A rather worrying finding is about to come your way – according to studies undertaken by psychologists from Princeton, it takes far less than you might think for someone to form their first impression. The time? Less than a second, in fact, one tenth of a second.
That basically means that you have no room for errors!
For a business, first impressions are everything and a positive or negative impression is formed in the reception area. This means that your reception space needs to have a clear reception counter, a receptionist who is helpful, kind, and smiling, and a general vibe that sums up the business in the most positive of ways. That’s a lot of work to do in less than a second, but by getting the office furniture and general feel of your space right, you’ll succeed.
One area of a reception which often gets overlooked is reception chairs. These need to be comfortable, but not too comfortable, supportive, but not too hard – it’s a difficult area to get right! The right type of reception seating will be different for every business, just like a bespoke reception desk needs to be just as individual. The following guidelines should help you out:
- If you have sofas, make sure you also have individual chairs – not everyone wants to sit closely
- Make sure sofas are always clean
- Avoid uncomfortable, hard chairs
- Stools are fine if your reception area has that coffee-shop vibe, but should be avoided otherwise
- Don’t have reception chairs which are too low – some people may struggle to get into and out of them
As you can see, it’s really quite basic once you break it down.