In the second part of the interview, Mr Siegert, Senior Head of Sales of the Collection Group, talks about the versatile advantages of a “virtual office” – a product name that he himself helped to shape.
Question: Mr Siegert, you are one of the leading experts on the development and commercial success of “virtual offices” in Business Centers. Please explain why there is very high demand for this particular market segment and what the advantages of “virtual offices” are.
Answer: Many companies wish to secure a prestigious address at a top location. What needs to be understood, however: People who want to rent space at the Dreischeibenhaus in Dusseldorf, at Stuttgart’s Koenigstrasse, in Vienna’s Golden Quarter or at Hohe Bleichen in Hamburg, have to pay very high rents for those A1 spots. “Virtual offices” as offered at all COLLECTION Business Centers enable our customers to enhance their image and their market positions – without having to pay those exorbitant rents. We collect and forward our clients’ mail, answer the phones under our customers’ names and encourage them to use our conference rooms or office spaces on an as-needed-basis. That way, they can entertain clients and guests as necessary. However, many customers don’t have to accommodate external traffic on a daily basis, nor do they have a constant need to be at a representative address physically. That makes the “virtual office” a great instrument to save money and increase public image.
Question: How important is public image in today’s business world?
Answer: Very important. The old saying is still true: You don’t get two chances to make a good first impression. In addition to our top locations, COLLECTION Business Center staff strive to offer the very best in professionalism and cordiality – paired with our first-class fixtures, and that goes for our exclusive furniture as well as for our state-of-the-art technical equipment. Our “virtual office” customers need to able to rely on us all the time – one hundred percent. We are very well aware of this responsibility: Whenever one of our staff members answers the phone or compliments visitors into our centers, we represent our customers, their names and their reputations.
Question: A top address for a small budget in a COLLECTION Business Center – can you illustrate one more time how your clients can benefit the most from that concept?
Answer: The savings potential is enormous. There are practically no small or medium-sized office locations available for rent at top locations in major European business hubs. Virtually all rental offers start at a minimum of 250 square meters and entail long-term lease obligations – the scenarios are the same for cities like Hamburg or Düsseldorf, Cologne or Frankfurt, Vienna or Zurich, Munich or Luxemburg. At COLLECTION Business Centers, we offer much smaller offices – for rent on an hourly or daily basis. Plus, of course, “virtual offices” - a great solution, for example for freshly started companies with little capital coverage or anyone who need to keep a keen eye on budgets.
End of the interview.
Interviewer: Mr Remmert
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