Fantastic Tips To Make Your Clients Feel Welcome in Your Office
You only get one first impression, so you have to make it count. The same saying can be used when you welcome a visitor to your office. It doesn’t matter if it’s a collaborative meeting with a business partner, an interview for a prospective hire, or a welcoming banquet for the board of directors. There are many ways you can make sure that your first impression when having a visitor in your office always goes amazing, and that your client feels welcome and impressed by your office, staff and the overall professionalism.
Clients stay because of good or great customer experience. It is so important to make your clients feel as welcome as possible. It is the most important component of a good client experience. With all the modern technology that is combined with old-fashioned manners will help you get to the top of any clients list. And the best of all it is free and everyone can do it with just a little planning and coaching.
Prepare Before You Meet Them
It doesn’t matter if you just had a super busy day and you are frustrated. But you can’t take your personal baggage into a meeting. So, before you walk into a meeting, drink a glass of water to freshen up and take a deep breath.
It is important to be focused because your client will trust you to handle their personal information and their business ideas and problems. They deserve your full attention.
Greet All Visitors
This seems unquestionable, but many front desk employees mumble and often are impolite in those situations. It is important that you say Good morning or afternoon in a nice and calm yet loud enough tone that will surely be appreciated by all office visitors.
Be Sure To Smile
Before you meet your client make sure to smile. It doesn’t matter if you are stressed or upset, you have to put a nice big smile on when your client comes in. You must put your client’s needs before your personal matters to be a true professional.
While smiling your body releases endorphins that make you feel more relaxed. So if you had a long and hard day, it will help you forget about your troubles for a while.
Have Someone Greet Your Client
Nowadays it is not that common that front-deck employees greet clients. If your office doesn’t employ such a person, make sure that you are ready and in front of the office around ten minutes earlier to greet your client. But, if you are not able to greet them, have your assistant or an employee welcome them in your place.
Use The Client’s Name When Greeting Them
By greeting your client by name you are making it a more meaningful experience. Have your front desk employees greet your clients with a nice great accompanied by their name.
There is nothing more flattering, and nothing that makes the client feel more appreciated than receiving a friendly greeting by name when they walk into the office.
Make a lobby board for them
This a very simple yet nice gesture takes you no more than a couple of minutes to put together. This nice small gesture will show how much you care about their experience at your office, and it can make a difference when it comes to their choice to do business with you or your competitor.
Have An Inviting Entrance
It is important that you know that your office layout can help with the overall feel and atmosphere of your office for your employees, and the same policy goes for the clients. Design your entrance area with some comfortable furniture, rather than just a few waiting room chairs. Decorate the place with several green plants. All of these ideas can make your clients more comfortable going into your meeting.
Give The Client With Clear Instructions On How To Find Your Office
No one likes to look lost and have to ask for directions. Therefore it is good to explain to them how to find the office beforehand. Because if your client is feeling stressed or panicked because they couldn’t find the office, your meeting probably won’t go that successfully.
Ask If They Would Like A Drink
It is very important that you offer them a glass of water or coffee or tea. By having the top quality coffee like the Lavazza Bluepod, or well-known tea brands they will not be disappointed for sure. Making offerings like these can make your client feel more appreciated, and can also make for a softer beginning to the meeting instead of just getting down to business
Make Sure You Have All The Adequate Equipment
Nothing is worse than being in the middle of a meeting and finding out that you don’t have the proper adapters for their computer or your projector or some other issues with the device compatibility.
If your client needs to have a presentation, ask them to email it to you ahead of time in order to have a backup in case some of the devices are not compatible with each other. Or just bring a USB to the meeting in case some of the files need to be transferred between devices if you haven’t talked about their technical needs ahead of time.
Make a Guide for Your Staff
In order to augment the impact you can leave on your clients, it is important that you include all of your employees so that the overall effect can be positive in the long run.
Some of the best ways to make sure that your staff has all of the knowledge that is required to carry out this goal are by creating an office client policy that can be used by your employees so that they know how to respond to any situation and how they should go about interacting with clients. When everyone is working together, you will gain the ability to easily create a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere that any office client will love and feel comfortable in.
Along the protocol and methods that explain how to treat and greet clients, as well as some professional information that explains how to keep them relaxed and secure while being in your office, are provided to your employees so that they are thoroughly informed on how to approach working and behaving in a way that it stays a welcoming workplace at all given times.
Smile Even Over The Phone
People often say that they can hear if someone is smiling through the phone. The positive energy you have is transmitted through the tone and rate of speech.
Not Too Warm Nor Too Cold
It is easy to forget about small details such as the temperature, but the temperature can have a big impact on how your reception area feels. Set the AC to room temperature to make sure your clients feel comfortable without their coats on, and factor in the outside weather throughout the year to ensure the reception area remains a relaxing and nice place to be.
Have Friendly Employees
This sounds super obvious, but a friendly and polite face to welcome clients can be the most important factor when making a good first impression. Make sure that your employees are appreciative and friendly to all clients, and that they are experienced when it comes to correct procedures to follow when signing clients into the office.
Keep Your Desk Decluttered
This is a great way to get rid of all the visitor books, move them out of the place you hold meetings in and free up some space. Have only the bare essentials on the deck. All you need for a meeting is a pen and a notebook.
You can add small plants on your deck to make it look more homey and welcoming.
Use Their Name
If you want to get your clients attention at all times, all you need to do is say their name often.
Using your client’s name when you’re talking to them will get them to focus on what you are saying for sure.
This is super effective if you feel like they are dozing off. If you think that your client’s mind is wandering, bring them back into the conversation by saying their name.
Stay Calm
If you are the person that is in charge of handling multiple clients at one time and have several phones ringing at the same time, staying calm throughout any situation is the key to providing the best assistance.
It is okay to ask people to hold on while you find the answer to a tricky question or deal with a really important task. Having them wait for a moment is perfectly acceptable. You have to remember that you get to make rules and manner in which things get done in your office, but you have to remain polite at all times. By tackling the problematic situation, you have to make sure not to let it rule you, you have to rule it.
Remove Distractions
Distractions, like ringing or vibrating phones or being interrupted by your workers, can be annoying to a client and yourself. Go into a quiet and private area when you have meetings and ask not to be disturbed. If you own a small business and have dual responsibilities put your phone on silent and let it go to voicemail, and then go over it when the meeting is done. By focusing on the client you assure them that you have their attention.
Always Say “Thank You”
Thank each and every client at the end of a meeting. You need to let them know you appreciate their business and that you want to see them again. They will more likely return, guaranteed that their business is acknowledged.
It is just not enough to only plan your meetings ahead of time, but also you need to take care of welcoming your clients, you need to assure that your meetings go successful, accomplishing and that your clients feel welcomed. Starting off good by providing the best encounter for your clients will set the pace for the meeting to follow and future partnerships.
Photo credits: eOffice, Pexels
