Open space comes at a premium in many parts of the United States. People will go to great lengths to find it, even driving six hours for a weekend of tossing a line in a lake of fish entirely too smart to even nibble at any of the lures, while the mosquitoes and horseflies never stop nibbling. And then returning, fishless and exhausted, from a trip that was intended to provide a restful respite from the daily toil. Others head to the ocean, where any attempt to reach open waters is interrupted by the shrill tweet of the lifeguard's whistle demanding that you return to the crowded waters closer to shore, and where space on the beach is defined by the size of your towel.
For businesses and community groups, space is an equally valuable commodity. In many offices, employees occupy cubicles that are little larger than the towels at the beach, clear testimony to the increasing cost per square foot. Finding a place to hold a meeting at a reasonable cost can be difficult and time-consuming.
And this can be equally true in small towns in rural America where wide-open spaces are in platitude, but more conventional meeting space may not be available.
Some agencies have latched on to this need and are using empty space as a marketing tool.
The Obenchain Agency in Twin Falls, Idaho, has a conference room attached to the agency that it provides free-of-charge to nonprofit groups in the community. "It's a way of doing our part in the community," according to Diane Schroeder, office manager. "It's been in place for eight years and people really appreciate it."
The agency makes the space available to groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Girl Scouts and planning groups for special events in the community, such as Western Days. It's also used for continuing education credit classes.
The conference room has a capacity of about 70 people. It has its own kitchenette and rest room facilities.
"It's really helped us build up tremendous good will in the community," Diane says, adding that the room has turned into an excellent soft marketing tool. To show just how much people appreciate the service, one of the users bought an extra table and donated it.
The agency doesn't schedule the room for regular monthly meetings and asks for a $50 deposit if the group is serving food in case the carpets need cleaning afterwards. "We've never had to keep one of the deposits," notes Diane.
The room also has been used by insureds for meetings. "We might even do a wedding reception if it was for an insurance client," Diane says.
The Obenchain experience prompted Dennis Hilton, CISR, operations manager and sales representative for the Cheney Insurance Agency in Damariscotta, Maine, to add a conference room to his agency. The room has a scenic river view and is provided free of charge.
Unlike Obenchain, however, Cheney does offer the room to groups for regular meetings. One group--the Lincoln County Board of Realtors--is a frequent user. "The groups have to reserve the space ahead of time," Dennis notes.
The room includes built-in wooden cabinets, a huge white board, a computer and a built-in TV and VCR. "It's all part of our image building effort in the community," Dennis adds.
Future plans call for the room to be used for seminar selling.
In both these communities, meeting space was at a premium. The agencies saw a need and acted on it, providing a benefit for the community as well as a soft-sell marketing tool that has "definitely been worth it," according to both agencies.
"While you can't put a dollar figure on how much business this has brought in," Dennis Hilton says, "it clearly has raised our image in the community and that's worth a lot." *
©COPYRIGHT: The Rough Notes Magazine, 1998