First impressions are crucial when dealing with business clients. Now, there are a lot of ways to impress your clients but the only thing that can stand out more than you is your office. A good-looking office can set you apart from your competitors.
Many people like to meet clients outside the workspace because they think it makes the client more comfortable. However, your credibility will only increase if the client personally sees a well-furnished, beautiful office.
And that is precisely the purpose of this article. We are here to provide you with some amazing ideas to renovate your office and make sure it has a lasting impression on your client.
Office Renovation Ideas to Help You Get More Clients
Clients want and need to be assured that they are in good hands. If you have a beautiful office, it will likely give your clients a positive sign. Here are some ideas you should consider when renovating your office.
1. Stick to Closed Offices
The idea of an open office may sound cool and trendy, but it has a bunch of setbacks. Since there are no barriers, windows, or walls, the accumulative noise can be bothersome. While it’s great to see everyone working together in an open space, you sometimes need privacy for interviews and client meetings.
Don’t get us wrong; open offices are suitable for stimulating communication, adapting agile capabilities, and using the available floor space better. However, it also can stifle productivity and create privacy concerns. A small company with more social employees that enjoy collaboration can benefit from an open office.
But when handling clients, sticking to glass separations and walls is a safer option. This offers more privacy, safety, and peace of mind.
2. Keep Everything Organized
An organized office says a lot about the actual organization. It shows that you and your employees are in control of your actions.
First, the office layout needs to be considered. If all the teams, including finance, human resource, marketing, and tech are working on a single floor, then the layout should be mapped so that communication can still be maintained, but the teams also have their own headspace.
A good way to keep your office organized is by using digital signs. Visitors entering a building for the first time appreciate digital lobby signage to quickly find specific office locations, especially when pressed for time.
Another way to keep your office organized is by having more storage systems. A cluttered office is also an eye sore. When renovating your workplace, make sure to add better shelves, floating racks for files, and employee cabinets.
Get rid of unnecessary paper. Shred them if needed, or keep them in separate storage and clean it weekly.
3. Ensure Maximum Natural Light
Allowing more natural light to enter the rooms can help reduce your energy bills, and it also feels better to soak in some sunlight. Most traditional offices have tiny holes that barely let in any kind of light.
If you have the budget, adding larger windows, skylights, reflecting surfaces, and shading systems will greatly help.
Move the workstations around and direct them to the windows with natural light coming in. You can also add reflecting light shelves on the windows.
Light shelves are horizontal reflective shelves placed on the windows’ top portion. This reduces direct glaring light towards the ceiling or deeper inside the room.
Lastly, implementing glass walls and doors instead of brick walls helps more natural light enter the rooms. It also makes the room feel bigger and more inviting.
4. Choose the Right Office Colors
Colors can create a great impression. In a way, it shows the company’s artsy side and visual prowess. Often startups and marketing or branding companies have tacky and unique colors all over the office.
Some offices paint their rooms and walls similar to their office logos. This also creates a good impression on visitors and shows that you value your brand identity.
Light colored paints are generally more reflective and help light bounce around the room. However, colors also play a role in making your office look brighter and more inviting. Make sure the paints have a matte finish. This minimizes glare but still makes the place look brighter and bigger.
Also, going with just one or two colors looks pretty dull and uninspiring. Use bright colors like orange or yellow on spaces that are used for creativity. For rooms that require complete focus, go with soothing green or blue.
5. Improve the Air Quality
Clean and fresh air is essential for eight hours a day working in the same place. You can install larger windows to increase natural airflow. But the best option would be to invest in air purifiers and create elevated spaces where you can keep them.
Call in professionals for air quality tests and consult with them about the number of purifiers you need to install.
6. Go Green
A touch of green can be refreshing for the workplace. Greener offices also seem more friendly and inviting. Clients always like to do business with environmentally friendly companies. Keep the company greener and environmentally friendly to give you a competitive advantage.
You can have plants on the balcony, breakout rooms, and even smaller pot plants around the workstations. Having plants around will provide more oxygen, allowing you, your clients, and your employees to breathe better.
Aside from living plants, you can add grass wall dividers to make the place look greener. Add recycle bins around the corners to encourage employees to recycle.
7. Invest in Ergonomics and Comfort
Having comfortable workstations can increase productivity. We have all faced back and wrist pains when working hours and hours on the desk. Currently, there are hundreds of ergonomic office furniture and equipment to help prevent these injuries.
You can use ergonomic office chairs, standing desks, elevated monitors to keep your employees healthy and increase productivity.
Most of these ergonomic pieces of furniture have sleeker and more unique designs. This gives a very friendly and welcoming work environment vibe.
8. Create Breakout Spaces
Breakout spaces are much needed in today’s fast-paced working environment. If you have the space, create a few breakout spaces. Do not put them close to the workstations.
Breakout spaces can be used for brainstorming, increasing collaboration, and creativity. It can also be used as a space where employees can find tranquility and have some quiet time for themselves. You can use a calm and tranquil breakout room for your client meetings.
9. Use Future Friendly Products
To cope with the times, you should invest in future-friendly ideas. Office renovations are costly and can’t be done multiple times, so it’s best to include these things in your list.
Create a few floating workstations for part-timers and freelancers. It shows that you offer flexible work hours and are needed.
Use carpet flooring for all the rooms. Carpets reduce noise and echoing sounds. You can also keep most of the running cables underneath the carpet to avoid any tripping hazards. Also, have the carpets professionally cleaned once a month. Carpets come in an array of designs, colors, and textures. You can definitely find one that suits your office.
Lastly, use glass boards. They are much better than whiteboards. Whiteboards get stains and scratch marks after a couple of uses which glass boards do not get. Wall mounted glass boards also look far better.
10. Create Different Stations in Your Room
Now, let’s move on to your room. Your room should also have natural lights, ergonomic furniture, and carpet floors. But aside from that, create a mail station and a printing station. The above ideas should suffice in creating a welcoming office space for your first-time clients.
A mail station will help you keep control of all the paper coming into your office. A designated station should have folders for incoming, and outgoing mails, bills, and reports. Keep the mail station organized every day and at the end of the week, discard the papers you don’t need.
Do not put it on your desk even if you have a wireless printer. Instead, create a small printing station. You can house your printer, extra paper, and printed documents in that station in an organized manner, so your desk does not get cluttered. These ideas can also be used in other rooms to keep the place much more organized.
Final Thoughts
We hope this article helped give you all the information and ideas you need for your next office renovation.
Remember, some clients look beyond your company’s services and earnings. They like to know more about you and the place you work in. A modern, organized, green, worker-friendly office will create a positive lasting impression amongst your client base.