Not all office decor is welcoming to clients. If they have to wait for long, providing an outdoor or veranda waiting area is often possible. Having attractive outdoor furniture for them to sit in will ensure they remain happy while waiting.
Even some medical centres have chairs in the waiting room that are so uncomfortable as to put people off going. When you come to think of it, the people who visit a medical centre are sick in some way or they wouldn’t be going there. Therefore, comfortable seating should be paramount.
Yet many, especially in country villages, offer chairs with stiff, upright backs and hard seats that are extremely uncomfortable. When you consider that the wait times often extend to more than an hour in a busy country practice, this is a long time to sit in a chair that is horribly uncomfortable when you are feeling ill to start with.
But it is not only medical centres that could stand to have more comfortable seating. Any business that includes clients coming in to meet with the staff or manager requires a place with comfortable seating that welcomes those clients, otherwise they will go elsewhere. Easy chairs that are not too low – and thus hard for some older people to get out of – can easily be found at any furniture store, so why use uncomfortable furniture?
To truly welcome clients or patients comfortable chairs are a must and a small table nearby will not only enhance the space, but offer somewhere for a handbag, x-rays, paperwork or even a cardigan to be placed, instead of on the floor. This is important for older people who might forget an item placed on the floor out of sight, or if they find it difficult to bend over to retrieve it.
If children are present, they should have a small chair and table with a few toys or books to keep them occupied. This helps to keep them quiet and well-behaved, important when people are feeling less than well. When a waiting room is set up with people’s comfort in mind it becomes a place where they enjoy being and feel cared for.
The decor of any waiting room should also be pleasant, especially if the wait is likely to be a long one. Looking at ugliness makes people feel miserable, even if they don’t always realise why they are feeling like that. They will associate the feeling with your business and won’t want to be there. But if the place is light, airy and comfortable, with a colour scheme that is restful and pretty pictures on the wall to look at then clients will feel good when they walk in. And they won’t mind the wait so much if they can be comfortable.
So don’t get just any chairs for your clients to sit in. Make sure they are really comfortable and they will enjoy doing business with you.