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- Flexible space and coworking centers can increase revenue by offering virtual offices, especially value-add services such as mail forwarding.
- However, mail-related problems are the top dissatisfaction among virtual office clients, which makes solid mail handling processes a priority.
- Learn tried-and-tested mail handling best practices from two expert center operators who have polished their process over many years.
Which flexible space operator has the longest lifecycle clients, the lowest cost per client, and the highest profit margins?
It’s the virtual office operator with the best mail handling practices.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
Virtual offices generate the highest profit margin at the typical coworking or business center. Once a virtual client starts using your address on their business documents and marketing materials, they start receiving mail — and that’s where you’ll find revenue opportunities.
This includes mail-related services such as mail forwarding and mail scanning, as well as meeting space, coworking memberships, lobby listings, and more.
But like any business service, your mail handling process must deliver.
We have found that problems associated with mail are the number one dissatisfaction among virtual office clients, and the number one reason they leave. That’s why centers with a solid mail handling process have the highest client satisfaction and loyalty.
So how do you improve your mail handling practices to increase revenue?
We spoke to Taylor Williams from Lyric Works, a successful and long-established independent center in Houston, and Karen Condi from Fusion Workplaces — with 11 centers across multiple states — to discover their tried-and-tested mail handling best practices.
1.Organization is key.
“Hyper organization is key,” says Taylor Williams from Lyric Works. In 2.5 years, Lyric Works has increased their virtual mail clients from 90 to almost 600. In addition to a high volume of mail items and packages, the company also receives SOP mail, which means their process must be watertight.
“We categorize everything based on local pickup and forwarding frequency, and then it’s all alphabetized. We keep logs for absolutely everything.”
Fusion Workplaces’ onsite teams have similarly honed their mail management processes over the years, which includes maintaining a comprehensive and alphabetically organized list of all member companies.
“This attention to detail ensures that no piece of mail is misplaced, guaranteeing a reliable and efficient mail service for members.”
2.Pick your mail forwarding days carefully.
Mail forwarding can be carried out daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, depending on the client’s needs. While daily forwarding happens every weekday, other frequencies should occur on quieter days.
Karen recommends selecting a mail forwarding day that avoids the chaotic Mondays and Fridays. Careful scheduling ensures a smoother process and reduces the likelihood of mail-related disruptions.
3.Create a mail room.
As their mail processing requirements grew, Lyric Works took over an empty office and repurposed it into a “mini mail center.” This gave the team much-needed space to organize mail and work around each other, while also providing valuable storage space for mail that’s waiting to be collected or forwarded.
Similarly, Karen recommends creating space that’s large enough for packages.
“Another valuable lesson we’ve learned is that our members frequently receive a significant volume of packages. Therefore, we now factor in package storage space when designing future workspace layouts.”
This allows each center to store packages securely and conveniently without the eyesore of boxes piled up in the reception area.
4.Utilize the right technology.
Some centers with a low volume of mail rely on their own manual mail sorting processes.
However, for Lyric Works, managing the daily mail requirements of 600 clients is much more efficient with automation. They utilize Delivered — a tool developed by Alliance that automatically notifies clients when they receive mail.
“It’s helpful because clients get notified as soon as mail comes in, rather than calling us throughout the day. It’s more efficient for sure. It saves time, and time really is money.”
5.Pay attention to company name changes.
It’s surprisingly common for companies to change names, or add a new name, without informing the people who receive their mail. This is important because when all clients in the center share the same address, the main differentiator is the company name or recipient’s name.
Karen has found that by charging clients each time they add a new company, it enables staff to keep their records updated while also keeping clients aware of the importance of accurate account details.
“Failing to do so could lead to an unmanageable situation. Our rule of thumb pricing is an additional $10 per company name as add on to the virtual mail membership.”
Where possible, educate and remind your clients about name changes. This is particularly important in centers with a high volume of mail, as items received with unrecognized names are at risk of being returned to sender.
6.Scale your process.
Virtual offices have unlimited inventory, creating a significant revenue opportunity for centers at virtually no cost. That’s why it pays to make your mail handling process scalable.
By fine-tuning their own inhouse processes, Lyric Works grew from 90 to almost 600 clients in just over two years — and they’re still growing.
“For us, the reason that this has been so successful is because we already had a lot of the processes in place. It is quite easy to scale up because we’ve had these processes in motion for 30 years and they have evolved and changed and become stronger. Our revenue has increased five times since I began. It grows so quickly!”
7.Mail accessibility.
“We’ve learned the importance of making it easy for our virtual members to access their mail and packages,” says Karen. “To facilitate this, we install mailboxes outside of the main reception area whenever possible. This ensures that our virtual members have convenient access to their mail without requiring the same 24/7 access to the entire office suite as full-time private office members.”
“It simplifies the mail retrieval process and enhances member satisfaction.”
For centers that don’t have this facility, consistency of opening hours and clear communication with clients is key. That way, clients know exactly when the center is open for mail retrieval and won’t be left locked out.
Both Lyric Works and Fusion Workplaces are successful flexible workspace brands that have carefully honed their mail handling practices, creating a reliable and scalable process. Getting these details right on a day-by-day basis drives client satisfaction and loyalty, which in turn drives higher revenue for your center.
This article was written by Mike Sullivan, Chief Marketing Officer for Alliance Virtual Offices.
