Working from home doesn’t necessarily mean that the persona that you portray to the world is one of a small business. You can beef yourself up to give the illusion of being a big time player without taking your business out of your 2 bedroom flat.
More small business owners are looking home businesses as the rate of store closures are growing at an unprecedented rate – why not make your business look hefty by following these simple, yet highly effective, steps to attract the punters.
What’s your number?
How could you know whether the business on the other end of an 0845 number is a big player or a small time business? You wouldn’t – so why not get yourself one for a few extra pennies?
You can apply for a local rate 0845 number or even a national rate 0870 number as easily as setting up an email account. The advantages of an 08 number means that you don’t sound as though you’re sitting in your house waiting for the phone to ring.
08 numbers give the feeling that there is a team of telephone representatives at the other end waiting to serve you and the customer doesn’t ever need to know whether that’s actually true or not.
What’s your address?
A POBox number sounds a lot more professional than a random street address and apart from anything you won’t be woken up by a customer at 3 in the morning because your address was on every piece of stationary that they were given.
You can get a POBox for the tiny cost of around £60 a year and with an additional cost you can get the post brought to your house.
A POBox will, once again, provide that big business feel for an insignificant fee and compared to other small businesses in the country you would look like a giant.
Who’s answering the phone?
There are call handling services around the country that will answer calls made to you using your company’s name for a fee of around £50 a month. The messages from the calls will be emailed to you and urgent ones will be sent to you in an SMS.
This is obviously a good example of how to get that big business feeling but watch out – such a service could actually alienate loyal customers who like to get straight through to you.
There are possibilities of getting hold of the service in your local area which could be a good idea as the company would be more aware of your business compared to a larger call centre where you are one small business in a big pond.
How about you?
Do you have any ideas about beefing up your small businesses image? Maybe you don’t think it’s such a good idea? Let us know…we want to hear from you!
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1 Comment
Not sure where you get the notion that a PO Box makes you seem like a big company. I admit perceptions vary, but many people actually perceive PO Boxes to be from organisations trying to “hide” their actual address. Usually, big businesses do NOT have a PO Box, except for things like competitions.
Studies of trust and credibility show us that a street address is the MOST trusted. And those studies also show us that there should be such a real address on EVERY page of a web site.
Of course, I agree, that having an address such as 123 The Cuttings, doesn’t make you sound like a real business either. So, the point you make is well taken.
I’d suggest, though, using a mailing service that provides a “real” address compared to a standard PO Box number.