{"id":403,"date":"2008-02-14T07:12:34","date_gmt":"2008-02-14T12:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/example.org\/places-i-enjoy"},"modified":"2008-02-14T07:12:34","modified_gmt":"2008-02-14T12:12:34","slug":"places-i-enjoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/?p=403","title":{"rendered":"Places I enjoy doing business with"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Becky-Mann's-giraffe\"<\/a>
\nI am sitting here in the frozen darkness of this mid-February morning thinking about all of the effort that goes into attracting customers and then ensuring that they get a good customer experience. <\/p>\n

Then I am reminded that there is a vital undercut to this whole effort of business planning, financing, promotion, etc. It is a powerful idea that is not generally understood:<\/p>\n

\n

One’s place of business could be a place where people feel welcome, where the simple act of walking in the door makes people feel better, where every visit is an aesthetic experience.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Becky Mann<\/a>, our Optometrist in Christiansburg, VA, has taken the time to create an outstanding example of a business environment that is sheer joy to visit. <\/p>\n

\"Becky_manns_lobby\"<\/a>
\nBright sunlight streams into the spacious lobby area where you are greeted by a ten foot tall giraffe wearing glasses, inviting islands of designer furniture on a gleaming hardwood floor, and by attentive staff whose work area invites you to approach and be greeted.<\/p>\n

Becky has an exceptional sense of design and has handled every detail so that customers feel included in what is going on and are made to feel welcome and comfortable.<\/p>\n

The Invision<\/a> group services are excellent and the scheduling is so good that there is almost no waiting. I am usually in and out of there before I have had a chance to check out all of the tasteful displays of new eyeglass designs.<\/p>\n

I usually leave with the thought that there is still more to see and enjoy, and looking forward to my next visit. That is an ideal customer experience!<\/p>\n

Becky Mann has created an environment which covers all of the bases: a pleasing floor plan, efficient and friendly staff, and careful attention to aesthetics, but I think it is possible to achieve a similar result on a more limited budget.<\/p>\n

\"Wildfire_pots_floyd_va\"<\/a>
\nMy potter friends at Wildfire Pots<\/a> in downtown Floyd have consistently created an inviting studio\/retail environment that brings people in and makes them feel welcome and they have done it on a shoestring. They almost always have a welcoming table set where visitors can sit and chat while they have a cup of tea and share some of McCabe’s<\/a> homemade bread.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Center for the Arts<\/a> in Floyd, Virginia, has also created a welcoming environment and it is being done almost entirely by hospitable staff making visitors feel welcome, because the floor plan and traffic patterns are not conducive to visitor comfort.<\/p>\n

I am sure you know of other places which offer a similar experience. These are the places that encourage us to come back through the quality of their welcome. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am sitting here in the frozen darkness of this mid-February morning thinking about all of the effort that goes into attracting customers and then ensuring that they get a good customer experience. Then I am reminded that there is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1804],"tags":[1107,1109,1110,409,1111,1108,603],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3R4iK-6v","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/makingripples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}