A waiting room plays a vital role in drawing in and maintaining your company’s clients. A welcoming and refreshing entryway gives new visitors a great impression of your business. It also ensures they stick around and use your services instead of heading right back out the door. Here are a few easy tips you can implement to maximize the impact of your waiting room.

Utilize Engaging Decor

Tackle your waiting room’s decor by considering both your lighting and your layout. Start by choosing a theme that represents your industry or business values. You can easily integrate trademarks of your brand and public image into your wall hangings, furniture choices, and entertainment selection. You can even offer items like branded cups, pens, and keychains near the front desk.

Concerning lighting, it’s best to enhance the ambiance of the room without overwhelming your clients. Layered lighting is best so you can adjust the brightness of the room based on the time of day and what leisure activities you’re offering. For example, if you have a table for brochures or magazines, that area will need to be bright enough to read in.

Invest in Comfortable Furniture

Much of your waiting room budget will go toward finding the perfect furniture. The centerpiece of these types of rooms is often the receptionist’s desk. It needs to be the right size and height so that clients aren’t uncomfortable when they’re passing their paperwork or conversing with the receptionist. Choosing the wrong desk can make the room feel too small or even hostile.

You also need to make sure you have enough seating options for all of your clients. Make sure you know how many people and chairs you can safely fit in the room. No matter how busy you get, your waiting room should never be crowded. It’s better to always have a few extra seats available so that your visitors have a choice.

Create Personal Space

Creating personal space is key to designing an effective waiting room. No one wants to bump elbows with the person next to them for 30 minutes while they wait to be called back. Put enough space between the seats so clients have room to stretch and get comfortable. Consider placing tables with reading materials between some of the chairs. You can also create more space by grouping some of the seats and leaving others solitary. Clients arriving as a group will want to stay close to each other.

Offer Entertainment Options

Traditionally, one of the most popular entertainment options for waiting rooms was reading materials. This could include old magazine subscriptions, company pamphlets, local guides, and informational brochures. In today’s business world, many have made the switch to utilizing TVs. Television service providers offer a variety of channels, features, and settings that appeals to your client base. You have the choice to leave control with the clients or have your receptionist take care of the channel.

If you’re expecting children in your waiting room, be sure to create a small family-friendly area with toys and special seating. It can be hard to keep kids under control for long periods of time, which can put the comfort of your whole waiting room at risk. Providing a variety of entertainment options gives the parents a break and protects the rest of your clients from unpleasant noisiness or disruption.

Provide Refreshments

Setting up a drink and snack table improves your company’s image as a gracious host. Complimentary drinks like coffee or tea are incredibly helpful for morning appointments when your clients may have been too rushed to get caffeinated. You can also supply water and light snacks like prepackaged pastries or energy bars. Supplying refreshments doesn’t have a huge impact on your budget but does do wonders for your brand and image. Don’t forget to add trash cans and sanitizing wipes so your furniture isn’t covered in sticky food crumbs or spilled drinks.

Conclusion 

The first step to creating your ideal waiting room is to learn more about your client base. Knowing how many people arrive daily and if they come with family members or friends will help you set up an intuitive waiting space. You should also offer entertainment options like television and brochures as well as refreshments to keep your clients occupied.