Time to give your office a fresh look

The right look of your office can sell your firm to prospective clients or send them packing. Let it make a good impression to your clients. NET PHOTO

What you need to know:

DECOR. A fascinating office attracts, retains top talent and inspires workers through exciting interior design. Sadly, most offices consist of blank walls, cheap chairs, and uncomfortable lighting, writes Gloria Kawuma.

You have either been in the same office space for dinosaur years or you are starting up a new firm. Either way, it is time for a fresh look, more business to secure and ideas coupled with costs, are spinning in your head like a tornado, enough to make you go mad.
There are a number of questions and glitches you may have to consider before making purchases, because we are constantly reminded to track every penny. Is this project more about you or the client? Clients are usually very concerned about the costs and your office therefore, needs to reflect that your firm is careful not to overcharge clients.
Let us look at some of the ways you can make your office more effective at welcoming the most important people at your firm, your clients.

The furniture or accessories
You need to understand the type of clients your firm wants to appeal to. If your business or firm provides a service that appeals more to the high-end clients, be assured that they are not interested in amateurs or people testing the waters. Track record should be evident and that is why, now would be the time where I state that there is a difference between a coffee mug that costs one dollar and that of 10 dollars. Furniture that is seemingly 10 times cheaper than the average price range over the one that costs five times, above the average price.
If your firm or business is going in the direction of very low income earners, I am almost certain that providing parker pens for everyone that walks in, to fill in forms on embossed white paper may go unnoticed.

Number and quality
This will speak volumes about your firm. Let us begin with the reception or lobby area which is the first space of contact. Does your reception scream random, cheap, inappropriate colour and décor theme or professional and orderly? We often make decisions about people or situations instantly judging by their looks. The look and feel of your reception area offers the perfect opportunity for clients to make a good first impression.
Providing more amenities like offering clients a reading room complete with a bookcase filled with literature, showers, and even a prayer room, depending on how big your firm is and a space in which clients can have a a cup of coffee, can do wonders. The right look can sell your firm to prospective clients or send them packing.

Better technology
Creating a business centre by making provision for clients to have access to photocopying or printing facilities and even wireless hotspots will boost your client base.