165. Four Things your Team Should be Doing Today Impact your Business

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165. Four Things your Team Should be Doing Today Impact your Business

00:00:01 Welcome to this Everything coworking podcast, where you learn, You need to know about how the world wants to work. And now your host coworking space owner and trend expert. Jamie Russo, Welcome to the everything coworking podcast. This is your host. Jamie Russo. Thank you so much for joining me today. Today's episode is important because if you have a coworking space already and you've decided to do everything you can to keep your business afloat until we see that demand shift that we know is coming,

00:00:49 and it's already starting to happen outside of the U S you must commit to keep marketing. Even when you don't see the results in the short term, you need to fill that pipeline so that you have warm leads when your best potential members are ready to head back to the office. And if you're working on opening a coworking space, some of these activities that we're going to talk about are activities that you want to bake into your team roles and weekly activities.

00:01:19 So take notes before we dive in, if you are working on starting a coworking space, I would like to invite you to join my free master class three, behind the scenes secrets to opening a coworking space. If you're working on starting a coworking space, I want to share three decisions that I see successful operators make when they're creating their coworking business. The master class is totally free.

00:01:46 It's about an hour. If you'd like to join me, please register@wwwdoteverythingcoworking.com forward slash masterclass. So I was at a small neighborhood, socially distanced, outdoor gathering last night. And I was catching up with a neighbor that I hadn't seen in awhile masks on all the good things. And he had started a new job in March. He had had some time maybe February.

00:02:19 So you'd had a little bit of time. He said to get to know the new team that he was working with. And then everybody went home. So kind of a big deal to start a new job, not really develop those in-person relationships and then have to, you know, manage a team and create all new relationships over zoom. So I was digging in a little bit about,

00:02:40 you know, what, what he's up to and what the job is. So he works for, he's a chief business officer for a startup company that has about 125 people. And he had worked for Dolby, which is the big sound company, speaker company, et cetera. Before this, we had been used to kind of big company downtown San Francisco.

00:03:01 So he now is with a startup company about 125 people. I'm not that far away from where we live. And he said, the office is closed until June of 2021. And I said, well, what the heck are you going to do with all the people like you were at home with kids and can't get any work done, would, you know,

00:03:20 do they have options? So they probably have employees coming from all over the Bay area, East Bay. And, um, even during, you know, times when offices aren't running at full capacity, traffic can be pretty brutal. And if you're in the East Bay, you have to get across a bridge to come over. So I was, you know,

00:03:39 hounding him about what options is he going to give to his employees who need to work closer to home, but not in the home. And he just kind of gives me the blank stare. So Jeff is his name. Jeff, my neighbor is the perfect example of someone who makes business decisions. He's not the real estate guy, but they probably don't have one it's 125 person company.

00:03:59 And so he would be on the senior leadership team talking about how to give people options, to remain productive outside of the home. And he has two kids that are kindergarten and second grade, so pretty high maintenance. And they got someone to help at home. His wife is, uh, also, uh, works out of the home. And so they have some help,

00:04:21 but still the kids are there. And let me tell you, our Northern California homes are not big enough for everyone to be home and working and doing school day. So he's the perfect candidate. And he, you know, had no idea kind of where I was going. He's probably vaguely familiar with coworking, but hadn't thought about it as a solution.

00:04:38 So Jeff is a great example of, you know, we need to keep marketing and getting in front of our potential members, even when we're feeling burned out. I had my flight group calls last week and some of the folks are just feeling it. They're not, you know, giving themselves time to recharge or not able to given, you know, just kind of,

00:05:02 you know, quarantine and limited travel, et cetera. And, you know, they're struggling with their business. And a lot of you are having a hard time, uh, if you're in the U S and if you're in markets that are kind of more slowly opening than others, you're, you know, you're, you're trying to do the things, but you're feeling a little burned out and it's hard to keep that momentum going.

00:05:23 So this consider this episode a little bit of a pep talk. So, you know, we're, we're working on recovery and I was on one of my flight group members, you know, called it a shallow recovery last week, you know, starting to see an increase in tours and leads and, and new members, but it's not the ramp up that you would see when you first opened your doors.

00:05:47 And you've got a lot of people who are excited. There's still people who just aren't ready to go back to the office, but you it's so critical that even though we know that it's going to take some time to get back to our normal demand, that will come and you need to stay in the game until we get to that point. And so here are some things that you and your team can be working on in order to stay in front of your potential members.

00:06:15 This is the thing about sales, right? If you've never been in a sales role before, of course, if you have a coworking space, you are inherently in sales, but it's a long process and you have to build a pipeline, right? And those deals, they give out like enterprise sales, like somebody who sells like an SAP integration, right?

00:06:33 It's a big sale. And it takes a long time to make all the decisions and get all the buy in and get the budget. A sales person could work on that deal for a year before it closes. And so we're used to closing people more quickly and having a shorter sale cycle. But I think one way to reframe it would be to think of yourself as an enterprise sales person.

00:06:58 And you're just playing the long game here. And so you have to be consistent. And let me tell you, there were plenty of wins out there also. And so there are reasons even if you are feeling, you know, you're struggling and you're feeling like those leads just aren't coming, it could be tomorrow. And all of a sudden they are,

00:07:15 but if you're not marketing, you're not going to be in the position to get those leads when folks are ready. So we had some great wins. I have a group in Tucson that sold out all of their offices, their new space, uh, they must have opened during COVID and, uh, Felicia who's been on the podcast. I'm gonna share her quick story.

00:07:35 Felicia runs a female focus base in Darien, Connecticut, and the power went out. Hurricane came through at the beginning of September. And, you know, she is just a stellar marketer. If you're looking for someone to watch, she's amazing Haven is the name of her coworking space. So consistent, really professionally done marketing, very consistent on the events.

00:08:00 Um, even during this time, some virtual, some socially distance, but they always have things going on and they're always talking to potential and current members. So, and, and working on all of their other marketing, she's running ads, she's doing some things that she's feeling, you know, anxious about because she has to put budget towards it. But she's investing in the fact that things are going to get better.

00:08:22 So they had this hurricane and she got a bunch of folks that came in because they had no power at home. And they just, you know, she had not gotten in front of them yet. And they didn't realize this was a solution and this could work really well for them. So a bunch of new members came from that. Now, pretend there is some sort of event in your town,

00:08:41 a hurricane or something, hopefully not. And people need a space. Are you, are they going to find you first? Or are they going to find your competition first? So you want to be really find-able for when that moment comes through. And if that seems to out there, we can't all sit around and wait for hurricanes. Just know that those things happen and you want to be the person they find when you're ready.

00:09:01 And so keep investing in being consistent. So here are a few things that you can do continue to invest in the activities that make you easy to find. So keep your Google, my business listing updated weekly. And I bet there raise your hand in your car or walking the dogs. If you have not touched your Google, my business listing since March,

00:09:21 if you're new, then you probably are much better about this because you're doing all the things that you do in your new. And I see some of my coworking startup school students just on top of it. And I love it. But if you were already open and you're just feeling like you got the wind knocked out of your sails, you may just not be actively managing your marketing channels.

00:09:42 So your Google, my business listing, I talk about this all the time is super critical. Go update those photos, Go post Specials. Trial days, virtual office discounts for a month are great things to be doing right now. Google, my business wants that listing to be dynamic. It needs to have updated content. And so you will rank higher when you are active in updating that listing get reviews.

00:10:09 If you don't have a lot of members in right now, you probably have some new members, give them 30 days to enjoy their experience, knock their socks off and ask them for a review. Ask them to write that review on your Google, my business listing. You can send them a link that has the five stars defaulted, by the way, keep posting to social media.

00:10:28 I look at social media accounts. I follow on Instagram and I'm like, Ooh, you know, these folks are, are not being consistent. So you want to be in front of your audience because you want to be there. When they have that moment of, I can't be in the house anymore. I'm ready. I am ready. Where am I going to go?

