In this day and age, when most small business meetings are conducted over the phone or via online meeting sites like GoToMeeting or Skype, there are still plenty of business transactions and meetings that are done face to face in boardrooms and meeting rooms. Many small businesses who do not have dedicated boardrooms or even a full-time office will frequently look for alternatives. But sometimes those alternative can be detrimental to their business.
Small businesses without dedicated meeting rooms or even professional office space will sometimes choose to hold an important meeting in a coffee shop or a hotel lobby. What they fail to understand is the poor impression they are leaving their customer with. The customer who chooses an in-person meeting is looking for the wow factor of the professionalism – and not the cost of the overpriced coffee.
Smart small business owners (especially those who have virtual offices at a business centre at a prestigious business address) will utilize meeting rooms or boardrooms for rent at an office business centre. As a virtual office client, most business centres will offer a lower rental fee to existing clients than they will to non-clients. The bonus is that the coffee and tea are complimentary.
Who cannot beat the impression of having a client believe you have physical office space at a certain location, when you only have a low-cost virtual office there? The fact that you are having the meeting at a prestigious business address will impress your client much more than a coffee shop meeting.
An office tenant at a business centre enjoys the use of boardrooms and meeting rooms for free. Whether the meeting is with staff, vendors or customers, having access to a meeting room is always a great perk to having office space at a professional business centre. Again, being able to offer your meeting visitors a coffee or tea without having to riffle through your pockets for change, can make a big difference in the impression you make.
Even if you do not have a virtual office or rent office space at an office business centre, you can always rent boardrooms and meeting rooms from them at a reasonable cost. While most business centres do not rent their boardrooms by the hour, the cost of a half day or even a full day’s use can be beneficial to a small business who needs to hold several meeting on the same day.
You may not need to rent a meeting room today or even this week, but having a tour of an office business centre or two can help you decide where to have your next important business meeting. Knowing in advance the best location and boardrooms that your local business centres have, can take the urgency and stress out of planning your next meeting. Also, having visited your preferred meeting space, you will not appear to be out of place when your client shows up.