SHB drives 22% YoY growth with AI agents and Salesforce

SHB is a commercial real estate firm based in London, helping companies grow and unlock greater value from their workplaces and real estate with strategic advice and services.

Manual processes slow down a data-driven business.

SHB is disrupting the industry with its use of data and technology, giving it a unique view of the market and empowering its teams of surveyors, consultants, and specialists to provide clients with informed, strategic advice. 

With vast numbers of prospects and property events to track, the team was dealing with an ever-growing volume of data that needed to be captured and managed. But many of the processes behind this were highly manual – from reading leases to creating reports. Sales teams relied heavily on spreadsheets and cheat sheets to stay on top of opportunities, but these required constant manual updates and were quickly out of date.

This approach also made it hard to find relevant information in real time, which slowed down sales and limited the number of conversations sales teams had each day.

AI-powered real-time insights improve 800 sales conversations a day.

SHB has been building its Salesforce capability since 2015, starting with an out-of-the-box CRM in Sales Cloud. As the business has grown, SHB has evolved its Salesforce environment from a sales tool into a single source of truth that underpins the entire organization, including Agentforce, Data Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Slack.

The company is using Agentforce to set up agents for every department, with sales one of the first to benefit. Previously, the team had to use spreadsheets to access background information, researching similar projects, and understanding the wider context before every call. Now, an AI agent does this work for them. As soon as a conversation begins, the agent provides relevant insights in real time, including summaries of similar projects, comparable companies, and activity within the same building. This means the sales team can have more efficient and informed conversations, managing around 800 interactions a day. 

AI agent saves surveyors hours.

SHB has also introduced an AI agent for surveying teams. As a part of SHB’s services, the company reviews client leases and makes informed recommendations, which previously required hours of reading and manual analysis. Now, an AI agent built on Agentforce automatically analyzes leases and summarizes the key points, giving surveyors a clear, concise view in seconds and saving around two hours per document, so surveyors can focus on providing strategic advice. 

Both of these initial use cases were implemented by SHB’s internal team in a matter of months, laying the groundwork for future agents to be developed and deployed even faster.

Sales automation and pipeline intelligence support 22% annual growth.

With a vast pipeline driven by lease events, SHB uses Sales Cloud to centralize its data and automate sales processes. The solution scores and prioritizes leads, helping teams focus on the highest-value opportunities, while its dashboards provide clear visibility of pipeline health and future opportunities, supporting more effective one-to-ones and forward planning. 

The entire process is cyclical and automated: as leases approach expiry, they re-enter the pipeline, while contracts and documentation can be generated instantly. With invoicing and payment information connected, SHB has accurate forecasting and can understand what each individual needs to do for the company to achieve its targets.

This approach has helped the business achieve 20-22% year-on-year growth for the last three years, while also attributing £1 million in revenue for the last two years directly to leads tracked and managed through Salesforce.

Bringing AI agents to teams and clients creates a connected, intelligent business.

SHB is continuing to identify admin-heavy tasks and automate them with AI agents, including plans to streamline post-meeting and pitch feedback. Today, teams are responsible for manually creating review documents and deciding whether an opportunity should progress for around 60 pitches a week. To simplify this task, SHB is developing an AI agent that can automatically capture key points and provide summaries, eliminating the need for manual write-ups and making it faster and easier to prioritize opportunities. 

The company is also using Agentforce to transform how clients interact with their data. Its client portal, built on Experience Cloud and live for over a year, has already been widely adopted, giving clients real-time visibility into their property portfolios and replacing static spreadsheets for many of them. By introducing an intelligent agent into the portal, clients will be able to interrogate their data using natural language to ask questions, explore trends, and access insights on demand.

SHB’s vision is to embed AI agents across every team, creating a fully connected, intelligent operating model. Each function, from data and technology to client solutions and surveying, will have its own agent, designed to provide tailored insights, analysis, and support. These agents won’t just support individual departments, but collaborate with each other to share information and streamline processes across the business. 

360° client view is powered by a connected data foundation.

SHB has built its competitive advantage on a set of four proprietary technology platforms that streamline portfolio lease management, analyze commutes, provide occupier intelligence, and match availability to occupier requirements. Data Cloud and the Salesforce ecosystem are tightly integrated with these platforms to centralize data. With Microsoft 365 SharePoint also connected for seamless access to client documentation, the business has created a single, unified view of every customer and opportunity.

Using a partner portal built on Experience Cloud, sister companies within the same business group can benefit from the company’s data to offer their complementary services to clients and prospects. SHB has also built a custom HR platform on Salesforce, through which employees can manage and book holidays, and IT support is currently managed through Slack, with plans to adopt Service Cloud as the business grows. 

Salesforce and AI agents are helping SHB boost its competitive advantage by unlocking more value from its data. With connected systems, automated processes, and real-time insights, employees can complete tasks more efficiently, make better decisions, and focus on providing strategic advice to clients. 

SHB’s use of AI agents on Agentforce also helps it provide better services to clients at scale, supporting its ambitious growth plans. And because Salesforce is constantly evolving, SHB is able to continuously explore new capabilities and stay ahead, ensuring both employees and clients benefit from the latest innovations.