Image by Kevin Sanderson from Pixabay

By Brooke Chaplan

The winter season is a time when many business owners need to improve customer and employee access to their building. You might choose to make improvements now to take advantage of a slower season when fewer people are coming through the doors, or you might need to make sure that you can maximize your industry’s busiest few months. In either case, these strategies will get you started on developing an effective plan for making the building more accessible to the employees and customers. By following the steps below, your business will be easy to access in the winter months.

Create alternate entrances

People may have very different reasons for needing access to your business. Suppliers might need to drop off huge truckloads of inventory, and you may have customers who need to come in to conduct business. Creating separate entrances helps with maintaining good traffic flow. Your customers will feel more comfortable parking in front when the big trucks use the back entrance for access.

Maintain the parking lot

The winter season is when many parking lots develop their worst wear and tear. Temperature changes and moisture eventually erode asphalt over time. If this is your slow season, then repaving the parking lot is easier since you won’t have to redirect so many cars to a different area. If it is your busy season, then you may need to do this now to make sure that large potholes and cracks don’t deter people from coming. A company like Mariotti Site Development Co Inc can get the job done fast and right so that you experience less downtime on the repairs.

Keep emergency supplies on hand

Ice storms might be rare in your area, but you need to be prepared for when it happens. On occasion, you might also find that rainy weather creates potentially hazardous areas near the entrance of your business. Kitty litter, sand and rock salt are all good supplies to have available for reducing the risk of slip-and-fall accidents. You’ll also want to appoint someone to be responsible for maintaining the sidewalks and floors that people use to access your business building.

Offer assistance to vulnerable individuals

You might have people coming to your business that are more vulnerable during the winter. Depending upon the nature of your business, you might be able to offer curbside pick-up services by creating a special place for these customers to park. You can also let your customers know to contact someone for assistance with getting inside if you cater to many elderly or disabled customers.

Clear access to a building means that anyone who visits will feel comfortable parking their car and making their way inside. Over time, you will need to improve parking areas and walkups so that everyone has a way to get to your business. Implementing these changes during the winter gives you the opportunity to take full advantage of the season to keep business flowing all year long.

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Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan.