Spot on, Susan! We've never seen ourselves as in the "services" business. Citizen Space is a community resource with a great culture and cool people. We also happen to have wifi. :)
Thanks for sharing! Hillary On Nov 16, 2010, at 11:09 AM, Susan Evans <su...@officenomads.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > It's been a great couple of weeks over here in Seattle watching Jacob put > together his presentation for the Coworking Europe conference. While watching > his practice run-through last night (he's so much more organized than I could > hope to be!), I was struck with the reminder that the best way to market our > coworking space is not by telling folks about all our great shared resources, > but to tell folks about our great values. > > Let me extrapolate a bit: > > No one's business has been improved by our shared printer. > While shared resources (internet, printer, desks, coffee, etc.) are great, > they don't make anyone's business or work better. While it may be a > contributing factor to why people step through our doors, it is certainly not > the reason that they stay. Our members enjoy these things, but they STAY here > and enjoy their experience coworking because they get relief from the > isolation they felt working solo and they're able to be productive again. > > If you're trying to get people into your space by telling them about all of > your "stuff," you're likely wasting your time (and attracting the wrong > folks). > If there is one thing that we've learned over the last three years, it is > that we are not in the "stuff" business. We are in the coworking business. If > we try to sell ourselves otherwise to potential new members, we wind up > disappointing people. Our true selling point is our culture and our values: > we believe that choosing to work along side one another makes our work AND > our lives better overall. We believe this, and if we can get that message > across, we wind up attracting folks who stick around and are happy. > > Members are not impressed with the stuff. > Alexandra, our rockstar Community Cultivator, told us during Jacob's > run-through that she rarely has people commenting on how great it is that we > have an internet connection or a fax machine. Instead, they comment on how > cool they think it is that we have rotating artwork in our space, or that we > have yoga on Wednesdays. The culture of our space is what impresses people > and encourages them to become a member - that's because they see value there. > They see their work life being enhanced. If you felt your work/life balance > could be improved by a fax machine, well, you'd just buy one and get on with > your life. What coworking spaces have to offer is SO much more exciting than > the stuff. > > Them's just the thoughts here on Tuesday morning in blustery Seattle. Hope > this is helpful to those of you currently hemming and hawing about how to get > some new members in the door. I implore you: don't waste your time telling > them that you have a badass internet connection. Spend your time telling them > that they don't have to be alone anymore. :) > > Susan > __ > Office Nomads > officenomads.com > 206-484-5859 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
