During the pandemic, over 40% of the US labour force shifted to working from home. Many people thought that this meant the death of the office workspace and a shift toward home-based work-life balance.
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Left and right, savvy business owners have recognized the opportunity to rebuild. They recreated their office space to meet the needs of not just employees, but also clients.
Office interior design and office design strategy can greatly increase sales efforts. When you have a workplace environment that fosters collegiality, it’s far more welcoming for a visiting client. It encourages them to seek repeat business.
In this article, we will explain how to increase productivity in the workplace and client sales with office design.
Goals for Office Interior Design to Land Clients
It’s easy to design a space that can be a powerful sales tool for your clients. You want to create a space that people want to come back to and offer you repeat business.
One of the best steps for doing this is to simply ask what the space is for when you are designing it. If you can name a space for the activity that takes place there, people will naturally understand, especially clients.
While it may seem trivial to name buildings, floors, and other areas, when that room reflects its intent, it sets the tone.
For clients who are just visiting the office for a few hours of the day, these are the small details that they tend to pick up and what your employees miss.
For example, a “learning centre” or “innovation space” helps to communicate the type of creative action that takes place within your company’s borders. You can attract high-quality clients subliminally through these seemingly small decisions.
What’s the Best Layout in Your Office to Promote Sales?
First of all, you want your sales-based office design to help build culture. If your client sees a machinelike array of cubicles in your space, they probably don’t get the sense that connectivity is placed first.
Instead, they see an office where people are grinding day in and day out and may not expect to have the best level of customer service from your company.
On the other hand, there are massive tech organizations that load up offices with fun features like slides and table tennis. In certain industries, these kinds of fun features may turn off prospective clients.
You’ll want to have your sales-based office designed to reflect the culture of your company. If you’re in a high-performance corporate culture, creating a space with modern design is more important. Including fun features for workers may communicate the wrong message.
On the other hand, if you want to communicate that your company is creative and unique, a slide may be the right personal touch.
Ultimately, you need to have a balance of both of these styles of features.
Your Sales Office Design Should Emphasize Your Strengths
One of the things that even office designers forget to think about is how to promote sales talent within the company. They often focus on how to land clients and build an office in a way that facilitates sales discussions.
However, if your office plays host to a number of sales workers, it may be just as important to communicate to them that there is a vertical path upward in their career trajectory.
If you design the space to highlight the amenities afforded to top-level sales leaders and principles, lower-level employees will be more inclined to take notice and seek inspiration.
Don’t forget about your current employees when you are designing your own workspace.
Functionality
You need to have space in your office for group training with clients or even one-on-one training. Many of your salespeople will be on the phone a lot, and you need to create space for them to have sensitive client discussions in peace. This often means that rows of cubicles won’t cut it anymore.
Having a variety of private rooms for landing sales is paramount.
You also want to have personal spaces for clients visiting the office to help close those sales as well. Make these rooms especially comfortable and offer free amenities. This signifies your company’s health and communicates a deeper air of professionalism to your client.
Finally, you also want to have spaces that the whole team can utilize when needed. When everyone needs to gather together for a major announcement, there should be an open space area with plenty of seating.
Promoting Company Culture and Sales with Aura Office Environments
At the end of the day, your open floor plan design work environment is far more than just a space for productivity. It is a massive sales tool when wielded in the right hands.
Consider designs that encourage employees toward closing sales. Also, choose designs aimed at impressing clients when they come to visit. If you can do these two things, you’ll take a large step forward in positioning your business above the competition.
If you’re interested in developing an office interior design strategy that works for your business, please contact us today.