Sales in Coworking Spaces - Coworkies Readers’ Club Online Event Key Takeaways + Access To Video Replays
This article is a condensed summary of the February online event hosted by Coworkies Readers’ Club on Sales in Coworking Spaces. It dives into effective ways to sell the different products and services offered in coworking spaces and examines both online and offline channels to maximize reach and generate relevant leads.
Sales is the backbone of any business and often feels like a pain and a cure. A pain because it is a difficult topic to tackle that requires time and effort. A cure because without it, no business can thrive. For coworking spaces, sales is a tedious task. Different memberships and products targeted at different audiences lead to running different sales pipelines all at once. For small teams, the structure around sales often comes at a challenge. Who should do it? How should we do it?
But, with challenges also come learnings. In February 2024, the Coworkies Readers’ Club invited its community members to explore the topic of sales in coworking spaces during an online event. This event featured interesting examples from around the world, where, over the course of 90 minutes, guests learned from different coworking brands how they developed their sales strategies, discovered what works best for them, and identified the audience they seek to attract.
If you missed the event, no worries! This recap contains key takeaways as well as access to the replay of the two conversations we had with two different coworking operators.
Let’s unpack this together.
For you to enjoy this article to the fullest, see below a few definitions of terms you’ll come across by reading and watching what awaits:
📋 Leads: Potential customers who have shown interest in your product or service. In the context of sales, a lead could be anyone who has engaged with your company through various channels, indicating a possibility of converting into a paying customer.
⭐️ NPS Score (Net Promoter Score): A metric used to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. It is calculated based on responses to a single question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?" Scores of 9 or 10 are considered "Promoters," scores of 0 to 6 are "Detractors," and scores of 7 and 8 are "Passives." The NPS is then calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters.
💻 SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. SEO involves making specific changes to your website design and content that make your site more attractive to a search engine. The goal is to have your website rank higher on search engine results pages, which should increase the number of visitors to your site.
\ / Sales Funnel: A visual representation of the journey potential customers go through to make a purchase. The funnel is divided into stages, typically including awareness, interest, decision, and action. It helps businesses understand and optimize the process of converting leads into customers by focusing on nurturing them from initial contact to the point of purchase.
📊 CRM (Customer Relationship Management): A technology for managing all your company's relationships and interactions with current and potential customers. A CRM system helps businesses stay connected to customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability. It enables the collection, storage, and analysis of customer information to enhance customer service, sales strategies, and marketing campaigns.
Sales For Coworking Spaces, Do’s and Don’ts.
The event began with a 20-minute presentation during which we shared insights on what has been effective and what hasn't in sales for coworking spaces. These insights were based on conversations with coworking operators from around the globe.
Here are 5 key takeaways we addressed:
- Leads, particularly from larger companies, often compare apples to oranges, equating traditional offices with coworking spaces. Beyond selling, coworking spaces often also have to educate. So ask yourself: how do you, as a coworking operator, guide your potential clients to make a like-for-like comparison?
- Different regions of the world sell their coworking offerings differently. Identifying the right channels and methods to market your coworking space must consider local habits and existing channels for finding a workspace. It's crucial to be where your target audience is.
- While preparing for this online event, our team surveyed LinkedIn to ask our community about the most effective ways to generate leads for their spaces. See below for the survey results:
- Common Sales Mistakes Made by Coworking Spaces. Let’s face it, we all make mistakes. With every mistake comes an opportunity to improve and get better. During the event, our team addressed the common hurdles coworking spaces face when selling their spaces. See below for our top 3:
- The importance of having a good sales funnel cannot be overstated. If sales success could be attributed to one essential element, it would be this: a clear strategy. As discussed during the online event, a clear strategy does not need to be complicated to be effective. Participants in our event were introduced to a simple yet effective sales funnel that they can use to enhance their sales efforts. (If you want to access the funnel, make sure to read this article until the end to redeem the small present that awaits.)
Take The Coworking Salary Survey 2024
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Take the SurveyHow To Make Members’ Referal Work For Your Coworking Space?
A conversation with Alex Young, Director of Projects, a B Corp certified coworking space from Brighton, UK.
“In Brighton, a lot of our sales activations and processes rely on us establishing trust within our local community. It's a really beautiful thing thag is quite unique to us." - Alex Young, Director Projects - Brighton, UK.
Top 3 key takeaways from our conversation with Alex Young.
🫶 The Importance of Community and Trust: Projects emphasizes creating a supportive ecosystem that fosters collaboration and growth among its members. Leveraging community events and partnerships enhances engagement and builds a trust-based community, which is central to coworking space success.
∿ Flexibility and Member-Centric Products: Projects' success with flexible membership plans, like the 40-hour per month option, underscores the necessity for coworking spaces to offer adaptable solutions that meet the diverse needs of their clientele, catering to various work styles and schedules.
📣 Strategic Use of Referral Programs, Technology, and Outbound Sales: Implementing effective referral programs and utilizing technology for sales and community management is key. Projects' referral program not only strengthens the community but supports local businesses as well. The adoption of a CRM system helped the Projects team streamline their operations.
Furthermore, Alex shared something key for coworking spaces: the importance of building an outbound sales approach by refining targeting, messaging, and outreach techniques to proactively engage potential members. As a coworking space, you should not solely rely on inbound interest but actively reach out to people, and companies who could greatly benefit from becoming a part of your community.
How To Use Local SEO To Sell Your Coworking Space?
A conversation with Freddie Scobey and Tobias Batkin, Co-Founders of Work+Play, London UK.
"We find that each of the tools that we use fulfills quite an important purpose. It's about generating a system on the back end that allows us to be more specific with the communication but also the process when people walk through the door." - Freddie Scobey, Co-Founder of Work+Play
Top 3 key takeaways from our conversation with Freddie Scobey and Tobias Batkin.
📍 Localized SEO and Automated Outreach: Work+Play has placed significant emphasis on local SEO to attract members, becoming the top choice in their area despite proximity to larger competitors. Automated LinkedIn outreach and targeted ads on social media platforms complement their SEO efforts, although they recognize that personal, localized SEO generates more sustainable leads.
∿ Innovative Membership Models for Enhanced Flexibility: Introducing unique membership options like "Coworking That Works" and "Private Office on Demand" reflects Work+Play's commitment to offering unprecedented flexibility. This approach caters to the changing work patterns of businesses and freelancers, promoting space usage that aligns with the modern demand for work-life balance and cost efficiency.
👥 Community Engagement and Tailored Sales Processes: Utilizing events and leveraging their ground-floor location for visibility, Work+Play creatively engages the local community. Their sales funnel, enriched with tools like Calendly and ActiveCampaign, is meticulously designed to provide potential members with a seamless, informative journey from first contact to membership, emphasizing personalization and efficiency.
"Be flexible. We are the flex space industry... the more flexible we can be towards [customers], the more they will realize that this is a far better alternative than going out to the open market and taking space for themselves." - Tobias Batkin, Co-Founder of Work+Play