Cathy Stucker - The Idea Lady

Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous

Making a Small Business Look Big

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If your company is small or just starting out, how can you get potential customers and investors to look as you as a credible company they will want to deal with? And when does creating a positive perception, or making your company appear larger, cross the line into deception?

Norm Brodsky is one of my favorite business columnists, and he addressed this question in his Street Smarts column some time ago. He says there are two rules: Don’t lie. And don’t do any harm. Beyond that, you can take a few liberties to create the image of your company you want others to see.

Brodsky gives the example of a new service company trying to get its first clients. Clients want to see references, but how can you get testimonials and references when you don’t have clients? One suggestion is to provide free service to a few clients on a trial basis. If they are happy, you get them to sign a contract to continue the service. You can also go to Greenbox Capital, to get a loan to help get your business going. In the meantime, once they have tried your service, you ask if you may include them in your list of references.

He also shares some ‘tricks’ he used to make his company appear larger and busier than they actually were when they seeking their first clients. You can read the full article at Inc.com.

Other companies have created phantom ‘employees’ to make it appear they were larger. Or used recordings of office sounds in the background during calls to give the impression of a large, busy staff. I wouldn’t be comfortable doing these things, but I don’t know that I would consider them unethical.

It may not matter to your customers if you are a one-person shop running out of your basement or a large corporation. But if it does matter, you can find ways to give the impression of great size without being dishonest. First of all, always operate professionally. Don’t let your five-year-old answer the phone. Have an attractive web site. Use quality letterhead and other printing. Be certain that proposals and other materials are free of grammar and spelling mistakes. If you don’t have a staff, you may be able to hire contractors when help is needed, or ask a friend or your spouse to make calls or handle other ‘staff’ tasks.

Some of the things that businesses do to appear larger may not be right for you, and you may find them inappropriate. Whether or not you choose to try some of the more outrageous things done in the name of creating the right perceptions, it is never wrong to be professional and put your best image forward. It is the very least you can do.

Your Telephone Image

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Your customers’ first impression of your business may be formed over the telephone. What image do you project?

Who answers your phone? Working from home is fine, but have a separate phone line. You don’t want a family member (such as your three-year-old) answering a business call. She may be adorable, but not when I’m trying to place an order. You also don’t want your customer to hear, “MOOOOOMMMMM! PHONE FOR YOU!” Having a separate business line also allows you to ignore business calls outside of normal business hours, if you want to.

When you answer, do you sound perky and cheerful, or like you just rolled out of bed? Even if you did just roll out of bed, make it a habit to sound “up.” Put a mirror next to the telephone and remind yourself to smile. It makes a difference.

Who or what answers when you’re not there? The absolute worst thing is when the phone goes unanswered. We’re in the 21st century. Get yourself an answering machine, answering service or voice mail. I’m always surprised when I call a retail business and don’t even get a recording telling me when they are open. Sometimes, that’s all I need to know.

An answering service can be nice, but if you can’t have a live person answering all the time, have a message on your voice mail that lets callers know when to expect a call back. If you can, give them information about your web site or other ways to get information while they’re waiting for your call.

Of course, a bad answering service is worse than no answering service. If you use a service, call your office now and then to make sure that the phone is being answered, the operator is friendly and helpful, and they are able to answer basic questions about your availability.

Do the same test with your answering machine or voice mail. Is the recording clear and at the proper volume? Do you sound professional? If there is a menu, are the choices clear and easy to follow?

Make sure your outgoing message is to the point and your voice is upbeat. Unless it directly relates to your business, a “cute” message is probably not appropriate.

Some voice mail systems allow multiple mail boxes and announcement boxes. These can be used to give callers information about your hours or location, your web site, how to place an order, upcoming events or other standard information. 

If you have calls transferred to your cell phone, be aware of your surroundings when you answer a call. If you are in a place with loud music or other background noise, it might be better to let the caller leave a message and call them back when you are in a quieter place.

Return calls promptly. Callers want to hear from you, the sooner the better. Hey, is that your phone ringing?

Business Email Etiquette

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Email is a wonderful communication tool, but many people do not use it properly. 

You can annoy or even anger your customers and colleagues with poor email practices. Make sure you follow proper business email etiquette practices to maintain your professional image and make your email effective.

Make your subject clear. “Hey!” or “From me” are not good subjects. Be specific.

Keep your email to one subject. The more issues you try to address in one email, the less effective it will be. If you ask several questions or include several action items, chances are that many of them will be missed or ignored.

