Totally makes sense. Another thing along that line to help ease weak points in cash-flow through slow periods is to offer multi-month presales of membership (like you already do, we do it in 3-6-12 month increments). For every 6 months that people pre-pay, we give them an additional month for free. We don't generally publicize this option except in periods where we know that cash-flow is predictably slower.
There's another benefit to the end of the year - members whose companies have cash on hand are often trying to get some extra business expenses on the books to lower their taxable income. Since coworking is generally a business expense (always check with an accountant on how it works for you), people pre-paying for a few months of next year at the end of the calendar year helps ease holiday drop off. And this is just on the business side of things! We've been able to keep Indy Hall feeling cozy by turning up the dial on community interactions, which are already our focus during the rest of the year. Even when people are winding down on the work front, keeping the community active and participating reminds people that it's not just a place to get work done. Our year end town hall & holiday party spurred some of the most exciting ideas for the new year from our members, making things feel a lot less quiet than they might actually be compared to the usual activity. Craig - lets definitely connect in the new year. Hit me up off list with some days/times :) Happy holidays, everybody! -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Dec 20, 2012, at 11:14 AM, Mojo <cr...@mojocoworking.com> wrote: > Alex - 6 month members pay monthly (first of the month) just like everyone > else. We did have one member who for accounting reasons paid all up front > (which was nice). Some others pay 3 months at a time, but most just pay > monthly. We encourage the 6 month memberships by offering a slightly lower > price and allowing 24/7 access. > > My thinking was that if we keep our six month members on an October and April > renewal cycle ... they'll be committed through the slower months and > desks/offices will be filled. We try to steer all new members toward > membership renewals at those two months. > > I'd still like to find some time to get on a quick call with you. Maybe > early next year. Cheers. > > > On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 10:33:31 AM UTC-5, Alex Hillman wrote: > I can concur with Craig - this has been a pretty predictable pattern for us > and the best thing we've done is to get a few months ahead of it. > > The good news is that it's generally followed by a spike of new activity in > January. Kinda like New Years resolutions for the gym, but for coworking :) > > Craig - for your 6 month memberships, are people still paying monthly? How do > those work/help you through seasonal lulls? > > -Alex > > -- > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > Got Community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org > > On Dec 19, 2012, at 9:36 AM, Mojo <cr...@mojocoworking.com> wrote: > >> Hello Marie, we have a coworking space in Asheville, North Carolina. >> Population 75,000-ish. We are located downtown which I think helps but also >> notice a slowdown in December. The way we try to counter this is by having >> as many 6 month members as possible. We run the cycles starting in April >> and October ... so that we make sure we're covered in the slower months like >> December and July. We also start opening our common area for free community >> events in October & November to allow as many people to come through the >> space and see it, talk about it ... hopefully spread the word or come back >> themselves to use it. >> >> Most of our members are 6 month or 1 year vs. drop in. We have a few M2M >> members and a few daily/drop in/flex users as well. Usually around >> Thanksgiving and Xmas we get a few tourists who are in town visiting >> family/friends ... make sure that your local tourism board knows about you >> ... or your chamber of commerce, etc. if that exists for your suburban >> location. >> >> Happy holidays. >> >> Craig >> >> >> >> On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 6:32:17 PM UTC-5, Marie wrote: >> Just wondering if anyone is experiencing a decline in the amount of >> customers in December? If so, what efforts are you doing that is helping to >> bring more in? >> >> Granted, my questions is more for co-working spaces that are not located in >> big cities (if any like that exist). Ours is located in the suburbs and I >> have noticed a decrease in activity since last week and around Thanksgiving. >> We have not done anything different and we do have new promos starting in >> January but we don't have a marketing budget for December so I can't spend a >> ton of money marketing right now. I mostly just want to know if it's normal >> in the co-working world as I know its normal to slow down around the >> holidays in the B2B world. >> >> -- >> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> > > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
