12/23/2020
The Right Stuff: Proven Winning Tips For Outpacing The CoVid Crisis At Serviced Workspaces
Since 1991, the Winning Workspaces Hospitality Group (www.winningworkspaces.com) has been helping guide Serviced Workspaces through critical phases and crisis management so that they successfully outpace recessions, although this CoVid challenge is a doozy. No problem ... Unparalleled times require extraordinary responses. Fasten your seatbelts and let’s get in gear for The Great Recovery of 2021. Here are 3 recommendations to get the ball rolling:
Play Small-Ball and re-work your selling ‘at-bats’.Tweak your approach, and don’t sell workspaces in your lead-off spot when you engage your prospects. Instead, first start loading up the bases by briefly ‘making the prospects right’-- by acknowledging that working from home is a wise solution, and that you do it too, but that there’s also a great need and advantage for a businessperson having a professional, flexible Serviced Workspace as their home-base outside of home.
After that, sell and emphasize your solution regarding their primary concern these days, which is health and safety (on-line, in emails, on your website, in your halls – everywhere). On top of that, be energetic, upbeat and make sure that they get it that you are on a clear-minded victory path to outpace the same recession that they’re up against, and that you welcome them to team-up with you on that journey. Those are three steps that can take up to 2 minutes to successfully message-out and ‘fill the bases’, then go for the RBI’s (Rentals Batted In) by going through your regular sales paces of selling your bundle of ABCDs: Advantages, Benefits, Characteristics (OK - meaning features … but an ‘F’ doesn’t fit here) and Distinctions.
And when you brainstorm your ABCDs, be willing to think way out of the box to outslug the CoVid recession buzzsaw. Don’t be a slow-burner. Unparalleled times require bold and unconventional initiatives. That’s how to get out of a recessionary spiral that threatens to trample on your business, livelihood and dreams. No time to be wimpy and unimaginative here – your rivals are trying to pull out all the stops too. To jumpstart getting your innovative juices flowing, here are just two of many, quick wrinkles that you ought to consider:
Spread out your income gaps. If you are hurting on revenues now due to departures and too few signings during the recovery, consider offering creative income producers that address your working capital void now at the price of stretching your income generation over a longer period of time – spread that gap to 6-12 months down the road. Offer aggressive pre-pay plans on new signings (and possibly extensions for those pleading hardship). My two favorites are offering one month free if they pre-pay 6 months (equals a 17% discount on their money); and 3 give months free (months 13, 14 and 15, which equals a 25% discount) if they pre-pay 12 months.
That way you have better revenue flow now, when you really need it; have them locked in (and happy to have put their money to good use, for a 16-25% ROI rather than leaving it in the bank for maybe 2% interest); and their signing relaxes your financial burden to a degree now, while providing the psychological lift that radiates and generates selling and psychological momentum. Floundering occupancy creates a downward spiral psychological push. It’s better to have their money in your bank now, than for them to have their money in their bank, during these trying times especially.
Offer curbside, no-contact mail and packages pick-up services outside your Center to give your clients/neighbors the option to save on mail forwarding expenses.. That one screams out to them that you’re on their side for health, safety and convenience measures during these crazy times, even if they don’t use it. This distinguishing feature works at any Serviced Workspace, especially at urban Centers where few want to commute on buses or trains into the office due to health risks and concerns. The client/member (your neighbor!) simply schedules and synchronizes the curbside appointment, drives up in front of the building, and anyone on your staff cordially loads their mail/packages into their car … like they do at restaurants and DIY Centers.
The bottom line is that you have to innovate big-time and be willing to consider new pathways to get beyond the current recessional challenge. All recessions require a shuffling of approaches in order to come out on top. That’s why recessions are called and treated as ‘corrections’. They are cyclical events that naturally mandate innovation in a free market society. Don’t be left behind. Use your imagination and innovate your way through to a Great Recovery!
(Ray Lindenberg is the founder of Winning Workspaces Hospitality Group – providing guidance to Serviced Workspaces on Operations, Design, HR, Marketing & Sales and Recession/Crisis Management since 1991. You can reach Ray at ray@winningworkspaces.com)
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