to a higher level and execute on the task at hand." That means keeping operations streamlined, personal and agile. William Wright Commercial hires brokers in their respective markets who can bring their experience and local knowledge to the firm and speak the language of the people where they are located. "There is sometimes a disconnect between a broker in Vancouver and what a local market, Chilliwack for example, is doing," Wright says. "Being able to offer local information is more important now more than ever." Every client is serviced accordingly because brokers have the flexibility to offer quick and more personal service, almost on a moment's notice. "One challenge in our industry is having the ability to show properties through the Lower Mainland from our Vancouver office," Wright says. "One of our competitive advantages is having more boutique style offices through- out various markets, allowing our team to easily meet the showing requests of potential tenants and buyers more frequently than if we just had a large downtown office." William Wright's recently launched a commercial property management division, which oversees properties across P R O M O T E D C O N T E N T AHEAD OF THE CURVE Bigger isn't always better in the commercial real estate brokerage business After several weeks that locked down the province and restructured the future of the contemporary workplace, BC businesses are back, many of them stronger than ever. Commercial real estate—often the cornerstone of a business's livelihood—will be a guiding light into the post-COVID era and a key indicator on who will adapt to the new normal and how.