5 Ways Colliers is Using KnoGeo

KnoGeo has been working with the Colliers office in Boston for a long time — in fact, they were one of our first users while our product was in its initial stages of development. We’ve worked very closely with the Colliers Boston team to build out our product that helps commercial real estate brokerages tell compelling, data-driven stories that stand-out in client interactions, improve sales efficiency and increase win rates.

We figured it was a great time to check-in and see how the Colliers Boston team is using KnoGeo to present impactful data and sell more effectively:

Client Pitches

PPT’s, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets and static imagery are certainly familiar, but they are not the most effective tools for showcasing the market to a client and winning the deal. Colliers Boston is using KnoGeo to interactively tell the story of the market in client pitches and stand-out from competition who are stuck in the stone age of static documents. By having data directly integrated into a visual representation of the city their team is flexible in meetings, allowing them to not only save immense amounts of time in presentation preparation but also be more adaptable based on client needs.

It all comes down to location, location, location. Every real estate data point is attached to a location, whether it’s a neighborhood, building, or floor. All that information is contextual based on where it is. No more data rows or spreadsheets — if a client is interested in a building or a lease, the Colliers team simply clicks it in the skyline, driving a smoother and more intuitive presentation with clients.

Data Presentation

Many clients looking to lease an office or to buy a new property are not necessarily experts when it comes to understanding the intricacies of the local real estate market, and this is where the power of visuals becomes increasingly important. People process visuals 60,000 times faster than text, and remember up to 80% of visuals they see, compared to only about 20% of what they read. So, when it comes to memorability, visuals are key to effective storytelling.

Colliers uses KnoGeo technology to present what they know about the market in a way that is intuitive and enlightening for their clients, so that they ensure everyone is on the same page and their clients have all the information they need to get to the right decision. Whether it’s exploring the market in 3D in client meetings, capturing compelling visuals for marketing, or turning static market reports into exciting skylines, the Colliers team is always finding more ways to present their proprietary market intelligence.

Vacancy Reports

Almost everyone is familiar with researching vacancy or availability in one form or another — going to an MLS site to search for a new home, a portal like apartments.com to find a rental, or a website like loopnet.com to see openings for a new office. These sites all employ the same mapping technology to tell you where an open spot is — a top-down, 2D map where the location is represented by a pushpin.

The problem with traditional mapping technology is that it breaks down in cities. Office towers and the density of buildings result in maps that are crowded with pushpins and create immense confusion for anyone looking for space. These maps also lock away many insights that are critically important in an office search — where does the availability sit in the building? Is it on the 14th floor overlooking the park or the 2nd floor overlooking a dumpster? What does the area around the office really look like?

Colliers is using 3D to give dimension to their data, helping clients understand all a vacancy has to offer without a site visit. With one-click Vacancy Reports, they are replacing crowded 2D maps full of pushpins with interactive 3D visualizations that help them lead their clients through intuitive and time-saving office searches.

Historical Analysis

Understanding where the market has been is the best way to project where it’s going — and Colliers is using the KnoGeo platform to quickly and effectively model snapshots of the market going all the way back to 2005.

With just a simple toggle between years and quarters, the Colliers team can showcase trends and differences in the market over time. This helps drive both internal and external understanding of market changes so they can effectively tell the story of what is happening across all data points that matter in CRE.

Data Exploration

Visualizing data isn’t just the best way to drive better understanding with unfamiliar clients — it’s also incredibly impactful in discovering underlying insights hidden in databases. Organizing information as it exists in the real world allows the Colliers team to spot trends and hotspots in their data that can only be revealed when data is organized spatially, and their teams are using the KnoGeo platform as a visual interface to turn spreadsheets into actionable insights.

Conclusion

These are just some of the many ways Colliers Boston is using KnoGeo to tell better, data-driven stories and turn information into business results. We’ve also been surprised to see their team come up with use cases we didn’t initially design for — such as lease assignment presentations and heat maps — which we love!

We are continuously improving and adding new features to our platform — if you are interested in learning more about using KnoGeo to standout in your market, please fill out our contact form at www.knogeo.com and we will be in touch!