Follow these 8 awesome office etiquette tips to give your visitors a great first impression of your company!
If you are a business owner looking to impress your clients, land jobs, and retain long-lasting professional relationships with your customers, your office’s reception area is your key to success. If this is the first you’ve heard of this, allow us to explain.
First impressions really are everything- especially in the case of business. Your reception area plays an important role in winning and retaining clients as it is the first place they see when visiting your office. A reception area that follows these office etiquette tips is sure to impress potential customers right off the bat. Ensuring that your reception area is as efficient, respectable, and pleasant as possible should be of primary concern in any business strategy. Today, we’ll be giving you 8 office etiquette tips that you can utilize in your reception area to best represent your business and generate happy, returning customers.
In a hurry! Jump to:
Utilize a visitor management system
Keep the reception area clean and organized
Create a pleasant, relaxing environment
Offer complimentary refreshments
Avoid overly strong odours or artificial scents
Make sure your reception area checks all the boxes!
Utilize a visitor management system
Gone are the days of the paper visitor book where customer experience and security measurement standards were of lesser concern. You can seriously boost your reception area’s productivity and visitor appeal by utilizing a visitor management system.
An efficient visitor management system, like the one offered by Visipoint, consists of three important components:
- Kiosk hardware
- Visitor sign-in software
- Management dashboard
The easy-to-use software installed on our kiosks will guide your visitors through the sign-in process by using on-screen prompts such as asking for their names or completing any compliance checks you have set up. This streamlines the check-in process substantially as no staff intervention is required which significantly reduces client waiting times.
Learn more about visitor management systems and how they could improve your reception area, here.
This system drastically improves the security measures of any office by offering live reports of all staff and visitors currently on-site. The emergency list feature gives you the means of ensuring the safety of your staff, clients and visitors in the case of an evacuation. You’ll be able to access a full list of everyone currently signed into your facility the moment you start the evacuation and will know exactly who you need to locate and confirm their safety.
Keep the reception area clean and organized
Your reception area, like it or not, is the face of your business in the minds of potential clients, no matter what type of business you own. One of the best ways to showcase the professionalism of your business and provide the best first impression is to maintain a clean and organized reception area.
Make sure that your office is kept clean and free of trash at all times. If your reception area offers customers reading materials such as magazines while they wait, make an effort to keep these stacked in an orderly fashion. A reception area full of rubbish and magazines strewn around will instantly create a negative impression on your client. Encourage your receptionists to dedicate even just a few minutes a day to organizing the front desk and waiting room.
You’ll want to make sure your reception area is as welcoming as possible, as research indicates you have just 7 seconds to make your first impression on a potential customer. This makes it vitally important that you have a well-presented and organized reception.
Provide a clear traffic flow
It can be pretty uncomfortable to enter an office with no clear idea of where to go. Minimize the confusion and make your customers feel immediately at ease by providing signage and other visual cues to direct them.
A sign-in kiosk is an effective waypoint for clients as the welcome screen will act as a signpost for anyone who enters your building. They’ll know to approach the kiosk and will then be able to quickly sign in.
The added benefit here is that during busy periods a visitor management kiosk can help split the workload for your reception team which will reduce the waiting time for your customers, providing them with a positive customer experience.
Create a pleasant, relaxing environment
During the daily hustle and bustle of our professional lives, it’s easy to get stressed. Keep this in mind for your potential clients as well. Any bit of relief you can offer them will certainly be appreciated.
Here are a few methods you can use to provide a calming environment:
- Office plants – generate a natural sense of calm
- Comfortable seating – for customers who may need to wait in your reception area
- Music and its volume – play music that offers a broad appeal and keep the volume low
Offer complimentary refreshments
This is one of the most obvious and easily achievable office etiquette tips, but for some reason, it tends to go overlooked by some workplaces. Have you ever been to an office that offered refreshments in the waiting room? If so, it is likely that you know the power that free coffee and snacks can have in creating a good first impression. Just as you were likely pleased and impressed, your potential customers will be happy to be offered refreshments while they wait.
Offer a selection of cold and warm beverages such as coffee and water. You can also provide a variety of healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, individually wrapped candies, or bags of chips or pretzels. While keeping these items stocked means some additional costs, it is an investment you will be happy that you made in the long run.
Avoid overly strong odours or artificial scents
Earlier we mentioned that you should make an effort to put your clients at ease every moment they’re in your reception area. While it may seem like a good idea to promote a relaxing atmosphere by using aromatherapy or essential oils, this isn’t something we recommend.
It is possible that your visitors may be sensitive to certain smells, maybe even allergic! There are plenty of other ways that you can promote a relaxing atmosphere in your reception area. While aromatherapy is loved by many, it isn’t loved by all.
Also, try to use fragrance-free cleaning items and avoid using deep cleaning products like bleaches shortly before you have customers arriving at your reception. These cleaning products have a strong and unpleasant smell so it’s best to not have potential clients waiting while these aromas are lingering in the air.
Educate your customer
Your customer’s time in the reception area should be kept at a minimum but sometimes a wait can’t be avoided.
Use this opportunity to educate your potential customers about your business. Supply informational and promotional pamphlets that answer any possible questions your client may have. These can also be taken home by the client, helping to remind them of your business even after they have left the building.
Every moment your client spends in your office is vital to winning them over and making them a lasting customer. Make sure your reception area is focused on the same goal!
Choose the right staff
Choosing the right staff to man your reception area is one of the most important office etiquette tips we could give. Your receptionists will be the first face-to-face interaction that potential clients have with your company. This means that they need to be:
- Warm
- Inviting
- Professional
- Polite
Go the extra mile to extensively interview and evaluate the skills and strengths of any prospective employee. Upon hiring, make sure that you are clear in communicating your expectations as your receptionist.
Make sure your reception area checks all the boxes!
Now that you have 8 office etiquette tips that you can use to make your reception area the best it can be, you have all the tools necessary to ensure a great first impression. For more information about how you can create an optimized visitor experience for every potential client who walks through the door, contact Visipoint!
To see what Visipoint’s visitor management system can do for you, book a demo. We’ll be happy to walk you through every feature of our product.
