November 20, 2009
Dave Myers, owner and operator of several Cincinnati office space locations, has decided to shed its franchisor, Regus, in favor of operating solo. The company has been renamed OfficeKey and is operating each of its area locations under a separate name:
OfficeWestChester
OfficeCincinnati
OfficeBlueAsh
OfficeNorthernKY
It will be interesting to see how these locations fare sans Regus. My expectation is that not much will change due to Myers’ independent nature. From my experiences at his offices, he leverages very little of the Regus support and service systems.
Check out his press release here:
OfficeKey press release
November 18, 2009
There are a several companies in the Executive Suites industry that are offering free office space for limited time during this downtown. Many on the inside know that this is because these companies (and many others) are struggling quite significant due to huge vacancies. These office space providers will do anything just about to fill their space.
And of course it’s a great marketing spin and the generosity and goodwill may pay off in the long run.
But, here’s what I would pose. Wouldn’t it be better marketing if an office space provider offered that when times are good, or even great? The idea is that free office space will get press, turn heads and create buzz. The problem with doing it during a downturn is that it is obvious; everyone is giving stuff away and offering bargain basement prices. You are doing nothing to differentiate yourself by offering free space.
However, you are differentiating yourself if you do it during an upswing. I like to use the Southwest Airlines example where the Delta terminal at DFW airport was charging flyers a nickel to get change for a dollar. Southwest’s response over a Love Field was to install change machines that gave $1.05 in change for a dollar bill.
Now that is different!
So, this time next year, when the economy is in full swing (sorry so optimistic) and your executive suite is in full swing… say at 90% occupancy or so, then send out a promotion that 2 of your remaining 4 offices will be given away for free for 90 days. That will get you the press, buzz and interest that those who are running those promotions today are looking for.
November 17, 2009
Both coworking and executive suites are offices of the future: flexible with business services and shared space. Many say that coworking is a competitor of executive suites and executive suites are jumping on the bandwagon and installing coworking areas.
I would argue that time will show that the person and to a lesser degree, the business, who is drawn to coworking will be less interested in executive suites, and vice versa. To generalize: it’s formal versus informal; independents versus small & large companies; and 20s and 30s versus 35+ age groups.
Both offer great alternatives to office space, and are in the same family. But I would say in the current incarnation they are close cousins rather than close siblings because of their target audience.
November 16, 2009
As part of our ongoing urging of executive suite operators to develop a culture of sales in their office space, we thought we would post a quick piece on sales force automation applications, most often called CRM or Customer Relationship Management.
While there are many great applications on the market today, there are only a few that are focused on the executive suites industry:
There are some other good applications on the market that are focused on executive suites, but are not specifically for sales, such as eTenantCare and Medusa.
Of the software listed here, probably the best known and most active in the industry is UltraSoft. They have a great solution that not only focuses on sales force automation for office space providers, but also automates a lot of back end processes of business centers.
Future Offices also suggests that readers who are interested in CRM systems to enable office space selling take a look at CRM leaders Salesforce.com and SugarCRM.
Gratuitous SEO keywords:
office space
executive suites
executive office space
serviced offices