How Office Odors Affect Your Bottom Line

Office odors are unpleasant, but did you realize they can have a negative affect on your company’s profits? The Sense of Smell Institute conducts research to help business owners and facilities managers better understand the powerful effects that the human sense of smell has on consumer purchasing decisions. If customers are confronted at the front door with a blast of malodor, they may forever remember your business as “that place that smelled like leftover fish,” choosing instead to patronize one of your less odiferous competitors.

Interesting Facts about the Human Sense of Smell

The sense of smell, more than any other of the senses, is directly linked to the memory and emotion centers of the brain. Smells affect people on a profound, often subconscious level. Think about how much the automotive industry relies on “new car” scent. Real estate professionals know that vanilla and cinnamon are effective for persuading home buyers to choose the homes they are selling. The powerful influence that smell exerts on purchasing decisions has created an entire industry based around “scent marketing.”

The Office Odors You May Not Notice

Prolonged exposure to a certain smell, especially an unpleasant one, causes the human smell receptors to shut down, making you unable to smell the odor. This is bad news for the business owner, because your clients have not had the opportunity to become immune to the smell. In the office setting, the most commonly reported odors are moldy or musty smells, strongly scented chemicals (including cleaning products), stale or spoiled foods and human body odor. Although you may have become immune to the accountant’s garlicky leftovers, your customers aren’t so fortunate. While the clerk with poor hygiene practices may be a sore spot for your HR department, you may not realize that your customers take issue as well.

Sniffing Out Off-Putting Odors

Believe it or not, you can hire expert odor sniffers — consultants with extremely sensitive abilities — to detect malodorous conditions. If that strikes you as overkill, experts recommend asking trusted friends or family members to drop by later in the day and give your office the “sniff test.” (The human sense of smell becomes more sensitive as the day wears on.) Request their first impressions as they walk through the office. You may disagree with their perceptions, but it’s likely your potential customers detect similar odors. Another excellent resource for rooting out and eradicating unpleasant odors in your facility is your cleaning company. Invite your account manager to drop by and evaluate the office air quality, then recommend strategies for mitigating any bad odors. Consider also adding a professional air freshener system in your office or facility to ensure a consistently pleasant customer experience.

Don’t put your company’s profitability at risk over office odors. Elite Clean Co understands the importance of offering your customers a sanitary and pleasant environment. Contact us today for help in tackling your unpleasant office odors.