Stand outside your business with a critical eye. Do you like what you see? Curb appeal, or lack thereof, can be a huge factor in the amount of foot traffic that enters your business. Selling your product or service is a lot like selling a house: if the potential buyer has a bad impression before they’ve even stepped through the door, you’re not doing yourself any favors.
Let’s start at the beginning…
- Make sure your business is easy to find. There’s nothing more frustrating than driving around, trying to find a store, and eventually finding it tucked away with a tiny sign that’s impossible to see unless you’re standing in front of the door. This puts the customer in a bad mood before they even walk inside.
- Clean up your parking area. Sweep your parking lot. Winter garbage, gravel and sand, and cigarette butts can really drag down your image.
- Update your sign. Is your main sign starting to show its age? A lot of signs can be refaced and re-used if the vinyl is starting to peel. Replace any bulbs in your backlit sign can that have burned out. If you’ve changed or updated your logo, make sure that your sign reflects the changes.
- Make the most of your landscaping. If you’ve got a patch of lawn out front, look after it. If you’ve got gravel or a rock garden, clean it out. If you don’t have either, consider planters or hanging baskets. Planters tend to fill up with garbage and cigarette butts, so check them regularly.
- Keep your doors and windows sparkling. The easiest way to make your storefront more appealing is to start out with squeaky clean glass. Grab the windex and paper towels and get scrubbing! If you’ve got tape residue from old posters on the windows, scrape it off with a razor blade.
- Look through your windows. What do you see? Do you have a display? Change it up for spring! If you don’t have a window display, is the view from outside attractive to customers? Decals can be a great way to dress up your storefront windows. Sign frames, with interchangeable inserts, can inform about specials or new products. If you have a window that looks into a storeroom or staff room, cover it with view-through vinyl (you can still see out, but no one can see in).
- Give your reception area a facelift. It’s the first thing customers see when they walk through the door. Make sure it’s clean, uncluttered, and welcoming. Keep your mats and floors clean and fresh. If you’ve provided a seating area, keep your reading material relatively current. I was actually in an office yesterday that had a stack of dog-eared magazines from 2004. Do you have a lot of handwritten or computer-printed signs taped all over? Consider consolidating all the signs into one professionally-printed sign.
Perception is everything. If your business has a shabby exterior, customers will expect a low quality product at a low price. Fortunately, increasing your curb appeal doesn’t need to cost a lot. A bit of elbow grease can do wonders!
Do you want to take your curb appeal to the next level? Call Speedpro Signs for a FREE Curb Appeal Consultation.
