REPUTATION: THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN COWORKING OPERATIONS
Javier García Iza
CEO
IOS OFFICES
Reputation is one of the most valuable assets of a company, and it is only achieved over time, while combining and maintaining key factors that are mostly generated by the perception of the company in the eyes of clients, associates, suppliers, and the public. This perception is based on fundamental elements such as the quality of the products and services offered, customer service, company ethics, consistency in delivering promises, operational transparency, social responsibility, and the ability to manage and confront difficult situations such as crises. In this sense, a good reputation not only helps attract and retain clients, but also increases market trust, promotes loyalty, and can be considered a long-lasting competitive advantage.
The importance of reputation multiplies in industries where constant service is essential. For coworking spaces, this is especially relevant, mainly because of the nature of its operation and how the focus of this industry is placed intensively on service.
In comparison to hotels or restaurants, where people spend a couple of hours or days, coworking users stay long hours, five or more days a week, over the course of years. This implies that in the long term, it is inevitable that something will go wrong: installations, infrastructure, or services. In this regard, the key is not in preventing or trying to control failures, but in how these will be managed. Considering the amount of interconnected services under one roof, such as furniture, telecommunications, maintenance, and in some cases, food and beverage, the complexity of this operation is huge. In these types of businesses, which could be compared to someone staying in a hotel for an extended period, failures that you would normally not notice in short-term stays will inevitably become evident.
For this very reason, avoiding failures should not be the main focus of coworking companies; the focus should be on implementing systems that can manage such mishaps successfully. In this context, the most important factor is to procure a reputation. Daniel Diermeier, in his book “Reputation Rules”, maintains that reputation is one of the most valuable assets of a company, and that the key lies in how to react and respond to failure.
The first 16 years of a person’s life are crucial for his or her emotional, cognitive, and physical development. During these years, humans acquire basic abilities that in time might be perfected and most probably will be repeated. Similarly, companies, after establishing a good reputation, tend to follow a constant pattern in their operations. Just like humans, during key moments of life, such as marriage, graduation, or the birth of a child, deep changes might occur in humans as well as companies. These moments may be considered, in a way, crises.
Diermeier, in his book, explains that, from a business perspective, people or clients do not pay enough attention to details; their main focus is to have their needs fulfilled, expecting constant and successful delivery. As long as you are providing good services and products, in reality, clients are not paying much attention. You might deliver dozens of thousands of quality services and products, but still, they will not particularly notice. Considering this, when will clients actually pay attention? Without a doubt, the day that a crisis happens; that moment a deficiency becomes obvious, that moment something extraordinary negative or positive happens. On that day, you will be summoned to the stage with all lights directed at you. That will be the moment you have your client's undivided attention.
Generating and maintaining a good reputation is crucial for companies. Better yet, knowing how to respond during a crisis and leaving clients more satisfied than they were before, is key. Adopting this focus will be reflected in long-term relationships with clients, client retention, and an increase in recommendations that translate into trust in the company.
At IOS OFFICES, an associate uses our parking spaces daily, automatic doors, restrooms, Wi-Fi, and constantly interacts with our own associates, but will rarely notice all of these inherent services of our company. But what happens if the internet fails to connect for a couple of minutes or even seconds? Even though they could have been using the best quality internet for hours and hours, every day, for months or years, they will disregard that. At that moment, when connection fails, a crisis will arise and we must be ready to act quickly with precision, transforming that situation into an opportunity that demonstrates our promise. We are committed to transforming each of these failures into opportunities that reinforce trust and exceed our client's expectations. We are always ready to offer effective solutions, creating an organizational culture that reflects constantly and consistently the fundamental values of our company.
Mexico Business News offers access to the most relevant information about different industries, including articles of important business leaders, amongst them, our CEO Javier García Iza, who shares his latest publication about how reputation can make or break a company.