This is actually one of the reasons why I love our community members: they're awesome at this! We have Brown Bags once a month for just the community members were we talk about these exact issues. Usually one of them is in the space when prospective members come in to view the space, so we get everyone talking together and try to begin building a relationship before they've even signed up.
I guess at this point we just have to sit and wait. It's times like this that I wish I were a more patient person. :) On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 11:16:40 AM UTC-6, Alex Hillman wrote: > > Glad to hear things are picking up :) > > Can you communicate a clear picture to prospective members why your > existing members have chosen to join? That may give you clues as to what > value you need to communicate better to newbies who don't understand why > community is different, important, or valuable. What do you as a community > value, and care about? How can that be shared with prospects better? > > Also, have your members weigh in on what would attract more members! > Include them in this problem solving challenge. > > Once you've got some critical mass this all gets a bit easier. Good luck! > > -- > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 12:54 PM, BlueOceanBozeman wrote: > > We do have a few people using the space, and we offer separate conference > room rates, so we are bringing money in. We're not completely at the bottom > of our pricing, but we're at the lowest our founder is willing to go. > > When people come inquire about our space we let them know that we're not > just office rentals: we're a community. We provide the comforts of having > their own office without all the hassle or expense. We have other > small-businesses and entrepreneurs in our space for them to network with > and use as resources, and if they ever have a problem or are in need of > anything, we'll do whatever we can to help solve their problem as quickly > as possible so their business can run as efficiently as possible. We let > them know what we offer as amenities (coffee, espresso, wifi, printing, > etc.), and tell them the advantages of working in our space compared to the > local coffee shop. We ask them what sort of issues they're facing now, and > try to brainstorm with them how we can work together to fix it. We also > inform them of the upcoming events we hold, including workshops and Brown > Bag Lunches, that they might be interested in. > > Since my original posting we've actually had a few more people sign up for > smaller passes, so hopefully things are starting to snowball. It's still > not enough to completely break-even, but I think we're finally starting to > get there. > > > -Karen > > > On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 10:11:25 AM UTC-6, Alex Hillman wrote: > > Racing to the bottom on price isn't going to solve your problem, it's > only going to exacerbate it. > > It sounds like you're doing a lot of "push" marketing, telling people > about your space and services and expecting them to know that it's what > they want. > > My guess is that they don't know they even have the problem you're trying > to solve. > > *A few questions:* > Is nobody showing up at all? > Are people coming in the door and not signing up? > What do people say when you tell them about coworking? > More specifically, what do you tell them about coworking when they ask? > > -Alex > > > -- > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 12:06 PM, BlueOceanBozeman wrote: > > We're the only space in our city, possibly our whole state (I think). We > recently lowered our prices, but can't really go much lower. > > > On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 4:15:27 AM UTC-6, Cecilia Durieu wrote: > > Hey, > > Are there other coworking spaces nearby ? Maybe your prices are too high > compared to shared desks ? Is the design of your space nice ? > > You can also post your place on eWorky <http://www.eworky.com>;) In > Paris, France, there are more and more coworking spaces and an owner told > me yesterday there was also more competition. On eWorky, and I'm sure it's > the same on other websites, pictures and nice description are the most > important features to get more requests. So you could maybe hire a > freelance photographer to take great pictures of your space. > > Good luck ! > Cheers, > Cecilia > > Cecilia Durieu > cofounder of eWorky <http://www.eworky.com> > [email protected] > > > > Le mercredi 11 juillet 2012 17:30:19 UTC+2, BlueOceanBozeman a écrit : > > Hey everyone, > > I'm the Administrative Coordinator for a coworking space in Montana. We're > located in a small city, and have been up and running for about a year. Our > state and city are both really active with small business owners, so we > know the crowd is out there somewhere. We currently have three permanent > coworkers at the moment, in addition to two PT workers and sporadic > conference room rentals. We'd like to get more coworkers in the space, so > I'm wondering what everyone else has done to encourage membership and get > the word out there about their space during the start-up phase? So far > we've done the following: facebook, twitter, craigslist, linkedin, > deskwanted, hotel cards, flyers, pull-tab flyers, events, networking > socials, member of Chamber of Commerce, and a newspaper ad. Anything we're > missing? Any advice at all would be really helpful! > > Thanks! > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/ykuFzwg3-hQJ. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > 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 view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/IsImXd8YfAIJ. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/Dg30KL7MtA8J. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
