What is reception? How important is the front office? A lot, and even more if you rely on a temporary spaces service where the secretariat is not only a welcoming office, but also the first contact for a costumer with a company represented at that moment by that business space.
The front office plays a decisive role. The first contact is essential: a phone call, a meeting, a short exchange of views involving, on the one hand, the client with his demands and, on the other, the operator granting the application. An efficient front office will be able to give an excellent image of the organization so laying the foundation for a loyalty that will last across time,
says the Executive Service team that has one of its strengths in the reception service.
PR has ancient origins considering its most modern sense of word. Greeks and Romans already spoke of welcoming as ‘the art of being hospitable’. From yesterday up to today, the road has been long, but some principles have remained steadfast.
Tasks, functions and working quality of the front office operator are related to the level of the overall organization of the various offices and services and to what extent the entire company recognizes and facilitates the work of welcoming and answering. It is essential to build a relevant and motivated working group in contact with the costumers, besides realizing a direct internal and external communication system.
Courtesy, efficiency, objectivity, patience are the qualities that allow to properly develop the relationship.
The figure at the front office will have to be friendly and helpful, his/her duties shall be to listen to customers, focus on their needs and requirements and find suitable and corresponding solutions. For this reason, the character of the professional person is particularly important; qualities such as patience, spirit of adaptation, ability to mediate, communication capacity and being capable of easy dealing with others are truly indispensable.
And do not forget also the gestures and the facial expression: “kindness, understanding, tolerance, strengthened by an expression of friendly face and helpful attitude, represent a winning strategy for successfully managing the beginning with the customer.”