00:10:45 Right. So you can't let your game stop. You need to, you need to stay in the game. Write blog posts that are SEO friendly. This is something that you can have your team do or outsource it. If you need to. One of those things, your team has more time. So if they're decent at writing, give them some keywords,

00:11:05 give them some topics. I love the, you know, best meeting spaces in X town, um, you know, best place to be productive in X town, just topics that are relevant to your audience that are easy for you to write about, do a Roundup of, you know, best coffee served, uh, locally, and make sure you put,

00:11:24 you know, your space on the list. Things like that are things that your team could write. If you have to outsource it again, go ahead and outsource it. But your team probably has a little bit more time and they want to feel valuable. So give them some extra projects that they can do, and that they all feel a part of the recovery effort,

00:11:41 guest posts for other local publications. Everybody's looking for content. This is the time, you know, to step out of your comfort zone and start getting more engaged in the broader community. Start a podcast. I have a flight group member, and I'm going to get her on this podcast. Um, once she's got this up and going, cause I definitely want to hear about it.

00:11:59 And she's really engaged in her local community. Um, she is working on that. Now I have a couple of startups, school students who are also working on podcasts for their space. It's a great way to be visible locally. And this may not be a fit for everybody, but if you've ever had an inkling that it's something you'd like to do now is the time.

00:12:19 And it can be a great marketing tool because you can invite local guests and they will share with their networks. And it's just, it's, it is not free. I will say it takes a lot of time and it takes, you know, some editing budget and things like that. But it's a fairly low cost marketing tool that can be really effective and show off your existing members.

00:12:39 If you have folks coming into this space, even if it's just, just a handful, do some faces, book, live interviews with your members each week and run ads to those videos. And this is, would be a long conversation if we went into detail about how to do this. But I think that Facebook shows some promise right now, because typically we're saying,

00:13:00 look, put your dollars in you're in Google ads, because Google is where your active searchers are. Um, people are not actively searching for coworking space on Facebook. You have to just kind of interrupt them. But this may be the time it's like my neighbor, Jeff, right? What if Jeff saw a Facebook ad that said, Hey, you know,

00:13:18 are you a startup company of about a hundred people? You know, here are some flexible options locally for you to help your employees be more productive that might get Jeff to thinking about you as a solution. So this may be the exact time where this, whereas there's a huge new segment out there. Who's not trained to think about coworking as an option.

00:13:40 And Facebook can be a way to get in front of them. Some of my, um, flight group members in community manager with our community manager university called this week, two talking about doing direct mail. So get in the hustle, give your team something to focus on on some new projects to figure out, learn how to run Facebook ads, learn how to do postcards.

00:14:01 Um, and the woman who shared that she's doing a direct mail. So she made a postcard in Canva, which is a pretty easy to use graphic design app. If you, I use it all the time, I love it. Love it, love it. If you haven't run across it, now's the time to kind of get up to speed on that,

00:14:16 but invest in these activities that help to make you easier to find. And then as you're getting new members in, get into with them. And by that, I mean get to know them. Like you've never gotten to know your members before because they will provide clues that can help you understand who are these people? What problems are you solving for them?

00:14:43 What is their mindset? Where are they coming from? What's happening at home? What type of work do they do get to know everything you about them so that you can figure out how to find more members that are like them. So the second tip is get intimate with your new members. If you, if it's not typically in your process to do an onboarding meeting so that you can sit down and have a really detailed conversation and ask them specific questions about what's going on with them,

00:15:14 why did they join? How did they find you? You know, what's happening in their kind of broader life. Get to know them. Do they onboarding meeting, have a coffee with them, do with a mask on that. Some of these things can be challenging, but even if you have to do the onboarding meeting over zoom, do it so that you can get these insights.

00:15:34 Because if you have new members coming in, they're the ones that have pain points and they're comfortable enough coming into the office. You want to find more of those, right? So that's the low hanging fruit for right now. So next step after you get to know them really well and get those insights, it's figure out how to find more of those members that you're now attracting.

