Instant Offices Partnership with easyOffice

Instant Offices has over 200 partners bringing in enquiries for serviced offices from around the world. The most famous of these partners is easyOffice, part of the easy group headed by well-known entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou. In an interview with Growing Business magazine, Rob Hamilton, Managing Director of Instant Offices Group, reveals what it's like working with the creator of the well-known airline easyJet.

So what was Stelios like to do business with?

He's direct, challenging, firm-minded - but listens as well. He had a clear vision for the easyOffice product and from the first meeting dictated how he wanted it to work, look, how he'd drive bookings etc. That was demanding, but actually refreshing.

So you worked directly with Stelios?

Yes, it's a small team, but he's meticulous and likes his metrics - he wanted to know our numbers, conversion rates, average deal size etc. easy also checked us out and sent staff to our offices.

Was he a tough negotiator?

We were certainly made very aware other businesses were competing for the deal and they kept pushing us, easy is a big business, you'd expect them to behave like one.

Did you concede ground then?

They got a better deal than we'd usually do, but there's more in it for us as well because of easyGroup's reach.

What have you learnt from working with Stelios?

His confidence and optimism is contagious and doing a deal with him made me realise how much further I can push myself.

Has it raised your profile?

It's a great association and having Stelios on board changes the way people look at things. It's helped us pick up new business as you don't really get a better case study.

Growing Business is a magazine for entrepreneurs, and provides up-to-date information and current news through their website: http://www.growingbusiness.co.uk

Source: Growing Business February 2008