Small Business – How to Look Professional

The key to surviving in a big business world is camouflage! With a small investment, you can LOOK like a big business, even though your whole company consists of you sitting at your computer in your kid’s room.

Why is that important? Because customers won’t order a product or service from you unless they are convinced you can deliver the goods. If they know you are a “one-man (or one-woman) band”, they may have all kinds of anxieties: will you be able to deliver on time if you get busy or sick? are you just a fly-by-night who will take their money and run? You may know you won’t let them down, but you have to persuade them!

The key is to look as professional as the big companies, and to give people the impression that you have as much support as they do. This is much easier today, when people are more accustomed to dealing online and by phone, than in the old days when you would have needed an office or shop to look convincing.

Let’s look at the phone first. Your business number should ALWAYS be answered in the company name. It’s a dead giveaway if you answer with “the Smith residence” – or worse, if your two-year-old picks up the phone! You also need to make sure that the business number is answered promptly and, if you do miss a call, that you call back quickly.

If you are the only person in your company and the business is going well, this can be a challenge. A good solution is to hire a call-answering service. They will answer all calls in your company’s name, as if they work for your company (they generally charge by the number of calls). For a little more, you can ask them to do some basic admin for you, such as taking down some customer details or basic orders. To the customer, this is going to sound as if you have a large staff busy working for you, and that inspires just the kind of confidence you need.

If you prefer, you can advertise your mobile number, and only have the calls diverting to the call-answering service if you don’t answer.

The modern equivalent of a shopfront or office is, of course, a slick website. Think twice about using space on webmail providers like Yahoo, Google or Hotmail, or even from your ISP. Having an obviously “freebie” domain name makes you look like an amateur. It’s worth the expense to get a domain name that sounds like it’s been made for your company.

Likewise, don’t try to build your own website from scratch unless you know what you’re doing. There are software packages to design sales websites, and that may be suitable for your business – but do remember that a good website is important to your credibility, and don’t be tempted to “make do” with something that you know looks less than professional.

Most websites will include a number of email addresses. It’s worth using some of them – if you have separate emails for “accounts”, “orders” etc, the customer will assume that there is at least one person behind each of them!

If you are selling services rather than goods, then you can’t avoid meeting your customers face to face. This requires a little more effort but it’s not impossible. Always have a quality business card to hand over(try Vistaprint for cheap, good quality cards). Never arrange to meet at your home, even if you have a separate room that you use as an office. If it’s not possible to meet at your client’s home or office, then choose a call-answering service that also hires rooms (Google “virtual office” to find those in your area). These usually involve a monthly fee, which entitles you to call-answering, and use of offices and meeting rooms when you need them – much cheaper than renting an office full-time if you only need it occasionally. Choose your provider carefully, making sure their premises convey the image you want for your company.

If you strive to act like a big business even when you are on your own, it won’t be long before you really ARE big!

Photo thanks to ShashiBellamkonda on Flickr.