Creating Your Small Business Atmosphere

My husband hates dentists.  He switched dentists a few months ago and told me recently he doesn’t like the new dentist; he said, “I hate the atmosphere. It is noisy and has lots of little kids running around; I need someplace quieter.”  I got to thinking about the atmosphere in a small business and how it gets created.

The interesting thing about atmosphere is that it is not what you (the business owner) think it is; it’s what your customers/clients/patients think it is.  If you want to attract a certain type of person to your business, you need to create the atmosphere that appeals to that person.  What contributes to creating the atmosphere in a small business?

• Colors. Colors can be soothing, or exciting.  If you want your customers to have an exciting experience buying things from you, bright colors are helpful. If you want new patients or clients to feel relaxed, cooler, darker colors are better.
• Sounds.  Same with sounds.  The sounds of children might be great if you want new clients or customers to bring in their children. To someone like my husband, though, the sounds of children are unnerving.
• Smells. People associate smells with experiences.  Piping smells of baking into a busy mall is a sure way to get people to come to your bakery.  And smells can work in a professional office; what smell would you want people to associate with your office? Incense? Vanilla? Chocolate chip cookies?
• Furniture. Modern furniture can be helpful in creating atmosphere.  I know a plastic surgeon, fur example, who has child-friendly furniture in his ENT (ear, nose, throat) clinic and expensive atntiques in his plastic surgery clinic.
• Walls and Floors, Windows and Pictures.  All the extras in your office contribute to the atmosphere.  I know a dentist who has a fountain in her office to help relax nervous people like my husband; too bad she lives so far away.

Look at the two photos of the business reception areas above.  Which one is more relaxing? Which chairs look more comfortable? Does the blue one look cold? Or does it look more professional?  What does the orange tree do to affect the atmosphere in the green area? What effect do the floors have on the atmosphere?

Remember that atmosphere is in the eye of the beholder.  When you are planning your business office or retail areas, consider the people who are going to be experiencing it.  The kind of office you have will determine the type of customer you attract, so plan carefully.

Images: sxc.hu