When you run a business there are tons of different responsibilities you have to balance. From accurately ordering to marketing your place and even hiring the right staff, the tasks are endless.
However, one very important responsibility all business owners have is their responsibility to cater to a variety of customers, including differently-abled ones.
When it comes time for you to conduct business, it’s imperative that you make your place accessible to everyone. If it’s not, then you risk losing customers.
Read on to learn about three ways to make sure you’re considering everyone in your workspace.
1- Think About The Layout Of Your Space
When you’re building a business, you need to consider creating a space where people with different levels of mobility can move around comfortably. There are tons of people young and old who have mobility issues for one reason or another. For people with these issues, elements like stairs or narrow aisles can be really limiting.
Not everyone builds their store space with wheelchair or scooter users in mind. But if you want to create a truly welcoming environment for all patrons, then you should be working with ADA contractors to make the storefront more accessible.
ADA contractors work to help you make the space you operate in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. These contractors start their work by creating an accessibility assessment of your space, then draft and execute plans to make your space satisfy state requirements. Altogether, they make your layout truly inclusive.
2- Examine The Ways You Communicate
Another way you can make your business more accessible is by focusing on how you communicate with customers. For those in the Deaf or Hard of Hearing community, having written or signed communication is a necessity if they want to interact with your business.
If you want to be fair to your Deaf and HoH clients, consider having captions or transcriptions of all your marketing videos and policies.
It’s simple to get visuals captioned too. There are tons of online services that can caption a video for around a dollar a minute and promise quick turnaround times.
Unfortunately, it’s a common oversight to exclude the Deaf community in many forms of communication, but it is easy to address. Simply start by captioning your marketing and training materials today!
3- Are You Marketing To Different Communities?
Lastly, when we think of accessibility, you can frame it in terms of interacting with your larger community. Are you serving only a small group of people in your neighborhood, or are you accessible to everyone in your area?
Sometimes companies remain inaccessible to parts of their community because of lack of awareness or interaction. But that’s easy to rectify.
If your business seems to be isolated from the community at large, consider getting involved with local organizations that focus on helping the disabled.
For example, you could sponsor a local little league team or start an open mic night to get the word out that you value your community. People love to frequent businesses that give back, so if you want to expand your reach, then partner with others around you!
In The End
While being an accessible business does take some thought, it doesn’t have to be a hassle. When you start to take initiative to include your larger community in your workplace, your efforts will pay off.
Think about the ways you can make your storefront and website easier to access. And don’t forget to consider communities beyond your own when marketing – you never know what connections you’ll create in a city like Charlotte!