Archive for September, 2009

Looking for office space in Cincinnati? There are quite a few good options. From CMC’s gigantic business centers that provide a host of office space, retail space and warehouse space to a newly opening “mini-suite” in West Chester (actually just north of Cincinnati), Cincinnati has quite a few executive suite locations from which to choose.

The oldest provider of serviced office space in Cincinnati is HQ’s downtown location, which has been in existence since 1984. This executive suite was in the Chiquita Center building for decades but moved to the Scripps building (a couple blocks away) in 2006. The Scripps building overlooks the Ohio River with views into Newport, KY, Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ballpark. Within walking distance are the corporate headquarters for Kroger, Chiquita and Procter & Gamble.

This HQ is different from most as it is one of the few remaining franchise locations. Most are fully owned and operated by Regus. This one is clearly quite independent from Regus, but operates under a similar model: the best upscale locations, nice, clean facilities and an abundance of services. But it has a few distinct qualities such as no term commitments. Essentially, you’re always month-to-month so you have plenty of flexibility. While Regus allows month-to-month contracts, most people sign extended term deals, and they enforce (as to be expected).

Dave Myers is the owner of HQ in Cincinnati. He has 3 locations in the area: the aforementioned HQ Downtown, HQ Blue Ash and HQ Kentucky. The Kentucky location is near the Cincinnati airport (which is oddly located in Northern Kentucky). According to the franchisee’s website, they are opening another location on October 1 in West Chester, a far northern suburb of Cincinnati.

Overall, this HQ franchisee provides a number of great services and operates very independently from its franchisor. Don’t expect the same experience with this HQ and a typical Regus/HQ. Rates are reasonable, terms are very flexible and they’re open to working with companies large and small on providing great service. These locations are highly recommended.

FutureOffices has been thinking a lot about how executive suite providers can sell more office space and has written about selling the executive suite in a previous post. Many providers in the industry don’t support a culture of sales like they should or could. This entry is not, however, devoted to how companies can instill sales as a culture. It’s about how an executive suite sales culture can be supported with a very good online tool: chat.

In many industries, the key is getting the best sales people in front of the prospect. Often this takes several steps for the person to want to talk to a salesperson. Somewhere between 60-80% of serviced office prospects go online during their search for office space, so it is likely they will visit an operator’s website.

There are a number of things an operator can do, such as persistent contact forms (upper left or upper right on every page), persistent phone numbers, great office / location descriptions. Some (but not enough) office providers do all these things; and very few utilize one of the highest converting tools in the arsenal: online chat.

Many executives find every excuse in the book not to leverage this tool. From, “I can’t afford to staff it” to “I can’t control what the message is” (in my opinion this is the lamest, most ridiculous response) to “My customers will be disappointed if no one is there to answer their questions”. Yes, I’ve heard all these, and many more, both inside the industry and in other industries.

Sad thing is that nearly every company I’ve spoken with who has implemented online chat has been ecstatic about the results. Conversion rates climb and the systems are so advanced they have few complaints.

For smaller centers (and depending on website traffic), no additional staff needs to be hired. Usually the 2 or 3 center employees can “tag team” the system to answer questions, and when they are away, it is simply “turned off” by changing status within the system. This status is reflected on the website to ensure no disappointed would-be chatters.

A couple of the companies who are using chat as a way to increase website conversions are Avanta and Davinci Virtual. Ha! It’s no surprise that these two companies hooked up for a virtual office marketing agreement in the UK. You can read about this of this office space news website.

Please, if you’re an operator, go ahead and try out chat. Oh, but first, please develop a culture of executive suite sales first.

As a prospective client of an executive suite, like in any business decision, do your homework. Just like if you are hiring a marketing agency, investing in capital equipment or or hiring an employee, do your homework.

Not all executive suites are created equally. Some of the critical differences in your experience can come down to these 4 things:

1. Location – find something you know will be convenient.
2. Staff – Interview the staff of the executive suite as if they are your own prospective employee
3. Building Appearance – If things are out of order when you tour the facility, they will be even worse when you move in. Be choosy.
4. Contract – Absolutely, no questions… check the fine print. Most are above board; some are not. Search the internet for complaints so you know the drill.

All 4 of these items are important, but none of them will hit you as hard as #4. Your wallet could be negatively impacted if you are not careful in your selection of executive suites. Read the fine print and figure out what it means, and make sure you follow any term and termination clauses. And watch of for end of term charges.

