Creating a Professional Image For Your Home-Based Business
Like it or not, there is still a segment of the population whowill erroneously conclude that you and your business are lessthan professional and competent just because you run yourbusiness out of your home. Dumb? Obviously. Narrow-minded? Yes. Wrong? Absolutely. Unfair?No question. Want their business? Well ... yes. OK, then you'regoing to have to play the game and beat them at it. Here's howto do it. It's a little sneaky, but hey, all's fair in love andhome-based business.HA...
...RMLESS FICTIONSThe name of the game is creating the right image ... employing afew harmless fictions, in other words. First off, incorporate orregister a fictitious business name. Nothing screams"PROFESSIONAL!" to Potential Client as an honest-to- goodnesscorporate or business name on your letterhead and businesscards. Never mind that anyone can spend ten bucks and register aDBA, it at least *looks* professional, and that's what counts.OFFICE ADDRESS The next problem you have with Potential Client is that youdon't want your home address to give you away. What do you think looks more professional in Potential Client'seyes: 123 Cherryblossom Way, Apt. 103, Suburbia or 123 MajorBlvd, Level 37, Big City? The answer is a serviced office. These don't have to cost a lotof money if you use them pretty much as a post office but theyCAN give your business all the big-city prestige your potentialclient is looking for. You can also use a post office box forthis purpose but many a Potential Client will be on to you in aflash. They didn't just fall off the turnip truck, you know.(Right.)An additional advantage is that you can use your serviced officeto meet with Potential Client. After all, the last thing youwant is to have him coming to your REAL office. Heaven forbid!Most serviced offices will make meeting rooms available for aflat fee. TELEPHONES This is probably the trickiest part of all. How do you know it'ssafe to answer the phone in your home office even though thesounds of your young children playing just outside your officedoor will be heard by the caller? You simply don't. There is a simple way of dealing with this. Only give your homeoffice number to existing clients. They already know you areprofessional and competent and should therefore have no issuewith the fact that you work from home. For anyone else, give out the number of an answering servicethat will answer the call in your business name and can tellcallers that you're in a meeting with another client and take amessage. Your serviced office will offer this service as well.You can then return the call at a time when you know tell-talebackground noise won't give you away. In fact, a trick some people who work from home use whenreturning calls is to run a tape of office background noise.This both gives the impression you are working in a large officeAND it masks any slight tell-tale household noises that may,despite your best efforts, give you away. Once Potential Client becomes an actual client and you've provedto his satisfaction that you are professional and competent, youcan tell him that you've decided to start working out of yourhome to reduce unnecessary overheads and give him your directphone number. No matter how enlightened your client-base is as a general rule,it is imperative that the telephone be answered in abusinesslike manner. I don't care how sympathetic, supportiveand admiring your clients are of your decision to balance yourwork and family commitments by running a successful businessfrom home, there is nothing cute about a five year old answeringyour business line. It's unprofessional, not to mentiondownright annoying. So have a separate phone line for your business and lay down thelaw to your household that no-one, NO-ONE, is to answer it butyou (unless, of course, you're employing your teenage childrenin your business in which case they should be instructed on howto answer the telephone in a professional manner). If you'reaway from your office, divert your calls to your answeringservice. EMAIL Something else to think about is the image of your emailaddress. Which is Potential Client to consider morecorporate/professional: maryann@isp.com orm.entrepreneur@mycompanyllc.com? It's worth spending $35 a year on your own domain name just forthe professional email address, even if you never intend tocreate a website. Mind you if you're going to have your owndomain why NOT create your own website? But that's anotherarticle ... STATIONERY AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS It goes without saying that your stationery, business cards andother promotional materials should reflect a professional image.If you have incorporated your business or registered afictitious business name as recommended earlier, this is a goodstart. A company or business name on letterhead and businesscards can't fail to convey a professional image provided theyare professionally printed on quality stationery stock. OFFICE EQUIPMENT There's no point having quality stationery if you're going touse a cheap and cheerful inkjet printer for your correspondence.Invest in a medium quality laser printer instead. They don'tcost a lot of money these days and you can get a unit thattriples as a fax machine and photocopier for only a few hundreddollars. So, what do you think? You may be thinking "I wonder whetherit's really worth the effort to try and please just a smallnumber of potential clients". Is it worth it? Well, look at itthis way. Are these suggestions really anything more than basic,common sense, professional business practices? Regardless ofwhat your potential and existing clients may think about theconcept of businesses run out of their owners' homes, firstimpressions DO count.
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