Office Space Advice
Q & A: Susan Smith Discusses Training Strategies
Published August 5th, 2010 by Jennifer LeClaire
If you’ve ever questioned the value of training managers and other employees in your serviced office center, a 10-minute talk with Susan Smith will change your mind.
Smith, Executive Director of the Alliance Academy, is passionate about training. Training has always been the life blood of Smith’s serviced office career. Before joining the Alliance Academy, she served as head of training at HQ Global Workplaces and Corporate Office Centers.
With so much industry-specific training under her belt, Smith is chock full of knowledge about how to impart information and skills that will help executive office space operators better serve their customers–and make more sales. aBetterOffice.com caught up with Smith to discuss her take on training.
What are the biggest challenges to recruiting sales staff into the business center industry today?
A center is just a center. The team inside the four walls is what makes it a living and breathing entity that inspires collaboration and success for the clients and the operation. Therefore, finding the right person to blend in and contribute to the team is difficult. The most important characteristics to look for are an overwhelming positive attitude and sense of pride in their ability to serve others.
How can business centers overcome those challenges?
These days, everyone knows someone who is currently looking for meaningful employment. Engage your clients, team members, and friends in the search for the perfect fit for your center. Be on the lookout for champions of customer service when you are shopping or eating out. Have cards on hand and tell the person how much you appreciate their attitude and share the opportunity you have open in your center.
A lot of centers require a “trail day” for any new employee. This is the best way to see how they perform with the team and the clients. It takes a special person to be a center superstar, so don’t settle for anything less than a perfect match.
Why is sales training so important and what types of training do you recommend?
About 90 percent of the managers that I mystery shop are just a talking brochure. How can you learn anything about the client when you do all of the talking? It drives me crazy! They just do a data dump with the prospect and hope that something they say with appeal to them. What happened to building rapport? How can you tailor your offering when you don’t even know what their needs are and why?
Your sales dialogue must include specific questions related to the prospects industry. You have to be able to prove to them that you understand their business and their pain. Tell a story about how you have helped a similar business be more productive and successful.
I recommend that we get back to the basics of building relationships first. That is the key to every successful business. Next, create industry-specific questions to draw out the prospects’ pain. If you cannot discover their pain, you can never help them alleviate the problem. Finally, you have to be able to prove your value at every touch point in the center.
What would you say to business centers who don’t see the value in sales training investments?
If you think it is hard to sell offices in a down economy, try to sell OBC training. Our industry is very frugal and owners initially struggle with how soft skills sales training turns into hard dollars.
It is a proven fact that sales increase after an Academy sales workshop. I get so excited when a manager calls me to say that they have been using the new sales skills and just closed their biggest deal this year. If a business center does not see the value, then I just move on to the next one that will understand positive financial impact of my customized OBC sales workshops.
What were the key lessons you learned during your days as Director of Training of HQ Global Workplaces and Corporate Office Centers?
I am grateful to HQ for giving me an opportunity to enter the world of training. I found my passion and calling for the future. I also learned that you have to believe in what you sell or no one will ever buy from you. I no longer believed in HQ’s value proposition. At Corporate Office Centers, I worked with team members and owners who truly love what they do and the people that work for them. It renewed my faith in the industry.
What is the state of the Atlanta business center market as you see it?
The Atlanta market is booming right now. Regus is expanding and Servcorp just opened their first Atlanta location. The city boundaries are growing and opening up new markets for business center growth.
Any closing thoughts?
I recently attended the Southeastern Entrepreneur Conference in Atlanta. Five hundred entrepreneurs came to gain insight on how to start a new business and learn about valuable tools to help them succeed. Where were the OBCs? This type of venue is the perfect place to spend your marketing dollars to spread the word about your center and services. OBCs need to be more visible to their target audience.
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Elizabeth Sanchez August 5th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
What great advice! This Q&A is so informative. I’m really glad you tackled this topic. Especially in this economy, customer service is so vital. I like the point about managers listening to prospects more and talking less. Listening is one of the keys to good customer service. Every business center owner should read this article!
Bill Brookshire August 5th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
How refreshing. In today’s business world it seems too few are concerned about building long-term relationships. That’s a value system previous generations really instilled in me. And it makes good business sense. That’s why they did it. I think executive office suites providers who can do as Ms. Smith said, get back to basics, will see more success in this economic climate than those who are merely hustling to rent office space.