I graduated college in 1986.

I worked for KPMG. I was a controller at a biopharmaceutical company. And then I started my own company in 1994.

Am I an expert in accounting? No way. In fact, even though I'm a CPA, I'm really not a very good one (for me, if it was close enough, it was good enough ... not exactly stellar credentials of a good accountant). Am I a tech genius? Nope. A master at sales? No.

If anything, I'm an expert at reception areas.

I've been to hundreds of companies in the Philadelphia area (and quite a few outside the Philadelphia area). I know a good reception area when I see one.

And I've seen some pretty scary ones.

The worst ever was when I was still with KPMG. You would think that, working for a big international accounting firm, I'd be sipping champagne and nibbling on caviar appetizers while waiting for my prestigious client to meet me in his lavishly appointed lobby. But I always had the misfortune of focusing on small businesses. One of those companies was the now-defunct Futurama (not its real name).

Futurama assembled furniture in one of the worst parts of North Philadelphia. Just walking from the chicken-wired-in parking lot to their front door was as risky as a stroll down any street in Baghdad during the Bush administration. The worst part of this company's reception is that there was none. You had to be buzzed in, hoping the front door (which was covered in graffiti) would be opened before someone stuck a knife in your back. Once inside, there was usually no one to greet you. The first time I was there, I wandered inside the building's dimly lit hallways, following the smell of cigarette smoke, until I found the company's 82-year-old bookkeeper half asleep behind a metal desk and a filing cabinet that looked like a prop from The Dick Van Dyke Show.

SIGNS OF RECEPTION NEGLECT

Reception areas are so important. Why do so many companies ignore them? Because they don't get it. If you've neglected your reception area, I've got a few pieces of advice.

Ever been to a customer's front desk and have to wave to get the attention of the receptionist because she's busy on the phone arguing with her boyfriend or absorbed in updating her latest Facebook status?

Which brings me to my first piece of advice.

No. 1: If your receptionist is too thick to realize that her No. 1 job is to greet people as they enter the company and make them feel like this is the greatest company in the world, then fire her. Or him.

And while I'm on the topic of gender, there's also the matter of appearance. I don't care what gender you are, most of us who visit companies want to see the same thing: a young pretty girl with a smile on her face. Or an older nice-looking woman with a smile on her face. Or a 94-year-old with skin like an alligator and a smile on her face.

• 1
• |
• 2
• |
• 3
• |
• next