Re: [Coworking] Waitlist Policy?

2019-01-22 Thread Alex Hillman
It certainly can't hurt to* try* the pre-payment option to lock people into
the waiting list, but I would be surprised if people bite for all of the
same reasons you describe. If I'm running a team and need space for them,
putting money down on an office I can't have until some unknown point in
the future isn't a compelling offer, even when compared to a lesser
offering that I can use now.

One thing we *have* done with larger teams is introducing a longer
cancellation period in order to get their deposit back. Basically once a
team is >3, they represent a larger $$ liability for us and increased
difficulty/stress in replacing that income with new members.

With larger groups we've had success negotiating 60 and 90 day notice
windows that give us more time to fill in the gap naturally rather than
scrambling. It's no different (and at 60 days, even better) than they'd get
with a traditional office lease, and realistically a large group almost
always knows they are moving out at least 60 days in advance.

-Alex

--
*The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.*
Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org
Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com
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On Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 10:20 AM  wrote:

> Thanks @angel and @alex. We do that, and it does work great for dedicated
> desks and 1-desk offices. But we've got 60 offices that are 2,4,6 and 8-9
> desks. Typically, our Commons members aren't looking for large spaces, and
> the professionals who are need at least some private, dedicated space -
> joining as Commons members doesn't work for them.
>
> We've been adding these folks to waitlists by office size (and keeping in
> touch, inviting them to events, etc). Several lists were 20+ deep. This
> seemed to be a great indicator of interest and gave us confidence that we'd
> be able to refill offices if needed. Pretty quickly, that proved
> misleading: when offices open, we find ourselves scrambling through long
> lists; giving each person 48 hours to confirm can easily take a full month
> to find our new member - a very nerve-wracking thing when it's a bigger
> office.
>
> We're considering a fee for non-members to be on a waitlist. If they take
> the office,it would go towards their membership.
>
> Not sure how much that'll help...interested parties may have found other
> space in the interim... but we thought we'd try and wondered if anyone had
> any similar experience.
>
> Thanks!!
>
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Re: [Coworking] Waitlist Policy?

2019-01-22 Thread pmeyernola
Thanks @angel and @alex. We do that, and it does work great for dedicated desks 
and 1-desk offices. But we've got 60 offices that are 2,4,6 and 8-9 desks. 
Typically, our Commons members aren't looking for large spaces, and the 
professionals who are need at least some private, dedicated space - joining as 
Commons members doesn't work for them. 

We've been adding these folks to waitlists by office size (and keeping in 
touch, inviting them to events, etc). Several lists were 20+ deep. This seemed 
to be a great indicator of interest and gave us confidence that we'd be able to 
refill offices if needed. Pretty quickly, that proved misleading: when offices 
open, we find ourselves scrambling through long lists; giving each person 48 
hours to confirm can easily take a full month to find our new member - a very 
nerve-wracking thing when it's a bigger office. 

We're considering a fee for non-members to be on a waitlist. If they take the 
office,it would go towards their membership. 

Not sure how much that'll help...interested parties may have found other space 
in the interim... but we thought we'd try and wondered if anyone had any 
similar experience. 

Thanks!!

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Re: [Coworking] Waitlist Policy?

2019-01-21 Thread Alex Hillman
Same as Angel - people who are willing to join at any of our flex
memberships while on the waiting list for a dedicated spot get priority.

Bonus besides the revenue is that they get involved sooner - and it weeds
out the people who just want space.

-Alex

--
*The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.*
Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org
Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com
My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten


On Mon, Jan 21, 2019 at 9:51 AM Angel Kwiatkowski 
wrote:

> I give priority placement on the list to people who are members already in
> the flex space. It has worked great!
>
> Angel
>
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[Coworking] Waitlist Policy?

2019-01-21 Thread Angel Kwiatkowski
I give priority placement on the list to people who are members already in the 
flex space. It has worked great!

Angel

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[Coworking] Waitlist Policy?

2019-01-20 Thread pmeyernola
Hi all - 

We are trying to better manage our waitlist for office space and wondered 
if anyone had examples of policies that worked well (or that really didn't 
work well) that they'd be willing to share. Currently, we aren't charging 
to be added to a waitlist, but this means that everyone signs up whether or 
not their serious and weeding through the lists is time consuming when we 
need to re-fill a space. Do you charge to be on a waitlist? How long do you 
give prospects to affirm interest/sign lease before moving to the next 
person on the list? 

Thanks for any input!!  

Pam

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