As a goal-oriented professional, developing an office that helps your clientele feel at home can help you succeed. Customer relationships are the keys to success in competitive industries, and thoughtfully designed spaces can help you build and maintain these valuable connections. In any building, there are several methods you can use to achieve a suitable office interior. We will explore a few of these tips below.
Add an Area Rug
Image via Flickr by Paintzen
Like homes, offices that lack tasteful interior design tend to be impersonal and sterile. In a rental, you may not be able to change major elements, such as the flooring, but you can add area rugs. These floor coverings can dramatically warm and energize a space, making visitors feel at home. In high-traffic areas where you interact with clients or prospects, washable rugs, which can be machine washed and dried, are a savvy investment.
Use Key Customer Details
Remembering key customer facts can help you to forge valuable professional connections. Consider the following ideas:
- Remember your customer’s name, spell it properly in any correspondence, and use it with the proper pronunciation during in-person meetings.
- Learn about your clients’ recent achievements, hobbies, and birthdays.
- Use what you learn about your clients during your interactions with them to develop rapport.
Develop an Inviting Office Ambiance
For an office that feels like home, use the following tips when designing customer areas:
- Use comfortable furniture items that suit a well-appointed home. Make sure each client has an ergonomic chair or sofa to sit on, an ottoman to rest their feet on, and a handy table for work.
- Access natural light through windows or glass blocks. Include appealing indoor lighting in key areas. Spaces that receive sufficient light are far more positive and approachable than dark areas.
- Maintain an organized office with minimal clutter which makes a great impression on each customer or prospect.
- Include memorable items that your clients are likely to appreciate, such as a vibrant painting or a flourishing potted plant.
Work on Each Client Relationship
Here are a few ideas you can use to build key client relationships:
- Research each customer and develop a customer profile, including professional goals, hobbies, and major likes and dislikes.
- Train your staff to remember key information about a customer or a prospect such as their name and behave in a professional manner during each interaction.
- Be friendly and lend your client or prospect a hand whenever possible.
- Plan an experience for your customer in advance. Use what you learned in your research to have a game plan on how you can make each interaction an awesome experience for your client. For example, if your customer enjoys baseball, you could spend ten minutes at the beginning of a meeting discussing their favorite team. Alternatively, you could schedule your free giveaways to coincide with a client’s birthday.
Making your clients feel at home in a professional setting is an achievable goal. As all the techniques you learned require plenty of preparation, start getting ready to improve how your customers feel about your company.