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Credibility & Benefits of an office address

by swd123
5 replies
I currently have an office for my business but am moving house to a place that has an office on the ground floor.

I'm interested to see how clients feel about it and what experience you may have. I personally think it does add a fair amount of credibility especially medium-large spending clients.

Let me know guys, hope I;m machining the right decision losing the office.
#address #benefits #credibility #office
  • Profile picture of the author Chris Cho
    I have an office in a prime location in my city but I only had ONE client that came in over a year. It's usually me going into their office.

    I just came back from 5 months of traveling so I decided that it's really not worth having an office in the city... the funny thing is, I've been back for 7 days and all my new clients want to meet at my place now.

    I think it def adds credibility by having a good spot. A lot of offliner GURUS say that you can close without a website or without having an office BUT IN THE REAL WORLD, you might lose few clients. I have clients who test me once in awhile asking where I'm located and I've had few clients I lost because our site wansn't complete. They asked me how they can trust me with their website if ours weren't done.

    If you don't have a decent office, at least have more social proof on your website and linkedin. I believe that you might lose some but you can also even replace the credibility by adding more other stuff on the side.
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    • Profile picture of the author Zen Productions
      Originally Posted by Chris Cho View Post

      I have an office in a prime location in my city but I only had ONE client that came in over a year. It's usually me going into their office.

      I just came back from 5 months of traveling so I decided that it's really not worth having an office in the city... the funny thing is, I've been back for 7 days and all my new clients want to meet at my place now.

      I think it def adds credibility by having a good spot. A lot of offliner GURUS say that you can close without a website or without having an office BUT IN THE REAL WORLD, you might lose few clients. I have clients who test me once in awhile asking where I'm located and I've had few clients I lost because our site wansn't complete. They asked me how they can trust me with their website if ours weren't done.

      If you don't have a decent office, at least have more social proof on your website and linkedin. I believe that you might lose some but you can also even replace the credibility by adding more other stuff on the side.
      Perhaps, but let me give you how I have found my USP (unique selling position). I don't have a website and I don't have an office or even business cards and I make great sales with web design.

      The reason is because when I go in for a meeting I actually sell myself instead of a IM business. I always say something like "its me, I do the web design, the payments, and I will take your call....I do everything". I get a lot of people who hate getting cold calls from "awesome marketing, intospect marketing, online onions with cheese marketing".

      People always ask how I show credibility and I give discounts for people who give me printed testimonials with a phone number so prospects can call. I have a folder of all of these and a prospect can call anyone who said it was ok and ask about me. I've never once had an issue with credibility.

      With all that being said I am looking to rent out a small office in the city. Not because of credibility but because I'm starting to hate doing work at a coffee shop for 6 hours a day and people give me disdain looks becuase I've been cold-calling a lot lately. I've been window shopping and have found a couple of good ones a couple blocks from my apartment. Also, I'm thinking of creating a "website resume"with my name as the domain and a portfolio later this summer. But still you can get great paying clients without all the clutter.
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      • Profile picture of the author swd123
        Quite an interesting idea, it's the same with SEO - i'm not number one locally as I don't want to dedicate the resources, I'd rather work with clients more.

        Coffee shop cold calling sounds fun!

        Originally Posted by Zen Productions View Post

        Perhaps, but let me give you how I have found my USP (unique selling position). I don't have a website and I don't have an office or even business cards and I make great sales with web design.

        The reason is because when I go in for a meeting I actually sell myself instead of a IM business. I always say something like "its me, I do the web design, the payments, and I will take your call....I do everything". I get a lot of people who hate getting cold calls from "awesome marketing, intospect marketing, online onions with cheese marketing".

        People always ask how I show credibility and I give discounts for people who give me printed testimonials with a phone number so prospects can call. I have a folder of all of these and a prospect can call anyone who said it was ok and ask about me. I've never once had an issue with credibility.

        With all that being said I am looking to rent out a small office in the city. Not because of credibility but because I'm starting to hate doing work at a coffee shop for 6 hours a day and people give me disdain looks becuase I've been cold-calling a lot lately. I've been window shopping and have found a couple of good ones a couple blocks from my apartment. Also, I'm thinking of creating a "website resume"with my name as the domain and a portfolio later this summer. But still you can get great paying clients without all the clutter.
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  • Profile picture of the author DoWhatWorks
    The UPS Store allows you to set up a mailbox, which you can call a "Suite" or "Ste.", giving your address the appearance of being an office address (as opposed to a PO Box). If you find that your new address deters clients, you might want to consider going with a UPS Store mailbox address.

    -Terry


    Originally Posted by swd123 View Post

    I currently have an office for my business but am moving house to a place that has an office on the ground floor.

    I'm interested to see how clients feel about it and what experience you may have. I personally think it does add a fair amount of credibility especially medium-large spending clients.

    Let me know guys, hope I;m machining the right decision losing the office.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aditeo
    It sure hep a lot when getting clients
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