FutureOffices is not into fearmongering; we just want to make sure, like in any business endeavor, you pay attention to what you’re signing.

We think you’ll love it if you follow these 4 basic tips above.

PS Executive Suites’ Indianapolis North location is a nice Indianapolis office space for your business. Located in a sort of hotbed for executive suites, there are 4 other executives suites within a small radius around The Fashion Mall. They include 2 HQ/Regus locations, Office Suites PLUS and Intelligent Office.

It’s hard to differentiate all these offices, but I will say that the Three Woodfield Crossing building that PS is in is arguably the most impressive. The property is nicely landscaped in a park-like setting and has striking entry lobby with fountains and lots of sunlight.

The interior of PS Offices are fairly standard for the area — neat, clean and well-maintained. The staff is very friendly and professional and are very good with follow-up and communication during the sales process (in our experience). These are all signs of a good long-term experience.

The only caution FutureOffices.com has in recommending PS Executive Suites is in their pricing. While their office pricing is reasonable, they do hand out a long list of services and the price for each. In the end, most companies will end up paying quite a bit more for this a la carte service than the base rate when everything is not bundled. Please beware: if your budget is $1000 per month, you should likely get into a $700-$800 office in this case if you plan on using other services.

We are not saying that they are too expensive, or they will nickel and dime you. We’re just saying to find out what is included and what is not included before you sign an agreement!

This is standard, and not just advice for working with PS Executive Suites.

Overall this Indianapolis office space is highly recommended.

Don’t open an executive suite unless you are prepared to sell.

It sounds a bit silly to say, but you’d be surprised by the number of executive suites who are poor at best at selling. We have made calls and sent emails to office space operators who do not respond. We know of many great office managers who are fantastic at customer service, great at administrative and operational duties, but can’t sell a thing.

Selling has to be the focus; there has to be a culture of sales. Hire a salesperson, then spend the time and/or money to train that person specifically for selling executive suites. Either you (as the owner) develop — or even better — have the salesperson develop sales processes, and disciplines around that process. And give them tools to succeed. A perfect example of this would be to have a 30 minute call back window on any office inquiries. There are a lot of excuses not to do this: too busy, out to lunch, away from the computer, away from the phone. This excuse is no longer valid. An iPhone or Blackberry can make this process work.

Why require a 30 minute call back? Because your competitors will do it. It will be too late if you respond 24 hours later. And even more importantly, your prospective clients expect it.

It’s also a great litmus test for your manager. A salesperson will embrace this process; a customer service person will not have the discipline because he will be too focused on other things to respond.

Try these resources for executive suite sales training, executive suite operations training or other executive suite consulting:

The Alliance Academy
Office Suite Strategies
Revved Results
ESDI

There are a lot of great serviced office companies in the US and the world, and a few great individual offices. We could never find and review all of them, but here are links to a handful that we find particularly outstanding in some way or another:

The Office Group (in the UK) – Green, well-designed. Check it out.

120 Market Suites – Nice, contemporary design in downtown Indy.

Blankspaces – A Los Angeles coworking space, founded by architect Jerome Chang. Neat space, lots of good photos and videos of the space in the site, too.

Regus Ravinia – Unfortunately the pictures on Regus’ website don’t do the office and its landscaping justice. Try this video from aBetterOffice.

More to come…

FutureOffices.com is a website to help small and large businesses find affordable and flexible serviced office space.

In the 90s, more and more companies began outsourcing their #1 expense line: their employees. This enabled companies to be more nimble, to respond to upswings and downswings more effectively and efficiently. Combined with improved technologies, it also gave contract employees freedom to work from remote and mobile locations. Also, the #2 expense line for many companies is its real estate. Not only is it a big expense, there’s almost no flexibility with typical 10 year lease arrangements.

So, in comes one of the most flexible office space alternatives in all of commercial real estate: the executive suite. Executive suites go by many names including office suites, serviced offices and office business centers.

How can an Executive Suite help?
Whatever you call this type of flexible office space, it is likely to be able to help your company shed common expenses associated with buying or leasing real estate, and allow a company to flex with natural expansions and contractions of the business cycle. For large enterprises, establishing satellite offices can be quite costly with finding, furnishing and staffing a local branch. A serviced office provides all the necessary amenities, so that remote workers need only to bring a laptop and photos of their families and they are ready to go. No waits, no hassles. And there’s typically one simple bill to pay, rather than an endless stream of bills to tie up a purchasing department.

