Coworking CRM: What It Is and Why You Need It

Some of the most successful clients we see are those who are hyper-fixated on turning leads into customers and customers into enthusiastic evangelists.

So how do you manage this process? Insert, a coworking CRM.

In this article, we’ll break down what a coworking CRM is, why your coworking space needs a CRM system, and how to find the best one for your coworking business.

What is a coworking CRM?

A coworking CRM, or Customer Relationship Management system, is a platform that helps you manage your coworking space members through all stages of the funnel. It can:

• Collect customer data
• Streamline the sales pipeline
• Nurture strong connections with leads and customers

In short, the goal of a CRM system is to help you better manage your customer relationships so you can convert leads faster and drive more revenue for your business.

What does a CRM system do for coworking spaces?

A CRM system will help you automate your customer management processes, save time on member management, and help reduce the number lost opportunities.

Most coworking spaces use a CRM to:

• Consolidate all customer data in one place
• Manage leads and prospects
• Build relationships with existing members

How CRM systems help coworking spaces

Here are a few examples of how coworking operators may use a CRM platform to manage members in their space.

• See the exact date a member took an action including booking tours and signing up for membership plans
• See the complete transaction history of your customers including resources booked and rooms accessed
• Track all communication with a customer
• Leave notes on a customer account for other community managers to refer to

Having this information available at your fingertips becomes especially important when scaling your business. You can’t take your organization to the next level without having solid operational processes in place.

Benefits of a coworking CRM

Running a coworking business can feel like a juggling act. Between marketing your space, handling daily operations, and nurturing member relationships, your team has a lot of responsibilities on their plate.

Here are some of the ways a CRM can benefit your coworking space.

Builds relationships with customers & leads

As your team grows, it can become increasingly tricky to keep track of everyone’s interactions.

A coworking CRM will help you define, collect and manage these data points by pulling all of your information into one place.

As a result, your team will have an accurate record of all customer interactions.

This ensures everyone stays on the same page and customers receive exceptional service, without anything slipping through the cracks.

Helps you master your marketing

An effective marketing strategy for your coworking space fills your sales funnel and ensures you have a steady stream of new members joining your space.

A CRM can help you optimize your marketing campaigns by:

• Sending newsletters to your database
• Tracking content engagement to better understand member interests
• Running email drip campaigns to prospects
• Delivering specific marketing messages based on actions users have taken

Some systems even offer integrated social media management and web analytics to help maximize your marketing efforts even more.

Automates your sales workflow

We often hear that nurturing leads through the sales cycle is one of the most challenging tasks for business owners and sales teams, especially when just starting out.

By implementing a CRM system you can automate many aspects of this process by:

• Capturing and tracking leads for you
• Showing you where leads are in the sales process
• Centralizing all customer information to assist in lead scoring

Create rules-based workflows that automatically trigger when people in your database meet certain criteria. For example, when a prospect signs up for your newsletter but doesn’t sign up to become a member, you can create a trigger where they automatically receive an invite to your next open house.

What’s the difference between a CRM and coworking management software?

There is often some overlap between what a coworking CRM and coworking space management software can do.

Most coworking software offers a degree of CRM functionality, typically focused on contact management.

Take Optix for example. Optix is a coworking space management software that is designed to help you with everything you need to successfully manage member relationships. It offers:

• Lead capture mechanisms via Web Widgets
• Valuable insights on your community and the actions they take in your white-labeled mobile apps
• Ability to create Custom Properties, or custom fields, to store additional information on your members within Optix

Coworking space management software like Optix is designed to support operators in managing their customer relations at a basic level. If you are looking for more CRM functionality, you can use a robust, dedicated CRM like HubSpot, and integrate it with Optix via Zapier.

Speak with a member of our team today to learn more about Optix.

What are the best CRM systems for coworking spaces?

For those just starting out, a coworking software’s native CRM functionality as discussed above is more than sufficient.

If the scope and complexity of your business increases, then you may want to consider adding an external CRM to the mix. Here are some of the most common we see our clients using in order of complexity.

1. Mailchimp

Mailchimp is an email marketing platform that can:

• Send automated emails to members
• Create landing pages and pop-ups
• Organize email addresses by lists

Though not a traditional CRM, it is often used in coworking spaces for managing email flows and memberships via lists.

Mailchimp is free to start with and can integrate with your coworking management software, including Optix, via Zapier.

2. Pipedrive

As your space and its needs evolve, investing in a cost-effective CRM system like Pipedrive may make sense.

Pipedrive is a CRM system that helps you manage leads and deals, track communications, and automate and grow your business.

Plans start at just $14.90 a month per user for the most basic functionality, making it a popular choice for those with more advanced business needs who don’t want to make a large investment in tools.

3. HubSpot

Once your coworking business is fully established, a more sophisticated, full-featured CRM system such as HubSpot may be a good addition to your tech ecosystem.

HubSpot is the number one CRM system for small and medium-sized businesses. It is seen a lot in the coworking sector, especially for more seasoned operators with multi-location operations.

With HubSpot, you can:

• Send automated email campaigns
• Manage your social media accounts
• Create embedded forms for your website
• Provide detailed data and analytics on users

There really is nothing HubSpot can’t do for coworking spaces. You can access some features with a free account, however, you’ll need a paid version of the plan beginning at $45/mo to truly scale.

4. Salesforce

Salesforce is another powerful option for scaling coworking spaces.

Salesforce is targeted towards enterprise organizations. Given its steep learning curve and high price tag, you probably won’t need it unless your organization is enterprise.

As you assess all these options, however, we recommend one key thing – avoid the all-in-one coworking CRM solution. Trying to be all things to all people, these systems often fail to live up to expectations in any area.

Instead, opt for a coworking tech stack complete with all of the pieces you need to manage potential customers. Download our eBook on how to build a successful coworking tech stack to understand exactly what platforms and tools are necessary at this stage of your business.

A CRM system can be a powerful tool for your coworking space

It helps you collect insightful customer data, execute effective marketing campaigns, and stay organized to deliver the best service you possibly can.

As a result, you’ll be able to nurture deeper connections with both members and prospects, creating a loyal and growing member base that sets your coworking business up for sustained success.

If you’re new to coworking, then a robust coworking space management software is more than enough to reduce administrative tasks, gain insights, keep your community engaged, and manage your customer relationships.

Learn how Optix can help you better manage your customer relationships today.