228. The New Rules of Engagement for Coworking Spaces - Who you Serve
Things have changed. You must question all aspects of your coworking business. I like to refer to this shift as “The New Rules of Engagement.”
This is the third episode in a series on “The New Rules of Engagement.”
In the first episode of the series, I walked through the key areas of our business that we should question post-COVID.
In last week’s episode, I did a deep dive on the aspects around “What you sell” that you should review/consider updating.
This week, we’re questioning who you serve.
In this episode, I TALK ABOUT:
How the potential membership for coworking has evolved:
Coworking started as a solution primarily for freelancers and solopreneurs that needed to get out of the house, find an alternative to the coffee shop and find their tribe.
Coworking evolved as a solution for professional service professionals that needed small private offices.
Over time, it started to grow into a flexible option for tech startups and small businesses that wanted the benefits of a large office but with more flexibility and without the overhead and operational hassle.
Post-COVID, flex is an ideal solution for….everyone...and for all types of work, collaboration, events, and more.
How coworking space operators need to decide who they are serving and adjust their physical space and their offers to meet their needs (as we discussed in last week’s “what you sell” episode.
Decisions you might need to make about who you serve:
For your current location:
Do you need to adjust who you serve in order to fill up?
Is your ideal member a member that went home and might not ever come back? Lawyers?
Are you targeting a member that doesn’t “need” space and isn’t easy to rebuild? Creatives?
If yes, then where is the low-hanging fruit demand-wise?
Look at your tour data. What do your tours do for work? Are they freelancers? Small business owners? Remote employees?
What time of memberships do they want to buy?
How did they find you? (Colin)
If you need to adjust who you serve, will you need to adjust your physical space in order to attract them?
Do you need to add private space?
Do you need more phone booths?
Do you need to elevate technology, furniture, etc?
If you’re thinking about expanding:
Can you serve a new (enterprise) audience by expanding within your building through a partnership with your landlord (coming soon on the final episode in this series in an interview with Michael Abrams).
If you’re interested in attracting larger small businesses and enterprise teams, should you consider an “HQ model?
On the next episode we’ll talk about how coworking space operators can align lead sources with the type of members they are serving.
Everything Coworking Featured Resources:
Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space
Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective
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For the transcription of this episode, click here.
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