38%+ of OBC clients have a need for additional products and services
It’s true; on average 38% of OBC clients have a need for additional workspace and services. This need can be uncovered via a simple semi-annual client satisfaction questionnaire. I like to use Survey Monkey to administer the questionnaire – but other tools are available as well.
When I create questionnaires I build them with two objectives. The first is to underscore the operators’ commitment to the client and the second is to uncover additional revenue opportunities.
Historically, when I capture results from the questionnaires, the satisfaction level is typically quite high. I also include a question to determine whether the operator is adding value to the clients’ businesses. I get a huge smile if I can uncover this statistic because it reinforces that the operator is providing much more than a “box” to work from, the operator is adding value / contributing positively to their clients’ businesses (a good sound byte to use during the sales process to get out of the price death spiral)! Another interesting stat is that in most cases 97%+ of clients would refer the operator to a friend. What I enjoy asking is what the client would say when making the referral. You would be surprised by the answers. Perhaps the most powerful golden nugget is the number of clients that have a need for additional workspace or services that the operator was not aware of.
How do your clients’ feel about your operation? Are you adding value to their business? What would they say when referring your business to a friend? Is there demand from your clients for products / services that you are not aware of? When you create / distribute a questionnaire with the right structure and questions you’ll be sure to find out all this and much more.
Your Extended Sales Force (we all have one).
Friend? Foe? Neutral?
Real Life Example #1: I had a Dr. appointment the other day. While waiting in line to check in with the receptionist I noticed three really wonderful flower arrangements on the desk, one for each attendant. When I commented to the woman behind me how lovely the flowers were she smiled and agreed. Moments later, I arrived to the front of the line and overheard another woman ask the receptionist where the flowers came from. The receptionist said verbatim, “They are beautiful aren’t they. It’s interesting because we typically don’t have flowers here, so we’re really enjoying them. But, I have no idea where they came from”. WOW, I thought to myself what a missed opportunity. Even though they didn’t realize it, all three receptionists represented the florist’s extended sales force and none of them could provide the potential buyers in the line with contact information for the florist. I categorize the receptionist as “neutral”. They complimented the florist but didn’t add any value to the florist’s business. In this instance the florist itself was its own worst enemy. The florist should have provided each receptionist with a card and suggested that they take the flowers home on Friday to enjoy themselves. Simple.
Real Life Example #2: Just last month I was searching for a hotel in NYC. I always reach out to the American Express Platinum Travel Desk because they add value to my search process and this time was no different. I needed a room for one night. I had a budget in mind and really wanted the most for my money (obviously). Typically the Ritz Carlton in Battery Park has amazing deals but they were full. I asked about anther hotel but wasn’t thrilled with the package options. When I told her I was out of ideas she suggested the London NYC. I told her I didn’t know anything about it and with ease she went on to tell me all about the features specific to this hotel. She boasted about Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant in the lobby area, FREE afternoon tea, free breakfasts, a room on an upper floor with a spectacular view of the East River, the sites and sounds around the area and more. I was sold. Her category: “FRIEND”. Category of the hotel: “FRIEND”. This is a fantastic example of how to effectively use an extended sales force. Clearly London NYC had provided the travel desk with specific and detailed information about their hotel features and benefits and an overview of notable local attractions. And, on the flip side, the Travel Desk had the appropriate systems in place to capture and disseminate the information.
The net – net is we all have extended sales forces representing our business whether it’s a client, a vendor or a formal sales team. We need to ensure that these individuals are empowered with the tools to effectively sell our business. If not, we either won’t get the referral or if we do it will be a poor referral where we’ll be relinquished to compete on something else other than our core benefits – like price.
Are you empowering your extended sales team?
2010 Plan: Timing
Thank you to everyone who attended our Webinar yesterday on Creating the Optimal 2010 Marketing
Plan. OBCAI an BCM look forward to presenting this same session on November 17th at 8:00am Eastern for members located in EMEA and AsiaPac. Ok – with that aside. Yesterday we started the discussion review the Pirrotti Marketing Quadrants, which is really the roadmap or foundation for our marketing strategy.
We’ll be posting notes for the key slides of each section but I wanted to quickly address “timing”. Right now you should be taking a look back at your 2009 results. Go ahead and benchmark your efforts. Review your KPIs by source for the year and drill right down to ROI / by source and product. From there you will establish your baseline to establish your targets for 2010.
By the end of November you should have your plan nailed down so that you are executing in December and launching your programs in very early January. So, while your competitors are scrambling to get the word out, you will have already begun your outreach. A very nice place to be. We have found that it’s best to break down your annual plan into 120-day programs. 120-days is a perfect amount of time to: deploy the plan, monitor results, identify areas for optimization and then re-launch for the next program.
Marketing in a new economy. The Web.
Web: The Optimal Combination - Click to View
Utilizing on-line activities to drive traffic to your site can result in euphoria or death by a thousand cuts. What do I mean by the death part? Well… every tactic feels inexpensive but in aggregate, the costs both in terms of money and time can “kill” you (or at least kill your marketing ROI!).
My recommendation for all activities – especially on-line investment is to: (1) Identify the prize. (2) Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that will get you to the prize. (3) Put systems in place to monitor the prize. (4) Focus on using your key performance indicators to optimize your program.
Let’s first look at ORGANIC OPTIMIZATION:
Before you engage an SEO firm, do the basics yourself. You will save time and money. Here are 5 things you can to tomorrow.
Building the Business Center Category
Ads that resonate
A while back, when we launched Regus in America, I spearheaded an awareness campaign to build credibility for the business center industry while also driving leads to Regus. When we first launched the campaign, the economy was booming. Our messages were all about how an agile workplace can help fuel a company’s growth while also reducing facilities costs.
Headlines targeting CFOs included: How do you stop a fast moving company? Drop a ton of bricks on the balance sheet.
Messages for Corporate Real Estate Executives boasted: “Expand, contract but never pay for office space you don’t need.” and “Why not put 20% of your portfolio in flexible space?”
CEO geared messages read: “Your strategic business plan has to be agile. Too bad your property lease isn’t”.
More tactical ads read: “How quickly do you need an office” and “Wouldn’t you rather be working in a place designed for work?”
Then, the economy went bust. But, the Business Center proposition still made sense. So, we changed our headlines to:
6 web fixes to make now
Website Check Up Time
In an Entrepreneur article this week, they outline 6 key website fixes that are spot on and here’s how you can adapt them to the business center category to increase lead generation.
Their first point is to “increase speed”. I interpret this as the rate of information transfer both in terms of how quickly the page loads as well as how quickly the visitor can navigate through to the information they are seeking:
FUN FACT: Research indicates that the first place a prospect goes when hitting a business center website is to “Find a Location”. Is your location(s) prominent?
Next, the article addresses “writing better product descriptions”. As we reviewed in our death spiral posting, ensure that your product description provides a clear articulation of your unique Bundle of Promises (BOP). If you are competing only on fully furnished, staffed and equipped offices with flexible terms – you may be in trouble. Read more
Filling Seats!
In May of 2007 during a relatively strong economic environment BusinessWeek reported that on avg. 60% of a typical company’s office space was sitting empty. Can you imagine the financial burden that vacancy rate places on a company? And, it will be quite some time before we begin to uncover the impact on current vacancy rates from the recent layoffs.
The bottom line is in boom times and bad, the current Logic of Commercial Real Estate doesn’t work. Read more