It is often easy for those of us who make money online to forget that we need to remain professional at all times. Often times the comfort which we feel while in the surroundings of our own home is conveyed by our demeanor when dealing with customers or other professionals. Think back to the impression which you were left with when encountering an individual in a professional setting, who did not behave in a professional manner. I am fairly positive that the individual’s behavior left you with an unfavorable impression of the business as a whole. This is the same risk which you run with your behavior if you come off as unprofessional.
Being the primary individual at your online business, you have a range of responsibilities. One day you might be engaging in a strictly secretarial duty, while the next day you might be representing your business to other business leaders as its Chief Executive Officer. Regardless of what responsibilities you are handling, you must maintain your professionalism.
Maintaining a professional decorum is very simple. To this end, I have outlined five points below which every business owner should live by from a professional perspective. Many of them may seem obvious, yet they are often overlooked.
1. Spell Check
Whether you are writing an email, creating a brochure of your services, adding text to your website, or writing a thank-you card, make sure that you double check your work. Nearly every program you work in will have a ‘spell check′ function. This function was made for you, so take advantage of it. It will save you the embarrassment of spelling mistakes. These are errors which may very well cost you a future customer.
2. Telephone Etiquette
Have you noticed how every brick and mortar business which you call answers the phone by stating the name of the business, and not simply saying “Hello”? If you were to call a business, and the person on the other end simply picked up and said, “Hello”, you would assume that dialed an incorrect number.
Employees and business owners answer the telephone by first stating the name of the business. Doing so ensures the customer that they have dialed the correct number. Whether it is fair or not, the fact of the matter is that people do not view online businesses with the same manner of respect as they do traditional business. Therefore, you have to go above and beyond to let people who you engage with know that you are running a professional enterprise. Be sure to clearly depict your business’ name on your voice mail, and give secondary contact information, if possible. Make sure that you check your messages frequently, and never let those calling you receive a message telling them that you voice mailbox is full. If you have to share your home line with your business, instruct others in your home how to answer calls. If possible, but a distinctive ring for your business so you know when calls are coming in for your business.
3. Appearance of Professionalism
One of the first things that a customer will see is your website. A customer will use your website to gauge your professionalism. Therefore, you must ensure that you website’s design is clean and the navigation is obvious and not confusing. Within the first few seconds of being on your website, your visitors should be able to determine what your website is intended to convey. You also must make sure that your website loads quickly. People do not wish to wait to see if your website is what they are looking for or not. If your site takes too long to load, they will simply go to your competitor.
Make sure that you do not use free e-mail addresses such as Hotmail and GMail to correspond with customers. Your e-mail address should be one which matches the URL of your website.
4. Be Polite
When you are on the phone, make sure that you have a smile on your face. As your parents taught you, say please and thank you. No matter who you are corresponding with, treat each person as they are extremely valuable to your business. Tell you customers that you appreciate their business. This will go a long way in their decision to give you future business. Make sure that customers are made comfortable with your online business by exuding the picture of professionalism and manners.
5. Know Your Business Inside and Out
One of the most unprofessional scenes plays out when you cannot answer questions about your own business with authority. If someone needs a service which you offer, and they ask you for a quote, they want to know how much it will cost them for that service if they hire your business. They do not want to hear that you are restructuring your pricing, or that you are new to this business. Keep in mind that the customer came to you because of your expertise. Experts are able to confidently answer questions regarding services, pricing, and customary practices.
Just keep in mind that to make money online, you will incur a lot of work, and perhaps some resistance from customers who may be more accustomed to dealing with larger, potentially more established traditional businesses. Therefore, your professionalism can go a long way to give you the advantage, and give customers to confidence in hiring your services, or purchasing your products.
The Internet provides you with a great circumstance to Make Money Online. Yet, you have to portray an image of professionalism if you expect to Work At Home and be viewed as legitimate. Drop by and visit us at SOSComplete.com.
