Bread and circuses?

Hi all,

I’m wondering when do you have the experience of members asking for more and more (amenities or other things that cost $), and when do you think that’s good, and when do you think that’s bad, and what actually happens (the asking process, and the making-happen process) when it’s good and when it’s bad? I’m curious for perspectives.

Another way of asking it might be, what’s a ‘best practice’ you have of members asking for things that cost $, and what’s a challenge you have with members asking for things that cost $.

Cooperatively,

Alex

···

Alex Linsker | Business Owner

Collective Agency

(503) 517-6900 office | (503) 369-9174 mobile

322 NW Sixth Ave, Suite 200 | Portland, Oregon 97209

amenities or other things that cost $

Can you share some specific examples, Alex?

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On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 1:37 PM, Alex Linsker [email protected] wrote:

Hi all,

I’m wondering when do you have the experience of members asking for more and more (amenities or other things that cost $), and when do you think that’s good, and when do you think that’s bad, and what actually happens (the asking process, and the making-happen process) when it’s good and when it’s bad? I’m curious for perspectives.

Another way of asking it might be, what’s a ‘best practice’ you have of members asking for things that cost $, and what’s a challenge you have with members asking for things that cost $.

Cooperatively,

Alex

Alex Linsker | Business Owner

Collective Agency

(503) 517-6900 office | (503) 369-9174 mobile

322 NW Sixth Ave, Suite 200 | Portland, Oregon 97209

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We provide chair massages every other Thursday afternoon. It is first come first serve and only from 1 to 4 pm.

Of course we have coffee, soda, snacks.

We have arranged discounts with other businesses for members to take advantage of like mobile oil changes, Gold’s Gym Membership, mail and printing services for example.

···

On Thursday, January 19, 2017 at 12:37:42 PM UTC-6, Alex Linsker wrote:

Hi all,

I’m wondering when do you have the experience of members asking for more and more (amenities or other things that cost $), and when do you think that’s good, and when do you think that’s bad, and what actually happens (the asking process, and the making-happen process) when it’s good and when it’s bad? I’m curious for perspectives.

Another way of asking it might be, what’s a ‘best practice’ you have of members asking for things that cost $, and what’s a challenge you have with members asking for things that cost $.

Cooperatively,

Alex

Alex Linsker | Business Owner

Collective Agency

(503) 517-6900 office | (503) 369-9174 mobile

322 NW Sixth Ave, Suite 200 | Portland, Oregon 97209

Brian, why are those things good and/or bad?

At Collective Agency, we had awhile when we got fresh fruit and vegetables and cream delivered each week. I think that was bad - potluck contributions by members seemed to decrease day-to-day except on special holidays, when it increased. Day-to-day, fewer members brought in cake they’d baked at home, or candies, or snacks. Then we stopped doing the weekly deliveries, and potluck contributions seemed to increase - and potlucks here are an easy way to be appreciated and feel like one is contributing personally. But coffee and tea are part of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs here, it’s part of what people expect, and so providing that I think is good, and we do.

Something we provide that I think is good is parking pass reimbursement, up to 3 days a month, for our downtown location. We used some of the sharing practices that we do with conference rooms and equipment, and that let us provide an option that other places can’t offer.

A challenge I’m wondering about nowadays and would like advice/other people’s experiences on is conference rooms. Our second location has 1 conference room and signs up members much faster than our first location ever has. Partly this is because of location, but I think it’s also because it’s a much simpler offering - people are closer together physically and there is 1 room, and potential members visit and see it all at once and say, “This is it?” And I say, “Yes.” And then I show them the other areas but that’s super-simple, and then they pay. Whereas at our first and bigger location, there are 6 conference rooms, it takes minutes to show everything, and much fewer people sign up. Our first location is a place to be in conference rooms up to 3 hours every day, and our second location is a place to work alongside other people, really, only, although there is a conference room. So I’m wondering, at our second location, how much do members know what they want? If they want more members, more than anything, and also some members want more conference room access, and my gut is that more conference rooms will result in fewer people signing up, do you think there’s a way for members to judge whether more conference rooms will result in more or fewer people signing up? Curious for similar experiences or advice or questions.

···

On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 6:19:44 AM UTC-8, [email protected] wrote:

We provide chair massages every other Thursday afternoon. It is first come first serve and only from 1 to 4 pm.

Of course we have coffee, soda, snacks.

We have arranged discounts with other businesses for members to take advantage of like mobile oil changes, Gold’s Gym Membership, mail and printing services for example.

On Thursday, January 19, 2017 at 12:37:42 PM UTC-6, Alex Linsker wrote:

Hi all,

I’m wondering when do you have the experience of members asking for more and more (amenities or other things that cost $), and when do you think that’s good, and when do you think that’s bad, and what actually happens (the asking process, and the making-happen process) when it’s good and when it’s bad? I’m curious for perspectives.

Another way of asking it might be, what’s a ‘best practice’ you have of members asking for things that cost $, and what’s a challenge you have with members asking for things that cost $.

