Skip navigation

Reader: Software programs don’t replace a good broker

Editor, NRN: I enjoy reading NRN on a weekly basis as I find its articles very informative and helpful in staying current with industry news and trends.

I found your lead story, “Customer data mining aids in quests for lucrative new sites,” April 30, informative, but was concerned when it was implied by the proprietor of a software company that his particular software programs can remove what he assumes is biased, self-serving input from commercial brokers. It is ironic that recently one of my clients made a decision to move forward on a site within our market that earned one of the highest scores possible from a particular software program. The concerns I shared with my client about this particular location—or, more importantly, the concerns I had of the consumer profile within the trade area that the software data couldn’t compute—proved to be more valuable than the expensive software evaluation as the site turned out to be the worst-performing of my client’s five locations.

As a commercial broker with over 20 years of experience representing local, regional and national restaurant clients, I have always made the effort to explain both the positives and negatives of any potential site to the best of my ability. I’m not saying computer models and data are a waste of time and money, but having market representation from an experienced broker that understands the dynamics of the industry is crucial. Any experienced retailer or restaurant operator can easily identify the occasional self-serving broker that solicits their business; they are the ones that only show their own listings or company listings on which they may earn a larger brokerage fee. The best brokers show all of the product within a market that makes sense for his client, no matter who controls it.

Chuck Wellsassociate vice president Phoenix Commercial Advisors Phoenix

TAGS: Archive
Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish