Gurgaon, which is now known as Gurugram is the hub of various renowned corporate houses and co-working spaces nesting several startups. Most big MNCs have their regional or branch office in this fast-paced city. It’s like the city never sleeps, one can see fancy multi-storey buildings coming up all around, almost competing with one another!
I am a sales professional and I happen to make frequent visits to the client offices. This time; I was in Gurgaon. At the first office in Cyber-City, I had to search for a parking spot for nearly 20 minutes; before I could find one nearly at a 10 minutes walking distance in the scorching summer heat! It was a living nightmare to be drenched with sweat at the beginning of the day even before my first meeting began! When I finally entered the office; the receptionist was busy on the phone and asked me to further wait. By this time; I was already late. She then tried to locate the person I was supposed to meet (who apparently wasn’t on his desk and wasn’t responding to the desk phone), by the time I met my host; he and I both had little time before our next scheduled meetings. More so, I was too exhausted and frustrated to deliver a smooth pitch. All-in-all it was an experience I would never like to revisit even in my memories!
My second meeting was at a startup operating in a co-working space at Sohna Road. I stood there for several minutes trying to figure out whom to ask and where to go. I didn’t want to disturb random people sitting around – unfortunately I had to! I was told that the person I was to meet was out for a coffee break in spite of having scheduled a meeting way in advance. I waited for good 20 minutes and eventually left only to receive a call after some time that our meeting had completely slipped her mind and she’d like to meet me the next day if not the same. The day was turning out to be rather disappointing.
I took a break, had lunch, and prepared myself for the third meeting at Golf Course Road – with not much enthusiasm though. I had received an email invite from my host with GPS coordinates and parking instructions alongside an access QR code. While I didn’t know the use of it initially, it was set to change my perspective in the next couple of hours. As soon as I entered, I saw a clutter-free reception with a pleasant-looking lady and two iPad terminals for guest self-check-in. As I scanned the QR code on my invite, my name and details reflected on the screen. The receptionist printed a badge for me. I asked her if she would call my host to coordinate. She smiled and said, “No need, the host has been automatically notified upon your check-in!” Within two minutes, a person came to greet me and we headed to the designated meeting room. Wi-Fi access was granted on my host’s approval and voila the meeting began! It was such a frictionless impressive welcome and the first good thing that had happened to me all day; the first time I actually felt confident to deliver a great pitch!
Why am I sharing all this? Well, in retrospect I have come to believe that within milliseconds of entering any office, visitors can make up their mind about any organization. Potential clients can instantly decide whether you are good enough to do business with. Interview candidates; especially the millennials judge if you are archaic or technology-friendly, vendors mark their pro-activity on the basis of the respect they get at each place. While organizations can’t control the external factors that influence the mindset of visitors, they can surely offer a wow factor and an impressive red-carpet welcome!
As clichéd as it may sound, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. The last office I visited deployed Veris, a cloud-based visitor management system that helps enterprises collect and organize visitor information in the most efficient manner. It helps businesses digitize and customize the check-in process. Enterprises are opting for the Veris advantage for enhanced efficiency, improved office security, and to leave a lasting impression on visitors and WHY NOT!
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