How to make a good first impression in a Brick & Mortar business

Curb appeal makes an important first impression on customers, clients and students.

Appearance matters, you have to make sure your offices are clean, freshly painted and enough space to receive people. A dirty waiting rooms or not enough seating will run the risk of turning off people right away. They may keep the appointment but they are less likely to do business with you. You want more business and you are in a brick and mortar world? Check out the following tips:

Be a mystery shopper at your own company. Would you be happy to recommend the store/school/business based on your first impression? Be honest! If you can’t really be your own mystery shopper, get a friend you know will be honest with you even if you don’t want to hear what they have to say.
Shop your competition. What you don’t know will hurt you.
Check your waiting area. Are there enough chairs to handle number of people you get? Is it clean? Do you have reading material that pertains to your business? Is it easy to see people in the space?
Monitor the volume of the TV or radio in your waiting room. Consider a quiet area for those customers who want to be productive while they wait.
Invest in training for your frontline staff. These people can be a real asset to the company in terms of revenue if they are taught better soft communication skills. One of the worst examples was a company that had rude frontline staff. The staff ignored the customers standing in front of them talking about what they will be doing that weekend and never even acknowledge the customer and when they finally did speak to the customers they were rude and vulgar.
Compare your customer service with other industries. Customers are not just comparing you to your competition; they compare the experience to other positive customer service experiences, regardless of where they have had them.