6 Ways to Make Your Small Business Look Bigger

Some people say "fake it 'til you make it," but I think that clich? has an unnecessary air of phoniness about it. Still, if you are starting up or running a small business, making your company look bigger and more established to the outside world can have dramatic results.

Mind you, I am in no way suggesting misrepresenting yourself or your company, nor advocating flash over substance. And I'm certainly not suggesting that you behave like a big, impersonal corporation. What I am saying is that image does matter, and you should cast your business in the best possible light. To me, the more fitting chestnut is "dress for success."

Dressing up your small business sends a message of seriousness and credibility to customers, suppliers, prospective employees, and anyone else who interacts with the business. It also affects your own attitude, much like wearing nice clothing makes you stand a little taller. With so many cheap and easy tools available for the purpose, there's no excuse for not making your business look like a business, even if the company is just you and a laptop. Start here:

1. If you work from home, lose the bunny slippers. If you've chosen to (or must) work out of your house, then create an impenetrable "work bubble." That means a dedicated, quiet, professional, well-equipped and wired space that you, and anyone else in the house, treat no differently than an office across town. No exceptions. And I recommend you still get dressed for work in the morning, even though you don't have to. It affects your behavior. And I could tell you about some surprising Skype video calls I've had...

2. Your phone sets a tone. I can't tell you how many times someone has called me, representing a business, and I've heard kids or pets or TV in the background. Or I've called a "business" number and listened to a static-y answering message saying "you've reached the Jones family and Jones Industries, Incorporated..." Get a good phone on a dedicated line, and clear, professional voice mail, and record a professional-sounding message. If it starts with "hey there!" it's wrong.

Similar thinking for your mailing address. Though PO boxes don't always send the ideal signal, they're better than sending your invoices from Mockingbird Lane. I will confess to having google-mapped addresses of new business contacts, only to be surprised to see a satellite view of a house and yard.

3. Look good on paper. There is no excuse for inkjet-printed business cards or Microsoft WordArt logos. Proper cards and other printed materials are cheap and easy to get in small quantities from places like Overnight Prints. And if you're not a designer, don't try to be. Hire a freelancer to create logos and coordinating materials, or use a crowdsourcing site, which can provide fantastic results at very low cost.

4. Be the master of your domain. A good starter website is inexpensive and easy to build. It may not be the sophisticated enterprise-level site you will inevitably want or need, but a beautifully-designed company info or "brochureware" site is better than a crappy-looking anything else. It is probably the first point of entry for people doing business with you, and the best way to convey the image you want. Make it great.

5. Don't be a Yahoo. Few things stand out as credibility question marks more than a generic/free email account. I am always skeptical when I get a business email ending in yahoo.com, gmail.com, hotmail.com, or -- worst of all -- aol.com (which makes me envision a person sitting behind a faded beige computer with a dial-up connection). As part of your website project, set up proper mailboxes with the same domain name. And I suggest not using just your first name ("[e-mail]"). Yes, many good-size businesses do it and it may be friendly and personal-sounding, but it is also very small-sounding if your business is not well known. Use first name/last initial or first initial/last name. It immediately sounds more substantial.

6. Get out as soon as you can. Unless your business is designed to be run from home, get yourself an office of some kind as soon as you can justify and afford it. Like many people who start businesses, I began mine from home, but my first goal was to move into some kind of "real" place. Not only so that I could have meetings somewhere other than a coffee shop, but because getting up, driving to work, and having a name on a glass door made me feel like I was really in business. It motivated me (to pay the rent, among other things). And, though my first office and stockroom was small, it was real, and people could come over and know that it was legit.

If you can't move into an office just yet, consider using a shared/serviced office. Again, not a perfect solution but better than Starbucks conferences, or having to dance around the home office issue.

I know quite a few tiny companies that look quite substantial to the outside world. And I know several multi-million dollar businesses that look like they are run by a guy in his pajamas out of his basement. You might say "Who cares? Millions are millions." But I'd argue that building the most impressive image you can from the start is a key step in getting visibility, being taken seriously, and getting people to want to do business with you.

Would love to hear from others who started in their bunny slippers... what were some of the ways you built up your image to help build up your business?

Read more:

• Are You Upselling or Just Upsetting Your Customers?
• "Good Enough" Customer Service Is Not Good Enough
• Ban This Language From Your Customer Service Vocabulary

(Creative Commons image by KoS)

[bestvaluecopy]

It is really good because you mention all those techniques which people generally ignore or forget.
But after all I get lots of new information from your post.
Thanks & Hope you will post such useful info gradually.

[engineers_not_geeks]

I agree completely and not only do I follow these simple guide lines but I also polish my shoes, wax my truck, wear white button down oxford shirts, own a professional looking web site, and I also pay $15.00 per month for an 800 number. I alone do everything and I do mean everything. I sweep the floors, clean the bath rooms, balance the books, do the banking and dozens upon dozens of other things. Sometimes I leave at 6:00AM and then get home at 3:30AM the next day.

I am 53 yrs old, recently divorced with no family to help me. I had worked for a few large corporations and got tired of it. Watching a listening to Billy Bob complain about his wife and life every Monday morning got on my last nerve.

I was recently called by a company in California about working for a large salary for a very large mail order firm that makes an electronic book reader that just came out this week. When I went to the interview, I was asked if I had a cell phone or laptop on me and I said yes to both. They wanted all kinds of information about both and then gave me a set of instructions to read about visitors and proper behavior concerning said items.

Meanwhile as I was waiting for my appointment for the interview, I watched as employee after employee (office) came out and emptied their pockets and stepped through a metal detector and almost strip searched by the minimum wage guard protecting the entrance. This was a 500,000 square foot facility and a 30 billion dollar company. I quickly decided this was not for me and left without saying anything.

Now I am my own boss and everyday is a struggle. My company does service work for many large fast food places and various other manufacturing, retail, and technology related businesses. I sometimes drive 300 miles per day and do three or four service calls in two or sometimes three states.

I have nine years of full-time college and only an associates degree in electronics engineering. I was only 4 hours from my bachelors when I decided to get an MBA and that got me off track. I knew owning my own business would be good in many ways. Besides the tax advantage, it is mine and I say what happens in this neck of the woods. Crap does roll downhill, and this is my hill and my crap.

What's strange is the fact that I had always talked about "someday" having my own business but never quite got around to it. My divorce and running out of unemployment left me looking for a new career at age fifty-three and we all know how hard it is to find a job at that age in this economy. So circumstances left me no choice and I must say that I was scared to death. But like a boxer, fear can help you and make you better if you do not let it consume you.

My business is growing and every month my income has gone up. My first year after all is said and done will be very humble. I estimate my first years gross billings to be about forty thousand and after expenses (gas, tools, rent, maintenance, etc...) I am lucky to feed myself. However, my boss is wonderful and no one looks over my shoulder or evaluates my work except me. I get so tired some days from climbing up and down ladders then having to drive a hour or more to get home. But, its mine and next year will be better.

I say yes sir, thank you, may I, please, and anything else to make my self look better to the customer. You would be surprised how nice you can be when your next meal is on the line. Oh yeah, credit helps to keep the cash flow going.

In closing, think about how you present yourself to others and ask yourself, "if you came knocking on your own door, would you be impressed or would you laugh at yourself and shut that door?" First impressions can never be changed, once you have damaged your image its probably permanent. If your small, it takes 100.001% effort to be the best and stay the best. No time to sleep people, small business is the way of the new USA. Get her done people....