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It applies to just about every kind of business. Whether you’re in manufacturing or in retail. In a home business or a growing multi-location operation. You are likely going to have people visiting your office at some point or the other. If you’re not prepared for that, you risk giving them the wrong impression of the whole company through the office alone. Here’s how you stop that from happening.
No organization
Dirty offices kill reputations. That can’t be denied. If the first thing to assault guests to the office is an eyeful of clutter or a nose-full of odor, it’s going to make the visit unpleasant right from the get-go. But it’s not just dirt and mess that can make an office look messy. A place that’s poorly organized, with desks and tables and storage scattered without rhyme or reason can make it look just as bad. You want to give people the impression that an office is a well-oiled machine, running smoothly on the inside. If they see anything to make them doubt that, they won’t form a very kind opinion about the business.
No freedom
One of the other hand, you don’t want to go too far in the other end. You don’t want people coming in to see a bunch of cubicles cordoning people off from one another. It creates too regimented an environment that shows a few things. For one, it doesn’t look like you offer much thought to the flexibility of employees. Secondly, it might make you look a little inflexible, which is not something that clients and partners want from a business.
No style
The aesthetic of the business matters just as much. If your office has no thought put into the design, then it makes you look generic and unfocused. Instead, you need to welcome the brand a bit of creativity in the office. Instead of letting walls be as they are, get them to fit the brand color scheme with help from services like Ghaster Painting Inc. Get branded coffee cups for the visitor and motivating pieces of art on the wall. Not only will they paint the picture of a business that is connected to its message. It helps your employees really get behind the brand as well.
No comfort
If there’s one mistake that too many businesses make, it’s assuming that they’re never going to have a need to welcome any guests. So, they don’t make a comfortable waiting room for them. If people have to stand around if, say, an appointment goes over or there are other timing concerns, it’s going to make them cranky. Give them somewhere to sit. Offer them a cup of coffee. Have a few magazines waiting for them. Offer them comfort and bring them into the meeting in as best a mood as you can keep them.
People glean a lot from first impressions, that goes for locations as much as it goes for people. Make sure your office is giving the best first impression it can possibly give.
