What Kind of First Impression Does Your Business Make?

Every year, the Dutch organization Sparq (www.sparq.nl) publishes the National Reception Barometer. This is a survey of the way guests are received in corporate, healthcare and governmental organizations. Are these guests truly made to feel welcome or does the conviviality leave a lot to be desired? This year, the results found that although reception is adequate in general, there is still room for improvement.

Although more and more communication is done via technological means (videoconferencing, conference calling, Skype, Face Time, et cetera), people will always want to meet in person. That means that they will make a journey from their own offices to the place of business of the other party; they make the effort of traveling to meet face-to-face, with their counterpart. How one is received at that location is extremely important: it gives the receiving organization the opportunity to make a first impression. It is a cliché, but true — you only get one shot at making a good first impression. So make sure that the reception makes the guest feel comfortable – and welcome.

Demands
The very first impression a guest gets when visiting your premises is the building itself and its surroundings. Often, you cannot do much about these, unless you are very good friends with the local government or very important for the regional or even national economy. Then you can make demands from the municipal or provincial authorities. This may involve infrastructural facilities like access roads, parking lots and public transport stops, but also services like road cleaning, green area maintenance, et cetera.

Buzzer
The next step is the entrance to the building itself — does it have an intercom, do you as a guest have to ring a bell or a buzzer, state your name, business and person you have an appointment with, and why? Or does the door swing open at your approach, and is there an actual, friendly person to welcome you to his or her company? In most cases, there will still be a counter behind which a receptionist is seated and who also mans the phones. Is she busy on the phone, or will she put the caller on hold and pay attention to you, the one who is there in person? Is there a tough-looking guard who eyes you suspiciously as if you were some spy or terrorist?

Fortunately, more and more organizations now have hostesses (these are mainly women, hence the female noun) who receive the guests, ask them politely who they wish to meet, show them to a comfortable waiting area, provide them with coffee or any other beverage they prefer, inform the contact person that their appointment has arrived and will inform the person(s) waiting how long the wait will last. Call it the human touch, or a show of appreciation, the fact is that a personal reception is one great way to make a first impression. Even better is when the hostess knows who is expected and greets you by name, recognizing you from the picture she looked up. Small bother, great impact.

Waiting Room Appeal
A good hostess can make a guest feel welcome in a cargo container, but it is better to decorate the waiting room a bit less austere. Make sure there are enough seats and that they are comfortable. Provide reading material (today’s newspapers, the latest editions of the major magazines), as well as internet access; nowadays everybody considers WiFi a normal and standard convenience, so make sure you have sufficient bandwidth and free, easy connections — you may even provide a pc and printer.

The waiting area itself can be screened off from the entrance to provide some privacy for the waiting guest, although a separate room is not preferable as the guest may get the impression that he is forgotten or banned from the scene.

You also need to ensure you have clean bathroom facilities that are well lit and have a nice smell. There’s nothing worse than the guest to have to use a smelly, dirty bathroom and nothing more embarrassing for the host.

Transportation
Depending on the type of business or organization, the contact person may go pick up the guest in person, or may have him/her guided to the meeting location. In any case, the guest should not get the impression that he/she is left to explore for him/herself; routing and signs (if any) may be obvious to the residents, but totally confusing for the guest. After the meeting, the process may be reversed, but make sure the guest does not feel abandoned.

Nine suggestions to enhance hospitality
Hospitality is important for any organization, but how do you improve upon it? And how can you get all your staff to comply? Here are 10 tips:

1. Video: Along with two or three other persons, video the walk from the entrance to an office and evaluate the result.

2. Critical: Assess where things go wrong (or well) and take action on these.

3. Mystery guests: Use mystery guests to get an unbiased and objective view of the situation.

4. Ambassadors: Use ambassadors to apply the concept of hospitality on the shop floor.

5. Skill: Do not think of hospitality as a trick, but as a skill.

6. No end: Realize that hospitality never ends.

7. Continue: Realize that hospitality must be maintained at all times.

8. Commitment of the Management Team: The management team should be on the same page when it comes to how to greet guests.

9. Support: The support of the team leaders and other senior staff is crucial; ensure their commitment. 10. Hotel: Try to receive guests the way you like to be received at your holiday hotel.

10 aggravations
Here, the scope is limited to reception in corporate surroundings: is the reception warm, business-like, or nonexistent? Sparq listed the top 10 aggravations for guests:

1. Unnecessarily long wait: 57%

2. Host(ess) too busy with other things: 47%

3. Left to your own devices: 40%

4. Unclear where to announce your arrival / routing: 35%

5. Impoliteness / unfriendliness: 34%

6. No facilities to occupy the guest during the waiting time: 33%

7. No personal treatment: 25%

8. Unpleasant waiting area: 24%

9. Too few seats in the waiting area: 23% 10. No eye contact with host(ess): 16%