For small companies, the serviced office can provide great location to reduce commute times, greatly reduce the expense of setting up an office and provide a decor and atmosphere that may be difficult to achieve on limited budgets.

What will FutureOffices.com do to help businesses find office space?
We will be up and running with a directory of Future Offices in the coming months. We promise a great user experience. From the time you search in google for office space in your area, to moving into a serviced office near you, we think you’ll enjoy the process!

The Office Business Center Association International (OBCAI) and the Alliance Business Center Network (ABCN) conferences for Office Business Centers (OBCs) are fast approaching. On September 24-27th, the OBCAI holds its annual conference in sunny San Diego, CA and ABCN holds its 17th Annual Strategic Summit in New York City on October 21-24th.

For anyone in the industry, or in some way interested in the industry, either event is quite worthwhile. ABCN is well-known for the social aspect of the conference, where parties are as much a part of the event as the daytime activities. This year the event will be held in the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel, again assuring a fun-filled and enlightening 3 days.

OBCAI’s annual conference typically has great international attendance and is a good opportunity to meet with a wide array of office providers and those who provide all types of services to the industry.

Please visit the event websites for more information:

OBCAI: http://www.obcai.org/2009/
ABCN: http://abcnmembers.com/meetings/newyork2009/

The following post is the first of a short series of posts that will explore an increasingly common topic (in certain circles, anyway): Is office space dead? We will present this in a point / counter-point format, first focusing on why office space is dead.

I was speaking with a friend and colleague of mine, Scott Annan, Founder and CEO of Mercury Grove, who most passionately contends that the last rites have in fact been read for our dear friend office space. As a backgrounder to this perspective, Annan spent years working for a Fortune 500 company in a traditional office environment, and before that working for small companies in a variety of office settings. Several years ago, he left the large corporate world to start his own company. The three principals of his company are in different cities and his development team is spread across the globe. They are truly a virtual company.

What is the Ideal Office Space?

The main question offered by Annan, and many others on the topic is: If the construct of office space did not exist, and we were to define the ideal scenario for workers (as opposed to the ideal scenarios for corporations) would we create office space as it currently exists? Would we create large centralized buildings with cubicles, fluorescent lighting, sterile meeting rooms and break areas with plastic chairs, and vending machines with Yoo-hoo, Little Debbies and Coca-cola? The answer would probably be no.

Regarding the issue of large centralized buildings, the average worker has a commute time of about an hour a day… about 5 hours per week. Imagine the personal and business productivity that could be gained if that time were cut in half or one-third. What could you do with 5 more hours per week? Or think about it this way – you spend 3 times more of your hours commuting than you do on paid vacation (250 hours versus 80 hours).

Another point Annan makes that is shared by others, and is contradictory to the industry-touted benefit of having an office at an executive suite: “you don’t need to look professional. In fact, using these facilities makes you look like you’re trying to be bigger than you are. In today’s world, marketing and business is all about authenticity, and small and connected is positive, not something to be ashamed of.”

In fact, there is a growing movement that validates his sentiments, and it’s part of a post-Enron movement. Both consumers and workers are disillusioned by the marketing and PR machines from corporations whose public communications are spin, thinly veiled marketing ploys or outright lies. And at the extreme these types of communications can ruin people’s lives (do I need to give examples?). Or at their most innocuous, the corporate spin may just sell you more stuff than you really need.

So, back to Annan’s original point. More and more people are seeking authenticity, and don’t need the “smoke and mirrors” of an executive suite, which usually offers clients the image of a formal and finely appointed facility and a large staff administrative staff to go with it. In Annan’s words, trying “to look professional by leasing serviced office space can seem like a cheap imitation.”

FutureOffices’ Take on “Office Space is Dead”

We actually believe Annan is building a case for the executive suite, not tearing down the executive suite.

First, at FutureOffices, we believe there are businesses for whom the smoke and mirrors of “looking bigger” is still salient, and will be for some time to come. Second, we also believe that executive suites should not be marketing the idea of “image” as strongly as they are (more about that soon on the Office Suites Marketing website); rather, the focus should be on the idea of “the new way to work”, a new way to manage your real estate portfolio, a new way to “outsource” your real estate. Really, it’s a “Future Office” so to speak.