The,Number,Rule,for,Businesses DIY The Number 1 Rule for Businesses - Be Professional

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

The #1 Rule for Businesses - Be ProfessionalBy Denise Hall (C) 2003Have you ever walked into a store and things looked sloppy?Stores should have nice neat displays, right? Normally,yes, but sometimes they get a bit messy on busy days and weall understand how that can happen.But what if you were to walk into a store as soon as itopened in the morning and the place looked liked it hadbeen ransacked? What would you think?You'd probably think it wasn't very professional-looking.If a rack of shirts was haphazardly thrown together, withall the styles, colors and sizes mixed up, you'd probablywalk right past it without giving it a second glance.If a sales associate wouldn't answer your questions or helpyou find something, you would consider that unprofessional,too, not to mention rude.When we do business in the offline world we expect aprofessional appearance and professional manner from thosewho deal with customers. The same is true for onlinebusinesses.Your business depends on how professional you are. Yourwebsite, your customer service and the appearance andquality of your work all reflect upon you, the businessowner.Two key factors of professionalism:1. Good Customer Service/Relations2. Quality Appearance and Writing SkillsRecently I had problems submitting information to severalwebsites. After trying for several days I finally e-mailedfor technical support. (After all, the website owners hadmessages posted that said to contact them at any time.)I didn't expect an immediate reply to my inquiries. I knowthey're busy running their businesses, and dealing withother people, too. But I have yet to receive any replies.Where is the customer service? Why would I want to dobusiness with someone who seems to be ignoring me? At thevery least, if it typically takes them more than a coupleof days to reply to e-mail, support questions or otherrequests, they should post that information on theirwebsite so customers/visitors know what to expect.Without good customer service, you're shooting yourself inthe foot. Don't expect customers to buy from you if youcan't afford them some common courtesy.A professional appearance is mandatory to your business,also. How many times have you read an ad or article thathad numerous spelling or grammatical errors?We're not perfect. We all make mistakes. But if wefrequently had those little red check marks on ourcomposition papers in school, we should probably use spellcheck and have someone proof-read our copy before sendingit into cyberspace.A prime example is a website I visited a few months ago. AsI started reading about the product the owner was selling Inoticed an error with the use of the word "our." The sitesaid "When you use "are" product....." OK, one littlemistake. No big deal.However, as I continued reading, I discovered the webmasterreferred to "are" products and "are" website on the wholepage! Not once was the correct word, "our," used.Frequently I read ads and articles that contain manyspelling or punctuation errors. For instance, "Thinkingback to when I first started my business. I had no idea howor where to begin."I'm not a teacher, but I can see that it should be onesentence, not two. The writer cut off the first sentencebefore actually finishing it. It's like the train ofthought came to a screeching halt. (In this case, I'm thewriter giving you an example. So if this sentence resemblessomeone else's work, it was not done intentionally.)The correct way to write it is "Thinking back to when Ifirst started my business, I had no idea how or where tobegin." It's one flowing sentence. Now it tells you what Iwas thinking.Another option is to change it just a bit to make it acomplete sentence. "I think back to when I first started mybusiness" or "I remember when I first started my business."Then continue to the second sentence.I'm not wanting to demean anyone or be overly picky. Ads,web pages and articles just look much more professionalwhen written with no errors, or at least very minor ones.Many customers will shy away from a website or ad thatseems poorly written or put together. The customer may seethe business owner as an amateur, therefore their product,company or service may not be worth much.Do your customers expect perfection? No. But they do expectprofessionalism. You're running a business, so you'resupposed to be a professional. If you give a professionalappearance, they'll believe in you and your business. Article Tags: Customer Service, First Started