In the late 1990's, AT&T Wireless was focused on a growth strategy that would involve a National roll-out program encompassing more than 100 store openings per year. The concerns were immediate: Getting the attention of quality brokers due to the number of locations in some markets coupled with the small size requirement. The logistics of internally coordinating several different brokerage companies were troublesome. AT&T was already experiencing inconsistent service delivery across multi-markets.
For these reasons, achieving their growth projections became increasingly hard and frustrating. In 1999, CB Richard Ellis was retained to serve as the single point of contact and account manager for AT&T Wireless' growth plans, providing site selection strategy and accountability along the way. |
Led by Christine Jacobs, serving as Account Manager, CB Richard Ellis, along with their alliance partner NorthStar Advisory Group, developed a real estate store placement strategy focusing on the following: How many stores AT&T Wireless should open and in which markets? How the markets should be prioritised? How the competition, as well as the company's existing stores, would impact their new stores.
Once in place, this process would be continually revisited to ensure the AT&T Wireless store assets were fully optimised throughout their lifecycle, as well as serve as a means to rationalise the AT&T Wireless store portfolio.
The team was responsible for: Creating a streamlined process to provide the client with consistent delivery of all collateral materials including demographic data and mapping. (All submittals are handled through the Account Manager, Christine Jacobs.) Implementing processes to reduce cycle time to bring new stores to market. Developing reporting templates and procedures for the assimilation and presentation of information in an easy to read format. Co-ordination and management of more than 70 professionals covering 50 markets across the United States. And maintaining open communication between AT&T Wireless and the CB Richard Ellis Team via weekly conference calls.
Since partnering with CB Richard Ellis, AT&T Wireless has more than doubled its store opening capacity, as well as reduced, by almost half, the time taken to locate, lease and open new stores. They are experiencing higher average sales productivity from their new stores, and most importantly, they are achieving their goals and beating the competition. |