Exterior Office Maintenance: How to Make a Good First Impression
While you may think that people get their first impressions of your company when they enter your reception area, this isn't always the case. The outside of your office says something to your visitors before you even get to greet them in reception.
Visitors start making judgements about your company as soon as they arrive on the premises. If your building and its outside areas look welcoming and well maintained, then you make a positive first impression. However, if your external areas don't look cared for, then people may feel more negatively about you; in some cases, safety issues also come into play.
How can you make sure that the outside of your building makes the right impression?
Take a Visitor's Viewpoint
You probably don't pay much attention to your outside areas. When you go to the office every day, things become familiar and you stop seeing things that might not look so good.
Plus, you may not enter your premises the same way visitors do. For example, you may park in a staff car park and use a side entrance; visitors may come in off the street, use a different car park and walk up to your main entrance.
For a different perspective, go outside and approach your office the way a visitor would. Look at the building and, as you walk, check out the condition of paths, steps and car park surfaces. Approach your general entrance area from the front and the sides. Walking the visitor walk may show you things that look bad.
Tip: A fresh pair of eyes and a different point of view may help you spot areas that need work. Take a member of staff with you for an impartial second opinion.
Look for Signs of Neglect
While you may keep on top of major maintenance jobs, like painting the building, repairing paths and maintaining green spaces, you may not think about how minor things affect visitor perception. Some maintenance issues may make visitors think that you either can't be bothered to keep things looking good or that you can't afford to.
As you walk around, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are your windows clean? Dirty windows are easily noticeable. They make a building look less attractive and badly maintained.
- What's on your paths? Paths and walkways should be clear and clean. Things like bird droppings, mud from flowerbeds, fallen leaves and moss all make these areas look less attractive for people walking on them.
- Is your external entrance area clean? The door to your building should be clean as well as its hardware. Nameplates and signage should also be tidy and easy to read. Steps or floors just outside your entrance door shouldn't have anything on them like leaves, old muddy footprints or stains.
Remember that some of these problems don't just make a negative visual impression; they can also be hazardous. For example, dirt, leaves and moss on paths or steps turn slippery when it rains. A visitor, or even a member of staff, could easily fall and hurt themselves if these areas are not clear.
In a worst case scenario, you could be sued or have to deal with the absence of an employee while they recover from an accident.
Many of the issues you find on an exterior walk-through are easily remedied. Here at Comclean Australia, we not only clean your business’s interior but also offer external commercial cleaning services to help your business shine. These services include window cleaning and high-pressure water cleaning for car parks and pedestrian areas. To find out more about what we do, contact us today.
