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7 Ways Your Business Can Make an Instant Impression on Customers

Woman on break in the office

Customers – whether new or existing – can be wooed into patronizing your business if you put certain things in place. In this post, we will be talking about things you can put in place to make your business leave a good first impression on customers.

  1. Improve your business curb appeal
  2. Have an outstanding security personnel and front desk staff
  3. Keep your workplace clean and smelling good
  4. Improve your restrooms
  5. Deliver on promise
  6. Offer something customers weren’t expecting
  7. Keep up with customers

Improving your brand curb appeal

Brand curb appeal refers to the look of your office space and its surroundings from the street. 

In other words, how does your storefront, office, or company look on the outside when someone stumbles on it? Does it give the ‘oh, I-Must-Enter-This-Place-Someday’ feeling. Or does it just blend with the rest of the buildings in the street?

Honestly, the first thing you can do to make people wonder what’s inside your office space is improve the curb appeal. 

If you think I’m capping, take a look at this stat from MileIQ. It says, “whopping 95 percent of customers in a survey said that a store’s exterior swayed their choice of where to shop.” 

So, how do you improve your business curb appeal, you wonder? Well, there are a number of things you can do. You can hire a roof cleaning service to help reinvigorate the building roof for starters. Then you can improve on the window displays, sidewalk displays, landscape, and even signage. 

Have outstanding security personnel and front desk staff

If the building draws customers in, you need someone to welcome them beautifully and uniquely. By unique, I’m talking about the sort of customer reception that’s not generic or common.

For example, train your employees to welcome customers with broad, genuine smiles – something that shows they’re truly happy to see them. Train them to read the mood of incoming customers and decipher what to do on the spot. For instance, say a customer walks in staring at the building aesthetics, a front desk staff can take advantage of the situation to initiate a friendly conversation with the customer.

By and large, emphasis needs to be placed on training your security personnel and front desk staff. They’re the first faces customers see, remember?

Keep your workplace clean and smelling good

Now they’re in, what next? Make your business space speak for itself. 

I remember the first time I stepped into a local bank in a friend’s neighborhood somewhere in Ohio. The moment I walked in, I was greeted by a wonderful smell – you know that type of fragrance you just can’t get off your head. I’m pretty sure even after stepping out; the pleasant smell still followed my shirt. I loved the experience, and I’ll definitely go back someday.

My point exactly? You, too, can woo customers by making sure your business space smells ‘flavorsome.’

Mind you, a sweet-smelling space is not always enough. If your space smells good, but the place looks disorganized or dirty, no one will be too pleased. Cleanliness and fragrance move hand in hand, remember?

You need to ensure the cleanliness of the place isn’t compromised. If need be, hire office cleaning services to be on the ground at all times.

Interior of an office with plants and working areas

Improve your restrooms

I was supposed to keep this last on the list, but I decided to bring it up because of two shocking stats I came across recently. 

The stats read:

94% of U.S. adults would avoid a business in the future if they encounter a dirty restroom. (Harris interactive)

73% of consumers surveyed complain about dirty or ill-equipped restrooms. (Consumer Reports)

As you can see, consumers are clearly not impressed with how businesses are being nonchalant about restroom hygiene. 

Those stats tell you that a customer’s first-time experience in your company toilet can impact their perception of the business.

My advice is that every business owner should strive to keep their restrooms in great condition. Even if you’re not in an industry where restroom hygiene is considered a biggie, you should still do it because your customers are HUMANS after all.

For starters, the restroom has to be pristinely clean at all times, with provision for all necessary items. And if anything breaks, do not hesitate to call in a plumber near me ASAP.

Below is a list of items a business restroom shouldn’t fail to have:

  • Natural hand soap
  • Mirror
  • Wastebasket
  • Extra toilet paper
  • Running water
  • Air dryers
  • Hand towels
  • Sanitizers 
  • ETC

Deliver on promise

At the end of the day, customers come for one thing – awesome products or services. If you check all the boxes above but fail to deliver on promise, you may have just as well shot yourself in the foot.

In fact, I would say you can compromise on some of the factors we discussed earlier. After all, not every customer that walks through the door will use the restroom. Neither will every customer pay attention to your aesthetic appeal.

One thing every customer will be interested in is your ability to deliver wonderful products or services. And that’s why you cannot afford to fail to deliver. You just have to.

Delivering quality products or services is key. While some details might be overlooked, what you offer matters most. Using customer feedback management software, such as Confirmit alternatives, helps ensure you meet customer expectations every time, supporting business success. It helps ensure your offerings meet customer needs and allows for continuous improvement, keeping your business competitive and relevant.

Offer something customers weren’t expecting

Before or after delivering what customers came for, you can take advantage of their presence to leave a lasting impression on them.

For example, while someone is sitting and waiting their turn, you can offer them free newspapers or magazines, free refreshments, or even give them informative handbills.

I remember a story I read on Facebook about a taxi driver in Nigeria who had lots of refreshments in his vehicle for passengers’ consumption. This driver had candies, nuts, bottled water, snacks, and even free in his car. Can you imagine? I can bet he would get so many referrals just for doing that.

That’s customer service at its best.

Keep up with customers

Finally, keep up with customers.

Don’t let the communication end at your front desk. Once they’re out of your building, send a simple email asking whether they’ve arrived at their destination safely. Or you could use other email automation systems to create custom-tailored messages that fit the situation.

This is not something people receive everywhere. Trust me; doing this will go a long way in carving your business name in stone in the hearts of customers.

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