Corporate Choices – Consultant’s Corner – Spring 2006
Want to Build Your Value? Dare to Be Different!
Last year, I wrote a column that emphasized the importance of corporate housing providers having a “marketable distinction”. (Corporate Choices, Summer 2005, “What Is Your Marketable Distinction?”) It began with a line from Tom Peters: “Be Distinct or Be Extinct.”
I received a surprising amount of positive feedback, with many of you asking for more examples of how providers can carve out a difference – a distinction – for their brand. In a moment wea’ll profile four (4) providers that have successfully done this. But first, we’ll look at three important rules that should be considered when working to create your “difference”.
The Relationship between Value and Price
- Rule #1: Creating a distinction with value will help you capture a higher rate.
None of us like fighting the price wars. We want to find clients that will value what we offer, not just shop on price. When you can establish a difference, your value becomes greater. Price then becomes only one component of your total value. The more you can establish your brand as being “unique”, the less you’ll fight the price wars. You won’t win every customer, but you’ll have a greater chance of appealing to that special customer willing to pay for the value you offer.
Finding Your Company’s Mark of Distinction
- Rule #2: What do you have a passion for? What skills, abilities, training, or products do you have an exceptional angle on?
When I look at companies that have been successful in providing a distinction in corporate housing, I see a common thread. They began by identifying something they already had a strength or passion for, then built upon it. Ask yourself the question in Rule #2. Your “difference” could be related to your product, service, furniture, buildings, location, and more. There are a thousand combinations!
Value Can Be Market-Specific
- Rule #3: What would clients value in your market?
Look realistically at your market and ask, “What would clients value in this market?” What is successful in New York may – or may not – have equal value in Birmingham, for example. It depends on your distinction. What has value to the demographic profile of travelers in your city?
Four Providers – Four Cities – Four Distinctions
Profiled below are four corporate housing providers that serve very different markets. Each has carved out their mark of distinction and has found success in being different. Yet they do have one thing in common: Each of them has followed Rule #2. They first identified a skill / ability / product / service that they already had an angle on – that they already had a passion and expertise for – then molded it into their “difference” in corporate housing.
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Shamrock Corporate Housing – Miami FL (www.shamrockcorp.com)
Shamrock stunned the crowd at the recent CHPA Tower of Excellence Awards by being named “2006 Provider of the Year” for the industry. What’s so surprising? They serve only one market – South Florida – with 35 employees. With fellow nominees like Oakwood Worldwide, BridgeStreet Worldwide, and Marriott ExecuStay, their win underscores the importance of finding your distinction.
Their difference: Shamrock develops, builds, and manages upscale communities in South Florida for the primary purpose of corporate housing. There are no unfurnished apartments being leased at their buildings. For the Chuman family, corporate housing isn’t part of their program; it is their program.
The Chumans entered the business in 1995 knowing two things well: first, construction / development, and second, an appreciation for exceptional guest service. With three distinctive locations, their full-size apartments rent weekly or monthly. Furnishings are custom-made to perfectly fit the apartment interiors and décor. Onsite services cater to extended stay guests. Guest service representatives are available at the front desk 7 days a week.
With South Florida’s apartment supply shrinking due to condo conversions, Shamrock has been a great inventory solution for other providers as well. Shamrock is building a solid reputation in corporate housing – from the ground up.
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Synergy Corporate Housing – San Ramon CA (www.synergyhousing.com)
Synergy Corporate Housing, established in 1999, focused on the San Francisco / Bay Area market for 6 years before opening its first new market in Los Angeles in 2005. Why the wait? Synergy founders Jack Jensky and Henry Luebbert were perfecting their difference.
Their difference: As a third-party provider, Synergy creates services and partnerships that defy the norm. Also a plus: Jensky and Luebbert are exceptional leaders. Synergy doesn’t have “vendors” and use “properties”. Every business relationship is viewed as a partnership. And it’s working. Synergy has agreements and concessions in place with their partners that would be the dream of most owners. These differences can all be passed on as value to the client.
Their apartments speak of their difference as well. Synergy has added custom down bedding and interior design details. And for the most discerning guests, their Presidential Suites offer the touches of fine hotels – perfect for the affluent San Francisco market.
In one of their earliest interviews in 1999, Jensky and Luebbert, both former execs at Oakwood, defined their new company’s difference as this: “We don’t want to be the biggest – just the best. Our product is service.” Well said!
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Furnished Quarters – New York NY (www.furnishedquarters.com)
When brothers Gary and Steven Brown began offering corporate housing in New York in 1998, they already had expertise in two areas: One, they’d been investing in New York real estate since the early 1980’s. Two, their family had been in the home furnishings business for 85 years. They knew great locations and great interiors, and decided to integrate these to create their distinction.
Their difference: Today, Furnished Quarters is synonymous with premier real estate holdings, distinctive design, contemporary urban interiors, and furnishings that underscore New York living. Literally, their slogan on their website reads “Stay Different”. They realize that in a market like New York, travelers value having a choice.
Having access to in-house real estate in New York is a distinctive advantage for them. (In New York, access to inventory can make or break a provider). There is nothing standard about their apartments. Apartment interiors and furnishings evoke serious style, with custom bedding and amenities that delight even the most discerning guests. Corporate housing is also offered in South Florida, Boston, and New Jersey.
Two brothers, great real estate, amazing furnishings. Stay different!
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A Victorian Village – Clinton CT (www.avictorianvillage.com)
For those of you thinking that only bigger cities can allow for a niche market, Victorian Village (on the shore of Connecticut) proves otherwise.
Their difference: This boutique provider offers an enclave of seventeen (17) beautifully furnished and accessorized Victorian cottages, just two blocks from the Connecticut shore. Although summer is in high-demand by vacationers, A Victorian Village offers year-round stays (weekly and monthly) to guests on extended business travel in nearby New Haven and Middletown.
Granted, not every extended-stay guest will want to make the 25-minute drive each day. But for those looking for a unique corporate housing experience – a haven from the business world – what could be more pleasurable than a village of cottages on the green? With the ocean just steps away, the one and two bedroom cottages offer distinctive furnishings, spiral staircases, and marble throughout. Owner Patrice LePera even cuts the wooden Victorian gingerbread trim by hand!
LePera formerly worked around the world in high-level business contracting, purchasing, and commercial construction ventures. Tapping into her unique background has allowed her to live her dream – and to offer one-of-a-kind corporate housing – with A Victorian Village. Six new cottages are planned. Anyone up for a working vacation?
What is Your Difference?
Each of these providers has built upon their owners’ personal and professional strengths to create a corporate housing company with high value to the client. You have unique talents, interests, and abilities as well. How will you integrate these into your corporate housing business? Create your distinction, and build your value!
Copyright 2006 Elaine Quiroz, Corporate Housing Strategies