Jaimie Dobson Internet Consultant

If you’re a small business then you need to think carefully about how you portray yourself to others if you don’t want to be labeled “I’m a small amateur business”.

Definitely one to be avoided if you’re trying to build credibility amongst your clients and particularly if you’re targeting the larger business-to-business sector.

Hang Out with the Big Boys

Now before you get on your high-horse, let me clarify here; there’s nothing wrong with being a small business – after all I am one myself and many a small business owner successfully works with the bigger boys. However too many small and micro companies often fail to gain a foothold within the larger type of client because they don’t set out their stall out correctly to begin with when it comes to the portraying themselves as a professional and credible business.

Hang Out With the Big Boys

Just to give you some background. The subject matter of this post has been borne out of a lively and productive debate that ensued yesterday at a business networking meeting I regularly attend here in West Yorkshire.

Part of the meeting’s format is a Q & A session which involves the business owners in the room swapping ideas and suggestions on how they may overcome the issues that challenge them in their day-to-day activities. There’s usually a good mix of business sizes and breadth of experience within the room, all of which makes for a good basis for discussion.

Top Tips for Avoiding the Small Company Image

Distilled out of yesterday’s debate came the following simple tips of things to avoid when it comes portraying a new company’s image to the corporate world.

1. Branding. Don’t skimp on getting a decent brand developed. Employing a creative designer to deploy a brand image for your company that will stretch across your website, stationery and other marketing materials, may be a large part of your set-up costs, but will pay you dividends in the long run when it comes building your credibility. Falling into the trap of “designing it yourself” (unless you are a creative graphic designer of course) or “buying in a logo” cheaply from the many online services out there, will ultimately prove itself to be a false economy. Note: Branding is different to ‘logo design’ – don’t confuse the two.
2. Get online. In today’s commercial world the lack of website gives out the message of “I don’t exist”. Don’t under estimate the positive power that even a simple well designed website can have upon your business and as such, getting one launched should be a top priority when it comes to setting up your business. Again cost-wise, this may be a large initial outlay – but will pay its way over time. Don’t forget to budget for ongoing web marketing costs for your site if you want to get a real return on your investment and you feel it’s a critical business tool for your company.
3. Use a credible email address. Recently a senior buyer for a large business remarked to me that if he receives an email from someone touting for business with his company and that person’s email address is identified as being one run by an ISP or one of the free web mail services e.g. @yahoo.com, @googlemail.com or @aol.com etc; then he consciously ‘marks-them-down’ as a less credible supplier and as such, gives them less attention. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of this approach, it does raise an interesting point and illustrates how people’s perceptions of each other can be simply formed by the style of their email address. Even if you’re not ready to use it with your website, these days registering your own domain name is so cheap and quick using a multitude of online domain registration websites, that there’s not really an excuse for not having a professional looking email address e.g. you@yourcompany.co.uk Tip: try and get the .com version of your domain name as well as the .co.uk one whilst you’re at it.
4. Location, location, location!. The degree of snobbery attached to an office’s address is less so these days and it’s becoming more and more acceptable to run a home based business. However despite this, some small business owners, who aren’t ready to make the leap into serviced or leased offices; may feel its inappropriate to list their business against a residential address. In which case consider a mail box address. Companies such as Mail Boxes Etc allow you to rent a “virtual office” address in many cities around the UK. Local to me places such as The Grid in Bradford and the my-Catalyst venues in Leeds not only offer virtual office addresses but a whole plethora of business support services as well. Alternatively, the Royal Mail provides PO Box addresses which will automatically redirect business mail to your home. Using these low cost services removes the need to use your home address as your business address and helps give your business a more credible face.
5. Send out the same message. When you answer the phone have a consistent style of greeting. Carry this message through to the personal greeting on your mobile phone, thus avoiding the standard one given to you by your airtime provider which is often generic at best and at worst, name drops the airtime provider. E.g. “Welcome to the Tesco voicemail service..“
6. Don’t use an answering machine. In a similar vein, avoid the use of answering machines when you’re not in the office. A number of virtual receptionist services have sprung up across the UK over the last few years. By diverting your land line calls to these people when you’re not on the office or otherwise engaged, you call still have a human being answer the phone in your company’s name. Whilst they may not be able to deal with any specific enquires, they can then at least take a message and pass that on to you. Remember people like to talk to people, not machines.
7. Get LinkedIn. If your business offers a professional service, such as the architect who was at my proNet networking meeting yesterday morning, then it’s worth your while registering an account and setting up a profile on the social networking site for professionals; LinkedIn. Not only is this site a place where your peers and competitors are likely to hang out, but there always the chance that your potential clients will ‘look you up’ on the site before they engage in dialogue with you. A comprehensive profile on LinkedIn will help boost your credibility in the minds of your prospects.

Conclusion

proNet Business Networking Breakfast (Photo: Roger V Moody)

So there you have it; a handful of suggestions that came out of yesterday’s proNet session related to generating a professional image for any fledgling business.

If you have anymore, post them in the comments below. Should you want advice or help in addressing any of the above points, feel free to get in touch for some advice.

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Tags: Business Life, Business Networking