Starting your own business can be an exciting challenge, and there are a lot of details to cover. Once you have the business, the location, and the employees picked out, however, you cannot afford to overlook the setup itself. Getting your physical office space in order is essential to hitting the ground running in terms of business operations. We’ll show you a few ways you can set up this space to maximize efficiency.
Streamline Your Customer Service
If you want to hit the ground running, making sure you have a great customer service plan in place is a nice way to start. You never know how fast new traffic will come your way, but you want to plan for success rather than set yourself up for failure. Investing in software that can send courteous, automated responses to common customer questions can help you cut down on tasks and provide quick satisfaction to your clients. Some of this software can also track client data. This tracking can help your marketing department find ways to connect with prospective clients and fulfill their needs. Client and customer satisfaction are essential to the survival of your company, especially early on, so you want to make sure your office is ready to handle it as soon as you’re open for business.
Choose the Right Phone System
Being able to communicate quickly and efficiently between any employees and customers you might have is a big part of the best practices for any business offering goods or services. If you want something that is easy to install and versatile enough to merge with old and new technology, VoIP phone systems might be the right option for you. Note that their use of internet protocols can help you with things like video conferencing as well. However you plan to communicate with customers and clients, you want to make sure that you have it set up first thing. Nothing turns away a potential customer or client like a failure to respond to inquiries, so ensure that this is taken care of first thing.
Get Some Comfortable Office Furniture
If you really want to make an effective investment in the future of your company, you have to invest in your employees. Uncomfortable working spaces not only decreases productivity, but it also decreases employee satisfaction and leads to high turnover. This will take more than just the right chair, however. Do your research to understand modern ergonomic practices, including standing desks, effective lumbar support, and filters to protect against excessive blue light exposure from computer screens. Doing so will help you protect the health of your employees as well as provide a solid foundation for your company to thrive.
Install Cubicle Dividers
Chances are that you’re renting an open floor area as your new office space. If so, you may want to add some cubicle dividers to separate employees. You can still have an open office space in the middle to make things feel more communal, but many workers appreciate having their own space to organize and personalize. While many companies try to save money by having employees share open desk space, this can lead to greater conflicts and, counterintuitive as it may seem, make many employees feel more claustrophobic than having a segmented cubicle space would. Having these dividers will also help employees remain more focused on their own work with minimal distraction from those around them.
A proper office workspace is an important part of a new company. If you and your employees aren’t set up for work the minute your business opens, then the ensuing domino effect of setbacks can cripple the growth and success of the company overall. Take time to consider the workspace in which daily operations will take place so that you aren’t caught unprepared when work begins.
Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.
