A virtual office in the Financial District is a cost-effective office arrangement for your NYC firm, but avoid these mistakes when making your decision.
Cultivating a professional image for a law practice can be particularly challenging for solo attorneys. It takes hard work and exceptional attention-to-detail to ensure your practice is taken seriously among your colleagues and prospective clients.
So where does a newly solo attorney start? Your address.
Having a professional mailing address on your marketing materials will solidify the legitimacy of your practice and make a good impression. Many solo attorneys select a virtual office in New York’s Financial District to provide them with a business address, as well as mail service and conference room time for client meetings.
While choosing a virtual office may seem simple, attorneys often fail to properly evaluate the quality and service of their virtual office provider. Avoid making these mistakes during your search for a virtual office in the NYC Financial District:
1. Being too focused on price
A virtual office is a cost-effective option for solo attorneys, but you should still consider it an investment in your firm. Sometimes investing more yields better results. Selecting a virtual office based solely on address and price could create future problems for your firm
Most virtual office providers will seem to offer roughly the same services; however, there could be a big difference in the quality of service and number of opportunities available. For example, a provider of virtual office in the NYC Financial District that serves only attorneys could result in more referral relationships than in a multi-professional space.
If you only want an address and mail forwarding, then the lowest price may seem appealing. However, keep in mind that the needs of your practice are likely to change over time. As you experience increased growth within your firm, you might decide you want to start meeting clients in city or you want to start coming in for a few hours each week to work at an actual office.
In some cases, executive suites don’t have deskspace available for clients to come in to do work, or they only have one empty office available to rent on an hourly basis. If you decide to upgrade your package later on, you’ll want to make sure the office you selected will meet all of your needs. Otherwise, you’ll have to move your office; a hassle that can easily be avoided by making a careful decision from the beginning.
For example, Law Firm Suites’ client, Christopher Mason, started out as a virtual attorney but found that he was able to get more work done and receive more referrals when he came into the office.
“Initially, I wanted to have an address and a place where I could receive mail. That was one of the most important things,” Christopher said. “As things moved forward, I felt like in order to really get my business going I needed to devote myself to actually having a workspace.”
Since Christopher chose a virtual office that could adequately fulfill his needs, he didn’t have to make any changes in his firm in order to transition from being a virtual firm to one in a traditional workspace.
2. Not evaluating the quality of the space
Many virtual attorneys will only use a virtual office for the address and mail forwarding, but one of the key benefits of having a virtual office in the NYC Financial District is the convenience of being able to meet clients in the city.
In addition to meeting your needs, your virtual office should meet the needs of your clients. Before making a decision, visit the facility and think critically about what type of impression you’d make with the space if you ever had a client meeting there.
In addition to meeting your needs, your virtual office should meet the needs of your clients. Click To TweetDoes the office offer an atmosphere that aligns with your professional brand? Everything from the paint on the walls to the furniture should be representative of you and your law firm.
It may seem like an insignificant detail, but you should be making every effort to ensure that the quality of service of your virtual office provider matches the quality of service you provide in your law practice.
Having a professional space that feels like a law office will boost your reputation and increase satisfaction among your clients. Even if you’re only using a conference room for a few hours a month, that space will make an impact on the success of your firm.
3. Not considering the office staff
You might not be their direct boss; however, the virtual office staff is still working for your firm. Their competence and performance will affect your practice, especially when it comes to reception.
In many cases, you’ll be making your first impression with prospective clients in the reception area of your virtual office, which means you should do everything to ensure it is a positive one. It’s important for attorneys to greet their clients properly at reception, but you should also make sure the staff at your virtual office are doing a good job of this as well.
While you may not be able to complete your own performance reviews of office staff, you should take the time to speak with them and even observe them. There are some basic qualities of a good receptionist that you can look for based on your own experience.
Does the receptionist make you feel acknowledged when you walk in? Were you greeted with warmth and a smile? Are they able to answer questions with confidence and appear competent?
Attorneys should expect the staff at their virtual office to be professional, helpful and responsive to not only them, but also their clients.
Attorneys should expect the staff at their virtual office to be professional & helpful Click To TweetCreating a pleasant office experience for your clients will set a better tone for your meetings that will help you close more prospective business or keep existing clients happy. The end result: more money in your pocket.
