When it comes to business, being professional is everything. You have to give off that vibe to the public, or the public just won’t come to you.
Think about the amount of times that a business has truly failed when it comes to being professional, and don’t just think that’s smaller businesses. Large companies like Amazon for example, were paying their drivers so little, and working them so hard, that some were being forced to go to the toilet in the van they were driving because they didn’t have time to go anywhere else. So you see, literally anything you do could be seen as unprofessional, which is one of the reasons why it’s so hard to keep up.
Considering it’s such an important part of your business image, it’s about time we dived into being professional.
Your Public Image
Public image is most definitely going to be one that you need to keep up with. Even as a small business, you should start working on your public image so that people see you in a much better light as you rise up. As a conference speaker I have been asked to dive into online personal branding a lot lately. Clearly showing the rise in people taking their public image seriously and wanting to extend it to the online realm.
I personally believe that your online presence is one of your most valuable assets in business.
Doing things like charity events, helping the homeless, and anything that’s going to better the community around you, is going to help improve your public image. Not only that, research shows that people who give back to society tend to love their work more.
If you have vans driving around with your logo on, like many people do, you also need to think about the reputation your employees are giving you whilst in the public. Hiring your employees carefully is a major consideration for your public image.
Security Touches
It’s a terrible feeling when you realise you have just been scammed online. Add to that the reputation knock that these cyber-fraud events can create. Hackers are able to sit quietly in your email inboxes conversing with your contacts on your behalf.
It’s a rather scary thought that someone else has stolen your ID without you knowing.
Keeping your website live is also an important aspect of building a great public image. It is often your first impression to business prospects. When your site is down your reputation takes a knock. So be aware that you need to make good decisions about your hosting providers.
If you’re really looking to ramp up and scale your security measures, focusing on who is accessing what, and where from, you should take a look into IAM solutions by ProofID. The solutions they offer allow for better control across the board.
The Areas A Lot Of People Fail On
The big area that we’re seeing so many people fail on at the moment, is the way that they deal with their customer complaints. So many companies just turn totally rude, and it really does have a negative effect on your business.
Rude customer service leads to a bad review on the internet, and a bad review leads to a loss of customers that you just don’t want to have to deal with! To be professional, you have to respect the customers views, treat them as always being right, and always defuse the situation with a refund or a free replacement.
It’s not just the blatantly rude people that get a bad reputation. I have previously written about the way in which we speak online and how it can drag down our positive sentiment even when we have our customer’s best interests in mind.
