Office Space News
Serviced Office Space Struggles in Small Washington Town
Published January 14th, 2009 by Jennifer LeClaire
For all the positive publicity executive office space and virtual offices are getting these days, good ink doesn’t always translate into more foot traffic and better success – especially if you don’t get proactive about getting good ink of your own.
One prime example is First National Professional Center in Camano, Washington near Stanwood. This executive office suite operator reports business is slow. Apparently, the center isn’t attracting local entrepreneurs looking to rent low-cost office space with short-term commitments.
First National offices six-month and one-year leases, as well as virtual office space and by-the-hour office rentals.
What Gives in Stanwood?
First National’s experience is contrary to the trend we’ve been seeing in the serviced office industry these days. One reason for the slow adoption may be that this type of alternative office rental is a new concept in the Stanwood area.
What’s more, Stanwood is a small town. It bills itself a “peaceful small town and rural experience.” Agriculture is still one of the main industries there and the school district is one of the largest employers, along with a retirement center, a packing house and food companies.
Still, I would expect accountants, lawyers and others in the service industry need affordable space. The company is targeting CPAs, attorneys and general contractors. But there is no indication of how the company is doing that targeting in practice.
Marketing 101
It may be that First National Professional Center hasn’t done a good enough job educating the market on the pros and cons of virtual offices and the benefits of serviced office space.
What makes me think that? Owner Darrell Potter says people don’t understand what a virtual office is or what it has to offer. That can be corrected with a PR campaign. The article in the local paper could help, but that’s not a silver bullet. The education needs to be ongoing through local Chamber of Commerce events, open houses and perhaps some local baseball team sponsorships. You get the picture.
First National is hoping the poor economy will encourage folks to try their serviced offices, office space rentals by-the-hour and virtual office services. It could also be that the service industry there is locked into long-term leases already and this executive office space provider will see some pick up over time. But I suspect it’s a marketing issue.
For example, I was not able to find a Web site for the company. If folks are visiting the area and need serviced office space rentals for a few hours, how would they know in advance about First National? Well, there is a business listing, but it’s not the ideal solution.
First National needs 200 people to lease office space and virtual offices and hopes to be 90 percent occupied by the end of the year. One thing is clear: First National Professional Center is going to have to do something different than it has done. It seems the answer is a good dose of public relations and marketing may help the cause.
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About the Author
Elizabeth Sanchez January 15th, 2009 at 6:53 am
It’s hard to tell if there’s just not a demand for office space in Stanwood or if this provider hasn’t properly marketed the facility. In other words, did the company do its homework to determine a demand for serviced office space before launching? It would seem if a feasibility study had been done, there would be better results here.
Maggie Correta January 15th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Potter said it out of his own mouth. The market is not educated about serviced office space. That’s really a problem. He should have done pre-launch publicity campaigns to educate the market. It seems silly in some regard to complain about business being slow in one breath and in the next breath saying the market doesn’t understand your service. I agree with Elizabeth. Sounds like he didn’t do his homework — and that he didn’t school the market, either.
Marcus Hester January 16th, 2009 at 5:52 am
I took notice of the line that said First National needs 200 customers. That seems like a heavy burden for his small town. I mean, it’s not like a big city entrepreneur is going to decide he need an area code and phone number from Stanwood. He’ got to pull people who want to rent shared office space and virtual offices from the local area. His advantage is that it doesn’t seem that anyone else is doing it. So if he can raise awareness he’s got a good chance of renting those executive office suites.
Rob Zeus January 28th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Hmm. This seems like a group of folks who read about the executive office space trend and tried to replicate the model in Stanwood, a small town that isn’t familiar with the concept. Doesn’t seem like it’s working out to well.
I agree about the website. That’s pretty standard these days and First National should have one if it hopes to market its office rentals and virtual offices far and wide.