While many business deals are made outside the office, it is important to furnish one’s office with the proper equipment and furniture. This is important because the office is where you make most of your initial deals, and it is the place you use for planning out and implementing business strategies.

One of the most important furniture a home office can have is the office chair. There are a variety of office chairs to choose from, depending on the purpose for which they would be used. There are office chairs simply to be sat on and to make your guests comfortable. On the other hand there are office chairs that are intended to keep the user awake and alert while working.

The first rule to remember when choosing office chairs is to not buy office chairs without first trying its fit. This means you have to try sitting on the office chairs you intend to purchase. This way, you make sure that you are comfortable sitting in that chair and you fit in it.

There are people who buy chairs with their eyes only o find out later that the chair does not fit their bottoms. Find office chairs that are not only aesthetically built, but most importantly, find office chairs that are very comfortable to sit in whatever your purpose in buying that chair is.

You also have to consider the build of the people who will be sitting on those office chairs. There are people who buy office chairs for their office staff only to find out later that the chair is too small for a bulky office worker. Make sure you buy office chairs that are suitable for everyone even if they come in only one size or adjustment.

Another thing to consider when buying office chairs is their ability to support the lower back of the people who will be sitting in it. There are ergonomic office chairs that can provide maximum comfort and safety to the user. However, make sure that your office chairs are not too comfortable to be slept in or else, you may find workers sleeping during office hours at your expense.

If you need to purchase office chairs for an office with many employees, it would be best to contact companies or dealers who can make office chairs at discounted prices. Aside from the discount, you can also choose the fabric you want and you can have them made according to your specifications. Also make sure the dealer offers a warranty.

While the physical looks of an ergonomic chair matters, it should be the least concern because the reason why you are buying office chairs is to make your stay in the office more comfortable, safer and healthy.

Customer relationships are meat and drink to Gary Chapman, he runs a consultancy company that trains and informs corporate organizations about Customer Relationship Management (CRM). His company runs public seminars around the country on a weekly basis, dealing with thousands of delegates every year; here is his advice to you if you are planning a similar event.

The registration process may be your first opportunity to connect personally with a customer and demonstrate to them what your values and standards are. Like all relationships, we generally judge what someone is like in the first 60 seconds and this is no different. You should consider each delegate as a potential lifetime friend who you are meeting for the first time and you should give them absolutely no cause to question your professionalism.

If this is the first time you have run an event and your admin staff have not yet cut their teeth either on delegates or on the product (the event), take plenty of time to script everything from the first telephone answer to the most awkward set of requests and questions you can think up. Give your people a chance to role-play those first 60 seconds until it becomes absolutely second nature.
Answer before the first ring

Consider what standards your admin team ought to be meeting. One organization demands that all of its telephones are answered “on or before the first ring” to demonstrate its urgency and alertness. “Hey! That’s not physically possible”, I hear you say. Well, some telephone systems ring first at the receiving end before the caller hears the first ring in their ear, meaning that if you pick up after the first ring, the caller won’t hear a ring. Although that can be a bit scary, you may want to set your standard around 3 rings and stick to it.

There are all sorts of other standards that are worth discussing with the admin team to ensure that your customers get a good standard of service:

• call-back within a promised timescale

• paperwork posted within 8 working hours

• emails sent within 4 working hours

• database up to date at the end of each working day

• payment reminders sent out 21 days, 28 days and 35 days after registration

Having set standards, make sure there is an easy way of checking that they are being adhered to. It is better that the admin team has their own monitoring system that you can check from time-to-time than to have big brother/sister keeping a permanent watchful eye on standards.