WTC of Atlanta and Guest Services

I went to the World Trade Center in Atlanta today.  It is one of the top five business clubs in the metro area and located in the Suntrust Plaza, a John Portman building.  Of course I was late and received an earful from the director because she had other business meetings scheduled.  I cannot give any excuse other than I had understood the trip (for an MBA class) to be a tour of the building.

Two quick lessons:

• If this had been a business meeting, I would have lost the deal.  I am responsible for understanding the nature of any meeting I am to attend.  We have to respect the time of others if we want to earn their respect.
• If this had been a job interview, I would not have been given the time of day.  Too many job seekers are working on high school or college time.  Professors can only descrease your grade for not being one time.  Human resource personnel will put your application in file 13 (the trash can).

Alternative lesson:

I want to address something about this whole situation.  If I had taken a moment to find out that the WTC of Atlanta is in the Suntrust building, I would have saved twenty minutes of running in circles. The WTC of Atlanta could use better signage and could actually put information about the Suntrust building on its website.  The only sign I saw for this respected institution was a very small marble inlay on the corner of the building.  When I walked into the building, I did not have any idea of where to go for the tour.  Intimidating and frustrating.

What happens to customers or guests to your business or churches?  Are they looking for your place and missing it even though the GPS says tells them where to turn?  Do they walk into your place and spend most of their time looking for the right directions?  Would you fuss about how late they are?  What can you do to make your business more guest friendly?

For a business, proper signage can mean the world to a potential client.  In fact, I would say that to avoid meeting with a frustrated or intimidated client, you may need to make sure they can find everything they need, including the bathrooms.  This goes for churches as well.  Greeters should be placed throughout the building with signage large enough not to be missed.


I would say my first impression of the WTC of Atlanta was intimidating not because I felt uncomfortable but because as a potential client I was made to feel uncomfortable.  If I was vindictive I would point out that this international business has a misspelling on its website (very obvious).  Instead, I will be reviewing the way people feel as they enter my church.  I do not want them feeling like I did.