Your office lobby is the first thing people see when coming into your business for the very first time. That first impression matters: If your office is drab and boring, customers are likely going to assume the same of your business.
Providing your clients and visitors with a comfortable and impressive lobby space isn’t only to drive first impressions. You can seriously improve on how you utilize available space and even persuade clients to make a sale all through the appearance of your most used and most visible spaces.
Check out some of our tips and tricks here of how to get your office lobby into the perfect space to convey your business mission.
First Impressions Matter
Your customers may only spend seconds in your lobby, but it’s important to make those seconds count. If they feel like your lobby space is simply somewhere to dump them between meetings, they won’t have a very positive view of your brand.
Alternatively, your brand can show your customers that you care about their experience every step of the way. Having a receptionist to greet them, having snacks or coffee to hold them over and having comfortable seating will show them you’re a brand who cares.
All the while, you can influence their opinion of your brand through display of your awards and through your clear care for the space around you.
Keep these elements in mind when designing or putting together your lobby:
Use Underused Spaces
Face it–there are likely countless square feet of your office currently being unused or underused, collecting cobwebs and dust and not adding to your prestige or your bottom line. If you carefully reconsider your office lobby’s layout, you can potentially make use of some of this previously underutilized space.
One easy-to-miss place you can make a statement is on your walls. A mural from a local artist can convey to your clientele how grounded you are in your local culture. Consider hiring young artists from local schools to paint murals on a rotational basis and use it as a social media strategy, encouraging new clients to come check out the mural of the month.
This is also extremely cost-effective, as hiring professional artists or curators can be expensive. Giving your empty walls to college students or even high school students is significantly more cost effective and can help establish your place within your community.
You can even go for a green approach, creating living walls filled with potted plants. Living walls are also a great way to improve employee morale, as several studies have indicated that more greenery present in the workplace, not only the better air quality, but also the higher the employee morale. While lighting and watering is a necessary feature of a living wall, it can be a great way to leave an impression on your visitors and employees, and create a sense of unity and responsibility in your staff.
Stretch Your Budget (and Comfort!)
Investing in materials for your lobby space can be terrifying due to the initial costs. It can feel like it’s a much better plan to buy something cheaper simply to shave a few bucks off this quarter’s spending.
However, this mindset can lead to you spending more money over time for a variety of reasons.
Investing in quality materials can ensure that your most-trafficked areas last a long time. Leather seating, for example, will hold up for years to come while fabric seats may weather over a short period of time.
Orienting your furniture around collaborating and socializing is also a fantastic way to encourage your employees to use the space. If you have large, comfortable furniture, your employees are likely to gravitate there to converse, and could potentially come up with ideas that can seriously improve your business in a setting that is conducive to an escape from the mundane.
Your customers will also thank you for having comfort items like up-to-date magazines, a coffee maker, and snacks to make your space feel more home-like and less, well… corporate.
Being comfortable while in your lobby is a fantastic way to ensure people return, because they know you care about the entirety of their experience with your brand.
Your Brand Can Shine
Speaking of brand, your lobby is one of the most impactful ways you can showcase your brand mission. Your logo can be incorporated into artwork or even through the colors of your furniture.
You can also use your lobby as the perfect place to display awards and certificates of your company and even your employees. You can showcase how great of a business you are, and while your customers wait to see you in comfort, you can sway their opinion of your reputation.
Think about how some businesses use their lobby spaces. Gym lobbies are a place to socialize and build community. Hotel lobbies offer space for professionals to work with lots of natural light. What is your business trying to accomplish? What can you convey through design?
Want To Get Started?
T2B designers listen carefully to understand your organization’s workplace objectives, brand personality and unique culture. Clients value our hands-on involvement and rapid responsiveness from start to finish.
With a broad range of knowledge and experience, our designers can help maximize the efficiency of your space, boost employee engagement, inspire creativity, improve safety and more. Our designers work with state-of-the art software and provide you with CET design and renderings to help you understand the design vision and provide valuable input early in the process. Big budget or small; new space or renovated space; office, school, hospital or retail, we have designers with the right experience to meet your needs.
Whether you need new flooring, furniture or even an entire new lobby for your hard-working employees and valued clients, contact us today to learn how our designers can meet your needs.