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The appearance of your business says a lot about you. Today, most customers get their first impression of your business online, so having a beautifully designed website might attract new customers to your brick and mortar location. If they arrive to find it looking a little worse for wear, though, chances are their impressions will change quickly.
Therefore, you want the appearance of your business to match the quality of products and services you offer. You also want your business to match your brand. Although you might be avoiding the daunting task of a business renovation, you can’t ignore the following 12 signs for too long.
Although vintage designs are very in vogue right now, when the look is clearly unintentional, it’s just outdated, not retro. Nothing shouts “time to renovate” louder than outdated designs, furniture colours, and a generally worn out look to your office or shop. Even if your business is primed to sell top-notch services and the latest products, a worn out shabby site says you are outdated as well.
If you notice your business is a ghost town or that clients always ask you to come to them, then it could be that people just can’t bear to spend time in your depressing brick and mortar location.
More than ever, brand image is everything. People love to find brands that resonate with them and build up expectations of what the brands they prefer should look like. As already mentioned, you might have an exceptional website and a like-worthy, shareable social media account, but when it comes to the brick and mortar of your shop, your brand gets lost in translation.
Your workspace needs to carry on your brand image and stand up to the scrutiny of your customers. Whether you have a young, slick, quirky, flirty (insert appropriate adjectives here) company, your physical location needs to reflect the brand and corporate culture you’ve worked so hard to create.
Today’s employees look for things beyond a good salary. They want to work in a place that keeps them engaged and makes them feel they are contributing to something big. If your workspace is old, run down, and depressing, your staff will lack motivation and feel that same sense of being run down every time they come to work.
A workspace designed for a pleasing environment that stimulates creativity and keeps your team feeling comfortable is more apt to keep people motivated and feeling happy to spend upwards of eight hours at work each day. A workspace should be welcoming, comfortable, and relaxing to inspire minds and create a happy environment.
As with above, a workspace must be conducive to encouraging open and effective communication. Today’s workspaces take communication into consideration allowing a team spirit to thrive and improve employee interaction.
If your team has grown, but your space has failed to grow with it, you’re likely packing everyone in like a can of sardines. This is closely related to point #7: you need to create a comfortable workspace. If you have desks jammed into small offices, or you’ve tried to accommodate your growing inventory within the workspace, then your business can’t thrive. Things get disorganized and productivity slows down. Your space should grow along with your business, or at least be revisited to improve the layout to make the most of a small office or store.
You might have plenty of room, but with a layout that makes no sense. Often, companies find a cool, hip space for their office, but once they move in, they realize the layout is illogical. It takes some professional input to help create a smart layout that makes the most of a space. Things like washrooms that are too far from the work area, a break area plunked behind an open workspace, or cubicles that create a maze of walls and desks can make working feel like hell. It can also negatively impact productivity.
A renovation, on the other hand, can turn a hectic work area into a place that is calm and well thought out so the layout flows and so too will people’s productivity.
Outdated furniture and equipment are one thing, but when things are simply broken, it really sends a terrible message. Drawers that don’t open, cupboard doors hanging off their hinges, duct-taped equipment, desk legs propped up on a stack of old reports—well, you get the picture.
Broken furniture and equipment send two unpleasant messages. First, it tells customers you are unsuccessful and, therefore, could disappear in the middle of the night with their money, with their unfinished projects, or their products undelivered. Second, it tells potential new hires you don’t care enough about the business, so you probably don’t care enough about them. Both of these scenarios are bad for business.
If you find the space you fell in love with years ago just doesn’t do it for you, take a closer look. Are things deteriorating around you? Is the paint scuffed and chipped? Are the floors scratched or the carpet is dirty and rippling? Are there leak stains on the ceiling? Do the fluorescent lights flicker constantly? Does everything look worn or faded? If this is the case, you need to rekindle your workspace relationship with a makeover.
If you notice things like flickering lights, sounds of dripping, a mouldy or musky smell, electrical sockets with multiple extension cords or power bars, power outages or brownouts, then your plumbing and electrical systems could be old and need replacing. This not only creates an unpleasant impression, but can also prove detrimental to your business. A lot of these issues also present a risk for leaks, flooding, and damage to your equipment.
You really need to keep up with the Joneses, especially in businesses like retail and food service. A new hot spot stealing business from you could be a sign that you need to up your game and create an even hotter spot.
Last but not least, if your design scheme has been taken over by a mishmash of combating designs, it sends competing messages that can be confusing to customers. A renovation can smooth everything out and restore your business to a more cohesive and less nonsensical look.
If any of these signs sound familiar, then it’s time for a renovation. To help you get started, consider the commercial waste disposal service that Toronto depends on to rid themselves of the old and make room for the new. For more information, contact Scarborough Disposal today.