10 Tips to Make Your Home Based Business Look Professional
1. Have a professional message on your answering machine. Yes, you need to have a professional message when people call your business telephone. You need to state the hours of operation and when they can expect to receive call back. You also need to tell them where they can find more information about your company such as your new website for your company.
2. Have a fax machine. Yes, you need a fax number. You don’t even have to buy a expensive fax machine. You can even sign up to receive faxes over the Internet at www.efax.com and other websites. It is reasonable and affordable. It is great to have a fax to send contracts and other proposals back and forth.
3. Make your company appear larger than it actually is. It will give people the impression that your company is pretty good sized and has quite a few of employee’s. They will think that you are organized and know what you are doing. You can have the role of more than one person when operating your own company out of your house.
4. Don’t have loud background noise when talking to a client on the telephone. Don’t let them hear the television running in the background or the kids screaming. You want to give them the impression that you are in a office building. You can always play a soft type of music in the background since most offices play music.
5. Have a professional website. People love to shop on the Internet to order products or services and also find out additional information about a company. Make sure that people can find out about your company by having a professional website. You can build your own website with a great template without having to know HTML.
6. Let people be able to contact you during regular hours. It is important to have regular hours of operation for your business. It is okay if you like to work at night time or early in the morning when everyone else is sleeping, but make sure to be available to answer emails and phone calls at normal business hours. People get a little nervous if they can never a response to emails or get a real person on the phone.
7. Send out products or services in reasonable amount of time. Don’t wait til the last minute. People like to see that companies are on time and that care about their customers. You will get repeat customers when you show that you are dependable and reliable.
8. Have professional envelopes and paper. When you send out letters then make sure that you have professional envelopes and paper. Make sure to always act professional and make sure to check for spelling errors. It is important to read everything twice before you send it out in the mail to someone.
9. Make sure to have professional business cards. You can get professional business cards at www.vistaprint.com for reasonable prices. They look very professional and look much better than homemade business cards on a regular printer.
10. Always remain professional. This is one of the most important things to remember. In public you have to maintain a professional appearance too. When speaking on the phone and in email then please remain professional then too. It is important to remember to not get too relaxed when talking as a business person. Don’t ever swear or use inappropriate language in front of clients.
