Helpful Ways To Make Your Small Business Appear Legit

If you have a small business, you might find it difficult to show other people that you are serious about your job. When you want your business to appear more like a legitimate operation, there are many things you can do. These changes will gain the confidence of potential clients and customers, while improving the success of your business in the process.

Get an Official Business Number

When you want your business to look legitimate, you should not be giving out your personal house number or cell phone number as a business number. This makes it look as if you are a small, one-person operation. Even if you run a business all on your own, you should make yourself appear professional, as it can make a big impact in how other people view you. Start by calling your phone company and asking for a business phone number. This number should be dedicated to the business and connected to a cell phone or a phone you have installed in your home office. Make sure you record a professional voicemail greeting in case you aren't there to answer calls. If you tend to get a lot of phone calls but are often too busy to answer them, consider hiring a live answering service.

Have Promotional Materials Printed

All shipping, packaging, and promotional materials should be printed professionally with your brand. This can also make a big difference when you want to look like professional and not like a small, home-based business. Start by having high-quality business cards printed up; you can talk with a service, like Print Source, for more information.

Give yourself a title like "Manager" or "Founder" as they sound much better than simply giving your first and last name and saying you're the "owner." By going to professional printers, the card will look like you spent more time and money on it. The same goes for all packages you send out, as well as printed materials like newsletter, flyers, envelopes, and shipping labels.

Use a Professional Email Address

You also need to stop using your personal email address to conduct business. When someone mentions they run an online retail store, and their contact email is for Gmail or Yahoo, people tend to think twice about contacting them since those accounts are often used for casual usage. You look much more professional when your company's website has a dot.com address with your business name in it, along with an email address connected to that domain name. When people will find out that your email address is an "[email protected]" address, they will be much more likely to see you as a credible business.