When replying to an email, quote enough of the original email to make it easy to understand your response. However, you do not need to include all of the previous email. Keep it short.

Choose recipients carefully. It seems as though everyone has a horror story about hitting “reply all” when they meant to reply only to the original sender, or sending what was supposed to be a private email to everyone in their address book. Always check and double check the recipients to make sure you are sending only to the person or persons to whom you intend to write.

Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation when writing business emails. Although email is less formal than letters, it is still business communication. You may think it is no problem if your email is not written in proper English, but people judge you by your writing skills, even in email. Always proofread before hitting send.

Capitalize properly. Do not use ALL CAPS or all lowercase. Capitalize the first letter of each sentence and proper nouns.

Be careful in your choice of language. The reader can not see your facial expression or body language so what you thought was a funny comment may come across as nasty.

Avoid abbreviations and acronyms that recipients may not understand. Even many abbreviations that are widely used in texting are not understood by everyone.

Do not put anything in an email that you would not want anyone and everyone to see. Once you send an email, you have no control over where it is forwarded.

Attachments should not be used unless (1) they are necessary and (2) the recipient expects them. Many people will not open unknown attachments because of the dangers of viruses. Also, keep any documents and images to a reasonable size. Some people still have slow connections, and a large file can jam their email box.

Using proper business email etiquette can help you get more done while you maintain positive and professional relationships.

Year-End Website Check-Up

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Regularly check your website to make sure it is up to date and working properly.

For many businesses, things get a little slow this time of year. That means it is a good time to do all of those things you never seem to get to the rest of the year. One of those tasks is making sure your website is in good shape. Here are some of the things you should check:

Dated content. Do you have items on your site about “upcoming” events that happened six months ago? How about your copyright date? Keep it current by having it automatically update. (To learn how, do a search for automatically update copyright, along with the type of site you have, e.g., HTML, WordPress, Movable Type, etc.)

Contact information. Is all of the contact information on your site still correct? Check addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.

Forms. Do contact, order and other forms work correctly? Test them. If you use autoresponders or other automatic messages, make sure the information they contain is still correct.

Products and services. Are all of the products and services listed on your site still available? Have you added new ones that are not listed? Are the descriptions and prices correct?

Dead links. URLs can change, so make sure that all of your links are valid. Look for good tips for speeding up your WordPress site on forums. You do not want to send visitors (or search engine bots) off to dead ends. This free link checker can test your site.

Content. When did you last add new content to your website? Really? That long ago? Plan to do some kind of update at least monthly (and more often is better). Add a new article, list upcoming events, post some photos…something.

Images. Have you had the same photos and graphics on your site since the Clinton administration? This would be a good time to update the look of your site by adding fresh new images.

Mystery shop your site. Approach your site as a customer might. Browse through several pages, sign up for your newsletter, place an order, and make sure all of those processes work as they should.

Once you have your site updated and awesome, keep it that way with regular check-ups throughout the year. Do an abbreviated form of these checks at least quarterly, and keep adding new content at least monthly.

Speak Well

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People make judgments about you based on how you speak. Your speech affects your credibility and even how intelligent you are seen as being. 

I recently watched a presentation where the speaker used “uh,” “umm” and other verbal fillers more than 37 times in 10 minutes.  I counted. He fidgeted, put his hands in his pockets and looked completely uncomfortable. He knows his subject, but his nervous mannerisms made him appear less than credible.

Fillers, tics and nervous mannerisms are most common when speaking in front of a group, but can creep in to your daily conversations, too. I overheard two women talking about business, and I was astounded at how often they used the word “like.”

If you catch yourself using “like,” “uh,” “you know,” etc., it usually means that you are stalling for time to think of your next word. Slow down. Take a breath. Think about what you’re saying. Ask a friend to signal you when you slip into one of your bad habits.

To make the best impression, also be sure to:

Use words correctly. It’s better to use a common word correctly than to try to impress by using a long, unusual word incorrectly.

Use proper pronunciation. If you’re not sure how to pronounce a word, look it up in the dictionary. Saying “liberry” instead of “library,” for example, will make a poor impression.

Learn correct grammar. While no one speaks absolutely perfectly 100% of the time, some errors are more egregious than others.  Double negatives (“don’t have no”), “ain’t,” confusing “have” and “got,” mixing singular and plural forms, etc. will grate on the ears of listeners.

Remember that anyone listening to you speak, whether one-on-one or in a group, is usually hoping you will speak well and communicate effectively. They’re on your side. Don’t let nervousness affect your ability to communicate powerfully.