Cooperatively,

Alex

Alex Linsker | Business Owner

Collective Agency

(503) 517-6900 office | (503) 369-9174 mobile

322 NW Sixth Ave, Suite 200 | Portland, Oregon 97209

This is a good question Alex and at Creative Density in Denver I have shifted to taking a vote on a semi-annual basis combined with a little bit of experimenting.

Vote with a budget for improvements - this just eases a lot of the pressure for new amenities and creates conversations

Twice a year I tell the community we have a budget of $500 to $1000, depending on business, and people can submit ideas on what they would like the money spent on. We then vote but I reserve the final say. It brings some up good ideas that I would not of thought of and brought to light some problems that I didn’t recongize. For example, some people wanted a dishwasher, others wanted a heating lamp on the patio, a new router, increased professional cleanings, while others wanted a sofa and TV for the winter time since we can’t use the yard that often. This creates a conversation between the members and me and it shows constant improvement.

So far we got the sofa and TV, better Wifi routers, and increased cleanings. In the conversations though I explained how I address the issue on solving the problem without the more costly element. For example, I bought a new drying rack, cleaning sponges, and bought some additional silverware. I also heard that people wanted the place cleaned more often so I noted that and although it didn’t win the vote it brought forward a wish and I ended up doing it a few months later.

Experiment with food and amenities - Potlucks works

We do ‘We Top a Salad’ or We Top a Burger’ or’ We Top Nachos’. The basic idea is where the space provides the base of the meal and then everyone brings in a topping or add on. It’s a fun pot-luck that people often think is the best event we do each month.

Bake Goods sign ups. We have a weekly sign up where someone will bring in something someday that week. It’s a random day so it could happen at moment. People will bring in baked goods or a shareable item like guac.

My basic evaluation outside of the thoughts written above is that will it benefit the community in a meaningful way or is it like a kid that just wants something at this moment. It’s easy to ask for a lot of stuff but the question is it a need, a helpful benefit that will be used and benefit many, or just a feature to check a marketing box that is wasted money. If the request lingers around for a few months then it is probably something that should be addressed. Here are a few more examples:

I think free a keg of beer for my community is something people ask for but really just having a few beers in the fridge is good enough. Plus, people bring in beer to share and leave it behind so it creates a community from it.

Some people asked for extra monitors so I bought one and noticed people always used it. I bought a few more they also get used. The monitors are a real nice benefit to people and makes business sense because I have limited permanent desks. A monitor is the main reason people get permanent desk so by buying them I am convincing more people to join that usually want a desk but are now OK with a floating membership. This increases my utilization and allows me to have more members. Win-Win.

Craig, thanks for this, it’s helpful to read to hear how you do it. I’m only seeing it for the first time now (did a search in this group for “marketing”)!

···

On Friday, January 27, 2017 at 9:36:31 AM UTC-8, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking wrote:

This is a good question Alex and at Creative Density in Denver I have shifted to taking a vote on a semi-annual basis combined with a little bit of experimenting.

Vote with a budget for improvements - this just eases a lot of the pressure for new amenities and creates conversations

Twice a year I tell the community we have a budget of $500 to $1000, depending on business, and people can submit ideas on what they would like the money spent on. We then vote but I reserve the final say. It brings some up good ideas that I would not of thought of and brought to light some problems that I didn’t recongize. For example, some people wanted a dishwasher, others wanted a heating lamp on the patio, a new router, increased professional cleanings, while others wanted a sofa and TV for the winter time since we can’t use the yard that often. This creates a conversation between the members and me and it shows constant improvement.

So far we got the sofa and TV, better Wifi routers, and increased cleanings. In the conversations though I explained how I address the issue on solving the problem without the more costly element. For example, I bought a new drying rack, cleaning sponges, and bought some additional silverware. I also heard that people wanted the place cleaned more often so I noted that and although it didn’t win the vote it brought forward a wish and I ended up doing it a few months later.

Experiment with food and amenities - Potlucks works

We do ‘We Top a Salad’ or We Top a Burger’ or’ We Top Nachos’. The basic idea is where the space provides the base of the meal and then everyone brings in a topping or add on. It’s a fun pot-luck that people often think is the best event we do each month.

Bake Goods sign ups. We have a weekly sign up where someone will bring in something someday that week. It’s a random day so it could happen at moment. People will bring in baked goods or a shareable item like guac.

My basic evaluation outside of the thoughts written above is that will it benefit the community in a meaningful way or is it like a kid that just wants something at this moment. It’s easy to ask for a lot of stuff but the question is it a need, a helpful benefit that will be used and benefit many, or just a feature to check a marketing box that is wasted money. If the request lingers around for a few months then it is probably something that should be addressed. Here are a few more examples:

I think free a keg of beer for my community is something people ask for but really just having a few beers in the fridge is good enough. Plus, people bring in beer to share and leave it behind so it creates a community from it.

Some people asked for extra monitors so I bought one and noticed people always used it. I bought a few more they also get used. The monitors are a real nice benefit to people and makes business sense because I have limited permanent desks. A monitor is the main reason people get permanent desk so by buying them I am convincing more people to join that usually want a desk but are now OK with a floating membership. This increases my utilization and allows me to have more members. Win-Win.