CHICAGO—Last week at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's annual Industrial Strength Connections Summit in Chicago, a ballroom filled with brokers listened to a diverse group of clients explain just what they needed from their broker relationships.

Geoffrey M. Kasselman, executive managing director of NGKF's national industrial practice, led the Thursday afternoon session, and at one point told a story from early in his career, when after failing to win the business of a prospective client, he went back and asked why. That individual told him that although his firm's bid was solid, the ultimate choice wasn't that important, because “all brokers generate the same result, plus or minus 10%.”

That opinion was a bit of a surprise, and Kasselman asked the panel of developers and occupiers for their reaction. Scott Alexander, president of BlueScope Properties Group, a Kansas City, MO-based developer, said he thought that way of thinking was “false.” He feels the broker-client relationship is a critical one, especially for relatively new businesses such as BlueScope Properties. In fact, having the right broker can be the difference between “getting the deal or not getting the deal.”