Community is defined as a social group that comes together due to a common interest. From the smiling expression on the front desk staff’s face when you enter the lobby to the warm welcome your peers give you at a networking event, the community that surrounds your business has a huge impact on the results you get. Community doesn’t happen by accident. How can an office space in NYC with so many different businesses, personality types, and a variety of motivations reach a common ground? The answer is through the workspace leadership of community engagement. This month we interview Erin Letter, the community manager who oversees all of Corporate Suites’ community activities in our eight centers across Manhattan. Find out how and why she and the Corporate Suites team manages to connect the dots and improve member relations for all who rent office space in our NYC centers.
Welcoming Newbies Into Our Manhattan Office Space Community
A welcome isn’t just the words you say. At Corporate Suites, we make sure that each client receives not only a welcome greeting from the concierge staff and welcome gift, but also a survey that allows us to better understand your business needs. With this information, we get a sense of who you tend to do business with, both as clients and as vendors, what your working style is like, what potentially would be an unwelcome distraction, and how your company, on the whole, conducts itself.
With this knowledge, Erin tries to see if anyone else on the floor at that location would be a good candidate for an introduction. We also send out an email announcement to the members of the business center with your website and social pages.
Recently Corporate Suites has instituted the Client Welcome Happy Hour after normal working hours. This is a way to naturally integrate new members into the social scene in a way that is nonobtrusive to the workday. But that’s not where it ends! Erin is constantly looking to start conversations for members throughout their time in our business centers.
As an example, recently at our 275 Madison Avenue location, Erin learned that an attorney tenant was looking for an immigration lawyer to assist with a case he was handling. Erin introduced him to one of our other members who do the type of work being sought after, and they ended up creating a wonderful partnership.
Our networking events are a wonderful way for savvy business people to meet like-minded folks in a natural and elegant way. Our events are open not just to private office clients but also anyone who has an NYC virtual office package or an NYC meeting room rental.
Ongoing Nurturing of Our Manhattan Office Space Community
Corporate Suites has mobilized its team to optimize the benefits to its client community. The front desk concierge staff plays a critical role in our office culture. To read more about John the office concierge delivers an exceptional experience to clients, click here. In addition, on an ongoing basis, the community managers celebrate life events such as the arrival of a new child or client birthdays.
Erin Lettera oversees the communities at all eight Corporate Suites office space locations across Manhattan serving over 700 private office and 400 virtual office clients. In several of these centers, Corporate Suites has an in-house community manager to facilitate more of the day to day community relations. In fact, this summer we are hiring two more in-house managers to nurture our community.
In addition to the concierge and community managers, Corporate Suites has an extensive center management staff who is in charge of handling all management duties. Paul Carter, Eugene Gutsalo, and Yessenia Campoverde, the center management team. Each manager has been in this role for at least ten years and is experienced in working with the operations staff, overseeing the front desk at each location, and being a contact for any service upgrades and expansion/downsize requests that clients may have. To quote Paul Carter, “My job is to develop the people, processes, and systems to ensure customer satisfaction.” It doesn’t get more service-focused than that, folks!
It goes past the pleasantries, though. Corporate Suites is committed to delivering an outstanding experience of elegance, discretion, and privacy. To make sure we are achieving this, we conduct monthly reviews of our service. Several of our clients have been motivated to post to Yelp and Google describing how they’ve been treated as a result of these dialogues.
Says Erin, “Community is about bringing people together and helping them networking for the benefit of their businesses. I consider myself a client cheerleader whose role is to facilitate successful business relationships and show that Corporate Suites appreciates each and every member being here with us.”
Fostering Strong Ties Outside our Manhattan Office Space
In an effort to constantly introduce fresh relationships to our community, Erin reaches out to external organizations to build relationships. For example, any new client can get a 40% discount on a yearlong membership at New York Sports Clubs. In the past, we have held events with confection company Auntie Annie’s Pretzels. Our business partnerships include the New York City Bar Association and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) of New York, an elite business networking forum.
An Elegant, Discrete, and Private Community of Business Professionals
Being in the right business community is great for companies in transition. While many see coworking as an “anything goes” distracting and noisy office environment, at Corporate Suites we make sure that office formality is upheld. The people who come to us are keen on maintaining an image of elegance and discretion. For this reason, successful law firms, financial firms, FinTech companies, and the best in healthcare, media, and technology are part of our A list roster.
Becoming a member of the Corporate Suites community is ideal for companies who:
- Seek a secure environment where they can conduct business in an upscale setting that will impress their clients without worry of noise or compromise of security
- Are in expansion mode and looking to boost their business image with a virtual business address in a Manhattan zip code and a phone number with a 212 area code.
- Have a need for occasional meeting room space that will make a great first impression, but don’t want to put up with long delays or lack of availability at times when they need it the most
Growing companies in Manhattan need all the support from peers and staff they can get to rise above the competition. At Corporate Suites, you’re not just getting a place to set up your shingle, you’re getting the support resources of a service culture that is willing to connect the dots for your business while you are busy running it. Email us at info@corporatesuites.com to become a part of our vibrant business community.
