Office Space News
A Customer “Serviced” Office
Published December 10th, 2008 by Jennifer LeClaire
Customer service.
It’s a key differentiator in any industry and the serviced office rental market is no different. After all, it’s much harder to find a new client than keep one you already have.
In a Coldwell Banker/Harris Interactive study, nine out of 10 consumers surveyed declared that great customer service is “very or extremely” important in deciding whether to give a service provider repeat business. What’s more, United States consumers indicated they change providers because of bad service (32 percent) nearly as often as they change businesses for lower prices (38 percent).
Customer “Serviced” in Executive Suites
I recently read about a serviced office operator in Europe called Avanta. The company did something outstanding: focused on customer service.
“Our whole business is geared towards providing fully supportive workplace solutions for our customers,” says Jill Jackson, Director of HR and Training at Avanta. “As customer care is of paramount importance for all 52 weeks in the year, it is crucial to recognize it’s at the heart of our business and show our support to this international initiative’.
In an initiative called Nation Customer Service Week, Avanta’s serviced office centers across the United Kingdom sought to let their customers know how important they really are. The initiative included free raffles and ‘guess the number of sweets’ in the jar competition. This customer-focused executive office suites provider also handed out chocolates and pastries.
The customer-focus seems to be paying off for Avanta, a smaller player in a growing U.K. market for serviced offices. Avanta offers 13 executives service office centers, and is undergoing a major expansion into India and the Middle East. Serviced office vendors around the world would do well to follow Avanta’s lead on this front.
One final note on customer service
When asked to define the differences between great and bad, consumers said the top characteristics of companies with “great service” were:
Resolving questions and problems (66 percent)
Knowledge of the product or service (49 percent)
Being easy to reach (35 percent)
Understanding requirements (35 percent)
Conversely, top characteristics associated with “bad service” were:
Inability to resolve questions or problems (46 percent)
Being unavailable/difficult to reach (38 percent)
Needing to deal with multiple people/departments to resolve problems (37 percent)
Lack of product knowledge (34 percent)
Unprofessional demeanor (33 percent)
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Maggie Correta December 11th, 2008 at 6:45 am
It’s been said content is king, cash is king, but in reality customer service wears a crown of its own. I like the point here: customer service can be a key differentiator in the serviced office industry. That’s true in from Seattle to L.A. and from Palm Beach to D.C. The serviced office industry is more than office rentals — it’s a service. Executive suite operators who forget that will be at a disadvantage as officing entrepreneurs factor customer service into the cost equation.
Marcus Hester December 11th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Imagine having clients call the receptionist at your serviced office and getting no response — or perhaps worse a rude response. The serviced office industry is one where the customer service of your provider can impact your company’s customer service. You’ve heard of those lists of “America’s rudest cities”… I think Miami and New York usually come up high in those lists. In cities where folks are known to be on the harsh side, it pays to make sure your office rental receptionist is ultra customer service-oriented.
Melanie Jones December 15th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Serviced offices and customer service should go hand in hand. They share a common word: service. What I like about Avanta’s approach is that it helps to set an industry standard for the executive office suites industry — not only in the United Kingdom but all around the world. When you lease a traditional office space, the customer service issue is short-lived after you have finished dealing with your broker. Unless there are major maintenance issues in the building, you have little to complain about. But the very nature of serviced offices — receptionists, cleaning services, etc. demands customer service.
Would you care for service with that? | Executive Studios June 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
[...] is no exception. In fact, according to a Dec. 10, 2008, article by Jennifer LeClaire titled “A Customer ‘Serviced’ Office,” a Coldwell Banker/Harris Interactive study found that nine out of 10 consumers surveyed [...]