For any business, the front desk makes a vital first impression on visitors – customers, suppliers and interview candidates. This first moment of the visitor experience often leaves the most powerful effect in a visitor’s mind. Big companies put their best foot forward through expensive lobby materials, furniture and (sometimes) dedicated receptionists. For smaller organizations with lean resources, what is the smart approach to creating a professional and welcoming reception experience?
Ensure Your Reception Area Creates a Great Visitor Impression and Experience
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A professional appearance. Your reception area décor should be businesslike. Your dedicated receptionist, if you have one, or other employees in the vicinity of the reception, should be well-groomed and very cooperative. Greeting a visitor in the right way and making him/her feel comfortable goes a long way in creating a positive first impression. This may mean sharing expectations for greeting visitors. It could even require basic training. The reception desk should be clutter-free and only have essentials like phones, intercom, and notepads.
- Easy Check In. Smart offices are exploring automation across their facility. In reception, this means implementing a visitor check-in kiosk. Visitors take a few seconds to fill in the relevant details of their visit. The digital visitor management tool instantly sends a voice call, text message, and/or an email directly to the host employee. Greetly often cited as the best iPad receptionist app both in offices with no receptionist and as a supplement. In this scenario, a receptionist is freed up to fix the copier or handle inbound phone calls with Greetly greets all walk-in visitors.
- Comfort. Visitors often have to wait, at least briefly, in the reception area. Care should be taken to make visitors feel comfortable. If possible, coffee or healthy snacks should be available. As well as an accessible restroom and a coat rack. Of course, the importance of the visitor or the purpose of the visit should be taken into account. The area should have a few cozy settees and chairs. The center table should have current newspapers, business magazines, and other good reads. If the person has to wait for long, inform him of the reason for the delay and also a tentative time when they would be ushered in.
- Reception should represent your company. The reception area of an investment bank should not look similar to one of a tech startup. Even companies in the same industry have different values, missions, and go-to-market approaches. In addition to a professional front desk experience, the ambiance should also represent the organization. The color themes, the plaques, the awards adorning the walls- all of these create a highly visual experience for the visitor and should be used as a powerful communication tool.
A great visitor experience can have a major impact on your business. This is especially challenging though for companies with limited manpower and budgets. Even if you have a small team, a bit of thoughtfulness and office automation can help. Walk through your reception area as your most important guests might. Use a digital visitor management system and other office automation to get big company results at affordable pricing. And don’t imitate others, your organization should have a reception experience customized to your company. These simple steps will ensure you create a positive view in visitors’ minds.