A positive impression: creating an office that is customer-friendly

Opening your doors for members of the public to physically walk through can have a number of great benefits for your brand. Not only can this enable your potential customers to have meetings with members of your team to discuss their needs, but it can also be a fantastic way of allowing them to genuinely get to know the people who will be helping them, rather than your staff simply being names on an email or voices on the phone. Making your offices as welcoming as possible could go a long way towards creating a positive impression.

Use strategic wall art

Although you may want to appear professional, both for the sake of your employees and customers alike, bland or bare walls could be somewhat off-putting. This may make customers feel like your company lacks emotion and could leave your employees feeling a little bored. The use of some lovely canvas prints can help to make the space look a little more fun and fashionable, as well as even acting as a conversation point. This may be especially useful if your business involves liaising with children, or even vulnerable individuals, who may feel a little less pressure at having something nice to look at and focus on.  

Think about their general welfare

There may be times of the day when your customers need to wait to speak to you. This can’t be helped, especially if you’re very busy or your meetings have overrun. Considering customer welfare is paramount in these situations. You might want to consider how welcome a hot or cold drink could be for customers and employees alike. You may want to think about opting for environmentally-friendly disposable cups, rather than buying ones that will require washing, as this will take up more of your time. Offering a kindness such as this could greatly help towards increasing a customer’s level of trust in your brand, which could even be a great factor in future referrals or repeat business.

Make it comfortable

An office that is too clinical and professional may make a customer feel a little out of place. While you may want to ensure that people know that you and your team are serious about the work you do, offering some comforts can also be a good idea. While it may seem like common sense to have seating available, you may want to think about using sofas or chairs which offer proper support to the people using them. This may be especially important for those aforementioned long waits or extended meetings.

Creating a positive impression within your office isn’t just about the way you dress and behave around potential customers. You might also want to consider the ways that the rooms and buildings themselves could appear to be more welcoming. This could be especially important for those larger deals, or even when liaising with people who may have great need of your services for their own wellbeing. A few small changes could be met with a great deal of approval.