00:15:57` If your marketing has been pointed at a group that's different from who you're seeing, come in now, you know, the, the, your messaging around different needs or a different mindset. How can you adjust? And I want you to put some process in around this, have a tracker for your new members, your tours that are coming in, have a list of questions that you ask on your tour.

00:16:18 We did this, I, this is how I train in the community manager university for folks to do. You can do it in your CRM. You can do it on a Google spreadsheet, but make sure you have a specific list of questions that your you and your team are asking tours that come in so that you can learn about how they're finding you,

00:16:36 what do they need that you have those insights and see who's closing, you know, who's actually in the mindset and has the right need that they are signing up. And what marketing approaches can you test to get more of those folks. And then the other piece is make sure you're communicating consistently to your current members and your potential members. So this is one of those like act as if,

00:17:04 you know, treat those current members like they are gold because they're showing up and they're filling. They're not filling your space probably, but they're bringing some energy and some life to your space and giving you something to share posts to social media, about what they're up to about their businesses, highlight them. We talked about doing, you know, a video,

00:17:24 a Facebook live interview with them, do a blog posts to feature your members, send your monthly newsletter. We talked about this on our community manager university called this month. It's really important to be consistent with that monthly newsletter for internal folks and external folks. And some people will do a separate version. Some people do the same newsletter goes to everybody, but show your audience that the members that are coming into the space,

00:17:54 give them a sense of what that community looks like as well as how you're handling safety protocols and just keep putting that message out there. And when they're ready, they will show up. But if you don't send it, they won't know you won't be in their inbox and you won't be top of mind work on. We keep talking about Facebook ads, which I really think are an opportunity right now,

00:18:15 work on building your email list with Facebook ads. So put a lead magnet out there, put a free resource or a free day pass, or, um, you know, a free couple of hours in a meeting room or a half a day in a, in a private office. I can only imagine the leads that might bring in, be willing to give something away,

00:18:35 to get some leads and then nurture those leads with your weekly. Sorry, it doesn't have to be weekly. One of our community manager, university members said she does weekly and I gave her a big high five because that's impressive, probably a monthly newsletter and test offers on the folks that are in getting your newsletter. Um, family membership, student memberships,

00:18:58 you know, the things that we see people experimenting with. If you have an email list and you have a newsletter and you're active on social media, then you can test offers on these folks and start to see, you know, what's clicking and what's working and continue to do these activities to not only successfully rebuild your business, but also to position yourself for new opportunities that come along.

00:19:23 Like I said, I ran my flight group calls and the community manager university calls last week, and a couple of my own networking calls and people who are managing to keep their mindset positive and staying in the game are seeing opportunities. Even in the worst markets, the ones that are most challenged with density D density to find requirements and offices still closed, et cetera.

00:19:49 Folks who are staying in a game, I keep using that phrase, but I keep feeling like that's like, I need to be the cheerleader and remind you to like, keep the uniform on and keep your glove on whatever your sport is. Keep your mindset positive and keep doing the work because there will be opportunities as we reenter and recover. And you don't want to be the person who just let your business who gave up,

00:20:14 right. And who did the bare minimum. And, and wasn't there to attract the landlord that wants to do a management agreement or the really positive lease terms when those start to come around. So make sure that you are doing everything you can to be the person that looks really attractive when those good times return. So keep on, keep it on just to kind of reiterate what we covered today and wanting to get intimate with your new members,

00:20:45 get to know them really well, figure out what's bringing them in. What's their mindset. Why are they joining? How can you find more of those members that you're attracting continue to invest in the activities that make you easy to find for those potential members that start to decide they're ready to come back and communicate consistently to those members and potential members. If you are keeping your head in the game on marketing and experimenting with some creative approaches,

00:21:14 we would love to hear from you send me an email, Jamie, at everything, coworking.com or join us in the Facebook group. We have a really active Facebook group, um, that you can join the shortcut for that is everything. Coworking club.com. We'd love to see you there, share your wins, share what you're testing. We're all in this together and trying to figure this out.

00:21:34 Thank you for joining me today.

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